One of the anticipated hotel launches for the year for me is the Le Meridien Mahabaleshwar Resort & Spa. This is a resort that has been in the making forever, and I was very excited when they decided to open up March 1, 2015. Eager to check it out earlier than everyone else, I went ahead and made reservations for the coming weekend, except, the property has not opened doors yet. I got an email from the sales team of the hotel, a month ago informing me about the fact that the hotel is not opening. No remorse, nothing except an apology. As if, I am supposed to take it as fait accompli that the hotel decided not to open…
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Earn hotel stays at Starwood while riding with Uber
There was a great new association announced in the loyalty marketing space yesterday. Starwood’s loyalty program SPG tied up with Uber to offer SPG and Uber members the potential to earn SPG loyalty points for their Uber rides. On the face of it, this is great news for regular Uber users who may also be frequent guests of Starwood hotels. Here is the lowdown: You earn 1 StarPoints every time you spend USD 1 on an Uber ride, approximately INR 63. You earn for Uber rides around the world When you are staying at a SPG property, between those dates, you earn between 2-4 StarPoints depending on your status with SPG (2 points for base members, 3 for Gold and…
Best Hotel Promotions Q1 2015: Indian Perspective
The Hotel Promotions for 2015’s first quarter/trimester are out, and some of them are really sweet for the India focus. I thought this would be a good time to summarise all the hotel promotions, and analyse them from the Indian perspective so that you can pick your affiliations for the first quarter. IHG India Free Nights (Get 1 Night free for 3 nights in India/Nepal) + Set Your Sights: IHG is running a superb promotion for their members in India and Nepal. For every 3 nights you spend in India/Nepal, you get a free night certificate which you can spend at their hotels across the globe in the whole of 2015. The promotion runs till April 30, 2015. This can…
Le Meridian Mahabaleshwar Resort & Spa to open on March 1, 2015
It is always interesting to see a chain open a vacation property around India, something which has started to happen recently. Apart from Goa, most international hotel chains haven’t worked on their expansion in the leisure market around India and they are catching up now. One of the properties I’ve been keenly tracking is the Le Meridian which is going to open in Mahabaleshwar, a 6-8 hour ride away from Mumbai, based in the hills. Mahabaleshwar is a sleepy town full of tourists when the strawberries are there, and a getaway from Mumbai. However, it did not have a chain property so far. Le Meridian is changing that from March 2015, when they open their gates on March 1. The…
Starwood to move HO to India in 2015
Starwood Hotels is planning to move their CEO Frits van Paasschen and other key executives to come and live and work out of Starwood’s India hotels in Mumbai and Delhi for a month, in the month of March 2015. For a company in the hospitality business, to be close to their customers is important, and Starwood is making that effort. In the past, Starwood’s top brass has been over to Shanghai for a month in 2011, and in 2013, about 200 Starwood executives were in Dubai for 30 days, appreciating local nuances to build them into their management philosophy for the regions. As per the Wall Street Journal, Starwood already has 40 hotels they operate in India, and another 36…
I finally get my first Best Rate Guarantee claim. Yay!
With the penetration of the Internet, one of the enabling factors for the various travel providers such as hotels is their ability to cut out the middle-men, i.e., the travel agents. The only way the can afford to do this, or they claim to do this, is by promising that they are putting out the best available rates on their websites, and no one else is going to be lower. The hotel business does have a lot more commissions as compared to the airline business, which works on wafer thin margins for the agents now. Hence, the ability to discount for a travel agency is much more, and they do it all the time. What do I stand to lose,…
SPG offering credit / double points for India stays
Starwood is offering upto $50 credit for booking a stay in the Indian properties, along with the Maldives and Bangladesh ones. You need to reserve using the code CREBAR to be able to enjoy the promotion. Reservations using this booking code can be made till August 10, 2014 while the stays have to be completed by December 31, 2014. The room credit will be not applicable for adjusting against the room rate, but against services at the hotel, such as dining and spa. I checked up the rates, and the promotion is valid on flexible rates. For instance, the ITC Rajputana is offering rates of INR 8500 per night, and offering USD 25 credit, which could be good for a…
SPG & Hyatt promotions in your mailbox
Last week, there were some targeted promotions sent out via email to members of the Starwood SPG and Hyatt Gold Passport programs, which should be of interest to some of you. These would have quietly landed up in your inbox and you need to look for them and register to be able to make use of the offer. Hyatt has sent out offers to various members, which I believe would be targeted for activation or comeback of members. The offers range from: 1 free category 1-4 night for one eligible stay 1000 points for one eligible stay 5000 points for five eligible stay 5000 points for three eligible stays 5000 points for one eligible stay 5000 points for four eligible…
SPG’s new promotion offers 2x points till July 2014
Starwood launched their new promotion for the summer months of May through July 2014, and it is the regular 2x points per stay promotion they do many times over the past years. This time around, it is called the Earn Away Get Away, and earns you 2x points on all eligible stays (excluding Award nights and Cash+Points), and 3x points if your stay includes a Sunday as well. If you’re in the Middle East, Saturday counts instead of Sunday for the 3x points. This means, you earn 4 points per $ if you’re not an elite, and 6 points if you choose to bring in the weekend at an eligible SPG property as well. And yes, you get your elite…
Get hitched at a Starwood hotel in India/APAC, get upto 150K SPG points
Starwood released a promotion earlier this month targeting couples who are getting married, offering them 3 points per US$ spent up to 150,000 SPG points for booking their wedding celebrations at a participating Starwood property by July 1, 2014 and getting hitched before March 31, 2015. Promotion is valid across the Asia Pacific, with few hotels as exceptions. In India, all Starwood properties apart from ITC Mughal, ITC Kakatiya, Le Meredien New Delhi, The Westin Gurgaon and The Westin Sohna Resort & Spa are excluded. There are two ways of getting SPG points in this promotion: Wedding banquet (food, beverage and function room rental) contract must be signed with the hotel between 1 March and 1 July 2014, and wedding…
Starwood offering unlimited bonus points for referrals via LinkedIn
Starwood just put out an promotion where they are offering a 1000 SPG points for new signups to the Starwood Preferred Guest program referred by an existing SPG member. The existing members will have to sign up for the promotion here, and then send out references to people they know via LinkedIn. (If you want a referral, please get in touch with me at aj at livefromalounge dot com and I will be happy to connect with you.) This promotion is only valid for those with a resident address in India. The referrer gets 1000 SPG points for every new referral they give out, who sign up for the SPG program before March 25, 2014 and make their first stay…
