• American’s inaugural of its Boeing 777-300ER occurs tomorrow flying from Dallas to Sao Paulo. We’ve all seen the exterior and interior images from American, but here are some new ones from the Dallas Morning News blog.
• Sheraton Hotels (part of Starwood) will open 30 new hotels over the next 12 months. Half of the new properties will open in China with additional new locations sprouting up in Latin America, the Middle East and Turkey.
• Spirit Airlines will be adding several new routes, including Houston to LAX, Baltimore and Philadelphia to Las Vegas, and Minneapolis to Denver. Fingers crossed for a fare war, though legacy airlines tend to distance themselves from Spirit’s “sales.” One of these days I’ll fly Spirit just for the sake of trying them out.
• Brussels Airlines announced that Washington Dulles will be their next U.S. destination. Service is slated to begin June 18th with five weekly flights IAD-BRU using Airbus A330 aircraft. One Mile at a Time (Ben) just flew them from JFK in business class. At the minimum, it’ll bring another Star Alliance mileage redemption option to Europe from the East coast.
• Emirates Skywards members can now redeem miles for JetBlue flights. The partnership between the two airlines previously only allowed Skywards members to earn miles on JetBlue.

Related posts:

Notable Airline, Hotel and Travel News: January 29, 2013

Notable Airline, Hotel and Travel News: January 28, 2013

• Qantas canceled orders for 35 Boeing 787 Dreamliners, valued at $8.5 billion, amid the airline’s first full-year loss since it was privatized in 1995. Qantas isn’t giving up on the revolutionary aircraft, though, and still has options for 50 787-9s.
• Delta Air Lines seeks to upgrade its 5X weekly Detroit to Beijing service to daily flights with Boeing 777 aircraft. Delta’s Pacific traffic rose 5.9% YOY through July and the airline says there’s an “appetite” for daily service to China’s capital out of Detroit.
• Staying with Delta, the SkyMiles program is offering 3 miles per $1 spent shipping items with FedEx, plus 1,000 bonus miles with every fifth shipment. This isn’t something that’ll make me ship more (or at all), but if you’re already FedEx’ing things, it’s a nice bonus.
• The world’s largest Sheraton will open September 20 in Macau. The first tower of the 3,896-room Sheraton Macao will open at that time with the second tower due to open early next year.
• A body was found inside the landing gear carriage of a British Airways Boeing 747 at Heathrow. The flight originated in Cape Town, South Africa.
• I don’t have an “air traveling” idiot of the week candidate today, but I do have an “airline employee idiot of the week.” A JetBlue worker stole an unaccompanied minor’s wallet containing $200 in cash. Yep, really. Karma will certainly find this woman.
• Finally, a story hit the news recently about a family traveling on buddy passes. Every JetBlue flight was full, so they slept in Salt Lake City’s airport for days not having the money to buy confirmed tickets (or even feed their children properly). Who came to their rescue? United (yes, really) gave them a hotel room for one night and an anonymous viewer bought them confirmed tickets home.

Related posts:

Notable Airline, Hotel and Travel Industry News: August 22, 2012

Notable Airline, Hotel and Travel Industry News: August 21, 2012

Notable Airline, Hotel and Travel Industry News: August 20, 2012

[Edited 9/5/12: This offer has now expired and I've removed the links.]

In the unlikely event you haven’t read about the limited time credit card offer from Starwood and American Express, here it is.

If you apply for the card before September 4, 2012, you can earn up to 30,000 bonus Starpoints in the SPG hotel loyalty program. Both the Personal Card and Business Card feature this upgraded bonus, so for those of you who have a business (sole proprietorship included), this could be a fantastic way to rack up 60,000 bonus Starpoints.

Application page for the Starwood Preferred Guest American Express Credit Card

Application page for the Starwood Preferred Guest American Express Business Credit Card

Here are the offer details:

• Earn up to 30,000 bonus Starpoints – 10,000 bonus points after making your first purchase on the card and 20,000 bonus points if you spend at least $5,000 in the first 6 months of cardmembership.
• $0 annual fee for the first year, $65 each year thereafter.
• Earn up to 5 Starpoints per dollar spent at participating SPG hotels and resorts and 1 Starpoint everywhere else.
• Receive credit for 5 nights and 2 stays annually towards SPG elite status (or 10 nights and 4 stays if you get both the personal and business card.)
• Stay 4 nights and get the 5^th night free through December 25, 2012, plus up to $100 of resort credit at participating Hawaii and French Polynesia resorts.
• Redeem Starpoints at more than 1,000 hotels and resorts and for flight on more than 350 airlines through SPG Flights, all with no blackout dates.
• For the business card: Save 3% to 10% on business expenses from FedEx, Hertz, OfficeMax, and more with American Express OPEN Savings.

The full text and specifics of the offer, as well as card terms and conditions, can be found here for the Personal AMEX or here for the Business AMEX.

I’m sticking with Hilton and Radisson (Club Carlson) at the moment for my programs of choice, so I’m not personally taking advantage of this offer. I hear, however, that many find the Starwood Preferred Guest program, and this card, particularly rewarding. Starwood properties include:

• Sheraton
• Four Points by Sheraton
• Westin
• W Hotels
• Element Hotels
• St. Regis
• The Luxury Collection
• Aloft
• Le Meridien

I receive a referral credit if you use the links on this page and successfully apply for a card. I remain grateful to any who use my links as blogging is my full-time job. The decision to apply for credit is yours and includes the responsibility to read and understand all terms and conditions.

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

• United Airlines shifted its Washington Dulles to Buenos Aires flight over to Newark on Friday. They didn’t totally Continental it up, though, as they’re using a legacy United 3-cabin 767 on the route. The airline is also ending service to Accra and Copenhagen later this year, according to Airline Route. Washington Dulles to Accra ends July 3 and Newark to Copenhagen terminates on September 26.
• US Airways has completed conversion of 14 of its 16 Airbus A330 aircraft with the new Envoy Class and is expected to get the remaining two birds completed by the end of summer. The seats are actually pretty darn nice looking and setup in a reverse herringbone 1 x 2 x 1 configuration. The airline was also awarded the “2012 MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) of the Year” award last week by Aviation Week and Overhaul & Maintenance magazine.
• Virgin America officially launched service to Philadelphia last Wednesday from Los Angeles and will begin San Francisco-Philly service tomorrow. Sir Richard Branson greeted the first arrival at PHL and hosted a “tailgate on the tarmac” party with a bunch of invited guests. Later that night, the official launch party was held at Hotel Palomar downtown and based on some Twitter reports, it sounded like a fantastic time.
• Allegiant Air began charging passengers with new reservations from last Wednesday for large carry-ons, joining Spirit Airlines in charging for the privilege to use the overhead bins. One bag is still free, but it must fit underneath the seat. You can get a discount on the $35 fee if you book the space in advance online.
• Southwest Airlines shifted some the flying it took over from AirTran in Atlanta back to the carrier, including flights to Los Angeles, Chicago Midway, Phoenix, Denver and Las Vegas. A combination of IT issues and route optimization appear to be the reason. A Southwest spokesman said, “In some cases, until we get to a point a little bit further down the road, it makes sense to transfer some of that flying from Southwest to AirTran.”
• Starwood Hotels will open a dual-branded ski resort complex in China later this year. Both a 257-room Westin and 296-room Sheraton are opening in August next to the slopes of the Changbai Mountains.
• My “air traveling idiot of the week” award goes to a man who tried to smuggle a knife through security in a jar of mayonnaise. What? Yes, that’s correct. He was flying from New York’s Kennedy airport to Mexico City when the banned items were found and confiscated during routine screening. Amazingly, he was still allowed to catch his flight.

Finally, here are some other noteworthy items from last week:

• A TSA screener throws coffee on a pilot at JFK.
• A Delta Air Lines flight attendant was removed from a flight for irregular behavior.
• Alaska Airlines will begin testing a nextgen ATC system at SEA in June.
• Qantas’ stranded A380 in Singapore will return to service in May.

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!

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

• The Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics released 2011 full-year data for a variety of airline metrics last week. Among them are several positive results when compared to 2010 and previous years, including the best on-time results in a December for the past 17 years, a record low rate of mishandled bags and fewer flights where passengers were involuntarily denied boarding. Complaints, however, were up 3% likely due to airlines reducing capacity causing packed flights.
• United Airlines is selling a hotel it has owned for decades in Waikiki to an undisclosed buyer. The Waikiki Seaside Hotel has acted as a layover property for flight crews and a popular destination for United’s employees and retirees. Having previously worked very closely with Hawaiian hotels when I managed the Hawaii market of two vacation packaging companies, my best guess is it will become a low-to-mid range property in the Aston or Outrigger chain.
• The USA Today recently sat down with five top hotel executives discussing trends in the lodging industry. One of the hot topics discussed was internet access and whether or not to charge for the service. It’s definitely an ancillary fee many chains would hate to see end, but at the same time executives are aware of the demands from business travelers wanting it for free. Other items discussed were the new Room Key hotel search site, customer reviews, smartphone capabilities, increasing nightly rates and property refurbishments.
• InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) will be overhauling the Crowne Plaza brand, as well as launch a new midscale brand in the United States and a five-star offering in China. The new brand names have not been disclosed and the company was quick to note the newest U.S. incarnation appearing in the next three years will result in “minimal cannibalization” to their current midscale offering, Holiday Inn. For Crowne Plaza, IHG plans to remarket the brand as an upper scale property through upgrades or having up to 41 properties leave the chain in the next two years.
• Air Australia, who rebranded from a primarily charter operation last November, met its death this past week. The airline suddenly went into “voluntary administration” (bankruptcy) on Friday, stranding thousands of passengers from Thailand to Honolulu. The airline bluntly released a statement saying, “It currently appears that there are no funds available to meet operational expenses so flights will be suspended immediately.”
• Hundreds of flights were canceled at Frankfurt Airport this past Thursday and Friday due to striking apron and runway workers. The airport’s operator, Fraport, claims it will lose approximately €5 million for every day workers strike. The union is demanding pay increases of up to 70%, for which Fraport deems ridiculous. Both parties are willing to return to the negotiating table, though further industrial action may occur this week.
• The “idiot airline traveler of the week” award goes to a man who tried to bring a loaded handgun through security at California’s Ontario International Airport. TSA officers and airport police arrested the man who claimed he forgot the weapon and additional ammunition were in his bag. He was cited and released, though was not allowed to fly to Phoenix as planned.
• Finally, many of my BoardingArea readers will thoroughly enjoy an article that appeared in the USA Today on Monday. It reviewed the recent oneworld MegaDo event where many mileage runners and “extreme fliers” participated in a multi-city (and country) behind-the-scenes experience. American Airlines and other oneworld alliance member airlines sponsored the event which allowed participants to meet with executives, ride in a flight simulator and slide down emergency evacuation slides at a flight attendant training center, among other things.

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.

Congrats to commenter numbers 45 and 148… I’ll be sending you an email shortly. Thanks everyone for your interest in this giveaway… I plan to do more in 2012. Happy New Year!

Christmas may be over (Hanukkah just about), but I’m giving away two Starwood Preferred Guest 50% off RACK rate certificates that are good through December 31, 2013.

As you probably know, rack rates are definitely more expensive than the cheapest best available room rates, but the use of these certificates on suites can really save money, especially in Europe. The certs are valid for one to five consecutive night stays at participating Starwood hotels or resorts worldwide, subject to availability.

As far as I know, the only way to book a stay using these is by calling SPG reservations, but I have read that people successfully used the online chat feature to check rack rates as they aren’t typically published online.

There are terms and conditions, of course, but most are what you’d expect:

• Maximum of five consecutive nights
• Certs may not be applied toward service charges, room tax, food & beverage, parking, gratuities, gift shop purchases or other incidentals and taxes
• Cert must be presented at check-in
• Member will receive Starpoints for paid portion of stay only
• Not combinable with other room rate discounts or specials
• Good for only one room during the stay
• Not valid in Hawaii, French Polynesia or at the Sheraton Bahrain Hotel

I’m giving two away, separately, so leave a comment if you’re interested and on Wednesday at 12:00pm PST (December 28, 2011), I’ll use random.org to select two recipients. The only rule is that you can only leave one comment on this post per person/email. Be sure to use your real email address as that’s the way I’ll contact the winners. If your comment gets hung up in moderation, not to worry… I’ll get it approved and posted as soon as possible, definitely before the deadline.

Happy Holidays from me to you!

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.