In other airline, hotel and travel industry news last week…

• United Airlines will begin new nonstop service from Raleigh-Durham International Airport to San Francisco on August 15. North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue broke the news on Wednesday. United will operate a 154-seat Boeing 737-800 on the route and the flight will be timed to allow for connections to the popular international bank of departures leaving in the 11 o’clock hour from SFO.
• Sacramento International Airport is trying to court Virgin America. The airport received approval from the county to offer VX up to $400,000 to begin flights to Los Angeles. Also in the works for the debt-ridden airport are deals for two new airport hotels by 2014.
• Allegiant Airlines officially announced new service to Hawaii. The airline took delivery of its first Boeing 757s last year that it will use on the route, but they have yet to receive FAA certification. Allegiant plans to operate flights to Honolulu three times weekly from Las Vegas and one flight each week from Fresno. The planned service is scheduled to begin at the end of June.
• Free Wi-Fi will be coming to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport in September this year. DFW reached an agreement with AT&T to offer the service in every terminal and passengers will have to view a 30-second commercial for every 40 minutes of network usage.
• The Qantas A380 that suffered an uncontained engine failure near Singapore last year will return to service later this month. Final testing is underway and the total cost of repairs came to about $143 million. The airline claims the entire cost is covered by insurance and represents more than a third of the current $389.9 million list price for a new A380.
• Hilton Hotels & Resorts will be shifting 447 properties up or down a category level on April 30. 330 hotels are going up a level while 117 are being downgraded. The full list of properties affected can be found here.
• Hong Kong International Airport will be getting the world’s first airport IMAX theatre in June. It will replace the former 4D Extreme Screen in Terminal 2 and is located before security. A mix of Hollywood movies and “edutainment” films will air in the 358-seat cinema at a cost of about $20 per ticket.
• Finally, my air-traveling idiot of the week goes to a woman who stripped naked at Denver International Airport on Tuesday. She was apparently smoking inside the terminal and decided to take her clothes off after being asked to put her cigarette out. An airport police spokesman said she wasn’t arrested, but instead taken to a hospital for evaluation.

As Deals We Like and View From the Wing have already posted, Hilton announced their second quarter 2012 promotion this morning offering either double points or double airline miles for stays April 1 to June 30, 2012.

Registration is required and once you pick either double points or double miles, your selection cannot be changed during the promotion period. All paid, published hotel rates are eligible, including advance purchase rates, but the list of non-participating properties is quite large once again, generally including the lower-tier Hilton brands who haven’t participated in past promotions. Also, if you select bonus points, they do not count toward elite tier qualification.

This type of promo doesn’t sway me to start mattress running with Hilton beyond my planned stays, but it’s at least a little something extra without having to do anything different (except registering). Stays previously booked that fall within the date range qualify for the promotion so long as you register prior to checking in.

As for me, I went with double miles since the majority of my stays are typically for one night at flagship Hilton properties at the lowest rate and I’ll get more value out of the 1,000 airline miles.

In other airline, hotel and travel industry news last week…

• Reservations and gate agents at United Airlines voted to remain unionized last week, marking a big win for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM). A total of 16,720 people voted – 8,305 in favor of representation, 5,865 against – and they represent United’s second largest workgroup behind the carrier’s 21,400 flight attendants. Continental Airlines agents were previously un-unionized. Separately, United reported a 3.4 percent increase in traffic for the month of February compared to last year and a 1.5 to 2.5 percent increase in PRASM, a smaller increase than the previous few months.
• American Airlines posted positive February operational results enjoying a 6 percent increase in traffic from the previous year, its largest increase in many years. Wholly owned affiliate American Eagle Airlines saw an 18.9 percent increase in traffic. A company spokesperson cited improving U.S. and Japanese economies and the inauguration of new service between LAX and Shanghai as contributing factors for the growth.
• Delta Air Lines passengers have been given free access to Amazon.com while flying on the carrier’s Wi-Fi enabled aircraft, in addition to the existing free access to Delta.com and news content from The Wall Street Journal and People magazine.
• Southwest Airlines will be moving its San Antonio customer service center to a former Kmart store location this year and add 322 new jobs in an agreement with the city. The carrier will receive up to $581,649 in incentives during the next 10 years so long as the new center employs a minimum of 800 workers.
• Virgin Atlantic opened their new Clubhouse at New York’s Kennedy Airport last week and Richard Branson was on-site for the opening party that hosted travel agents, journalists and other invited guests. The new location is airside past security and will allow Upper Class passengers to change into their “sleep suits” prior to heading to the gate, if so inclined.
• Lufthansa unveiled its new lie-flat Business Class seats that will be initially seen flying on the carrier’s Boeing 747-8 aircraft and eventually rolled out fleet-wide. The new seats are angled towards each other in a V-configuration and all face the direction of travel. An eight-week trial was conducted on the FRA-JFK-FRA route where 1,349 passengers and a test crew evaluated prototypes of the seat.
• The relationship between online travel agency Orbitz Worldwide and Hilton Hotels & Resorts took a turn for the worse as the hotel chain decided not to renew its long-term agreement with the agency. As a result, the OTA reduced the prominence of Hilton properties on its website and in some cases, outright removed them from search results. According to Hilton, the move was made “in the best interests of our guests and our more than 3,800 hotels around the world.”
• Starwood Hotels & Resorts plans to open 80 new hotels this year as well as 25 new properties in Europe over the next four years. The company already opened a new W Hotel in Paris and a Le Meridien hotel in Instanbul, Turkey this year and looks to focus on other fast-growing markets, including Russia, the Ukraine and additional sites in Turkey.
• Hyatt Hotels Corporation will open new properties in Zurich and Moscow, two of the most expensive cities worldwide for hotel rates. The Hyatt Regency Moscow is planned to open in 2015 and will feature 297 rooms and 56 luxury apartments. In Zurich, Hyatt has plans for both a Hyatt Regency and Hyatt Place near the airport to open in 2017, each with more than 250 rooms.

In other hotel and travel industry news last week…

• Hilton Hotels & Resorts completed renovations of the former International JFK Airport Hotel and officially opened its doors last week as the Hilton New York JFK Airport. This marks the chain’s sixth property in the New York metro area (excluding New Jersey). The JFK hotel features a total of 356 rooms, which includes 64 Executive Level rooms and 11 suites. Separately, Hilton will reportedly open 500 new restaurants at its properties during the next three years. Included among the options being considered is Ruth’s Chris Steak House at hotels where it would make sense based on guest demographics. Yes, please!
• Still more than two years from opening, Hyatt Hotels & Resorts released a rendering of their planned Park Hyatt property in Bangkok. Shaped like a coil, it will mark the chain’s third property in Thailand and feature 222 rooms with a top-floor restaurant and lounge, along with more than 15,000 square feet of meeting and convention space.
• Starwood Hotels & Resorts plans to open 20 new properties this year through a combination of conversions and new construction. Twelve of the new hotels will be located in China, all of the Sheraton brand. According to Starwood’s President of Global Development, Simon Turner, “Sheraton’s impressive global pipeline is being fueled by phenomenal demand in China and India as well as by a surge in high-quality conversions in developed markets.” Eight new Sheraton Resorts will also open this year.
• On the car rental front, both Hertz and Dollar-Thrifty reported impressive fourth quarter results for 2011. Hertz enjoyed a $52.1 million net income for the period versus a $23.6 million net loss the year prior, and Dollar-Thrifty reported a $33.9 million net profit for the period this year. Dollar’s CEO, Scott Thompson, feels optimistic about the first quarter in 2012 mentioning he expects the “rental rate environment to improve in the first quarter of 2012 versus the fourth quarter of 2011.”
• As widely reported and blogged, United’s switch to the Shares GDS is right around the corner and it was reported last week that the conversion will temporarily deactivate the ability to book United’s Economy Plus seats for users of Sabre and Travelport. This is actually a pretty big deal given the volume of corporate agencies that subscribe to the impacted GDSs. There is no ETA for when this critical ancillary and loyalty mechanism will be restored.
• It was reported another ’30 Rock’ star had an issue while flying American Airlines a week ago. Katrina Bowden tweeted on February 21, “Flight attendant on American just refused to give me more water because ‘I had enough already’ what the what?! These people are the worst!” While I’ve never been refused water, I have in the past noticed a bit of attitude when asking for more. This is total speculation, but I think many FAs like to bring “extra” full bottles of water with them from the galleys on their layovers and tend to horde them near the end of longer flights. This might have been what happened to Katrina.
• And finally, the airline-traveling idiot of the week goes to a Saudi teenager who refused to turn off his e-cigarette when a flight attendant advised him to do so. The Continental Airlines flight from Portland to Houston turned around and the man was arrested upon landing in Portland. The disruptive passenger also allegedly took a swing at one of the attendants and “sang of bin Laden.” Eek!

Some companies understand the importance of social media outreach from customers, and some don’t (I’m looking at you, @TopGuest). Hilton is one of the former and has now impressed me twice in a row by responding to my simple Tweet, and they did so nearly instantaneously this time.

My first issue this past October was directed at the HHonors Twitter address for a failed promotion issue I was having. Within 15 minutes, a representative responded with an offer to help and my issue was very well resolved the following day.

This past Saturday, I was staying at a Hilton Garden Inn, my first stay ever at this brand, and experienced children running up and down the halls on my floor playing and having fun. It was totally fine for five minutes, but it continued and continued. After about 30 minutes, it stopped, so I thought that was the end of it. Minor annoyance… kids will be kids, but I wish the parents had intervened earlier.

During my stay, though, I noticed the abundance of kids everywhere and also acting out without much parental control, so reached out to Twitter particularly interested to know if Garden Inns are predominantly family-oriented. And yes, it was a Saturday, so business-travel light, but this was my first time with such an abundance of kids that I asked:

Within minutes, probably 10 at most, Hilton Online responded and asked for more detail via a direct message. After sending my mini-complaint and curiosity about the Garden Inn brand, they replied:

Shortly thereafter, I received a call from the front desk manager. She was very apologetic and explained that there was a junior hockey team staying at the property that night and confirmed Garden Inns do see more families compared to the flagship Hilton properties, especially on weekends. She mentioned they’d send someone up to monitor the halls and offered to move my room.

By that time, all had quieted down, so I was pleased with the outreach and thanked her for the information. All was good and I will now take this into consideration for future reservations with Hilton.

Even more impressive, however, was the follow-up email I received on Tuesday from Hilton Worldwide:

Little, simple touches like this email cost nothing, but do more in my mind for brand loyalty than any promotional bonus point campaign. I’m a happy Hilton HHonors member and experiences like this reinforce my decision to remain a Hilton customer.

Finally, I was happy to read that second to last paragraph in the email mentioning the importance my feedback on Twitter had after the issue was resolved. I tweeted:

The acknowledgement in the quoted email above reinforces my desire to always respond when things go right, not just wrong.

From noon tomorrow EST through 11:59am Wednesday, if you book a weekend night with a Hilton brand property for a stay anytime this year, you can receive 2,500 bonus HHonors points upon completion of each stay up to a maximum 10,000 points for four stays.

This 24-hour event highlights the loyalty program’s “Any Weekend, Anywhere Sale,” where participating properties are offering up to 33% off weekend stays, which comprise at least one night on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Thursdays also qualify, but require a minimum two-night stay.

To get the bonus points, there’s a little more action required than many recent HHonors promotions. Here are the steps:

1. You have to book a stay either via their Facebook page, or through this web link.
2. Assuming you’ve done this between the 1/17/12 – 1/18/12, noon to noon EST parameters…
3. Return to the event’s Facebook page and enter your confirmation number along with your HHonors information.
4. Once you’ve successfully completed that stay by 12/30/12, expect to see 2,500 bonus points in your account in 4-6 weeks.

View the other terms and conditions for full details, but in a nutshell, you’re maxed out to earn this bonus four times for a total of 10,000 HHonors points. Also, the biggest “catch” is that the reservations you make under this promotion are totally nonrefundable. A 7-day advance purchase is additionally required.

It’s still a nice bonus if you already have expected, but not-yet-reserved stays, and even if you don’t book during the allocated 24-hour window for the bonus, the “Any Weekend, Anywhere” sale continues through January 31, 2012 via this web link.

I have oodles of upcoming weekend stays already booked at advance purchase rates, so unfortunately can’t change those for inclusion with this promotion. Alas, I planned too far in advance. Hope you can take advantage.

In other hotel and travel industry news last week…

• In an attempt to steer traffic away from Online Travel Agencies like Expedia and Priceline – and the commissions paid to OTAs – several major hotel chains beta-launched Room Key. The brands include Best Western, Hilton, Hyatt, InterContinental, Marriott and Wyndham, and Room Key acts as a portal to a hotel company’s website where the booking actually takes place. It’s a pretty slick site, but I found it a bit slow in uploading choices when entering a city or zip code. They’re hoping to capture more chains and will fully launch this March.
• Club Carlson (Radisson, Country Inn & Suites, et al) has a pretty incredible promotion offering triple points for stays now through March 16, 2012. Registration is required and new this year (in the U.S., anyway), points are accrued for food and beverage purchases at the properties in addition to the room rate. Loyalty Traveler has an excellent breakdown of the promotion and its inherent value.
• A woman is suing the Starwood Hotels & Resorts chain claiming a man who received her room key at a property in Finland just by saying he was her husband sexually assaulted her. If true, it’s absolutely horrific. Her lawyer is Gloria Allred and whenever she enters the picture, I just never know what to think. She helped push Herman Cain out of the GOP running, but some of her other cases just seem peculiar to me. I don’t know why, but I’m always skeptical with her cases. Again, if true, by all means Starwood needs to face justice.
• The popular and well-known Hilton Hawaiian Village in Waikiki completed its $45 million renovation of the Rainbow Tower. All 800 rooms were renovated and received new bathrooms, fixtures, furnishings and carpet. The top floor sports two suites – Duke Kahanamoku and Niumalu – both of which saw $1 million in upgrades. Pretty stunning. After the Outrigger Waikiki and Outrigger Reef on the Beach, the Hilton Hawaiian Village is my next favorite moderate hotel in Waikiki. Nothing beats the Halekulani, though.
• The former Carlton Hotel in midtown Manhattan, as a Preferred Hotel property, became a Marriott Autograph Collection hotel last week. The Autograph Collection was launched by Marriott in 2010 and features luxury and historic hotels around the world, including The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas and The Algonquin in Times Square. The Vice President of the Group mentioned additional properties would be coming online this year in the U.S. in New Orleans and South Beach.
• Four Seasons recently made an $18 million investment in their website and online presence. The company refuses to break down the details, but one article quotes it likely includes “the big, bright photography seen online, new booking process, mobile optimization, social media integration and personal profile technology.” One day I yearn to holiday at one of their properties, but it remains out of reach for the time being. The article also quoted something I found revealing – 32% of Four Seasons guests cite the ability to check-in without speaking to someone as valuable versus the 78% of airline passengers who claim the same importance. I guess it’s sort of apples to oranges here, though. A Four Seasons front desk “agent” (they probably have much better titles) is a much higher caliber position I’d have to guess.
• Finally, business travel growth shows signs of slowing (except on the luxury end), but at least it’s still growing. One leisure analyst thinks it could be a marker of overall trends in both business and leisure travel, but another report reveals that travel agency air sales increased 6.1% in 2011. Total transactions were down 2.1%, but things still sound pretty optimistic. After all, the major airlines launched a fare increase this week that appears to have stuck.

These have already been widely covered in other blogs, but I have yet to directly address them. First up is the Hilton HHonors first quarter promotion offering 1,000 bonus points per night and 5,000 additional bonus points if you spend a minimum 2-nights from Thursday to Sunday. Registration is required and there is a list of non-participating properties, but it doesn’t seem as exclusive as their fourth quarter promo. The other good news is that advance purchase rates qualify.

The other promo I might take advantage of is their offer to receive 30% of your points back if you book either a Premium Room Reward or Points & Money Reward. HHonors received a bit of backlash from these new award options as some members noticed certain high-end and resort properties changed their room types to be all premium, thereby increasing the required points for redemption. While that is a devaluation, I’m happy Hilton now offers awards for room types other than standard.

Back to the promo, it, too, requires registration and reservations must be made by January 31, 2012 for stays beginning no later than June 30, 2012. The full points required will initially be pulled for such bookings with the 30% points back being credited to your account six to eight weeks after completing the stay.

Late last month I posted a review of how travel managers ranked airlines, those people who have contracts with Fortune 500-type businesses who are responsible for planning travel. The same outfit, Business Travel News, also surveyed a similar 519 corporate travel department officials who rated hotel chains across 13 categories.

As with the last post, these reviews come from not the end-user of the hotel room, but the department that books it for their clients. They certainly receive feedback from the travelers, but I think it’s worthwhile to see how hotels are viewed from a contractual booking-type basis. The chain I’m loyal to didn’t come in to well… eh hem… Hilton.

Each category was ranked on a 1- to 5-point scale and I’ll share the results below broken across seven tier categories from Deluxe to Mid-price extended-stay hotels. The USA Today reported on these results and further interviewed a few end-users, one of which praised Marriott claiming, “When a reservation is booked, I never have to worry about my room being there for me.” This gentleman spends 125 nights annually on the road, so also enjoys Marriott’s top-tier loyalty benefits.

The Ritz Carlton took a hit in this year’s review, dropping to third among the Deluxe properties. Marriott won the Upper Upscale category, Crown Plaza took Upscale – which is a surprise to me… my last several Crowne Plaza stays were rather mediocre – and Holiday Inn swept the Midprice range. Sheraton’s Four Points took the top honor for Select Service hotels, Staybridge Suites won Upscale extended-stay and TownPlace Suites by Marriott finished out on top for Midprice extended-stay.

I’m on my way to achieve Hilton Diamond status this year and might have to reconsider whom I book with in 2012. I feel a status match in my future with either Priority Club or Starwood. I’m definitely open to advice and recommendations, so please chime in with any comments.

And now the results… please click into each one for a full view. All images courtesy Business Travel News.

I’ll openly admit I’m a sucker for status matches and challenges, and I received a targeted offer yesterday from Hilton HHonors to fast track to Diamond Status. What to do, what to do? First, here’s the offer:

I’m already Gold through March of 2013 and this offer would require I complete six stays by the end of the year. I already have two reservations booked that will qualify, so I’m “only” four away from Hilton’s top tier.

My first stop was Flyertalk, where two knowledgeable threads have been battling out the same question – “Is Diamond status any better than Gold?” – for more than a decade. My three-minute review of each thread basically tells me… “Not so much.”

Hilton lacks in their top-tier status compared to others by not offering Diamonds upgrades to suites based on availability at check-in or otherwise, among other perks. If suite upgrades were a published benefit, I do it in a heartbeat. Few, very few, reports from Diamonds on those threads said they’d occasionally get a suite now and then.

Otherwise, the benefits from Gold to Diamond are marginal. Diamonds get an extra 25% bonus points per stay (50% of base), guaranteed lounge access if not upgraded to an Executive Floor – I’m 90% getting Executive Floor as a Gold – and apparent incredible support from the “Diamond Desk.”

So then I start thinking about next year. What are my travel plans? Where am I flying? Am I going to redeem points next year? Internationally, Diamond status seems to be the level where things happen according to the threads. Hmm… I have several trips planned next year already that Diamond would come in handy overseas, both award and revenue travel.

No one can really answer the question “Is Diamond better than Gold?” other than yourself since it’s relative to what’s most important to you. Will the benefits exceed the cost of obtaining them? Could I just pay for a better room/experience next year for less? And then the gnawing “status” thing gets in my way. “Top tier! Top tier! Top tier!” my subconscious calls out.

Ugh. I actually have a very limited travel schedule for the remainder of the year. I just locked in 1K status with United Airlines and was satisfied with Gold in HHonors next year. Now this. If I don’t travel any more, it’ll cost me roughly $400 for those four mattress runs given I’m certain I can find $79 – $89 rates to qualify for the offer.

Then, the Million Miler program with United creeps into my head. I’m sooo close. If I’m crazy next year, I can hit it. I’d have to do Ben-style flying, but it’s certainly plausible. Plus, I already have multiple international trips booked next year for which Diamond “might” pay off. $400 out-of-pocket now for top-tier in HHonors? I’m doing it and here’s why:

• Diamond status seems to be essential internationally for the best rooms and perks.
• I have a nice balance in HHonors right now, the 25% extra bonus points for Diamond will booster that for a possible incredible redemption.
• Since I’m close to million-miler status with United, a few more mileage runs this year might be worthwhile to ease my “pain” next year. Sometimes the one-nighters with a mattress run offer the best value per EQM.
• I already have $2,000+ in travel credits with United I can use next year. I spent less than that this year for 1K.
• A suite now and then? Might be nice, especially at the properties I frequent who know me so well already. I think they’d be more prone to give an “off-the-book” upgrade.
• I have to stick it in here somewhere… “Top Tier Status!” Yes, I get satisfaction out of it. Shallow, insecure, elitist… take your pick.
• Status match opportunities in 2012. Maybe Hyatt, Priority Club or Starwood is better for me. Now is the time to have top-tier status when I can change my plans next year without consequence should I be able to match in another program.

Am I missing anything? I’d love to hear from current Hilton Diamonds, but if anyone has read this far… what do you think? If you were me, would you do it or not?  Humor me and vote below:

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A couple of weeks ago I attended the United Airlines Family Day event at San Francisco Airport. Instead of flying up just for the day, I spent the weekend there and booked a room at the Hilton San Francisco Airport Bayfront. I’ve stayed at a huge amount of airport hotels and this is the first near-airport property to exceptionally impress me.

I checked-in with Ashlin and she was by far the most real, yet professional, Hilton employee I’ve ever come across. She acknowledged my status and reviewed the benefits at the property as is normal during most of my Hilton check-in experiences, but she had a way of doing it that added a touch of un-robotic reality and personalization. I don’t know how to better describe it than that – Hilton needs to clone her.

I requested an airport view at check-in and Ashlin was quick to accommodate my request and apologized for having to move me one floor lower than what was pre-reserved. The apology was really unnecessary, but I thought it was a nice touch.

The lobby and surroundings were impressive and spotless. Near the elevator bank, there was a row of computers with a printer and a table setup with refreshing water options.

I took the elevator up to floor nine and made my way to room 914.

I believe this property was recently refreshed as the room was exceptionally appointed and comfortable. I like that they added a touch of locality with the mural of San Francisco appearing above the bed. All the plug-ins you could need were next to the desk and as usual, an in-closet safe was present large enough to fit a laptop.

The bathroom was just “okay” as the showerhead was a bit antiquated and the grouting on the floor was splotchy. Still, it was well appointed and carried the standard bathroom amenities.

As a Gold HHonors member, I had access to the Executive Lounge that is open daily from 6:00am to 10:00pm at this property. The day I checked in, I went up prior to the 5pm to 7pm Hors D’oeuvres time and was able to snap a ton of pictures without being “weird” had other people been present.

It, too, was well appointed and comfortable. It features several seating areas, televisions, a business center and complimentary newspapers. Once 5pm rolled around, the “buffet” section was ready and I enjoyed an array of vegetables, cheeses and crackers, bruschetta-esque delicacies and buffalo wings. Not pictured is a refrigerator of self-serve soft-drinks and bottled water (though you can see it in the mirror reflection).

Unlike many Hilton properties I’ve stayed at, the wait staff in this lounge was incredibly responsive to your every need. They quickly cleared empty plates, asked politely if you needed anything else and were genuine in their service. I was very impressed. In the mornings, they had eggs and sausage one day and eggs and bacon the next, along with fruit, pastries and yoghurt.

I generally never use the pool or fitness room when staying at a hotel, but took a tour specifically to include for this review. Both areas are quite small, but given it’s an airport property they seemed adequate. Signs were posted in the lobby and on the door of the fitness room that a renovation is near.

My interactions with the staff throughout my stay were impressive. Everyone was courteous, polite, not overbearing and sincere in their approach. I appreciate when people act “real,” and all of the employees at this property did just that.

I sort of regret not having dined at the property’s restaurant to include in this review, but will definitely stay there again when the need arises. Having stayed at many airport hotels near SFO, this by far was the best experience I’ve had. Well done, Hilton!

[Please note that I was not paid for this review, nor did I inform Hilton in advance that I am a travel blogger.]