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.
IHG Hotels has a training video for housekeepers that explains how to move through a room quickly for ‘daily housekeeping’. Just because a hotel says they offer housekeeping during your stay – either automatically, or only “on request” – doesn’t mean you’re getting the service you think.
What’s most striking to me about the 5-step daily refresh process is the freshener spray at the end of the service. Spraying a smell that signals clean – which usually comes from cleaning supplies being used – seems like great marketing when cleaning supplies are actually used. Spraying the smell to communicate cleaning supplies were used when they weren’t just seems dishonest.
Luxury hotels are more likely to post fake reviews than cheaper properties. That appears to be because people deciding on price are less influenced by reviews, while a decision to drop $500 or more per night on a resort will be influenced by more subjective and experiential elements of a stay.
It used to be that hotels would post fake negative reviews of competitors. But they’ve shifted away from that and more towards posting more fake positive reviews of their own properties, as Airbnb has grown.
Just because you own a home, and live there, doesn’t mean that it’s not also listed for rental on Airbnb. There are so many scams out there, including listing homes for rent that are not – in fact – for rent. People pay the scammer, show up at the front door. And do you think Airbnb takes swift action?
Normally if you stick to Airbnb Superhosts offering properties with numerous good reviews, you figure you’re safe. But just because a property has been rented in the past, doesn’t mean the listing isn’t a scam now.
A man checking into a Holiday Inn Express in Bloomington, Minnesota became irate when the front desk agent wouldn’t upgrade him to a room type he had refused to pay for, and she decided to record it. We need more crazy hotel guest videos, please.
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.
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.
Google and Expedia both looked at when it’s cheapest to book tickets and is it any surprise that Google’s answers are more credible? Google found that it largely doesn’t matter, while Expedia says it’s up to 15% cheaper to book on Sundays. At least they didn’t claim “12:01 a.m. Tuesday morning when holds expire” or similar nonsense.
American Airlines returns to New Zealand today, with the launch of its new Dallas – Fort Worth to Auckland flight. This is significant for several reasons. But to make money doing it, the addition of more business class seats can’t come soon enough.
You can earn 25,000 Etihad Guest miles per 3+ day Avis rental. This is in addition to the usual base miles earned renting cars.
Don’t let the fact that the offer is for Etihad Guest miles stop you. Etihad miles are easy to get since the program is a transfer partner of American Express, Capital One and Citibank.
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 »
