marriott

Tag Archives for marriott.

Marriott Makes It Easier To Gift Reward Nights To Friends And Family

by Gary Leff on April 17, 2023

Apr 17 2023

Marriott made it harder and harder to use your points. Some readers thought they just wanted to make it difficult to use your points so that you wouldn’t but that isn’t actually true. The people at Marriott worried about fraud (especially after major data breaches at the chain) gained the upper hand over anyone that cared about the loyalty of their best customers trying to use their points.

The last thing I ever want when redeeming points for my wife’s travel, though, is worrying over whether or not she’ll be able to check in!

5 Free Marriott Nights Worth Up To 250,000 Points With New Chase Credit Card

by Gary Leff on April 14, 2023

Apr 14 2023

It’s the return of 5 Marriott nights worth up to 250,000 points in total after $5,000 spend within the first three months of account opening for the Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card.

That’s the best offer we’ve seen for this card, and it’s been around a couple of times. It’s much better than normal ‘elevated’ offers of 100,000 points or 3 reward nights.

Marriott Fined $225,000, Has One Month To Get Its Act Together Over Deceptive Resort Fees

by Gary Leff on April 13, 2023

Apr 13 2023

In 2021 Marriott entered into a settlement with Pennsylvania over resort fees, promising to reform its practices. Despite the legally-binding commitment they didn’t actually do it. They received extensions, but still didn’t come into compliance. Now they’re being fined $225,000 and a court order requires them to comply by May 15.

Marriott Key Bridge Site Has Been Condemned In Interest Of Public Safety

by Gary Leff on March 25, 2023

Mar 25 2023

The Marriott Key Bridge was the second Marriott hotel ever, and was the oldest Marriott hotel when it closed in July 2021.

Originally opened in 1959 as the Key Bridge Motor Inn, it was located in Rosslyn just across the river from Washington D.C. It featured a fantastic view, as a result, and in its history hosted both Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon. In recent times it played host to the homeless.

Marriott Now Charges Up To 150,000 Points Per Night For Award Stays

by Gary Leff on March 25, 2023

Mar 25 2023

When Marriott launched the Bonvoy program in 2018 the most expensive redemption for any hotel was 60,000 points. Then they introduced ‘high and low season’ pricing and a new more expensive category 8, pushing up the most expensive reward to 100,000 points.

A year ago they abolished award charts altogether and promised only that price increases would be muted in the first year of the new system. Now that the first year has passed, gloves and constraints are off, and properties can cost up to 150,000 points per night.

Marriott Hotel Threatened To Withhold Money From Server’s Check After CPAC Dine-And-Dash

by Gary Leff on March 16, 2023

Mar 16 2023

The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) was recently held at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, and one conference goer reported on TripAdvisor that they failed to pay a bar tab. Oops!

How they report the hotel handled it, though, is concerning.

Westin Hotels Used To Let You Use Free Workout Gear. Their New Program Makes You Pay.

by Gary Leff on February 17, 2023

Feb 17 2023

Chalk this up to another cost cut, where a major hotel chain eats into its brand by charging guests as much or more than before while delivering less. It’s Westin exiting the wellness space without saying they’re exiting the wellness space.

Save Big On Marriott Hotels By Booking Them Through Airbnb

by Gary Leff on January 23, 2023

Jan 23 2023

I’ve even documented instances where the difference in room rate was over $450 per night! It’s amazing that even as hotel chains spend a lot marketing that you’ll find the best rates on their rooms through their own websites, hotels are unloading rooms for less through Airbnb.

One guest even managed a successful Marriott best rate guarantee against an Airbnb listing.

You Must Have Been Really Bad To Hotel Workers Because Marriott LAX Raised Their ‘Worker Protection Surcharge’ 29%

by Gary Leff on January 23, 2023

Jan 23 2023

When the Marriott LAX rolled out this extra charge ‘to protect their workers’ it was $10.72 per night. Two months later they’ve already increased the fee to $13.87 per night – a 29% increase.

At 1004 rooms, this hotel has the potential to generate $5,082,800 per year with their new Worker Protection charge. They aren’t required to spend the money on worker protection (indeed they won’t). Even at 80% occupancy that’s $4 million a year, most of which goes to the hotel’s bottom-line.

Marriott Looks To Put Beds On Top Of Couches In Order To Shrink Rooms

by Gary Leff on January 9, 2023

Jan 09 2023

By putting the bed on top of the sofa, Marriott is able to offer smaller rooms with the same features. And smaller rooms mean more rooms in a hotel. That’s good for revenue, and will let them compete for owners looking to maximize revenue per square foot of their real estate.

The open question is how guests will receive the idea.