He said he wasn't at a computer and couldn't book it, but he was posting all about the W at the same time.

He doesn't want his readers to know the truth about his e-cert abuse and his being banned from UA. Why he even mentioned the fare is beyond me. It must've been from readers wondering which destinations he booked.

in the video he took of his mother lucky says he is 'trying very hard not to be angry with my mother.'

Whose naïveté caused the mess.

So he's transferring that anger (and perhaps also his guilt) to the hotel instead.

Because they did not 'fix' the mess his mother created.

That's a pretty natural reaction.

But also pretty immature.



#bettercallfreud

Let's not go overboard with this.... Who cares, he's got an opinion about this...we all have.

All arguments about mistake fares have been given ad nauseam in plenty of threads, no real reason to single out one blogger on this. Yeah, he is a hypocrite and he cheated before.. We probably all are at some point in time.

Let the DOT decide first, then we'll see.

No love lost for Lucky from me (I don't know the guy) but the barrage first in the DKK thread and now starting here is not very productive.

I find VFTW a bit more of a hypocrit, scrambling to post about the error fare and now saying it shouldn't be honored. But they are all bloggers in it for the money, and clicks is a way to get that....

So if you take OMAAT's story at face value, then his mother broke every travel safety rule in the book. Is it the theft the hotel's responsibility when a guest cannot follow Travel Safety 101? It's not like the room was broken into by force.

I think because he is such an influential blogger and has published his story, SPG is treating him with kid gloves. The W Barcelona and SPG owe him nothing in terms of compensation, but he'll get probably get at least 25k points (Cat 6 free night) for his trouble.

There's something that doesn't add up about this story, and I doubt we'll ever know what it is.

I have no idea why he made that video.

That's really not the stuff you post in public. Some family stuff needs to stay within the family and not be used for marketing. I never would have put a video of my mother (God rest her soul) up on my website after a criminal matter. I couldn't bring myself to even look at his as I don't think it should be there to begin with.

I didn't click on it so I can't comment on the content but I really don't think it was appropriate to have his mother talk about an unpleasant situation and I guess she admitted that she let the guy into her room? Not something I would want to admit to. I'd want to protect my mother from unpleasantness, which this obviously was, and not make her recount it. It helped nobody and he didn't need her to outline the situation as he did that himself.

Unless an actual hotel employee perpetrated the alleged act - which doesn't seem to be the case - I don't see where the hotel owes them anything, based on the facts as they've been stated in the blog.

As I read the story I had the same thoughts that his mom failed to follow the most basic travel safety concepts. If she is that naïve about such matters, he ought to better educate her before she travels again, for her own sake.

My mother would be embarrassed if an incident like that had even happened (though my mom is more travel and safety savvy than that). She certainly would be mortified if I were to not only publicly discuss it on a popular blog but post such a video. Not that I would ever do such a thing to her.

A quick break from the W discussion...bear with me.

Am I the only one who cringes every time Ben tries to write about "business strategy" or "business model" or so and so is "great at business"....

His writings on La Compagnie, whether accurate or not, drives me up the wall. He has no business experience whatsoever, doesn't know jack about mergers and acquisitions, and doesn't even begin to realize that his analysis isn't analysis at all.

I'm sorry, but flying 24/7 doesn't have you an "airline expert" in anything except product vs. product comparisons of different airlines.

Had the same issue with how he was writing about the CEO of Aer Lingus, as if somehow they were on the same level....

Some title too: "The Most Ridiculous Airline Aspiration Of The Century…"

I can think of two dozen more ridiculous things than what it appears La Compagnie is doing.....

Nope, you're not the only one.

Although Ben isn't the only armchair airline expert among P&M bloggers (I'd note that there are a few bloggers who seem to actually have knowledge/experience to support their analysis though)...or for that matter, among FT members.

Yep, agree completely...

But the reality is that most of his readers probably don't know any better either... And it's all about getting as much posts out there and clicks from readers. Content is irrelevant, there's money to be made.

In fairness, just about all flyertalkers a do this.

The difference is that not all flyer talkers market themselves as 'experts '

And the other difference is that some actually know what they are talking about... Something that in general becomes rather obvious rather quickly.

But it's irrelevant... He 's got the readers, so he must be doing something right.
Bread and circuses..... And some posts can be entertaining.

He has readers, but I don't subscribe to the belief that:

If one has reasons = one is doing something "right"

I don't think he's doing right by himself OR his readers.

For his readers, he's selling what TPG sold for eons: Krug, showers, and a jet setter lifestyle.

For himself, he's on the fast track to burnout.

I'm not familiar with the hotel in question, but do think it's fair to ask a hotel to control/limit room access to the hotel's own guests, and those visiting guests in their rooms when it's structurally possible for a given floor. If a hotel has a policy of propping a back door for a daily deliveryman and not supervising that open door, then that's an action/policy that needs to be corrected ASAP.

It's not a prison.... not many hotels control access to halls, room keys work perfectly fine for accessing your room. I rather despise the floor key for elevators as well... and that doesn't really work either.

I rather not get the 3rd degree every time I go into my hotel just to prevent some naive traveler from losing a purse. Something that can also easily happen on the street. Nothing prevents stupidity.