Last month I wrote a generally positive review of the W Austin hotel. It wasn’t a perfect hotel, but on the whole the hotel works for me — because it is in a great location (downtown but not on 6th by the bars, with a view of the lake) and the staff are friendly. And it’s just around the corner from the world’s best barbecue restaurant that offers sit down service, online reservations, and a bar. I noted a few minor gripes — housekeeping not especially thorough, toileteries go unreplaced, and room service trays littering the halls much of the time. And requests for chocolate cake (on the menu) and a yoga mat went unfulfilled by “Whatever/Whenever.” I like the hotel though, and on balance I found it worth returning to (although readers made a…
Which Hotel Chain Should You Give Your Business To?
Each hotel chain, and associated loyalty program, has its strengths and weaknesses. It’s important to know which one fits you best. So I’ve provided a rundown of the key elements of each one, pluses and minuses, and The smaller hotel programs tend to be the most rewarding. Not all small programs provide above average value, but the progams that do provide outsized value tend to be small. My working theory is that it’s easy to be loyal to Marriott. Marriotts are everywhere. There are 4000 of them. When I hear people talk about how much they like Marriott the argument is usually that there are Marriotts everywhere “so I can always earn my points” and also that they can have the same consistent hotel experience everywhere they go (some people don’t consider that a positive,…
How Big a Deal Are United’s New Changes to Award Rules?
This morning I wrote about United publishing new, highly restrictive rules for how you can put together awards on flights to several destinations. One of the most generous things about United has been its routing rules, taken from the old Continental system. You could pretty much get between any two cities any way you wished, combining most flights on most airlines and crossing most regions. It’s “whatever the computer would price” and the computer’s pricing algorithms have been very messy. Sometimes it wouldn’t let you do something you thought you should. But those instances were rare. More often you could get a whole lot more than was reasonable. The pricing system always seemed to be hacked together, with workarounds. It used to be that if you booked an international business class award with a domestic…
United May Be Making Another Huge STEALTH Devaluation: What You Need to Know
United already massively increased the number of points required for awards, especially premium cabin awards and especially on partner airlines, back in February. But the usefulness of miles is a function of: The cost of an award (award chart pricing) Availability Routing rules (what available flights can you take advantage of to get where you’re going) And United appears to be in the midst of a major stealth devaluation without any notice in the form of significantly restricting its routing rules.
How Do You Track and Follow Up on Missing Miles?
A month ago hotel program Club Carlson offered 1000 free points for filling out a form with your email address, account number and twitter handle and following Club Carlson on twitter. I admit I had forgotten about the points until this morning when I updated all of my points balances (as I do first thing each morning via AwardWallet). I saw that 1000 points posted, logged into my account to see what it was. And I immediately remembered! It struck me though that I had never added this 1000 points to my spreadsheet of outstanding points due to me. There was a time that I added every 100 point item. Next to each I noted when the points were promised to post. And I followed up on each and every one that did not post…
The Greatest Onboard Safety Demonstrations. Ever.
This safety announcement caught on video is hilarious. It’s been making the rounds, it must have been posted to blogs and on forums, and yet somehow I haven’t seen it. It’s been viewed on Youtube over 12 million times. Definitely worth watching. It didn’t get nearly the play but I actually prefer the rapping Southwest flight attendant. But that may just harken back to my memories of when rap involved beat boxing. Of course, this safety video might be even better. And I’m not sure anything will ever beat Deltalina‘s safety video (or for that matter, meeting Deltalina in person). The first great safety announcement I ever heard in person was about 15 years ago, flying on December 23 (not 24th), a riff on ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. But the best live demonstration I’ve…
It’s Still Possible to Ask American AAdvantage for Award Space That Doesn’t Show As Available
Several programs make expanded award availability possible for their top tier elite members. Usually that means being logged into the program’s website, if you have the relevant status, in order to see the extra availability. With American AAdvantage, you have to call. But that’s not the point of this post. American — alone amongst airlines that I’m aware of — has had a process by which you could actually ask for seats to be made available even if there wasn’t any award space open on them. It’s been reported that this option has been eliminated, but it has not been.
How People Are Chosen for PreCheck, How Runways Are Named, and How to Get Free Amazon Credit (Bits ‘n Pieces for May 24, 2014)
News and notes from around the interweb: How the TSA decides whether you get PreCheck or not Get free Amazon.com credit by ‘buying’ free apps that you don’t even have to download. Why international first class is offering more and more to fewer and fewer people IHG Rewards doesn’t yet have their website for the ‘Reel Summer’ promotion live. But you can register for their summer bonus points promotion, which sounds better than the Coca Cola-cobrand prize offerings set to go live June 2. InterContinental Hotels Group, one of the world’s leading hotel companies, is teaming up with Coca-Cola to celebrate the summer season Hollywood-style with the IHG® Rewards Club “Reel Summer” promotion. The promotion, which runs June 2, 2014 through Sept. 2, 2014, launches on the heels of IHG and Coca-Cola’s recently announced partnership…
Earn Triple Starbucks Stars Or More.. Free Drinks and Starbucks Elite Status
I have a certain amount of discomfort in admitting this, most of all to myself. I do drink more than my share of coffee generally, and in a pinch (especially when the next-best option is in-room coffee with packaged creamer) I’ll wind up drinking more Starbucks than I care to admit. What’s more, Starbucks turns out to be one of the most popular things I write about. I’d like to say it’s award redemption, travel tips, something about earning miles. But I still pick up probably 1000 page views a day off of a six week old post on earning free Starbucks stars. Truth is, it seems, credit towards free drinks is what people want — even more than travel!
Hyatt Makes an Unpopular Change to Its Best Rate Guarantee, and Why Hotel Best Rate Promises Don’t Mean Much Anyway
Yesterday Mommy Points pointed out that Hyatt had introduced a new process for their ‘Best Rate Guarantee‘. Hotels see a really significant commission expense for bookings that are made through third party channels, especially the online travel agencies like Expedia and Orbitz. The major chains have managed to push down those commissions somewhat over the past few years. They may no longer be over 20% in most cases. But they’re still a significant business expense. So they’ve taken many tactics to reduce those costs. One thing they do is try to push their own frequent customers to book through their own websites and call centers. Marriott and Hyatt will recognize status, but won’t allow members to earn credit towards their status with these stays. Hotel chains like Hilton and Starwood have a policy against even…
