Category Archives for Hotels.
IHG Rewards Club is offering double points for stays October 1 through December 15 (registration required) with a kicker that’s 10,000 bonus points after first stay during the promotion period for co-brand credit card cardmembers.
You even get a free drink at the bar, and you do not need to have a social following or call yourself an ‘influencer’.
IHG hotels, the chain that includes Holiday Inn, Kimpton, Intercontinental, and related brands, is bringing its flexible cancellation policy to an end. All of the major hotel chains have sought to encourage new bookings by making them very low risk for consumers. IHG says, though, ‘no more’ after September 30.
There’s a huge desire to get hotel pricing and restrictions ‘back to normal’ but I don’t think the world is back to normal yet, and if other chains don’t follow IHG will be at a competitive disadvantage.
World of Hyatt extended current elite status so that members who qualified last year are able to use the benefits that they earned through 2021. However there’s a hole in Hyatt’s approach: confirmed suite upgrades and free nights for those members – set to expire February 2021 – were not extended. Hyatt says expect to hear something in weeks.
Last month Hilton came under fire for housing children in the process of being deported by the United States. The chain told hotels they shouldn’t accept these bookings. Now we learn that children were being held in even more Hilton, Marriott, and Choice hotels than we thought.
At least 660 children have been held in hotels enroute to deportation. Most were unaccompanied by parents. According to the government “it cannot allow children to stay in the U.S. due to the coronavirus pandemic.”
A significant number of Marriott Ambassador agents have been notified that their positions are being eliminated, generally effective October 1. This isn’t the first round of layoffs for Ambassador agents. The hotel chain shed customer service agents who work with top guests back in March, effectively eliminating the ‘dedicated agent assignment’ for customers who stay 100 nights and spend $20,000 each year with Marriott.
Ethics norms notwithstanding I don’t have an issue with the government paying for rooms at Trump properties, even when they’re less convenient for doing business than other hotels and even when they’re more expensive. That’s the price of doing business with Trump and he was elected President under the U.S. system. If this bothers them it may influence their re-election vote.
I do, however, have a problem with resort fees.
Details on Hilton’s fall “Double Rewards” promotion are out: double points and double elite status credits, which help you to status this year faster or will roll over to help you earn status next year.
Hotels made money overall last month and into the start of this month though that may be a high water mark. Cutting costs on the back of guest experience is making hotel stays less fun, and eliminating key points of difference with Airbnb.
The Le Meridien and Sheraton in Charlotte are in the same complex. It’s increasingly common for a large hotel to be sold as more than one brand, to appeal to different types of travelers or to people interested in different brands.
However right now it appears that the two hotels are being sold as one. According to reader reports only the Le Meridien is open and people reserving the Sheraton are getting moved to the Le Meridien.
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 »
