Best of hospitality in the news – part 9 – 14 October 2016
Hotel Company Cancels Huge Loyalty Points Giveaway Amid Fraud
Just a few hours after announcing a massive loyalty points giveaway, Wyndham Hotels and Resorts abruptly cancelled the promotion because of “obvious and significant examples of fraud” before the offer even went live.
Read full story on Time
The Most Rewarding Hotel Loyalty Programs
A new evaluation of hotel loyalty programs released earlier this month found that Wyndham Hotels & Resorts operates the most rewarding loyalty program among the top six brands in the United States. IdeaWorksCompany, a group that performs third-party research in the travel industry, calculated the value of award nights at Choice Hotels, Hilton, IHG, Marriott, Starwood and Wyndham over a sample set of 1300 queries to build this year’s rankings and determined a “payback” percentage for each dollar spent. Past Wyndham’s program, the six operators were ranked.
Read full story on Forbes
Singapore’s Raffles Hotel to shut for renovation
Singapore’s historic Raffles Hotel said Tuesday it would shut for several months for renovations to the popular tourist landmark beginning next year.
Read full story at Bangkok Post
Is this the world’s cheapest hotel? Guests have to share a bed with 17 other people at this floating hostel… but it costs just 31p a night
Faridpur Hotel in Dhaka, Bangladesh, has been in operation for over 60 years and it’s doing a roaring trade – It’s made up of five boats and float on the river Buriganga. Guests can stay in a private or shared room – The facilities are very basic but guests have clean water, toilets and access to a small locker for their things
Read full story at DailyMail
This hotel executive has an instant solution to help tackle Hong Kong’s ‘outrageous’ home prices
Hong Kong’s tourism downturn may provide an answer to the city’s housing problem if government amends its policy to allow hotel rooms to be put up for sale or for rental, helping to ease the housing supply shortage, according to a real estate investment executive.
Read full story at South China Morning Post
Book on Google – answers to hoteliers’ questions
Google has burst onto the hotel transaction scene via Book on Google, awakening plenty of curiosity and questions about the real interest Google has with this move.
Read full story at tnooz.com