Hotel Scam: Charged for Fake Damage

An AFF member was mortified recently to discover an Australian hotel had processed $500 in erroneous charges after check-out. Mark3000 called the hotel to ask why their credit card had been charged $500 without their knowledge. The “aggressive” hotel manager claimed that this member had caused damage to the room. Mark3000 refutes this claim and the hotel … Continued

Fifth Night Free on Marriott, Hilton Awards

Hotel loyalty programs can be useful if you stay at hotels often. Points can be put towards free hotel nights, and there are two hotel loyalty programs that even offer every fifth night free when booking with points. The Marriott Bonvoy program offers the “fifth night free” benefit to all program members when redeeming points … Continued

Macquarie Hilton Honors Credit Card Axed

Macquarie Bank will discontinue its Hilton Honors Macquarie Platinum credit card, the only co-branded credit card of any hotel loyalty program in Australia, from 1 May 2019. Macquarie Bank already stopped offering its popular Hilton credit card to new cardholders last year. Now, it has advised existing Hilton Honors Macquarie Platinum cardholders that from 1 … Continued

SPG, Marriott Loyalty Programs Merge as Marriott Bonvoy

The Marriott Rewards, Starwood Preferred Guest and The Ritz-Carlton Rewards programs will combine under a new brand from next month. On 13 February 2019, the three programs will merge to become the “Marriott Bonvoy” loyalty program. This will be the final step in the ongoing merger of Starwood and Marriott. The Starwood Preferred Guest, Ritz-Carlton … Continued

Why Do Hotels Send Such Pointless Emails?

Most hotels take customer service very seriously. And it’s not hard to see why. Most cities have literally hundreds of hotels, and all offer the same basic service. So, personalised customer service is seen as a key differentiator to drive loyalty and attract repeat business – especially for high-end hotels. At some hotel chains, it … Continued