When Marriott acquired Starwood Bill Marriott explained the purpose of the deal as giving them scale to have greater leverage — with online travel agencies for lower commissions (and presumably better placement) and with suppliers for lower costs.
Now it appears they think they have greater leverage with customers, too.
President Trump on Friday will speak at Manuel Artime Theater in Miami — named for the leader of the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba — and announce a rollback of President Obama’s liberalization of relations with the island nation.
At the American Airlines annual stockholders meeting yesterday, airline Chairman and CEO Doug Parker noted that they earn less revenue for flying similar distances than their two largest competitors. That means, he suggests, they have low hanging fruit to improve their financial performance. All they have to do is catch up.
That’s why, he says, they’re moving from a strategy of producing the most available seat miles at the lowest possible cost to one where they earn a revenue premium by investing in their product.
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.
The Chairman of China’s Anbang Insurage Group, which owns the Waldorf=Astoria New York and other hotels in the U.S. and which tried to buy Starwood ultimately being outbid by Marriott, has reportedly been detained.
This card launched around 8 months ago with a big signup bonus and strong points-earning. But it’s a $95 annual fee card, not a $450 annual fee card.
It comes with an 80,000 Point Signup Bonus: Spend $5000 on your new card within 3 months and you’ll get 80,000 points. As you’ll see below, that can even be enough for a roundtrip business class award ticket between the US and Europe.
On Friday I reached out to American Airlines because they were collecting carrier-imposed surcharges when using AAdvantage miles for British Airways awards even on an itinerary where there are no such surcharges.
And there’s already a resolution — great responsiveness on American’s part for their members.
Hyatt informed its hotel owners last week that it intends to terminate its distribution agreement with Expedia. This is a negotiating tactic to drive down the commissions it pays.
If they don’t reach a new agreement by July 31, then on August 1 we’ll see Hyatt properties disappear from Expedia and related brands (Hotels.com, Orbitz, Hotwire, Travelocity, Wotif).
A week ago two passengers joined the Mile High Club in their seats while onlooking passengers filmed it (and flight crew refused to get involved).
Here’s the not totally safe for work video — and the rest of the story.
You know how some kids just have to touch the stove when their parents tell them it’s hot?
Right after an announcement that passengers shouldn’t touch the emergency exit door unless it’s an emergency a passenger on Xiamen Airlines flight MF8118 on Monday opened an exit door deploying the slide — because she was ‘curious’. She faces detention and significant costs.
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 »
