It was earth-shattering in the payments world when Costco ditched American Express as their co-brand card issuer and signed on with Citibank. Citi offered them an amazing deal that gives Costco nearly free credit card acceptance.
It turns out that we know more than this, even though Citi won’t start issuing the card until April 2016. That’s because the Citibank Costco credit card deal was filed with the SEC and is publicly available online.
On Wednesday I detailed Everything You Need to Know About American’s New Flagship Dining Room in Dallas.
Hans Mast visited yesterday in the morning on the lounge’s first day of opening, and graciously shared his photos and experience.
Lots of readers will have access to “The Club” independent airport lounges already. They have locations in Atlanta, Cincinnati, Dallas, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Seattle, and San Jose.
LoungeBuddy will rebate 100% of your admittance fee to these The Club lounges in November and December in the form of LoungeBuddy credit.
A second 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.
There’s a Virgin America promotion code with Silvercar for $75 off a 2-day rental for first time Silvercar users, and Silvercar offers $25 to first-time renters who are referred by existing customers.
Two weeks ago I panned Hyatt Regency’s new marketing campaign. They say “it’s good not to be home” because the last thing I want — on the road more than a third of the year — is not to be home, and because it doesn’t really tell you why to choose Hyatt Regency over another brand.
It turns out there may actually be one good reason why it’s good not to be home: hotel sex is better than regular sex.
It turns out the case for whether mergers have been good or bad for consumers isn’t so clear either way. There are some benefits to stronger airlines, though low fuel costs and the state of the economy are bigger drivers of that than consolidation. We should be careful to remember, though, that correlation isn’t causation.
To me business class is always and everywhere about the seat. Sure, I love Singapore Airlines service and pre-order meals. It’s great that I get pajamas in Virgin Australia’s long haul business. But I will always make decisions based on seat first.
It turns out that research shows I’m an anomaly, that little touches influence what customers think even about the seat — and helps explain why customers will choose an airline with an inferior hard product when it gets the little touches right.
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.
Starwood CEO Adam Aron relayed during the company’s earnings call that he expects a sale by the end of the year. This morning I noted that Hyatt was rumored to be near an agreement to acquire Starwood. It would be interesting to see Adam Aron — who created the Gold Passport program as Hyatt’s Chief Marketing Officer — ultimately sell Starwood to his former employer.
For customers this would be the best possible outcome of any of the deal combinations Starwood is rumored to have looked at. I like this better than Wyndham, IHG, or Accor. For Hyatt and Starwood it’s not as clear how well an acquisition fills strategic gaps, however.
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 »
