Introduction I know this economy is tough on the travel industry.  I am an exception because my travel has increased this year, and because of this I was able to earn Platinum status at Marriott very early which has allowed me to experiment with other hotel programs.  I found it very interesting that the points earned per stay vary widely between programs, but the points earned are relative to the points required for free stays.  Being a member of multiple programs, I had no idea how they stacked up against each other.  This is the reason for my research. This year I have stayed at Starwood,...

Do you have Gold or Platinum status with a particular hotel chain?  Chances are you might be able to leverage that at other chains and retain your platinum treatment! This year I had a business trip to India where the closest Marriott was a Courtyard in the city center.  My office was 14km outside the city, and if you have ever driven in a city in India, you know how long it can take to go a few kilometers.  The company’s preferred hotel was the Meridien, just outside the city and near the airport. When I learned of this trip I was quite disappointed to learn that it was not feasible to stay...

I just stayed in a Courtyard for 2 nights this week.  It is the first time in almost a year that I have stayed in this brand, and based on my prior experiences I wasn’t all that excited about doing it, but I figured I would give it another shot. My past several stays at Courtyards have been less than stellar to say the least.  There is one in particular that I used to frequent on the west coast that seemed to have a problem every time I stayed there.  One time, I checked in and went to my room only to find the door to my room was open.  I suspiciously went inside checking in the closet, under the...

I have to admit, I was one of those people saying that the concept of delivering good service is long gone.  But recently I have had to eat my words.  I don’t know why things seem to be changing for the better:  if it’s the recession and the glut of hotel rooms available these days, or the hotel chains trying to be more competitive, or all the complaints about bad service.  I don’t know, and I don’t really care – I am just happy to experience great service and hope it continues. Sometimes it takes something going wrong to determine just how good the service is at a hotel.  Sometimes you...

Decisions, decisions….which program to choose?  It seems that hard-core road warriors who have been loyal to one brand for a long time have their favorites, but point-for-point, which program offers the better deal? Currently Marriott is running their MegaBonus promotion.  It runs from Sept 15, 2009 through January 15, 2010.  In that 4 month span, loyal members can earn up to 50,000 bonus points for staying 25 paid nights at any of the Marriott-family hotels.   Hilton announced a similar bonus program in October.  Starting the 7th of October, for every 4 stays at a Hilton-family hotel in the...

Is it just me, or is business travel really becoming more and more painful?  With my 150K flown miles and 100+ hotel nights so far this year, I am finding it increasingly dissatisfying to have to ask for every little thing.  No place has made this more obvious to me than the Westin SFO. I only remember staying at one Westin before.  It was in the 2003/2004 time frame and it was in mid-town Manhattan.  I remember a well-appointed lobby and decent guest rooms.  Now, I have platinum status at Starwood hotels, which includes Westin. (see Status Matching article)  I was excited when I was able to get...