When Brian Cross scored a “four star” hotel in Milwaukee recently through Hotwire, he assumed he’d be staying in an upscale property. But as I’ve noted in the past, Hotwire’s stars don’t necessarily compare to other established ratings systems.
hotels
There’s an unwritten rule in travel journalism that any story about pets on planes must contain at least one Chihuahua anecdote. I know, because I’ve written many of them. So let’s get right to Charlotte Coan and her travel companion, Cricket.
After President Obama’s negative comments about Sin City and his subsequent mea culpa (“I love Vegas — always have!”), I realize that this might not be the most prudent way to start a column. But how do you fire up a discussion about smoking in hotels without mentioning America’s capital of secondhand smoke?
When Stewart Sheinfeld redeemed 10,000 Starwood points for a night at the W Chicago Lakeshore, he found a strange new rule at the bottom of his confirmation. It said if he canceled his room after 6 p.m. on the day of his arrival, he wouldn’t just lose his points — he’d also have to pay $689.
We didn’t need another survey to tell us that customer satisfaction had fallen to a new low in the travel industry. But we got one, anyway.
Why cut your frequent flier program and face public humiliation, as US Airways did last week, when you can quietly chip away the value of your awards in relative private? That’s what Starwood Hotels, which owns the Four Points, Sheraton and W brands, must have been thinking when they announced changes to their rewards program yesterday.
Elliott is consumer advocate 
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