Good morning, and welcome to today's community discussion thread! Today's posts will appear here throughout the day, but this thread is for going off-topic. Did you love/hate something about today's coverage? Are you tracking other news I missed? Or, do you just have a general question about rewards travel? This is the place for your wandering thoughts.
Today's posts on OMAAT:
- Marriott Bonvoy Bevy Card 125K Bonus Points + $150 Statement Credit Offer
- Delta Returns To Tokyo Narita Airport, With Seattle Flights: Why, Though?!
- Man Sneaks Onto JetBlue Plane At FLL, Found Hours Later Hiding In Bathroom
- Malaysia Airlines Drug Testing All Pilots, After “High,” Drug Smuggling Pilot Arrest
- Southwest Removes “Disabled” Man From Flight Over ADA Carry-On Dispute
- American Airlines Serving Pecan Lodge Texas Barbecue In First Class… Yay?
- British Airways Crew Restrains Unruly Passenger, And There’s A Wild Ending To The Story
- The World’s Best First Class Airlines: My Rankings For Seats, Cabins, And Service
Daily threads stay open for a week, so it's never too late to jump into a recent conversation.
Ben- So many hotel posts (across the blogosphere) are focused on the top 4 chains. What are some of your favorite smaller chains that offer elite-like benefits when booked correctly?
@jjspring It's a great question, especially as the major hotel groups become increasingly less compelling (in terms of execution of elite perks, award redemption values, etc.). The truth is that there are so many programs nowadays offering elite-like perks for stays at luxury properties, like Virtuoso.
I have written a post about my favorite luxury hotel brands, both big and small, and you can find that here:
https://onemileatatime.com/guides/best-luxury-hotel-brands/
For more mid-range properties, I'm curious if anyone has any brands they really like? I increasingly choose hotels based on my research about an individual property, rather than simply because of the brand they belong to, given how inconsistent brand standards are nowadays. And across the "big four" hotel groups, you do have 100+ brands, not that all of the properties are great...