I spent the weekend at the Andaz 5th Avenue in New York. I used to stay here all the time but haven’t been in quite awhile, not since Cornelia Samara left as General Manager to open the new 1Hotel Brooklyn Bridge.
Most of the time in New York I’ll try to stay as close as possible to my meetings. That’s meant that I’ve even stayed at the Hyatt Herald Square semi-regularly despite rooms better suited for elves than people.
Delta has been very forthright about how they see their most frequent customers, and the perks those flyers value most.
Two years ago they made clear that they saw the end of first class upgrades coming. Delta’s CEO just made the point again in no uncertain terms.
When Marriott first introduced mobile check-in at certain hotels, they apparently weren’t pre-authorizing guest credit cards for the stay. I’m told a not insignificant number of people checked in under false names and loaded prepaid debit cards with very low balances, just walking away from their hotel bills.
It’s the modern hotel equivalent of ‘dine and dash’ although a hotel guest in Guizhou, China shows it’s still possible to just go old school.
Whether you are a current Hyatt Visa cardmember or you get a new one this month as long as you register by October 31 you’ll receive a $50 rebate on $300 or more in spend with Hyatt Place and Hyatt House through January 1, 2018.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
Kuala Lumpur is one of my favorite cities in the world. It’s probably my favorite food city, from satay to prawn mee to amazing roti.
And I’m giving away a 3 night weekend stay at my favorite hotel in the city which has great views of the Petronas towers. Oh, and the room comes with club lounge access too.
UK-based Monarch Airlines has been troubled for awhile. There were rumors that Norwegian would acquire them for the carrier’s slots at London Gatwick. Instead the airline has ceased operations.
The airline’s planes are back in the UK, and the airline is under the control of administrators KPMG who do not have an air operator’s certificate.
Booking a ticket May 1, 2018 onward generates a message “your flight is in 2018, discover Flying Blue new programme rules” and new mileage-earning rates are shown.
The website mileage-earning calculator hasn’t changed. Air France KLM hasn’t made any announcement to members yet. And there’s no word on whether minimum spend will be introduced for elite status as part of these changes.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
Phantom award availability on an airline website is hardly new or even notable. For instance Air France for years would show phantom Kenya Airways space. American Airlines shows phantom Finnair space all the time. British Airways used to show phantom space for LAN.
What’s different here is that Delta phone agents seem to be seeing the same phantom space.
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 »
