Hotels

Category Archives for Hotels.

Top Hyatt Elites Who Don’t Stay 60 Nights Next Year Will Lose Their Concierge

by Gary Leff on December 3, 2020

Dec 03 2020

Hyatt is cutting elite status requirements in half for 2021. They are giving extra elite nights to people who get their credit card by the end of the year. They are running double elite qualifying nights for the first two months of 2021 (and stays at the end of 2020 will also earn an elite night for 2021). Spending points transferred from Chase or the initial bonus on their credit card on free nights count towards status and they’re even rebating points.

Taken together Hyatt status is going to be very easy to earn in 2021 for the rest of that year and all of 2022. However Hyatt has decoupled some elite benefits from status, and reserves those for people staying a specific number of nights. The nights requirements for ‘Milestone Rewards’ have not been reduced.

BAD DEAL: Amex Offering 30% Transfer Bonus To Marriott Through End Of Year

by Gary Leff on December 1, 2020

Dec 01 2020

Outside of Chase transfers to Hyatt, conversions of transferrable points into hotel points is simply a bad deal and a 30% transfer bonus doesn’t reverse that calculus. American Express points are just too valuable to transfer to Marriott given the weak transfer ratio.

Hyatt Cuts Elite Qualification Requirements In Half, Globalist In Just 30 Nights (Credit Card Nights Count)

by Gary Leff on November 30, 2020

Nov 30 2020

Hyatt is cutting in half the number of nights required to earn elite status in 2021, and extending several promotions into early 2021. You can earn status easily just with a Hyatt co-brand credit card too.

Marriott Drops Award Prices To Off Peak At 90% Of Hotels For Stays Through February 28

by Gary Leff on November 30, 2020

Nov 30 2020

Marriott is offering about 90% of their 7500 hotels at off peak redemption prices for bookings made by December 14 and stays through February 28, 2021.

A Marriott spokesperson says “Of the 90% of properties offering solely off-peak rates, about two—thirds of those properties had previously been offering a mix of rates during the promotional stay period.” And that just shows that Bonvoy has been gouging members for redemptions at a majority of its hotels.

Hotels Are Renting Out Whole Floors To Keep People Safe From Covid, But It’s A Total Waste.

by Gary Leff on November 22, 2020

Nov 22 2020

Heads of State rent out entire hotel floors for security reasons but several hotels now, at lowest-ever occupancy, are offering to rent out entire floors for people looking for Covid safety. That seems entirely unnecessary.

There haven’t been any documented cases of spread between rooms either in hotels or office buildings. The virus doesn’t spread through walls.

Odd: Marriott Says They’re Fulfilling Suite Upgrade Requests At The Same Rate As Last Year

by Gary Leff on November 20, 2020

Nov 20 2020

I’ve heard from a number of Marriott Bonvoy Platinum and Ambassador members who have shared that they aren’t getting upgraded like they’re used to. That seems surprising at first. With the hotel industry in an unprecedented crisis of low occupancy, an upgrade should be easier than ever to come by!

I asked Marriott about this, and a spokesperson confirmed that members aren’t being upgraded more frequently this year – but they’re also not having their requests denied more often either. Here’s what’s happening.

Police Chase Through The Attic Of A Days Inn Ends With Woman “Tangled In The Piping System”

by Gary Leff on November 20, 2020

Nov 20 2020

A “wild” police chase through the attic of a Michigan Days Inn ended when one of the fugitives got “tangled up in the piping system of the attic” and her co-conspirator “fell through the ceiling” and into the hotel’s pool.

This May Be The Worst Hotel Guest Ever, Or At Least The One With The Worst Aim

by Gary Leff on November 19, 2020

Nov 19 2020

A business traveler from Virginia checked into the Holiday Inn Express & Suites York in Pennsylvania and returned to room 217 drunk on Friday. He took out his 9 millimeter pistol. And he fired it in the room.

The bullet “went through the room of a sleeping man and an elevator lobby before nearly striking a woman in the parking lot.”

Marriott Back With Biggest-Ever Points Purchase Bonus

by Gary Leff on November 19, 2020

Nov 19 2020

Between May 18 and July 15, Marriott ran their biggest-ever points purchase bonus offering 60% more points for the same money. Now they have brought this bonus back. It can be worthwhile for certain hotel redemptions – and also for laundering points into some obscure-yet-valuable airline frequent flyer progams.

Man Arrested Because He Booked Hotel Discount Rate He Wasn’t Entitled To

by Gary Leff on November 13, 2020

Nov 13 2020

A man had pled guilty to impersonating a law enforcement officer in order to get hotel discounts. He posed as a U.S. Marshal, and had a fake badge to show to prove his eligibility for a government rate.

He always paid in cash “and on more than one occasion told the desk clerk collecting the payment to wash her hands after handling the money as it was confiscated drug money he had received as bonuses for ‘busts’.”