Apr
19
2016
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 Best New Airline Name Ever and 50,000 Hotel Bonus Points
American Express Membership Rewards Gets More Valuable With Etihad as New Transfer Partner
Apr
19
2016
American Express Membership Rewards announced the addition of a new points transfer partner today: Etihad Guest. Transfers to Etihad are already live.
In fact, Membership Rewards is now a transfer partner of Etihad across many international markets such as Australia, Canada, and the UK.
American Express joins Citi ThankYou Rewards in offering transfers to Etihad, and Etihad is already one of my favorite Citi partners.
How to Fix a Stinky Airplane Lavatory
Apr
19
2016
The worst airline bathroom experience had to be whatever happened in the lavatory that caused a British Airways flight to Dubai to turn around and go back to Heathrow.
But I had encountered a pretty uncomfortable one yesterday myself, albeit without any diversions.
Marriott Adding New Elite Benefits and Experience Redemption Options
Apr
19
2016
Back in the fall Marriott Rewards introduced 4 new features to their program. I broke the news on their plan for cash and points, points sharing, points advance, and reward nights counting towards status.
These were modest changes, they’re things offered by other programs, and hardly revolutionary. They’re the kind of marginal improvements we’re used to seeing from Marriott Rewards to go along with periodic devaluations.
But with Marriott acquiring Starwood hotels they were pretty shell shocked to see the customer reaction among Starwood’s elite members. It became clear they were going to need to offer Starwood’s customers the kind of treatment they’ve been used to in order to retain them.
How to Host the NBA at Your Hotel, and How Much US Airlines are Really Making
Apr
18
2016
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.
Hotel Charges My Card 5 Months After a Stay. How Long Is Too Long??
Apr
18
2016
Last week I wrote about checking your credit card statement for unauthorized hotel charges. A pet peeve of mine is hotels charging you for things not on your final folio.
Oddly enough then I actually had a hotel email me last week about failing to charge me for a stay five months earlier.
And it got me thinking: how long is too long? How many months is too long after a stay for a hotel to say they forgot to charge you for part of your bill?
Hyatt Introduces Bigger Members-Only Discount Than Hilton, Marriott But Doesn’t Go Far Enough
Apr
18
2016
Hotel chains want you to book directly through them because it costs them less to make a reservation themselves than it does to pay a commission to Expedia or other online travel sites (or travel agents).
Hilton tested a small discount in a handful of cities restricted to Hilton HHonors members. The discount wasn’t great, about 5% (and so generally more expensive than AAA rates), but it was more about the model than the amount.
Today Hyatt introduced member-only discount rates and in some cases they’re bigger discounts than what Hilton and Marriott are offering, but still not better than AAA rates. And they’re not available worldwide.
Hyatt’s CEO Rethinking Loyalty and Skeptical of Marriott-Starwood Merger
Apr
18
2016
Hyatt’s CEO Mark Hoplamazian says loyalty shouldn’t focus on points. Points are a rebate, and they’re necessary to compete, but loyalty is about an overall value proposition that goes beyond the economic calculation for a given stay.
And they’re rethinking loyalty. When a CEO says that I think we expect some changes, but in my experience Hyatt usually moves slowly so I wouldn’t expect them right away.
Citi Prestige Ups Its Game in Travel Protection, Covers Your Award Tickets Starting May 15
Apr
17
2016
The Citi Prestige Card has been the ‘it’ card for the past year. It’s chock full of benefits. Citi has built a premium card to surpass others at the price point. It’s built a transferrable points program, let you use the points at a strong value towards paid airfare, and bundled not just traditional benefits like lounge access but unique benefits like VIP treatment at restaurants and free golf. Here are the 15 things that I love about it.
Today Citi emailed out notice that effective May 15 a new travel benefits guide goes into effect and as far as I can tell the changes are all actually quite good.
United Blames Teenager’s Short Shorts for Her Inflight Groping and San Francisco Cracking Down on Uber Drivers
Apr
17
2016
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.
