TMT News - 2025 Trending Travel, 5 Free Hyatt Nights, Paid Hyatt Place Breakfast, LoungeBuddy Dies & Newark!
Oct 9, 2024
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Chase has been making waves with exciting new perks, including Air Canada lounge access for Sapphire Reserve cardholders. The discussion unveils targeted Q4 deals providing 5-7X back on grocery purchases. Listeners learn about Hyatt's enticing 5 free nights offer and the debate over whether it's more beneficial than points. The podcast also addresses the untimely demise of LoungeBuddy and the impact of a recent fire at Newark Airport. Trending travel destinations for 2025 take center stage, along with insights into Hyatt Place's breakfast policies.
Ramada's innovative 'chief eats officer' role reflects the growing trend of hotel brands using influencers to enhance marketing efforts.
Hyatt's new breakfast policy charging non-elite guests indicates a significant shift in customer experience and brand perception strategies in the hotel industry.
Deep dives
New Job Opportunity at Ramada
An unconventional job opportunity was introduced by Ramada, which seeks a 'chief eats officer' to travel the world with a $10,000 stipend, $5,000 in cash, and 21 nights of accommodation. This role involves creating social media content while exploring various travel destinations, highlighting a trend where hotel brands target influencers for promotional success. Notably, the selection criteria include proficiency in social media, suggesting that visibility and follower count are critical for applicants. This campaign reflects a shift in marketing strategies, focusing on engaging platforms like TikTok to reach wider audiences.
Emerging Travel Destinations
American Express released a report detailing trending travel destinations, revealing that millennials and Gen Z travelers prefer booking hotels that offer credit card rewards. Among the highlighted locations were Moab, Utah, and Macau, China, the latter's rising popularity attributed to social media exposure. Additional cities like Brisbane, Australia, and Koh Samui, Thailand, were also noted as hot spots, indicating shifting preferences and broader access to travel experiences via points and miles. This underscores the importance of technology and social media in shaping travel trends and consumer choices.
Changes in Hyatt Place Policies
Hyatt is experimenting with new breakfast policies in select locations, where non-elite customers may incur an $11 charge for breakfast, a departure from the brand's tradition of complimentary breakfast for all guests. This change has sparked debate regarding the potential negative impact on brand perception, especially as competitors maintain free breakfast offerings. Observations have shown inconsistency in enforcement, leading to confusion among guests accustomed to the previous policy. Overall, this shift reflects broader industry trends towards cost-saving measures and highlights the importance of consistency in customer experience.
Twenty Minute Travel has now joined the MtM Podcast feed! You can catch this show each week right here in addition to the regular MtM Podcast or watch it on Youtube!
Episode Description
This week Chase was in the news a lot for a number of different reasons. To start, they added Air Canada lounge access for Sapphire Reserve cardholders. This is a good perk, but it has a huge downside. Chase also released their Q4 spending offers on cards with targeted deals giving 5-7X back on grocery and more. Finally, Chase also has newly increased offers on Sapphire Preferred and the World of Hyatt credit card. The latter is giving 5 free nights as a welcome offer. Is this better than points? In other news after 5 years of ownership, American Express has announced they are killing off LoungeBuddy. RIP. We also discuss: a fire at Newark airport, the Albuquerque Balloon Festival, 2025 trending travel destinations, Virgin Atlantic going revenue based, the search for Ramada's "CEO" and the new show we are launching on this channel. Episode Guide
0:00 Newark can’t have nice things
0:36 You can be Ramada’s new “CEO”
3:15 Amex’s 2025 trending travel destinations
5:07 Hyatt Place paid breakfast spreading?
8:17 Sapphire Preferred’s new 60K offer with a twist
9:47 Hyatt’s new 5 free night welcome offer
11:37 Sapphire Reserve adds Air Canada lounge access
13:10 Amex shutting down LoungeBuddy
14:49 Lucrative targeted Chase spending offers for Q4
16:23 Virgin Atlantic revenue based redemptions - Good or bad?
17:58 Mark visiting the Albuquerque Balloon Festival
19:14 Our new show coming to this channel
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