#westcoastDO Official Thread - hotel options, cheap rates, room shares
- Thread starter Matt
- Start date
Kimpton's Sn Director of Guest Marketing just reached out to me via email wondering why I might not be happy still, after being matched into the Inner Circle. I pointed her to this thread so that she could come up to speed with things and see if we can get a dialogue going. I have faith in this brand still.
Deltahater
Tequila, Miles and Suites
We are all advanced travelers. I expect 90% of us to get status matched. How will they handle that over our weekend? Who will they upgrade? Kimpton better figure this out
Well, something I like about Kimpton (in theory) is that they are a boutique brand still. They simply aren't going to be able to keep up by throwing suites around - I think that Firesky only has 7 suites... but they do things to make you feel special.
I know that over time myself some of my best hotel experiences have been when I haven't had a token suite upgrade, I think that they are clinical and I don't feel appreciated, my best recent memory was in Vancouver where I went from the Four Seasons - suite upgrade through FHW, dining credit etc and onto a boutique for the final night of the trip - that place just did little things like a box of (nice) local chocolates in the room and had fantastic staff - and it stuck with me much more (though the restaurant at the four seasons was killer).
So I think that a 'smaller' more boutique like hotel can totally knock it out of the park, it's all about the little things, which I think that Kimpton can do.... I am ever the optimist though
Hi Matt I statused matched with Kimpton last summer an have been impressed with them so far we have dogs though so that is a huge plus for us with them being pet friendly.
I stayed at Firesky last summer an it was nice its an older hotel but they had re-done it well. I hope you can work things out with them as I do like them as a boutique chain they do things right. I am with the others that we appreciate your hard work with everything else you have going on really enjoy your blog an happy to support your efforts any way I can, again I live in Phoenix so please reach out if I can be an any help.
Tom
I stayed at Firesky last summer an it was nice its an older hotel but they had re-done it well. I hope you can work things out with them as I do like them as a boutique chain they do things right. I am with the others that we appreciate your hard work with everything else you have going on really enjoy your blog an happy to support your efforts any way I can, again I live in Phoenix so please reach out if I can be an any help.
Tom
Sorry Kathy, I know you have stayed with them a lot in the past and written them up too. I think you have a similar impression to me that they do treat people well and this is an unusual turn of events for this company.
Haley
I am not a robot
A TA from back 'in the day' is a valuable source of info. If they are from the days when ticketing was manual entry they know which 'taxes' are really surcharges and how to avoid them.Travel Bloggers qualify as Travel Agents no?
I emailed my material for Inner Circle earlier this week. Nada!
And thumbs up for Grandma!
I think 'travel related industry' is all Marriott requires. Capacity controlled up to 50% off. The Disney discounts require IATA or a CLIA card. Airlines mostly IATA. Hilton outside N America, CLIA is enough.
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Haley
I am not a robot
I agree. I love the brand and they have great CS. They do the small things right and in the end those can matter the most.
Deltahater
Tequila, Miles and Suites
Marriott requires iata and a marriott internal certification. The rates are set, ranging from $44 for fairfield inns to either $109 or $129 for luxury collection properties
Despite being status matched to Kimpton and initially looking forward to the property, I am booking with Hilton where I also have status and can get a better rate ($125 at the resort property down the road, no resort fees) than the elusive Kimpton courtesy rate. Initially I was willing to pay the $159 plus fee to be on site and to experience Kimpton's oft-touted service, but I haven't felt the love so far...and they won't extend that rate, anyway.
Matt I think choosing them was a good call, but they don't seem to want my business. It's baffling to me why they're not falling all over themselves to cultivate relationships with us, when we are their target demo for sure! If they can't grasp the big picture here, I'm not sure I want to give them my business at all.
Matt I think choosing them was a good call, but they don't seem to want my business. It's baffling to me why they're not falling all over themselves to cultivate relationships with us, when we are their target demo for sure! If they can't grasp the big picture here, I'm not sure I want to give them my business at all.
Marshallonmoney
Level 2 Member
I am a Kimpton Inner Circle member. After the bait and switch routine, I will NEVER stay at a Kimpton and will advise all I know NOT to stay there. When they agreed to the promo rate, they knew there would be 120 travel fanatics there. Still can't believe they did this.
Skywardbd
Level 2 Member
I was one of the lucky ones to get in on the initial $159 rate. However I'm thinking of canceling and booking at the Hyatt down the street instead. Kimpton FireSky had to know that more than 20 rooms would be needed for this group. It sure sounds like a "bait and switch" revenue grab on their part. One of the great things about the CharlotteDO was that most of us were staying at the Hyatt and the chatter and meet ups at breakfast were awesome. We'll miss that opportunity for fellowship with all of us scattered at different hotels for this meeting. I'm sure that's not what Matt and colleagues envisioned when they set this up.
Matt, I think you said you secured a room for me, but I'm inclined to agree with Marshall and might look into Hyatt house. I really don't want to support kimpton at this point either, which is a real shame, as boutique style hotels are exactly my speed and I was really looking forward to it. Given the experience at the last DO, I'm confident the attendees will find each other no matter where they are staying.
I had a good chat yesterday with one of their Directors, I explained our situation and he was a solid guy, yes there is certainly a revenue undercurrent occurring here, but he did say he would do what he could to help make it right. As we ended the call he said he would speak with the revenue people to see what they could do with this, and I proactively delivered him the list of people who had replied to my email.
Rather than just wait for an arbitrary number I sent through the names of people who had told me that they wanted a room. I'd built this list over the weekend for this eventuality. All told, this was 20 people (including some of the organizers that hadn't booked) they took a little time, and reverted to me last night saying that they would honor the rate for each and every one of these people.
From my conversation it seems that they were really expecting no more than about 7 rooms to be booked, else it would have gone onto the contract/attrition schedule, and in the end, in order to do the right thing by us they agreed to open up the block to 40 rooms (20 filled, and 20 from my short list) I have to say that i'm as impressed as I can be by this turnaround, I reached out to everyone in a slim hope that we could get some of them in, but that they extended it to everyone who wanted it is a very nice touch in my opinion.
I'm personally going to stay with them, I think that this is a single error that occurred and since that time they have worked hard to make it right. Please note that folks that didn't get back to me won't be able to stay at this rate, but if any who did have since changed their minds please let me know and I will use those room blocks accordingly.
Rather than just wait for an arbitrary number I sent through the names of people who had told me that they wanted a room. I'd built this list over the weekend for this eventuality. All told, this was 20 people (including some of the organizers that hadn't booked) they took a little time, and reverted to me last night saying that they would honor the rate for each and every one of these people.
From my conversation it seems that they were really expecting no more than about 7 rooms to be booked, else it would have gone onto the contract/attrition schedule, and in the end, in order to do the right thing by us they agreed to open up the block to 40 rooms (20 filled, and 20 from my short list) I have to say that i'm as impressed as I can be by this turnaround, I reached out to everyone in a slim hope that we could get some of them in, but that they extended it to everyone who wanted it is a very nice touch in my opinion.
I'm personally going to stay with them, I think that this is a single error that occurred and since that time they have worked hard to make it right. Please note that folks that didn't get back to me won't be able to stay at this rate, but if any who did have since changed their minds please let me know and I will use those room blocks accordingly.
Marshallonmoney
Level 2 Member
Hyatt had points plus cash when I booked. Not sure still have, but, even if points only, just 8K.
Mike @ The Hustle Blog
Level 2 Member
Thanks for the hard work, Matt! It is nice that someone over there was able to make things right. I believe I emailed you back over the weekend so I'll look to lock this in when you give the word.
Marshallonmoney
Level 2 Member
Glad they tried to make it right. Never should have happened to begin with.
Thanks for all of your hard work, Matt.
Thanks for all of your hard work, Matt.
There really won't be any 'expense' regarding the after party, I confirmed that any of 'my guests' can hang out with us as long they like, it just means a longer walk home afterwards.
Thanks Matt for getting this sorted. I've booked two separate reservations, one for Saturday and one for Sunday. We'll stay there on the Saturday for convenience's sake and maybe Sunday too (or maybe we'll move back down to the Hyatt House). I'll be bringing a spouse who tolerates the hobby and two kids (4 and 5 months). Matt, maybe the two little ones can drool on each other.
We are booked at Firesky! Our boys will be 11 and 13 by then and I'm sure they'll have funny stories to share about crazy travel hacking parents!
ElainePDX
Level 2 Member
I got in on the original rate just by luck but I just wanted to add my thanks to Matt for all the work to turn this around. While I'd also considered not staying at the Firesky, I think I will try to stay there at least some of the time. Since Kimpton worked with Matt to make it right, it seems to me that at least some of us ought to show up !!
!!Ah, sorry about that. Let me know if it's better for me to cancel the second reservation and just extend the first one. I don't want to take away anyone's room after you worked so hard to make them available.
Deltahater
Tequila, Miles and Suites
most likely our 12 year old boy will come too
That's excellent, Deltahater. Are you back in at Firesky?
That's great, Kenny! My oldest has moved out, so my son is basically like an only child now at home. He will be super excited to have other kids to play with. Hopefully Deltahater's son will be there too.
Deltahater
Tequila, Miles and Suites
No, we are staying at the Fairfield Inn. I did not want Matt or others to jump through hoops for us. Plus we are saving $130 per night
Yeah, that TA rate is pretty nice!