Every year, Embassy Suites surveys hundreds of business travelers to see what their feelings are and what is most important to them during their trips. Some of the results, specifically around social media, were not surprising to me at all. However, the final paragraph baffles me. Read on for the results and my commentary.

• Nearly 80% of survey respondents report that the economic climate changed the way they traveled for business over the past five years. including an increase in teleconferencing (33%), more pressure to book accommodations that offer great value (29%) and only flying coach (25%). Many reported stricter travel rules, with approximately one-third of respondents reporting that their company’s business travel policies became more austere over the past five years.

I can totally relate to everything in this section. My company has definitely tightened the screws with regards to travel! At this time, every trip is scrutinized and alerts are sent to managers if any red flags are raised.

• Nearly 50% of survey respondents said a great value is most important when booking a hotel for business travel in 2013. Almost half (47%) of respondents said their biggest business travel “pet peeve” over the past five years is new fees for previously free items or amenities.

“Value” isn’t the only thing that is considered under my company’s travel guidelines, but I definitely don’t stay in the most expensive hotels anymore. Any fees (such as wi-fi) are covered, so those don’t really annoy me, but I can see how that would be really aggravating for others.

• An overwhelming 85 percent of survey respondents said they would follow a travel brand on social media in order to learn about travel deals (61%) learn about other travelers’ experiences with that brand (29%) or stay updated on the brand’s latest news (28%). And 2/3 of younger travelers (21-29) are more likely to deal with a customer service issue through social media (although half of the respondents said they would call a customer service line).

I’m not surprised by this at all. Social media is taking over everything, especially for younger generations. At 32, I have both called in and used social media to deal with a service issue.

• 85% of survey respondents said they find business travel to be more enjoyable now compared to five years ago.

This was the most surprising to me. Travel is being downsized and squeezed from all angles, less money is being spent, hotels are taking away previously free services and it’s harder to get an airline upgrade. Yet people are enjoying business travel more than ever? Good for them, but I’m not sure I am in that 85%.

Readers, what are your thoughts? Do you use social media or 800 numbers to deal with customer service issues? Is your company spending way less on travel? Are you enjoying your work trips more than five years ago?

(Click here for the full press release.)

After 18 months of research, Hyatt has recently come out with a new array of offerings geared toward the frequent traveler. The new features are tailored to guests’ individual preferences, and include a service providing frequently forgotten items, healthy new menu options, and upgraded bath amenities. Hyatt recently invited me to be their guest at the Hyatt Regency San Antonio Riverwalk so I could check it all out.

Room

The hotel is incredibly beautiful. It had interesting art and chandeliers, plus huge windows overlooking the Riverwalk. Of course, one thing I hadn’t realized was that I was visiting on Saint Patrick’s day, so there were many folks out celebrating. Luckily, once I got up to my room I didn’t hear anything. Although I swear I’ve never seen so much green clothing in all of my life!

The room was really lovely. The bed was very comfortable, with a good amount of pillows. The desk was large, and even after sitting there for over an hour I still felt good. The armchair and ottoman were awesome. In the evening I turned the armchair around so I could appreciate the best part of our room—the view. The Hyatt Regency Riverwalk overlooks the Alamo (hugely famous piece of Texas history, for those of you who are unfamiliar), and from our room we could see it really well. So cool!

The bathroom was nice, with the standard granite countertop and huge mirror. It also had a magnifying makeup mirror, which was an unexpected bonus.

Hyatt Has It service

One of the new Hyatt offerings is an updated version of the standard “Did you forget something? We have it,” service that many hotels offer. Not only do they have the typical razor/toothbrush/etc items that guests can have, they have a huge list of things guests can have, buy, or borrow. For example, while I was getting ready for dinner (at Biga on the Banks—highly, highly recommend!!!) I realized that I had forgotten my curling iron. Normally something like that would end any cute-hair aspirations for the evening, but the Hyatt now even has items like curling irons that guests can borrow or buy! Other examples are makeup wipes, yoga mats, baby products, lint removers, Woolite, a wine opener, computer and phone chargers, and more. They bring it right to your door! This was awesome, and I think will be very useful to travelers moving forward.

Healthy, balanced menu offerings

Another new feature is the healthier, smaller portioned menu offerings. Guests can choose from a variety of dishes that include a protein, grains, and vegetables, available in two sizes. Everything is in season and locally sourced when possible. All of the options sounded very delicious, and I went with the chicken breast, jasmine rice, and grilled veggies. It was so good! It was very tasty, didn’t weigh me down, and it felt like I was doing something good for my body, very different from your typical room service fare. I also tried a mango smoothie, which was fantastic.

Upgraded bath amenities

The toiletries in my room were by KenetMD, and were amazing. These products have a cult-following, and for a good reason. My hair and skin felt so smooth after using them, and I totally have the shampoo and conditioner in my shower at home right now.

Service

The service at the Hyatt Regency Riverwalk was incredible. I let them know I was bringing the Mini Warrior, and they had a Pack ‘n’ Play waiting in the room for us, including baby toiletries. Everyone we encountered, from the front desk person to the housekeeper to the room service delivery person was gracious, helpful, and seemed happy to be at work.

During the 18 months of research the Hyatt did to prepare for these new offerings, they talked to hundreds of women travelers to find out what was important to them on the road. I think the new Hyatt experience will make road warriors and warriorettes alike have an easier, healthier time when they’re away from home. My experience was great (as have all of my Hyatt stays), and I recommend the Hyatt hotels to everyone!

Don’t forget about the contest—you can win a free night at any Hyatt Place in the US!! Today is the last day to enter, and the winner will be announced tomorrow.

Road Warriorette was given a night free of charge in order to do this review.

In November the Home Warrior, Mini Warrior, and our dog went to Fort Worth to visit family. Turns out the only dog-friendly Hilton hotel with availability was the historic Hilton Fort Worth in downtown. It was very nice, so I was surprised it was dog-friendly—plus we got a pretty good points rate. (It’s also the hotel where JFK stayed the night before he was assassinated.)  I had requested early check in and had been assured over the phone that wouldn’t be a problem.

We arrived around 2, so I went to check us in while Home Warrior unloaded all of our stuff. (Btw it is AMAZING how much crap you need when traveling with a baby. Wow.) When I gave the clerk my name, he told me my room wasn’t ready yet. I told him we really needed a room that was ready, since I had a baby and dog with me. His face fell, and I could tell he was super disappointed. “But you’re the guest of the day!” he exclaimed. The what?

Apparently being The Guest of the Day means that you get randomly upgraded to the executive floor, with access to the lounge for breakfast and happy hour. You also get a free drink, good at any of the restaurants or the Starbucks. Pretty good deal! The man assured me the room would be ready in just a few minutes, so of course we waited. It was indeed ready quickly, on the executive floor, and very nice.

It just surprised me—you’d think after staying in Hiltons for as long as I have I would have heard of this! Has anyone else been awarded Guest of the Day?

During one of my many trips this summer I did something I’ve never done before: I paid for someone else’s room with my credit card. And it did NOT go well.

Normally I book hotels through my company’s corporate travel site. This time, though, the hotel had a really great deal on their website that wasn’t available on the corporate site, so I booked there. Because I was traveling with a coworker, I went ahead and booked their room too. The fine print said that the offer was refundable until the day before we arrived, and that the credit card was just to hold the room. Nowhere did it say it was nonrefundable—in fact, it said the opposite.

When I checked in, I made sure my co-worker (who was arriving later) could check into her room without me. The clerk assured me it would be fine, but stupidly I did not ask if the room would go on her credit card. (I also checked to make sure that the lounge access that was supposed to come with my rate was showing up. It wasn’t, which should have given me the first clue that things may not go as smoothly as planned.)

The stay was actually quite pleasant, and the work part of our trip went quite well. The weirdness started after check out. As I was about to head to the airport, I got a text from the Home Warrior. “I was checking our credit card balance, and it looks like you were charged twice for the hotel. Can you fix it?” I only had a few minutes, so I ran back inside to find out what had happened. The manager on duty couldn’t tell me, and said he was only showing one charge. I pulled up my credit card account online, and showed him the two charges, but he was sure it was a mistake and would be fixed within a couple of days. Since I was out of time, I had to let it go.

As you probably figured, in a few days, it had not been fixed. I called the hotel again, they again couldn’t figure out what was going on, and said it must have been an error and would be corrected soon. They also gave me the contact information for their billing department, but said they were all “in a meeting” that day. I tried for three days to call the billing department, and could never get an answer. I was extremely frustrated, and swore I would never stay in this particular chain again. Ugh.

Finally, when I had basically lost hope and was trying to figure out how to dispute the charge with my credit card, I got an email from my co-worker (remember, the one whose room I paid for?). She asked me if my hotel bill had been weird, as they had only charged her $300 and she had been expecting $800. She looked at the statement in detail and realized there was no room charge, only charges for incidentals. Aha! Mystery solved. I hadn’t been charged twice for my room—I had been charged for both rooms! All I had to do was get them to refund my card and charge her room to her card, right? Hah. I should have known better! They kept telling me there was no possible way they could do that—the rate was non-refundable. Oh, and since I had gone through a third party (the hotel website!) there was nothing at all they could do. OMFG.

How did we finally resolve this? My co-worker submitted her expense report, got reimbursed, and wrote me a check. Drama! The moral of the story is that I will not try to hold a room for a coworker unless I am guaranteed by the hotel, in writing, that I will not be charged. Ugh.

Readers, have you ever paid for a coworker’s hotel room? Were you able to get reimbursed?

When I’m on vacation, tipping housekeeping is a no brainer.  In fact, any time I stay in a hotel for longer than a few nights it’s just included in the budget. But for business trips I’m usually in the same place for a night or two, and in the hotel hardly at all. It’s not that I don’t want to tip housekeeping; it often just slips through the cracks as I’m dealing with work craziness. I tip room service, valet, and bellhops—why do I forget housekeeping? According to CNN’s tipping guidelines, $2-5 per night is appropriate. Maybe I just need to remember to bring more cash….

So I’m interested in what everyone else does. Do you tip housekeeping if you’re somewhere just one night? How much?

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Don’t forget about our contest! Enter here to win a seat next to Randy Petersen for the sold out Star MegaDO 4!

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Today’s guest post is from a fellow Boarding Area blogger, Mommy Points. She writes about the quickest, easiest ways to maximize points—leading to fantastic vacations for her family without spending a dime. Thanks so much for the post!!

With Road Warriorette temporarily somewhat home-bound with her infant, I happily agreed to do a guest post so she could spend some extra time with her brand new family member.  I very clearly remember how busy those days with a newborn can be!  I do a fair amount of traveling myself, but my time away from home pales in comparison to my husband, who is a true Road Warrior.  Recently, he has been away from home at least part of the week every single week for months.  We have a two-year-old child, and I can tell you from first-hand experience how hard it is having a family separated frequently due to work obligations.

While clearly the main purpose of his business trips is because his work requires it, and having gainful employment is a necessity, what makes the trips much more tolerable for us are the miles and points he earns on the road.  Call it a consolation prize to sleeping alone, doing the bedtime routine alone, packing lunches alone, doing dishes alone, teaching a two year old how to effectively communicate with Daddy on the iPhone, etc.  When it became clear that his work travels weren’t slowing down anytime soon, we sat down and strategized how to maximize his time away so that we can reap some free vacation benefits of our own down the road by using the elite status and points he earned while away.

Here are some steps we went through when deciding how to maximize his mandatory travel for our own vacations:

• Look at the number of nights you are likely to have in hotels in a given year, and then go after hotel elite status accordingly.  For example, my husband will have well over 50 nights in a hotel for work in 2012, so we decided it made sense for him to obtain top tier status in both Hyatt and Starwood.  It is usually easier to qualify on stays vs nights, so he did 25 one-night stays at Hyatt hotels to re-qualify for Hyatt Diamond status by late April.  He is now almost done qualifying for Starwood Platinum status via a “Platinum Challenge”.  By doing this we will have our choice elite status with two hotel chains when we travel as a family.  Suite upgrades, free breakfasts, food and beverage amenities, free internet, etc. are now all ours free on family vacations as a direct result of his mandatory business travel.  The same principles hold true for airline status, as having elite status with an airline can result in first class upgrades and a more seamless travel experience when you vacation with your family.
• Pay attention to hotel promotions.  Virtually all of the major hotel chains run points promotions off and on throughout the year.  Assuming you have some flexibility in selecting your hotel chain while traveling, give some thought to who has the best points promotion going on at any given time.  Again to use my husband as an example, we knew he was going to have a cluster of Starwood Preferred Guest stays at some point in the year.  When SPG announced their “Better by the Night” promotion that allowed you to earn triple SPG points by having 15 nights or more in a three-month period, it made perfect sense to time his SPG stays within that three month period.  By doing so he is earning triple the number of SPG points than he would have by ignoring the available promotions.  Earlier this year when Club Carlson was offering up to 50,000 points for staying just one night at one of their hotels, we were sure to switch his business stays to Club Carlson hotels until he maxed out that promotion.  Those points were then used to stay at a hotel in London during the Olympics we would never have been able to afford otherwise.  We earn tens of thousands (or perhaps hundreds of thousands) of additional hotel points per year just by being strategic about promotions.  Along those same lines, register for every hotel promotion that may possibly be relevant for you, as you never know where your business travels may take you.
• Register your business cards for dining rewards programs.  Of course, don’t register your corporate cards for anything your boss would disapprove of, but there are many hotels and airlines that participate with the iDine Rewards program.  There is no charge for this program, and you can earn miles for meals on the road that you were going to eat anyway.  Like most road warriors, my husband eats out virtually every meal while away from home.  Some of the meals happen to be at restaurants where he earns miles for every dollar he spends.  He now has “VIP” status with the MileagePlus Dining program, so he earns 5 United Miles per dollar on those meals.  Since some of his meals involve paying for clients and coworkers, the number of points he can earn from this really add up quickly!  Once you register, it requires no additional work, so it is an easy way to earn some extra miles.

There are many more ways to squeeze the maximum points value from business trips, but those are a few of the strategies that have worked well for us.  Enjoying quality family time together in comfortable hotel suites, or on flights paid for with miles, really does take a bit of the sting out of having a husband who is gone so much during the week for work.  It isn’t as good as actually having him home to read stories at bedtime to my daughter, but it certainly helps!

Hard to believe it’s already been a year! Talk about time flying. This time last year I was planning a trip to Manila and getting ready for Blog World. Fun times!

One year ago:

• I shared my Top Five Travel Necessities for Airplanes, Hotels, and Grooming.
• A friend reminded people how important it is to check into flights early.
• There were multiple instances of passengers joining the mile-high club, one from friends and one made the news….oy.

Two years ago:

• We had some good discussions about women business travelers being treated differently and bringing family on the road.
• Some friends discovered that almond butter is a big threat to national security.
• I realized that printing itineraries for international trips is a very good idea.

These days, there is no shortage of hotels aimed at the business traveler. But just because a chain says they know what road warriors want doesn’t make it so! One place that gets it right—Hyatt Place. You can tell they know what works for business travelers from the moment you step inside. The nice people at Hyatt Place gave me a room for the night in their Austin location to check out the hotel and new a.m. Kitchen Skillet breakfast.

Room. The room was large and incredibly comfortable. It’s divided into two sections—a sort of living/work space with a kitchenette, and the bedroom/bathroom. In the living area, the sectional sofa had more seating than I have at my own house—it was huge! I sat there for a while working, and really enjoyed it. There was a lot more room to spread out than normal. The king size bed had plenty of pillows (yes!!) and was nice and supportive. The bathroom was nice, with a cool wallpaper and large walk in shower.

Green features. In all new Hyatt Place properties built, there is some type of energy management system in place. In the particular location I visited, you have to put your room key in a slot by the door in order to control the AC. When your key isn’t in there, the AC automatically goes up a few degrees because it knows you’re not in the room. This does two things—it keeps your key in a handy spot by the door so you never forget it, and maintains an efficient temperature in your room. It’s very cool.

Technology. Hyatt Place hotels offer free wifi all around the hotel, including your room. They also have a business center with computers and printers, or you can hook your own system up to a printer if needed.

Outside. There was a gorgeous pool that I (sadly) didn’t have time to enjoy. Next time, though, I will make it a priority! For those with energy to burn, there is a nice workout facility as well.

Breakfast. I loved the new a.m. Kitchen Skillet! A definite, tasty improvement to their breakfast setup.* (Check out my full review here.) There is also a selection of snacks available in the gallery, as well as bar offerings.

Service. All of my interactions with the staff were efficient, quick, and courteous. Just what a tired road warriorette needs after a long day!

*I don’t think the a.m. Kitchen Skillet is available in all locations yet, but should be soon.

All in all, I had a great stay at the Hyatt Place. Plenty of room to spread out in a comfortable, attractive space, free wifi, and delicious food—what more do you need?

Summer travel is heating up, both for families and for business travelers. Cambria Suites, part of the Choice Hotels family, recently released a survey about family travel. Almost half of respondents have taken a family summer vacation (49%), and nearly one quarter of adults (24%) report that they usually need a vacation when they return from a family trip. Seven percent of respondents even look forward to a “solo” business trip as a way to recover from a family vacation. Hah! However, experiences of summer family vacations are overall very positive. More than half (65%) of Americans with family vacation experience find them relaxing and admit that there is “nothing better” than a great family vacation.

To help people get on the road this year, regardless of whether they are traveling for business or fun, Choice Hotels is offering travelers a chance to earn a $50 gift card after just two separate stays. When guests sign up for the Choice Privileges rewards program and stay two separate times from now through August 15, 2012 at any Choice brand property, they’ll earn enough bonus rewards points that they can redeem for a $50 gift card of choice to use towards gas, dining or shopping. You can earn an unlimited amount of gift cards during the promotion, which sounds like a good deal to me!

We’ve all had mornings go horribly wrong, whether you’re at home or on the road. Hyatt Place is doing their part to make mornings just a little bit better by introducing their new a.m. Kitchen Skillet. It’s always been free, and now it’s been upgraded! Enjoy breakfast sandwiches, oatmeal, fresh fruit, waffles, pastries, juice, toast, and cereal, along with Starbucks coffee.

Signature Sandwich

I went this morning to a local Hyatt Place to check out the new a.m. Kitchen Skillet, and my stomach was very happy. Not only were there many more offerings than in the past, but everything I tried was delicious. My first taste test was the new Hyatt Place Signature Sandwich, a potato roll stuffed with egg, apple wood smoked bacon, and sliced Gouda cheese. It was very, very tasty. I also sampled one of the rotating sandwiches, the Santa Fe Bagel, which is a whole grain bagel thin topped with ham, egg, spinach, tomato, and chipotle mayo. Other rotations include the Classic Muffin (English muffin, egg, ham, cheddar), the Sunrise Croissant (croissant, egg, spinach, mushrooms, and muenster cheese), and the Southwest Biscuit (egg, pepper jack cheese, tomato, turkey, roasted green salsa). I think they all sound pretty darn good! One item they are very excited about is the new steel-cut oatmeal, with multiple

Toppings!

delicious topping options.

Besides the great food, two things stood out. First, the modern yet comfortable décor—it looked fresh without trying too hard, and my poor pregnant body was able to sit for a long time without getting stiff (no easy feat these days!). In addition, the service was incredibly gracious and helpful. Every guest who walked through the main area was greeted personally, and many people were given a quick tour of the breakfast area. One woman came in late, when they were already cleaning up, but the hostess told her to let her know what she wanted and she would go to the back and grab it for her. Great service!

Even with a fantastic breakfast, mornings can still get a little crazy. That is why, in honor of the new a.m. Kitchen Skillet, Hyatt is running a contest on their Facebook page featuring Morning Meltdowns. Share your worst meltdown, and you can win 10 free nights from Hyatt Place!  Click here to check it out.

Readers,  what have your worse travel morning meltdowns been? Has anyone checked out the new Hyatt Place breakfast?