- RIP OFF ALERT: Now The InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown Is Charging A ‘Facility Fee’ by Traveling For Miles. The hotel industry has proven time and time again that it’s unable to self regulate when it comes to resort/facility/urban fees that are mandatory charges and not avoidable. Part of a capitalist economy is making user all parties (including consumers) have access to perfect information. If a fee is mandatory it should be included in the list price.
- United-Chase Rift Creates Opportunities for Other Credit Card Partnerships by Skift. This will be interesting to follow. Chase is unhappy about the perceived devaluation and United wants more money, a lot more money.
- Primitive Technology: Fired Clay Bricks by Primitive Technology.
Deals starting/expiring at the end of today or starting today (view the full deal calendar here):
- Lots, too many to list. View full list here.
Deals starting/expiring at end of tomorrow:
- [Targeted] AmEx Offer: Kimpton, Spend $300+ & Receive $60 Statement Credit
- [YMMV] American Express Delta Offers – Up To 75,000 Miles + $200 Statement Credit – No Lifetime Language
- Amex Offers: QuickTrip Free $15 ($5 x 3)
- Increased American Express Business Delta Offers Now Available
- American Express Platinum Cards To Lose Boingo Internet Access
- [YMMV] Bank Amerideals/Chase Offers: Save 10% at Staybridge Suites, up to $41 Cashback
- Chase IHG Premier Up To 120,000 Points + $50 Statement Credit
- Delta Flash Sales: Europe From 56k, Asia From 65k, Latin America From 34k, Domestic From 11k – All Round Trip
- Chase Pay: Load Starbucks With $20 & Get 150 Stars (Now Live)
- 7-Eleven: Play Free Pikachu Game, Get A Free Coffee
- IHG Q2/Q3 2019 ‘Accelerate’ Promotion: Make Every Stay Count
- Delta Flash Sales: Europe From 56k, Asia From 65k, Latin America From 34k, Domestic From 11k – All Round Trip
Here are some of the most popular posts from over the weekend:
- [YMMV] Amazon Smart Plug: $2.5 (Normally $25) – Amazon Echo Owners Only
- Tip for Adding Two Amex Offers to your Cards (Points + Cash)
What I would really love to see is not the “rift that creates opportunities for other partnerships” but the rift that makes loyalty program pencil pushers wake up and ask themselves — maybe, just f@#$&*g maybe we’ve gone too far this time.
It started with a “resort fee” for exotic destinations and it almost made sense- there’s much more than the room that’s included, so pay up.
Now it’s just “The Extra Fee” fee
Don’t give them any ideas or “Exotic Destination Fee” will become an additional fee.
Interesting revenue number: “Expedia makes $10.56 in revenue per ticket, so he guessed Expedia could lose about $90 million per year, or about 0.8 percent of total global revenue.”
IHG intercontinental hotel is worth staying at least once, I really liked this hotel. Only valet parking option for $48 per night, the parking garage is all 5 floors below the first floor. You check in on 70th floor, very fast elevators. The hotel lobby is very nice with amazing views of LA (of course hazy), restaurant, bar and lots of seating options. Pool is on 7th floor.
Spire is on 73rd floor and they charge $20 for non-hotel guests with $10 food credit. Rooms are very modern with smart lighting. Waaay better than New york high rise hotels.
I saw some visitors coming to lobby for food/drinks and hang out.
Capitalism is how all the companies raced to send technology and jobs to china.
Government should get out of the way. Let capitalism finish what it started. /s
Dumb capitalists.
You consistently write some of the dumbest comments I see on the internet. That’s quite an accomplishment, congratulations!
China thanks you for your help.
Dey terk er jerbs!!
Clearly the problem of dumb capitalists is very wide spread.
https://www.npr.org/2019/04/12/711779130/as-china-hacked-u-s-businesses-turned-a-blind-eye
Those corporate paper pushers are neither dumb nor victims. They are cashing in their options while shafting the long term shareholders. The dumb capitalists are those who have blind faith in the system. Idiots like JF.
So happy to see United doing something right for their business for once. Hopefully 5/24 is brought up in these discussions.
Don’t be so sure that United is doing something right. If the rift with Chase happens, it might not be confined to the co-branded United miles cards but might also affect the transferability of UR points from the Sapphire cards. From the frequent flyer’s point of view, I don’t want to United to fall into the same business relationship that American has with Citi and Barclay. It’s not as good as what we have now with Chase. And there is probably no chance whatsoever that United will gain a foothold with Amex, because Delta would raise a fuss.
Yes, odds are United is doing something wrong because pretty much everything theyve done in the past 5 years regarding their business model is wrong. Personally, I find it interesting that they are fighting with Chase and also fighting with Expedia on an entirely different matter about how they sell UA flights. Since United can’t figure out how to fight their competitors who are cleaning their clock in almost every major market, perhaps their new strategy is to simply fight their vendors.
I came across one of those “destination” fees when in Boston for a quick business trip last month. Hyatt Regency Boston put this on the bill as “other/unspecified other fee” which caused issues with getting fully reimbursed, further wasting my time. Enough extra hassle and annoyance with the semi-hidden fee that I’ll look elsewhere next time. Hotel itself was nice enough, but I used zero of the “benefits.” Even the free bottled water promised in the fee description was not labeled as such in the room so I didn’t realize that was offered until i checked out.
How much was the “other/unspecified other fee”?