I'm so sick of hotel internet. Why does it have to consistently suck? Sure…. there are exceptions. The W in Seattle had pretty fast internet last week, and i can think of a couple other properties that have had decent internet speeds, but by and large, hotel internet is awfully slow. To think that some people actually have to PAY for those speeds is absolutely ridiculous. Internet was so slow a couple nights ago at the Courtyard Boulder Louisville that I decided to run a head to ...

Starwood rolled a bunch of great updates for Platinum Members this week. I won't re-hash them all. You can read about the changes here and here. And if you want to read Gary's thoughts, go here. My thoughts will come in a future blog post.

Today, Hilton responded. Previously, Elite members would have to choose between a list of benefits. As of today, Diamond Members get them all. Check here to see the list of benefits on Hilton's ...

Marriott Rewards has announced its first promotion of 2012.  This promotion is far less generous than the one mentioned by Kevin SPG Q1 Promo: 2x and 3x Points, Discourages Hotel Hopping.

MegasBonus 2012 Details:

After two paid stays, earn a free night- up to two nightsRegister by March 31, 2012To qualify you must stay consecutive nights at a participating hotel between February 1, 2012 and April 30, 2012Free nights ...

In October, I traveled to New Orleans (out of Munich) for a few days to attend the wedding of a family member.

I had an unused return ticket stored, and flew BusinessElite from Munich to Atlanta.  I then connected on an award ticket (I know, right?) from Atlanta to MSY.  Shocking enough, this was my first experience with an award ticket after the upgrade program started, and at five days out from each respective segment, I was upgraded.  This trips were on a Thursday ...

I checked into the Atlanta Marriott Buckhead a couple hours ago, and upon checking in, the Front Desk Agent said to me, "We have an excellent room for you, Mr. Hanson" - now usually at this point, as elites, our ears perk up. We envision suites or large corner rooms or something like that, but then she continued, "It's a 'pure' room." She then went on to say it was a king size bed and blah blah blah.

I asked, "What's a pure room?"

She said, ...

Let me spoil this for you right away. The Marriott in Budapest is one of the nicest Marriotts I have ever stayed at. This is a fantastic property that made our stay in Budapest extra special.

The Budapest Marriott is situated on the Pest side of Budapest. Pest is on flat terrain while Buda is rather hilly; The Danube River separates the two. Anyone staying here does not need to worry about requesting a river view room. Every room in the hotel faces ...