Originally Posted by
stimpy
If you take in the total cost of a business trip, meals, office expenses, etc., then having elite status in chains really pays off. With complimentary Club access you get free breakfast and at some clubs the happy hour food spread easily serves as dinner. Plus you get the alcohol if that is important to you.
Personally I don't care as much about suite upgrades although they are nice. I do care about the other perks such as Club access, guaranteed availability, free internet or free faxing/copying/printing, etc.
That's a fair point. But if you're staying at a central hotel in a major city, you could always go for a coffee and pastry to a nearby café. Obviously it rarely works that well when you want to be eating and at the same time doing things on the internet, but I'm either travelling for leisure or trying to explore together with accomplishing the relevant business-related activities, so I usually actively look for reasons to leave the hotel as opposed to using its amenities.