Starwood is really being agressive in trying to attract new customers and increase overall business. I like it.

My favorite was on a US flight that hit a goose on takeoff that forced an emergency landing (at an airport!). In the US res. system they coded the cancel as "act of God."

I should have petitioned it to be an "Act of :rolleyes:"

I wonder if there's such a thing as canceled due to "Act of Pandy".

I'm the same with most of all three SkyTeam airlines' customer-facing staff currently in BNA ...

W Union Square will be going thru upgrades , so the prices may drop
there also.

And I hate Time Square :)

Haven't stayed at the Le Meridien, usually you will find me at W Tuscany/Court

I started typing the post before noon. :p

I'm going to SEA in two weeks. It's on some level very strange: despite being unemployed, I've managed to pay off a credit card, and take a trip to a long-wanted destination.

Since many of the W's have declined in quality over the past few years (IMO), I think it appropriate that they be downgraded to cat 4.

Since Categories are based on average nightly rates, they aren't always a good indicator of hotel quality. I also noticed that several Middle East & S. American properties are actually increasing in category this year. They didn't get as slammed by the global economic downturn in 2008 as other regions did. However, they're now starting to hurt. I suspect many of the category increases in places like Dubai, Argentina, and Doha seen this year will be reversed in 2010.

My worst thing is when I can't remember what my hotel room is, or even what floor I'm on, and I have to go to the front desk and ask. Or when I walk out into a parking lot and can't remember which car is mine.

I've never had to look at the BlackBerry while in transit to figure out where I was going though.

As for knowing travel industry employees on a first name basis, that has happened in several places, especially at smaller airports. There was a time when the CO Connection/Colgan people at TYR wouldn't even ID me, and if there was nobody at the counter, they'd print my boarding pass and luggage tag as soon as they saw me walking that way. I've had car rental counter agents at TYR, LBB, and HSV recognize me and hand me the contract and keys before I was up to the counter. And I've had a couple of hotel employees who have figured out who I was. These days that's mostly limited to a handful of people who work in the Marriott Baton Rouge concierge lounge, since the CO and National employees who work at BTR are usually too :rolleyes: to remember anything about their jobs, much less a repeat customer.

I wonder if CO has a "biscuit boy." :rolleyes:

I've been known to confuse my room numbers with the prior trip's room number and try and gain access to the wrong room. What's bad is when you go down to the front desk and tell them your keycard isn't working and they just recode it without asking for ID or verifying your room number. :o

Never had it happen to me with car rentals though as I try and minimize human contact as much as possible.

I knew the folks at SYR and HHH (ETA, HPN too) for a while too, but I didn't consider that any great feat of strength considering the airports are about the size of a telephone booth.

Most of the Ws have been recently renovated. You might have caught them at their worse times (i.e. 2007-08). However, even then, I don't think they were that bad.

A lot of them do need face lifts (W Court/Tuscany need them BAD yet they are still staying as Cat 6) but there have been lots of renovations going on (W NY, W Times Square, W San Francisco, and rolov mentioned W Union Sq) As ALC:rolleyes: pointed out, SPG adjusts the category based on rates, not quality.

I have a feeling we are going to see more properties going down next year.

Yeah, they really are. I know in my case, they're succeeding.

Another Friday another try at the J.Ed special. Today's target is a flight to MSY. I figured those will be pretty booked today.