Site Search
Social

Advertisement

Hotel Industry

Is Hotel Room Service Going to Be a Thing of the Past?

June 13, 2013

With news that the New York Hilton Midtown – the largest hotel in the city – will discontinue room service and instead open an all-day cafeteria-style restaurant with grab & go options beginning in August, the travel industry was abuzz with talk of whether this is the beginning of a larger trend and what travelers [...]

6 comments Read the full article →

Marriott Expands Breakfast Benefits for Gold and Platinum Elites

May 21, 2013

Marriott just officially announced today that starting June 22, Gold and Platinum elites will receive complimentary continental breakfast seven days a week at participating JW Marriott, Autograph Collection , Renaissance and Marriott Hotels in the U.S. and Canada. In the past, breakfast at hotels in the U.S. and Canada was only available during the week, [...]

8 comments Read the full article →

Hotel Points Expiration Policies Roundup

April 18, 2013

Following up on the recent national survey I commissioned from The Princeton Group and my contest about how people track their frequent flyer miles, I thought it would be a good idea to create a basic guide to the expiration policies of the major loyalty programs. In yesterday’s post I covered airline miles expiration policies [...]

13 comments Read the full article →

Bonus Airline Miles For Booking Hotels With Rocketmiles

March 15, 2013

Rocketmiles is a hotel search engine and booking app you can sign up for here that works with a few premium hotel partners in several US cities to offer customers who book rooms bonus miles with American Airlines, Delta, United and Hawaiian Airlines. So far, Rocketmiles has hotel partners in: Atlanta Boston Chicago Denver Houston [...]

7 comments Read the full article →

The State of Hotel Loyalty Programs: A Devaluation Story

February 20, 2013

President Obama gave his State of the Union address last week, and with all the hotel points program changes coming down the pike, I thought I’d give my own State of Hotel Points address – and the state of hotel points is…worsening! Here’s a recap of the news we’ve gotten so far: Starwood Back in [...]

57 comments Read the full article →

Major Hilton HHonors Devaluation Announced: Aspirational Awards Become More Expensive, New Categories and Seasonal Pricing

February 19, 2013

2013 seems to be the year of the significant hotel loyalty program changes. Unfortunately, many of these changes have been negative- including Starwood’s inflation of Cash & Points and Marriott’s mass category increase. Hilton joined that club today, introducing new program changes effective March 28, 2013 which include new tiers (read: more expensive redemptions) and [...]

136 comments Read the full article →

British Airways Offering a 25% Hotel Transfer Bonus

December 14, 2012

Now through January, 13, 2013, British Airways is offering a 25% bonus when you transfer hotel points to the British Airways Avios program. British Airways hotel partners include Starwood, Club Carlson, Marriott, Hilton, Priority Club, Hyatt, and Shangri-La. To convert points to miles, head over to the hotel partner you want to transfer from and you will [...]

8 comments Read the full article →

Comparing Top-Tier Hotel Elite Status

December 7, 2012

To follow up on my post from yesterday about whether or not going for Hyatt Diamond status is worth it, I asked TPG contributor Nick to write up a comparison of the top-tier status levels at the major hotel chains both as a primer to folks new to this game as well as a reminder [...]

21 comments Read the full article →

Amex Platinum FHR (Fine Hotels and Resorts) Program: Worth It?

November 29, 2012

When it comes to travel, I’m usually fixated on the points angle (I mean, I am TPG!) and how many I am earning or redeeming to have a specific experience. However, the whole point of points, in my opinion, is about reaping as much value out of your experience as possible. Points and elite status [...]

40 comments Read the full article →

Travel Tuesday Top 10: Hotel Apps

October 16, 2012

TPG contributor Jen Jones Donatelli downloaded, plugged in and played with dozens of hotel apps to bring us today’s Travel Tuesday Top 10. When it comes to booking travel and checking points on the go, you can take it with you. Available for a range of devices, apps are now offered by just about every [...]

13 comments Read the full article →

(Video) Sunday Reader Question: Airlines Miles vs. Hotel Point Value

August 19, 2012

TPG reader Jeremy asks: “In general, is it more valuable to accumulate hotel points or airline miles (assuming you’re maximizing each)? In other words, if you had to pick only one bucket, which would be worth more to your budget?” The easy answer would be to collect Starwood Preferred Guest points, which can be redeemed [...]

9 comments Read the full article →

Sunday Reader Question: How Do Corporate Rates Affect Hotel Points

June 24, 2012

TPG reader Eric had two questions this week about getting credit for hotel stays: “Do you still earn reward points and/or status if I book a room with either a corporate discount or employee discount? And, can I get reward points for booking a room for another person as a gift using my rewards number [...]

7 comments Read the full article →

Are Hotels Taking Social Media Too Far?

May 31, 2012

Social media plays a big role in hotels and airlines theses days. Most companies have their own Facebook and Twitter pages where they run special promos, engage directly with guests and loyalty program members, and answer questions. According to this  Flyertalk thread, however, it seems that the staff of one Starwood property have taken social [...]

18 comments Read the full article →

Two Free Nights With Chase Fairmont Visa Card

May 21, 2012

As one of the smaller hotel chains out there, I’ve never had the opportunity to stay at one of the 67 Fairmont hotels around the world. Though the limited footprint isn’t the key factor that has kept me from trying out the brand. Instead, the fact that they have historically not offered points – only [...]

18 comments Read the full article →

Tuesday Travel Top 10: The Best Hotel Point Redemption Methods

May 15, 2012

Hotel points can be some of the most valuable currency in the travel industry, and many of the major chains enhance their points’ value even further with deep discounts on everything from extended-stay rates to single-property specials to the ability to redeem hybrid points-cash awards. Here’s a list of some of the best hotel point [...]

30 comments Read the full article →

Hotel Summer Promos Roundup

May 12, 2012

The major hotel chains have started their summer promos already, so I thought I’d compile one big post with all of them so you can compare and contrast, and earn the most points for your upcoming summer travel. 138,000 Club Carlson Gold Points As we reported on yesterday, on Tuesday, May 15, Club Carlson is [...]

11 comments Read the full article →

Travel Tuesday Top 10: Hotel Loyalty Program Perks

April 17, 2012

For our second post in the Travel Tuesday Top 10 List series, we’ve rounded up a list of the top 10 benefits conferred upon members of various hotel loyalty programs, including several available not just to top-tier members but to mid- and intro-level members as well. As always, feel free to share your thoughts and [...]

18 comments Read the full article →

HotelChatter Annual WiFi Report and How to Get it With Elite Status

April 11, 2012

The annual HotelChatter WiFi Report came out yesterday with its usual lists of the Best and Worst hotel chains for WiFi (both in terms of fees and quality) as well as lists of some international properties where you’ll be able to connect, the best US cities for free WiFi access, and some Frequently Asked Questions [...]

8 comments Read the full article →

Carlson and Rezidor Merge: New Redemption Opportunities?

February 11, 2012

TPG reader Mike pointed out that Carlson Hotels merged with Rezidor Hotels last month to create the new Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, though the two hotel groups will legally remain separate entities. Altogether, the new chain will have over 1,300 hotels in 80 countries Most of those are Carlson properties including Radisson, Country Inns and [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

My 2012 Points Strategy: Hotel Elite Status

January 10, 2012

This is an installment in the My 2012 Points Strategy Series. Posts include: Taking Credit Card Inventory, Future Credit Card Applications, Airline Elite Status, Hotel Elite Status. Hotel elite status is often overlooked, but frankly can be much more rewarding than airline status, which seems to get all of the attention. Frankly, hotels can be a huge portion of [...]

42 comments Read the full article →

Free Points for Using Topguest

October 3, 2011

Free points are my favorite kind, so I cherish an opportunity to build my balances without breaking the wallet- unless it takes up a lot of my time. Topguest is a way to get free points just by using social media sites Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter, Gowalla and Instagram. The whole concept is that hotels want [...]

19 comments Read the full article →

How to Use Hotel Elite Status to Force Room Availability

September 20, 2011

I’ve been a top-tier member of multiple hotel chains over the years and there’s one benefit I’ve never used – the guaranteed room availability perk that is included with many of them. Generally, I book my travel in advance and I can usually find ways to get a reasonably priced room at my preferred property. [...]

19 comments Read the full article →

Sunday Reader Email Question: Should I Go For Top Tier Hotel Status?

August 28, 2011

TPG reader Michael writes: “In your mind is it more advantageous to focus on a single program (even after you have achieved their top status) or try to achieve status on multiple programs?” In my opinion, top tier hotel status with one chain beats having mid tier status with multiple chains. Generally the increase in [...]

8 comments Read the full article →

Up to 5,000 Bonus Points for Hotel Transfers to Aeroplan

August 24, 2011

Airlines often add incentives to transfer hotel points to them, because the hotel chains actually pay the airlines for the miles you get. From August 22 – Sept 18 Air Canada’s frequent flyer program Aeroplan is now offering up to 5,000 extra Aeroplan miles when you transfer the equivalent of 25,000 miles or hotel points [...]

1 comment Read the full article →

← Previous Entries