Category Archives for Hotels.
Dramaine Vinegar is suing the Fremont Marriott Silicon Valley and Marriott after an incident last year where, he says, he was told to ‘get the f- off the property’ by its manager while staying as a guest.
The J.W. Marriott Las Cabos Resort has been charging Bonvoy members a $30 per night redemption fee when staying on points.
That practice is ending and Marriott will be refunding guests that have been overcharged.
The Westin Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort has been charging guests a 2% fee for paying their bills by credit card.
In a move that may be ‘the most Bonvoy thing ever,’ the J.W. Marriott Los Cabos Resort says they charge guests using points a $30 redemption fee. This fee, or loyalty tax, applies only to free night awards and is not billed to guests paying cash. It’s not even disclosed in the rate details when booking a points stay.
Late Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson lent international support for China’s argument that their response to Covid-19 was world-leading. Sorenson knew that crushing the pandemic through any means necessary was good for travel and the hotel business. And he knew that flattering Chinese officials and supporting their narratives is key to staying in their good graces. China is a key growth market for Marriott.
New Marriott CEO Tony Capuano appears to be taking a similar approach.
The old Rio Las Vegas will become several Hyatt-branded properties with Hyatt Regency the first to come online, expected in 2023. Full service Hyatts in Las Vegas will be something new, but Hyatt isn’t telling us what other brands they’ll have yet and none of this will happen for several years. So that’s only of limited interest today.
What’s more intriguing I think is what this means for Hyatt’s MGM M life Rewards partnership.
The Hilton Honors terms and conditions rolled back and started showing 12 month expiration again. That’s a mistake. Hilton points still only expire after 15 months of inactivity (and expiration remains paused throughout 2021).
A group of identity thieves posed as Wu-Tang Clan to scam hotels out of more than $100,000. They also scammed a Rolls Royce. They stiffed The Georgian Terrace Hotel for $45,000 and Hyatt Regency Atlanta for $39,000. But they were no match for a suburban Fairfield Inn.
Back in the fall Hyatt announced 15 hotels that would change redemption category but otherwise declared they would ‘suspend 2021 hotel category changes’.
That didn’t turn out to hold.
Taking surveys for miles was super lucrative twenty years ago. Now I very often don’t bother. The rewards tend to be much lower, and I’ve wasted too much time on screening questions to even qualify for a survey that don’t pay out at all, only to learn after that effort that I’m not eligible.
Here’s an exception to the rule. There’s a new offer to earn 10,000 Hilton points as a bonus for your first Guest Opinion Rewards survey, increased from just 1250 bonus points.
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 »
