Tag Archives for hilton.
Hyatt was first out of the gate offering compensation to people cancelling non-refundable bookings. Hilton and IHG both have come out with even greater flexibility, and both say they’re making changes to elite status requirements.
There are ways to benefit even if you plan to keep your current stays – but should you?
When hotels aren’t making the award space available to members that they should I’ve had good success getting the loyalty program to intervene. I’ve had especially good success with Hilton, such as with the Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem and the Waldorf Astoria Grand Wailea on Maui.
Readers reach out to me all the time with award redemption problems and I do my best to get them solved, week after week.
Against my own interests, and without concern for angering the people I know at the programs, I’m willing to call out the good, bad and ugly to come up with a conclusion of what’s actually best.
Tired: Hotels ‘for millennials’ featuring tiny rooms that lack desks, where hopefully guests escape claustrophobia to ‘social spaces’ spending money on food and beverage. However millennials as a class don’t have as much disposable income as older generations, and their digital life includes ordering in more interesting food and beverage than the hotel provides.
Wired: Hotels catering to the ‘new affluent’ who prefer experiences over things, so don’t mind small rooms and are sufficiently lacking in experience that they’ll allow the hotel to curate their food and beverage choices in those same ‘social spaces’.
You’re definitely going to want to register for Hilton’s new promotion and do it now even if you don’t expect to stay at Hiltons because you’ll never remember to go back later to do it when you wind up with an unexpected stay.
Meanwhile Hilton is back selling points at the lowest price Honors points are ever offered – half a cent apiece through a 100% bonus on purchase points valid through December 28.
A couple was having work done on their home so they needed a one night hotel stay and booked the Hampton Inn nearby. When they handed over their ID and credit card at check-in they were told they couldn’t stay a the property.
The Hampton Inn Bourbonnais Kankakee in Illinois had a policy against staycations by Kankakee residents. The property owner decided not to welcome anyone with a Kankakee address, though after publicity from a recent incident they’ve backed off of the rule.
I just booked what I hope will be my last flights of 2019, and my last hotel stays as well. Looking back on the year I realize I traveled less – fewer days than I’ve spent on the road in recent times since the birth of my daughter last fall.
Less time in the air and in chain hotels for me will still seem like a lot of time away to many readers. In 2016 I was gone half the year. That hasn’t been close to true this year. Still, I’m on track to renew several of my status levels.
When Hilton eliminated award charts they promised hotels wouldn’t get more expensive. At the time the most expensive property was 95,000 points per night. In February they introduced a new 120,000 point level.
At the time it was only for one new property.
For the past several years Hilton has almost always been offering double points. That’s necessary, because without double points the program’s rebate value is lower than competitors. That’s also what we should expect.
The road map for where Hilton has gone with their program was laid out by Jeff Diskin, now Hilton Executive Vice President, back in 2010.
Starwood Lurker no longer works for Starwood — or Marriott. The online face of hotel loyalty received the ultimate status match, a new job at Hilton.
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 »
