Several years ago, I began a cross-country trip in San Francisco, where I’d booked a night at the Marriott through Priceline for something like $85. But because I’d arrived so late in the evening, the only room left for me wasn’t the windowless heck-hole next to the ice machine I would usually expect, but a deluxe room with a sweeping view of the city. Little did I know I’d inadvertently followed one of Travel + Leisure’s tips for hotel upgrades. [More]
hotels
Hotels Are Enticing You With Perks, Just Not Ones You Want
By 6.4.10
In order to scare up some vacation business in a rough economy, hotels are falling all over themselves to outdo one another with perks, such as free breakfast buffets, video game console access, daycare and late checkouts. The problem is that the offers seem a bit tone deaf and aren’t quite giving travelers reasons enough to ante up. [More]
I Got A Free Night In A Hotel: Should I Complain?
By 6.2.10
Ryan writes that he has a moral dilemma. Traveling for a wedding, he and his wife checked in to their hotel late. Past midnight. Somehow, this resulted in their not being charged for the first night of their stay, even though hotel staff promised to straighten the situation out. [More]
Travel: Is That Online Deal For Real?
By 5.27.10
Our inboxes and search results are filled with great-sounding travel deals, $35 airline tickets, $399 three-day all-inclusives and the like, but have you ever actually tried to snag one? Oftentimes it seems a low “landing prices” shoots up after all the fees are added, or if you try to get a date other than a very narrow set, or you want to do something crazy like return home afterwards. NYT took a look and found that while that’s true, there are a few things you can do to improve your chances of getting a price close to the advertised one. [More]
Pantone Hotel Lets You View World Through Rose (15-1626)-Colored Glasses
By 5.19.10
We know how it is. You get to the hotel, turn on the lights in your room, and — gasp — instead of the soothing Rose Dust (14-1307) you expected, the walls are painted a hideous shade of Butternut (18-0830). And those sheets — are they really Fuchsia Red (18-2328)? If this has happened to you, there’s now an alternative, where every aspect of your lodging experience will be perfectly color-matched: The Pantone Hotel in Brussels, designed to “suit your savvy palette and colorful imagination.” [More]
Are Pay-Per-View Hotel Movies Pointless In 2010?
By 5.12.10
LodgeNet provides pay-per-view movie services to hotels, and the company’s latest financial filing shows nearly a 10% drop in revenue in the first quarter of 2010 compared to the same period a year ago. (And that’s after a 19% drop in revenue from 2008 to 2009.) Travelers seem to be wising up to the high prices of hotel pay-per-view and are resorting to other ways to stay entertained. Now if only our laptops and smartphones could contain a mini-bar compartment. [More]
Which Hotels Have Decent Wi-Fi?
By 5.3.10
If you want to pay out the nose for Wi-Fi, stay in a W hotel, says HotelChatter. The site has released its 6th annual report on Wi-Fi in U.S. hotels, and the W Hotel chain is named as the worst with no free lobby access and $15/day room rates. Other hotels that suck when it comes to wireless: DoubleTree, Four Seasons, Marriott, and Mandarin Oriental. [More]
Hilton Hotel Tells You To "Just Wait It Out" While Other Guests Prank Call Your Room
By 4.27.10
Staying at the Hilton for his first-year wedding anniversary, Brian and his wife had to suffer through two different groups of fellow guests prank-calling his room, excessive noise, and a non-working air-conditioner. They did give him one free night for his troubles, but that didn’t make his experience any less unpleasant. Here’s the letter he just shot off to the CEO of Hilton Hotels and other top-ranking executives to express his dissatisfaction. It got him his entire stay refunded, a voucher for two-nights stay at any Hilton, and, holiest of holies, an apology from the manager. [More]
Embassy Suites Wants To Sell You Bedding And Alarm Clocks
By 4.19.10
Embassy Suites plans to launch a site next month that will let people buy sheets, comforters, pillows, coffee pots, and alarm clocks just like the ones in their hotel rooms, reports national hotel paper USA Today. A Hilton executive in charge of the Embassy brand says the company doesn’t plan to make much money off of it and that the items will be priced below retail, but I’m not sure that means you’ll find any bargains. [More]
W Hotel In Hollywood Rescinds Too Uncool For Pool Policy
By 4.17.10
It seems the too-cool-for-school policy at The W in Hollywood of barring its own guests from its swanky rooftop parties has gone the way of other bad ideas in hotel management. After Jason Cochran, blogger for The Gadling, called them out for their super douchey policy, management has done some quality backpedaling. [More]
W Hotel In Hollywood Won't Let Guests Use Its Pool
By 4.6.10
If you plan to visit Los Angeles and want to stay at the W Hollywood, don’t expect to get to see the rooftop pool. The hotel contracted the running and maintenance of its pool out to a Las Vegas promotion company, and now it’s been turned into an exclusive club and is off-limits to paying customers of the hotel. [More]
Reach Super 8 Executive Customer Service
By 4.6.10
Got a Super 8 customer service issue they’re not being so super about, and regular customer service leaves you with a dull metallic taste in your mouth? Try one of these escalated points of contact. [More]
No One Has The Power To Cancel Your Hotel Reservation Made Through An Airline Web Site
By 4.3.10
Booking a hotel room through an airline’s web site can lead to a roach-infested, unacceptable hotel experience, as reader Bruce learned recently. Nick tells Consumerist that he had a similar Kafkaesque hotel booking experience booking a Super 8 reservation through Continental Airlines. He learned that no one at either the airline or the hotel had the power to change his reservation–even though he was trying to cancel the reservation months in advance. [More]
14 Ways Hotels Slash Costs
By 3.25.10
Coupon Sherpa came up with a list of ways hotels get sneaky to cut down on overhead. [More]
Boston Bridal Show Was Massive Scam That Duped Over 6,000 Victims
By 3.3.10
This weekend was supposed to be the Boston 411 Spring Home & Bridal Show, but it was cancelled at the last minute. Now police are saying that the entire thing was an elaborate scam that pulled in money from attendees and vendors, raking in more than $150,000 over the past five months. The scammers used a website, Facebook page and Twitter account to promote the event, used PayPal to accept payments, sold fake hotel room reservations and issued fake conference passes. Boston police and the FBI are investigating, but so far nobody has been taken into custody. [More]
Septuagenarian Couple Scammed Inns And Hotels For Four Years
By 2.8.10
The next time you stay at a bed and breakfast and you see a kindly old couple lingering in the common room after breakfast, be suspicious! The Wolffs have been scamming inns, hotels, rented homes, and bed & breakfasts since 2005, reports the Boston Globe. They offer to pay via check, and until recently–when they stayed in one place so long that they were still around when the check bounced–nobody ever thought they might be pulling a fast one. They’re due in court this month for defrauding several inns over the past summer. [More]
Hotel Employs Professional Snugglers To Pre-Warm Beds
By 1.23.10
If you’re looking for a job in the hospitality industry and have highly refined snuggling skills, some Holiday Inns in Britain might have just the job for you. They’re offering guests the opportunity to have their beds pre-warmed by a member of the hotel staff. Yes, a hotel employee will climb into your bed wearing fleece pajamas, stay there until the bed reaches a temperature of 68 degrees Fahrenheit, and then go away. [More]
Hilton's Points-For-Haiti Offer Isn't A Good Value
By 1.20.10
If you’ve got Hilton Honors points, the hotel chain will let you redeem them as cash donations for Haiti relief efforts. That’s a pretty nice offer, but Oyster Hotel Reviews points out that the hotel chain is only offering $25 in donations for every 10,000 points–an exchange rate that puts the points at a fourth of what they’re usually worth. [More]
