Hotels

Marriott no longer blocking personal wifi. Great?

a man in a suit and tie

Marriott announced last week that they will not block personal Wi-Fi networks in the future after being caught doing so and a fine of $600k from the FCC.  In their initial FCC petition, Marriott said their primary concern was about the potential of cyberattacks and their network slowing down. While this petition asked the FCC…

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Hilton starting a new “lifestyle” brand

a bottle of wine with a gold label

Normally when I hear that a company is creating a new “lifestyle” brand I roll my eyes. According to Wikipedia a lifestyle brand, in theory, attempts to embody the interests, attitudes and opinions of a group or a culture. It seems gimmicky, and often feels like pandering. But sometimes the brand actually sounds like a really…

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Tipping hotel housekeeping

a red sign with white text

A question that comes up frequently is if travelers should tip hotel housekeeping, and if so how much should they tip. This discussion has come up again with the announcement that Marriott is partnering with Maria Shriver to start leaving envelopes in their rooms suggesting that hotel guests tip housekeeping. According to travel tipping etiquette,…

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Inside the minds of business travelers

a poster of a travel company

A couple of weeks ago, Hyatt launched what they’re calling “The World’s Largest Focus Group”. It was basically a series of Twitter chats with the goal of finding out what business travelers really think. While I wasn’t able to participate (darn job!) over 1,000 people responded to the chats with over 9,000 tweets, giving Hyatt…

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