Woman Who Lost Her Global Entry Over an Apple Delta Gave Her Fought Back and Won

by Gary Leff

veganquesohead
Jun 07 2018

When entering the U.S. you need to answer customers questions correctly. If you have any food with you, say so, because if you’re chosen for secondary screening and caught you could be fined — and lose Global Entry privileges if you have them. I’ve warned readers about this before, it’s one of the ways people are losing Global Entry.

Six weeks ago I wrote about Crystal Tadlock taking an apple handed out as a snack on her Delta flight and sticking it in her carry on bag. She figured she’d eat it on her connecting flight to Denver.

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American Express Adds a New Restriction for Initial Bonus Offers

by Gary Leff

credit cards
Jun 07 2018

Credit card company acquisition offers are expensive. While with co-branded products it’s not always the bank buying the entire bucket of miles they’re offering you — acquiring new customers can be profitable over time both for the bank but also for the airline or hotel — this up front cost only gets paid back when customers use their new cards, keep them, and continue spending over time.

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New Free Web Browser Offers Built-In VPN Features, Browse Privately Even in China

by Gary Leff

temple
Jun 07 2018

There’s a simple solution to browse the web privately, to access internet sites through China’s Great Firewall, and it’s cheaper than using a paid VPN (because it’s free) and faster than using a free VPN.

It’s a web browser that builds in the functionality of a VPN. That way you can privately access content from anywhere in the world. You’re accessing their servers and their servers are calling the sites you want and delivering them to you.

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Hotel Loyalty Program Calls It Quits

by Gary Leff

loews hotel
Jun 06 2018

Loews hotels is shutting down their loyalty program December 6. The Loews chain is comprised of 24 hotels in the U.S. and Canada. They say that “YouFirst isn’t enticing or relevant” and that set benefits don’t meet guest needs and they’ll continue to recognize their best guests without a formal program.

This is hardly the first hotel chain to shut down its loyalty program. Holiday Inn launched the first hotel loyalty program at the start of 1983 and called it Priority Club.

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Doctor Says Lavatory Waste Fell From the Sky and Gave His Patient Pink Eye

by Gary Leff

poop man
Jun 06 2018

Airlines do not intentionally dump lavatory waste inflight. I do not know of any commercial aircraft that gives pilots a control mechanism to do so.

On average once a year there’s a documented instance of ‘blue ice’ — airplane lavatory waste material that leaks from the aircraft. It’s named from the blue disinfectant often used in lavatory waste systems.

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Dear Travel PR, Don’t Lie

by Gary Leff

hyatt hotel
Jun 06 2018

I was asked to participate in a panel for travel PR professionals later this week, along with a traditional newspaper and magazine editor, talking about best practices in pitching stories. How do you get attention and coverage? What do PR professionals do wrong, from our perspective?

And something set me off Monday morning with one pitch, so I thought I’d share it. The worst thing a brand can do is lie. But disingenuous framing can be almost as damaging.

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$500 Million to Fix Lagging Sheratons

by Gary Leff

hotel bed
Jun 06 2018

Three years ago Starwood announced a $100 million effort to revitalize the Sheraton brand. This was mostly about marketing investment, but they made some tweaks using the Sheraton ‘Grand’ moniker and a carrot and stick approach with fees and incentives, to try to get hotel owners to invest in their properties.

They promised to improve the offerings in club lounges, improve hotel design, and bring on new properties. This was back when the chain was still trying to grow on its own even though the board had largely decided to sell.

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