Category Archives for Hotels.
The Grand Hyatt New York re-opens November 1 but with a new name: Hyatt Grand Central New York. It will no longer be a Grand Hyatt. And it is losing the best thing about the property, too.
Marriott has brought back its “Week of Wonders” offers for October 7 – 14. There’s some decent room rates, 2000 bonus points for some, a discount on mattresses and robes, and bonuses for points purchases.
The major item here would be lower free night award pricing, with over half of Marriott’s properties committed at ‘off-peak’ redemption rates when you use your points over the next week… but you’ve got to stay quick to benefit.
Gil Ofarim, a German singer with top 40 hits, went on social media to share his experience trying to check in at the Westin Leipzig. The man shares that the hotel wouldn’t check him in unless he hid his Star of David.
Hyatt’s plan to expire points again is a stark contrast to Hilton which says they won’t expire points in 2022. Of course Hilton also extended status and free night certificates again. We’re still waiting to hear from Marriott on their card certificate plan for next year and whether they’ll make any more pandemic accommodations.
The New York Hilton and Grand Hyatt New York are both re-opening, the former on October 4 and the latter November 1.
While there was a logic in providing services to travelers during the summer, preparing to do so as a hotel heads into Northeast winter – traditionally a down time for business to begin with – may seem odd. The decision to do so now has nothing to do with anticipated return of business travel. Instead, there’s a simple reason to re-open now.
A guest showed up at a Marriott Hotel in DC to check in. It was the Residence Inn Courtyard by Marriott. Yes, there are two different Marriott brands at the same address in downtown Washington DC at the Convention Center.
The problem is that the man wanted early check-in. And it wasn’t available. At 1 a.m. So the guest, Armin Zeyafatzadeh, went to sleep in the lobby to wait for a room to be ready. He was going to be waiting awhile.
On Thursday and Friday New York City executed an operation to seize vehicles being rented out as lodging on Airbnb. The vans were often advertised for around $100, lacked bathroom or shower facilities, and racked up tickets for being illegally parked. Guests would receive keys to get into the vans for sleeping, but those keys didn’t start the engines. The law enforcement operation was dubbed “Operation Room Service.”
Hilton’s CEO was first out of the gate publicly declaring that guests should no longer receive daily housekeeping at full service hotels in the U.S. as a cost-cutting measure he believed people would accept after the pandemic. The goal is to charge people more, deliver them less, and improve margins.
A guest at the Hilton Brentwood/Nashville Suites shares what that looks like in practice.
The owner of the TWA hotel is MCR Hotels, the fourth largest hotel ownership group in the country spanning 125 properties in 34 states including Marriotts, Hiltons and IHG hotels.
Its CEO declares that hotels need to move to an a la carte pricing model, based on the success of ultra low cost airlines like Allegiant, Spirit, VivaAerobus, and Wizz Air.
At the Hyatt Regency Boston Harbor the destination fee covers the view and your right to photograph it. Describing the $25 per night inclusion, one of the covered items is “Panoramic Views of Boston with photo opportunity.” For a $25 per night fee, they might at least offer to take your photo with a high quality camera?
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
