Tag Archives for design hotels.
A guest booked Marriott’s Hotel La Semilla and wound up getting solicited by the hotel to prepay their reservation via Paypal for a discount. Only the hotel later claimed to have no record of the payment. Did an employee of the hotel scam them? And is this something new to watch out for when you travel?
The Hotel June West LA was my recent choice for an LAX airport hotel. It offers stylish public space, spartan rooms and indifferent service.
My wife, daughter and I spent the night at the Santa Monica Proper hotel in late November. It was stylish, staff were friendly, and the location was fantastic for our needs.
For us it was an airport layover hotel without staying by the airport, a place that gave us a sense of place and allowed us to take advantage of a walkable neighborhood with our daughter.
My wife and I were thinking of going back to the Maldives for Thanksgiving. We’ve cancelled stays at the St. Regis there several times. I’ve still only stayed (5 times) at the Park Hyatt. We even had a redemption stay booked at the St. Regis at the old 60,000 point level, and Etihad First Apartment awards – although at the time there was a problem booking infant tickets in conjunction with AAdvantage redemptions on Etihad that’s since been fixed.
The idea, though, of traveling all the way to the Maldives with our daughter was daunting. At three months we took her to Paris. At five months we took her to Sydney. She’s a great traveler but she’d be over a year old come Thanksgiving and wanted something a bit easier to manage. That’s when business class awards on Air Tahiti Nui popped up and I booked those to give us another option. We were meeting friends for Thanksgiving and had to coordinate those plans as well.
Here’s a brief synopsis of what to expect, with reports coming describing each leg of the journey from booking and cost to the actual experience.
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 »
