Hotel Chain for Coffee Lovers???

New York Times is reporting that Starwood's  Le Méridien otels are aiming themselves to be the hotel of choice for Java Lovers.

To achieve the goal of being the hotel of choice for java lovers,  Le Méridien plans on having a dedicated coffee expert at each of its 100+ hotels.

"The lobby-based baristas will be responsible for encouraging social interaction and connecting guests to what’s happening locally, with recommendations on things to do around town.

“It’s a bit of a twist on a concierge, but more integrated into the food and beverage scene,” said Brian Povinelli, global brand leader for Le Méridien.

While hotels increasingly try to get guests to spend more time and money in their lobbies, Le Méridien’s coffee program seems to aim primarily at sociability. Guests will receive a voucher, making their first cup in the lobby free."

The concept is an interesting one. However, by striving to be the hotel of choice for java lovers, does Le Méridien alienate non-coffee drinks. For instance, I don't drink coffee, so this "barista" does nothing for me. The "baristas" sounds like a concierge that serves coffee. Ummm...no thanks!

I stayed at the  Le Méridien in Arlington, VA earlier this year. Overall, I enjoyed the hotel a lot, but I don't know how this new baristas will add to the experience. Le Meridian is this upscale hotel at a reasonable price. I didn't feel like it need a gimick like a coffee barista to make me want to stay there more.

Maybe this is Starwood's master plan? Will each of its hotel brand have something distinct about it. The W hotel is the party hotel. The Alfot's have the XYZ Bars. Now coffee baristas at Le Méridien?

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Current Giveaways & Contests

Here are some contest offering trips or points:

• Starwood Hotels has an interesting promotion to win 250,000 points
• Homewood Suites has a contest to win a trip to this years Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
• Win 10 Free Nights or 100,000 IHG Points through Intercontinental Toronto's Facebook Page
• Win a trip to NYC from Allure Magazine
• Win a Trip to Paris & London from CNN & the new movie Closed Circuit
• Win a Trip to Monte Carlo from TravelChannel.com

Can't win if you don't play . . . Good Luck!

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No Hotel Room For You!!!

Now this is the story all about how my life almost got flipped, turned upside down, and I'd like to take a minute, just sit right there, and I'll tell you how I almost got fired this week....

You see part of my job working as a junior loan officer is being an assistant to a senior loan officer. 90% of the time my assistance involves mortgage work. However, 10% of the time I need to help her with things in her personal life. Think Meryl Streep in Devils Wears Prada. Earlier this week, my boss learned about a death in the family and had to go to a funeral, at the very last minute. I was asked to book her a hotel room for that night. After checking Orbitz to see which hotels were in the area, I went to the Marriott website to book a room for that night.

At 10pm, I get a frantic call from my boss telling me that when she arrived at the hotel, she was told that the hotel was sold-out and they did not have a room for her. The Marriott employee told her that they had been sold out for a conference most of the week and they had no idea how she was able to book a room. However, the good news is that they had booked her a room at a comparable hotel down the road.

When she arrived at this "golf resort" hotel: the first thing she noticed was that she was the only woman at the hotel. The next thing she noticed was that the hotel was directly out of a Mad Men episode. The hotel seemed not to have been updated since the 1950s, shiny curtains, gold and green fabric walls and ash trays everywhere. 

After hearing my boss' story, I started to wonder, what rights do people who book rooms, but arrive to oversold hotels?

The answer is a none. Not a single right. Unlike the airline industry, who, by law, have to compensate you for denying you boarding due to overselling,  no laws govern hotel overbooking. Each hotel chain has its own policy about helping customers in this situation.

My research turned up that very few hotel chains have policies regarding oversold customers. Worse, finding those policies on individual chain's websites turned into a needle in a hay stake hunt.

The easiest to find was Hyatt. In Hyatt's Reservation FAQ, we find this little gem:

What is Hyatt's reservation guarantee?

If you book a room on Hyatt.com and prepay with a credit card, Hyatt will have a room reserved for you when you arrive, or will provide, at no cost to you:

·                  A free night at a comparable hotel

·                  Free transportation to and from that hotel

·                  One free telephone call to advise your family where you can be reached

Now, Starwood was a little more difficult to find, but this little paragraph was present before making hitting submit on a reservation:

 For reservations guaranteed with a form of payment at time of booking, rooms are held until hotel check-out time the day following arrival. For reservations not guaranteed with a form of payment at time of booking, rooms are held until set cancellation time per the rules of the reservation. In the event more guests arrive than can be accommodated due to hotel overbooking or an unforeseen circumstance, and hotel is unable to hold rooms consistent with this room hold policy, hotel will attempt to accommodate guests, at its expense, at a comparable hotel in the area for the oversold night(s), and will pay for transportation to that hotel.

Marriott has a whole page devoted towards reservation guarantees. However, the page makes it seem that these guarantees are only for people with Gold or Platinum Status. For example, you have Platinum status and arrive at a JW Marriott to find no room available for you with a reservation, this pages says $200 and 2 Room Certificates should be coming your way. What about a person like my boss with no status?

I spent time on Hilton's , Kimpton and Choice Hotel's websites and found no mention of what might happen to a customer arriving to a sold-out hotel with a reservation. So, I decided to call each reservation line to see what I could find out:

Choice Hotels: I was told that it is up to each local hotel to decided how to handle customer in oversold hotels.

Kimpton Hotels: The general policy is to find you a hotel nearby at the expense of the hotel.

Hilton Hotels: This was like pulling teeth. My first call, I was told that this would never happen, we do not oversell our hotels. My second call, I was told that the oversold hotel would direct me to call the 1-800 number to be rebooked. My third call, the agent told me that I should arrive early to the hotel to avoid this from happening. Very reassuring!

It is sad that there are no protections for hotel consumers like there is with airlines. Yes, I understand that hotels have an interest to have full hotels, but they do so without any risk. There is not penalty for there overselling actions. Worse, many of these hotels leave it up to the individual hotels to make the call of what the customer should received. Can you imagine getting off a plane at midnight, taking the airport shuttle to the oversold hotel only to find a desk agent unwilling to help you because he/she is having a bad day? I bet it happens more often than not.

Hotel chains need to have written policies on how to handle these situations. It should not be left to local hotel employees to decided what to give oversold customers. That will only lead to inconsistencies and even worse very unhappy customers. And I know this is probably going to far, these policies should be posted on their websites. Customers should have the comfort of knowing that a reservation will result in a room at the hotel, but on the slim chance a room is not available, you will be taken care of.

In the end, I still have a job, but a disgruntle boss. But at least she did not ask me to get her the new Harry Potter book by COB.


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JD's Newbie Hotel Choice

Important Note: JD and I may talk about the loyalty credit card for our particular airline and hotel in these posts. Credit card sign-up bonuses are an important part of the “game.” Any credit card links in this post will be public application links taken from the issuer's direct website. We do not earn income from you applying from the links. Similarly, please take an extra minute or two before applying for credit cards. If you do not pay your credit card balance off every month then you should stay away from this aspect of the game. Credit cards can lead to major long-term problems if not used correctly. I encourage you to read JD's post on Young People and the Chains of Credit Card Debt for more details.  

This is the last part of Chris and I’s debate on best newbie hotels and airlines. Other parts of our debates can be seen by clicking the links below:

Let’s Get Ready to Rumble (Intro)

JD’s Newbie Airline (US Airways)

Chris’s Newbie Airline (United)

Chris’s Newbie Hotel (Club Carlson)

I was having a hard time picking my newbie hotel. Many would probably guess, I would go with Hilton. I wrote here, why I am sticking with Hilton, even as others around running to other hotels. The benefits of Gold status (upgrades, breakfast, extra points) are very valuable. However, the recent increase in the number of points for a free nights made me think twice as naming it "Best Hotel for Newbies."

That title for me goes to Starwood. Say What!
                                        


Yes, Starwood is my choice for Best Newbie Hotel.

Starwood Hotels and Resorts has 9 different hotel brands: Aloft, Four Points, Sheraton, Westin, Le Meridean, Element, W, St. Regis and Luxury Collection. With over 1,100 hotels in 100+ countries, Starwood has hotels in almost anywhere you are headed.

The main reason that I am nominating Starwood as Best Newbie Hotel are the reward redemption's. Starwood's loyalty program is called Starwood Preferred Guest or known as SPG, in the mile world.  SPG gives you multiple ways to redeem Starwood points. The most straight forward way to redeem point is for free nights. Starwood Hotels are divided into seven (7) categories with higher category hotels costing more points per night than lower category hotels.

As you can see, SPG gives you the 5 nights for the cost of 4 night, when redeeming points for
categories 3-7. Week long redemption stays are cheaper, because of SPG 5th Night Free feature.

SPG has another feature that let's you stretch your points further: Points + Cash.

As you can see, one can spend points and cash to upgrade better rooms or even suites. I don't know if the spending the points on a suite is the best use, but there are times that it is well worth it: proposing to your girlfriend, impressing the in-laws or throwback high school hotel party.

There is a redemption chart for upgrades paid solely with points, as well:

One of the most interesting uses for SPG points is Flights and Nights. SPG gives you the ability to turn 60,000 Starpoints into 5 nights in a category 3 hotel and 50,000 airline miles or 70,000 Starpoints into 5 nights in a category 4 hotel and 50,000 airline points. The Miles Professor writes here how she use this redemption option to get two nights at the Conrad Tokyo (she transferred the miles to Virgin Atlantic)

I think the redemption option that makes Starwood stand out compared to other hotels is the ability to transfer points to an airline of your choice. What makes Starwood stand out is the transfer rate: 1 to 1. Starwood allows you to transfer their points into 29 different airlines. Only 6 of the 29 airlines don't transfer at a ratio of 1 SPG to 1 airline miles. Go here to see the list of airlines that Starwood allows its members to transfer to. As a basic member, the minimum number of SPG points one must transfer is 2500.

While I told you how you can spend the points with SPG, the other side of the coin is how one earns is SPG points. There are four major ways of earning SPG points:

Stay at their Hotels: 

Members at Preferred Guest level earn two (2) Starpoints for every eligible dollar spent on participating points. One can earn more points per dollar by gaining status within SPG.

Get and Use SPG Card:

Starwood offers a personal and business cobranded AMEX credit card. Currently, the offer is 25,000 SPG points after spending $5,000 in six months (10,000 points after first use and 15,000 points after spending six months). You earn 5 SPG per dollar spent at Starwood Hotels and 1 SPG per dollar on anything else. 

For the past two summers, the offer has increased to 30,000 SPG. I would wait until July to see if the offer comes up unless you need the card now!

Buy Starwood Points

I was hesitant to add this option, but it is an earning option. To buy points go here. Currently, you can save somewhere between 15% to 25% off buying points. Typically, you can by $0.035 per SPG point with a minimum 500 point buy.

Transfer

Transfer points from American Express Membership Rewards or Diner's Club

Frequently, Starwood has promotions to give you the option of increasing your points balance. For instance, in the past two quarters, SPG has offered targeted members opportunities to earn free nights or bonus points by staying at their hotel.

Yes, its nice that they have multiple brands for different price points. Its also great that they have more than 1,100 properties in 100 countries. The bread in butter is your ability to spend the points. Unlike Hilton or Club Carlson, a small amount of points can go far with Starwood. With free nights starting as cheaply as 3,000 or 4,000 points and the option to mix cash and points, a small amount of points can go pretty far. That is why I am recommending SPG for newbies. 

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Why I am Sticking With Hilton

As many of you have heard, Hilton made some major changes in their award redemption's structure. In essence, they create additional categories for their top level properties. If you have been under a rock, you can read Loyalty Lobby take here, Gary's (View from the Wing) here or The Points Guy's here.

The typical reaction occurred: the community is up in arms. Those making the most noise are those who have been stashing away points for an aspiration trip. We are talking people with hundreds of thousands of Hilton Honor points.

Would I be upset if I had those balances? Probably. Do I feel bad for those people? Not at all. Devaluation happens every year. At least one brand changes their point redemption chart and the community gets upset. That’s why I don’t stockpile points. I am sitting on about 100,000 US Airways miles and that is making me nervous, because they are the next travel company to make a change (That is not a prediction, but a promise).

Many in the community have indicated that this change was the final straw. They are making their displeasure heard by talking with their money: spending it at other hotels. Chris mentioned yesterday that he is thinking of giving Club Carlson. I might be in the minority, but I am sticking with Hilton.

Why?

Hilton has been very good to me. Ever since I obtained Gold Status with them, staying with them has been great. Hilton Gold Status is one of the best low level hotel status out there. With Hilton Gold, I get: 

Quick reservations and check-ins based on your preference
• Late check-out (when available)
• Express check-out
• Spouse stays free
• Complimentary access to fitness centers and health clubs (when they charge)
• Two complimentary bottles of water per stay
• eCheck-In: Select your room and check in online up to 24 hours in advance at participating properties
• Complimentary In-Room, High-Speed Internet Access during stays
• Complementary Breakfast
• 25% bonus on points

The free Internet and breakfast can save you tons of money. My most recent stay in Stamford, breakfast was the buffet in the restaurant. If I didn’t have status, I would have paid $19.99. I took two of buddies for breakfast, so I saved close to $60.00. Paying for Internet at hotels can be costly, upwards of $15 a day. Just with breakfast and Internet, my Gold status saves me money.

On the other hand, Gold, low level status at Starwood, gets you

• Three Starpoints for every eligible U.S. dollar spent
• 4 p.m. late checkout (when available)
• An enhanced room at check-in (when available)
• Special elite customer service telephone line (available in most countries).
• Your choice of a welcome gift with each stay. Choose from bonus Starpoints, complimentary in-room Internet access and a complimentary beverage.

 Platinum level, Hyatt’s low level status is:

•  Preferred room including rooms on higher floors or larger rooms, (when available)
•  Complimentary in-room Internet access
•  Dedicated check-in area
•  Extend your stay until 2:00 p.m.(when available)
•  15% point bonus when choosing points

To get Starwood Gold, one needs ten (10) stays or 25 nights. On the other hand, Platinum at Hyatt requires five (5) stays, 15 nights or getting the Chase Hyatt Card. Similar to Platinum at Hyatt, Gold at Hilton can be achieved with 30 stays, 60 nights, 120,000 base points of the Citi Hilton card.

Platinum at Hyatt and Gold at Hilton can both be received by obtaining a credit card, but Gold at Hilton provides breakfast and possible access to executive floor lounges (ie upgrades). In Tokyo, the lounge provided me breakfast, afternoon tea and evening appetizers. Why was this important? In a foreign country, the ability to have a guaranteed place to eat was comforting.

The guarantee with Hilton is quality. Hilton in the United States is the same as Hilton, all over the world. According to Hilton's website, the Hilton brand has over 3,900 hotels in 90 countries and 650,000 rooms, the most of any hotel chain. Compare that to Starwood being in 93 countries with only 1,000 hotels or Hyatt being found 46 countries with about 500 proprieties. As you can see, Hilton is in over half of the recognized countries of the world. You have a great chance that Hilton will have a hotel where you want to vacation. Other hotel brands can't say that.

The reason why I am sticking with Hilton is their Gold status. I get so much for giving so little. I have Gold status through the end of the year. At that point, I will get the Citi Hilton card, which hopefully still offers me Gold Status. Guranteed breakfast and internet are great preks, savings my travel budget upwards of $30 a day.

Yes, it will now cost more points to stay at certain hotels. It just means that we have to work harder in the "game." But the sweatness of those award rooms will be only better.

If Hilton reduces the benfits to Gold status then I am ending our relationship. Until that time, I am sticking with Hilton.



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Hotel Review: Le Meridien Arlington

Le Meridien Arlington is looked a short walk from the Rosslyn Metro system (located on the Blue and Orange Lines). I have walked by this building for years and never knew it was a hotel until about six months ago.

A combination of promotions (described here) led me to do a last minute hotel stay.

You enter the front door and you are greeted by a dog food bowl/food. I don't know if the hotel is pet friendly, but this is a positive sign.

Entering on the ground level, you are asked to go to the fourth floor to check-in. At 8pm, no one was at the ground floor to greet you, but when I checked out their was an employee who asked if I needed a cab.

The building is half a hotel and half condominium. Therefore, there are signs on some elevators indicating they are only for condominium residents.

The lobby of the hotel is small with the check-in desk directly in front of the elevators.

Check-in was a breeze with nothing more than a few questions:

Are you staying for one night? Yes

Do you need one or two room keys? Two

Do you need the mini bar key? No.

After those questions, I was sent to my room on the sixth floor.

I was given room 602, at the end of the hallway.

The hotel is curved on one side. Therefore, room 602 is the smallest on the floor. I check on other floors and the xx2 room is the smallest throughout the hotel. Therefore, I would avoid this room for its size and noise (to be discussed later).

When you enter the room, you have a small hallway and the bathroom is directly to the right.

The bathroom was a little cramped, but had very modern fixures.

The shower had a rain shower head and was very roomy.

If you are a bath type person, the tub was extra wide and angled deep on one side and shallow on the other.

The hotel provided squirt bottles with shampoo, conditioner and body wash. I only hope that they get cleaned between guests; otherwise, eww...

The bathroom door was rolling, but easier to move than at other Starwood hotels.

The room was very small. It was ok for one person, but two people would feel crowded.

The closet was a great size. I would recommend keeping your suitcase in there; otherwise, space would be tight.

It took me some time to find the dresser and finally found it to be "end table," to the left of the bed. It was very narrow to get to it, so don't expect to bring your suitcase to the dresser.

The right "end table" held the mini bar and snack cabinet. It was suppose to be locked (the front desk asked if I needed the key), but it wasn't. I forgot to take a picture. The desk had multiple electric outlets and places to plug into the network.

When I went to bed, the noise from the heating units outside my window was very loud. At first, I thought it was landing planes, as the hotel is in the path of the airport. However, flights end at midnight and the noise did not. The next morning I found the culprit:

Due to the shape of the building, any room numbered 2 will have this noise all night long.

The hotel had a great gym on the third floor of the hotel. It is shared with the condominium owners.

I worked out twice. Once when I arrived and the next morning.

The hotel has many sitting areas to the left and right of the check-in desk.

I decided to eat breakfast at their restaurant, Amuse.There is little to eat in Rosslyn, on the weekends. All the fast food restaurants are open, but if you want real food expect to go to Georgetown over the bridge.

Amuse is a nicely decorated restaurant with a bar area in the front.

The dining area is in the back. The dining area is filled with natural light with floor to ceiling windows that over look the Potomac and Georgetown. The restaurant has outdoor seating, but it was foggy  rainy and cold, when I ate there.

The breakfast offers were two buffets: cold and hot. The cold buffet was $8 and included fruit, pastries, cereal and yogurt:

The hot buffet was $15 included everything on the cold buffet, eggs, pancakes, french toast, sausage, bacon etc.

I choose the hot buffet and it was terrible. The food was luke warm and rubbery. I should have gone with my gut and stuck with the cold buffet. Juice, coffee and tea were included with either buffet.

The stay was ok. The location of the hotel is amazing. Rosslyn is located on two metro lines that get you into Washington, DC downtown or the monuments within 10 minutes. If you are driving, the hotel is within 3 minutes of multiple major highways. However, the hotel does not offer much. It is not a great hotel for families as there is no pool or places for the kids to run around. For business people, this hotel is great. Easy access to DC, Reagan National Airport or other places in Northern Virginia.

Last Night's Mattress Run

Last night, I decided to do a mattress run. It was a spur of the moment decision. I was meeting a friend in Georgetown for a drink, so it worked out perfect to stay in Rosslyn.

In December, I was targeted by Starwood with an offer of 4,000 Starwood points for my each of my next three stays before February 28th. In addition, Le Meridien has a current promotion of 1,000 points after your first stay and 2,000 points for each stay after that. To register for this promotion, go to this website, but you must register by Tuesday January 15th.

I decided to book a night at the Le Meridien Arlington for $89 a night, but would get me approx. 5,200 Starwood points. No a bad hull for one night stay.

I will do a full review later this week, but my first impression was that Le Meridien is a strange hotel brand. This is my first stay with this brand, so I can only judge based on the hotel in Arlington, VA. They are very proud of their hotel design and music playing in the hotel.

Happy Sunday to All!!!

Hotel Review: Atlanta Sheraton

Back in August, I took a weekend vacation with my cousin to Atlanta. She lives in Florida and I reside in Virginia and we wanted to visit a new city. After weeks of emails, we finally decided on Atlanta for three nights.

Our first night, we spent at the Sheraton Peachtree Center. I think the hotel cost us $130 for the night. FYI: The hotel is a walk down hill two or three blocks from the Peachtree Metro stop.

The lobby, which I didn't take a picture, was small. There were three employees checking in guests at 8:30p.m. Our check-in agent was super funny and when I told her we only staying for one night before moving to the Hilton, she responded "I would stay at the Hilton over this place."  Even though her comment may not have been professional, her honest opinion was refreshing and dead on.

I don't have status with Starwood, so we were given a standard room with two beds. Getting from the elevators on our floor to our room took 5 minutes. The hallways were long and dark. When we arrived at our room, it was cramped with two full beds, two sitting chairs, a desk and dresser.

The bathroom had an awkward door leading to the bathroom. It was a heavy sliding door, that took much effort, to open and close.

This was a similar style door I had at the Four Points in San Diego (another Starwood Property).  I understand this style door saves space, but its awkward for the customer.

The bathroom was small like the room.

This may or may not or probably is the room I blogged about here. The hotel had an indoor/outdoor pool. What I mean here is that the pool was in the hotel, but the ceiling of the pool area was opened aired. It was a little courtyard within the hotel.

Surrounding the pool was hotel rooms.  I would not recommend one of these rooms (first and second floor), because the pool is open late and the area was bright. If you are sensitive to light while sleeping, you might get an unexpected surprise with your room.

There was plenty of seating and on a night like we stayed, cool enough to sit outside with a glass of beer or wine.

Slightly off the pool was the gym.

The gym was huge. I worked out in the morning and each piece of equipment had a TV. They provided towels, water and extra headphones, which I appreciated because I forgot mine in my room.

This hotel was a Green Hotel. By decided not getting your refreshed on stays over 1 night and placing this door hanger on your door each night, you have the option of a $5 food and beverage voucher or 500 SPG Starpoints. Take the points! We were only staying one night, so we were ineligible.

Overall, I would not stay at this hotel again. The property is aging and there was nothing special about this place. Is it a good place for a one night stay? Yes. More than that....no! Stay down the block at the Hilton.

Oh, there is an excellent dinner two blocks up, open 24 hours (very important to find these places)

Chicken Fingers were tough, but the breakfast of eggs, home fries and corn beef was amazing!

 The dessert was the best. The dinner had many choices and the pieces were huge. We went with a Snickers and since in Atlanta, we went with Coca Cola Cake. Yum!