Originally Posted by
Beltway2A
That pained me a little bit, physically. Particularly the Olive Garden bit.
I think it depends on how it's presented. Whether it's the Holiday Inn in Des Moines, or one in Paris, it's probably more typical of what someone may expect. Especially if the traveler doesn't have status. An in-depth review would be very interesting.
Alternatively, there's some good framing to be had for business travelers, e.g. "How to make your monthly flight, car rental and stay in Little Rock slightly nicer by accruing status." Especially with some kind of status/no status comparison. A newspaper I'm forgetting did something like that for air travel a few weeks back, with two journalists on the same flight, and it was an interesting read.
Even more so, when you're in Little Rock, you've got to do the extra work to get outside the hotel and find the local places (while pitching the CSR at three points for dining with a local restaurant that's on the Rewards Network program for another five) that can offset the pain of business travel with really solid earning opportunities.
But I understand that might take really hard work to uncover those opportunities, and it's a lot easier to just scream, "get the [] hotel card, which will give you two nights anywhere!" Even if it's really two nights where you don't want to go.