JetBlue tries to go from zero to hero, Capital One extends popular get-into-jail-free benefit and Marriott now has a new transfer partner. All that and more in this week’s Saturday Selection, our weekly round-up of interesting tidbits from around the interwebs (links to the original articles are embedded in the titles).
Now you can transfer Marriott Bonvoy points to…Starbucks?
There might not be a rewards program that does a better job of overpromising and underdelivering than Marriott Bonvoy…so much so that the pejorative term “Bonvoyed” now has its own entry in the Urban Dictionary:
Getting screwed by the Bonvoy…rewards program.
Capital One extends get into jail free benefit
Hertz has a had a checkered past couple of years in terms of keeping track of its cars and not arresting people without reason…or whatever the version of checkered is that’s all black. The rental car company falsely arrested, and in a couple of cases briefly imprisoned, more than 300 people over the span of a couple of years. It initially refused to admit to or apologize for anything, but eventually agreed to a $168 million settlement with the affected folks. You’d think they might have learned their lesson, but evidently minding automobiles isn’t as easy as it seems, as there have been regular reports throughout the last couple of years of the same sort of problem. That said, for those who like a little bit of post-rental cat-and-mouse with the authorities, renting from Hertz can be an exhilarating experience…you quite literally never know what’s around the corner. Hertz President’s Circle Status also has some nice benefits, including guaranteed upgrades from a wide selection of possible cars. Capital One provides free President’s Circle status to Venture X and Venture X Business cardholders, but for months has marketed an expiration date for the benefit of 12/31/24. Evidently, it changed its mind sometime over last weekend, as we got an e-mail on Monday asking us to correct our card listings to reflect that the get-into-jail-in-a-sweet-ride-for-free benefit would now be ongoing. Game on, repo man!
JetBlue getting fancy with lounges and a premium credit card
There’s many things that come to mind when I think of “luxury” or “premium” brands. Louis Vuitton, Dom Perignon (owned by Louis)…maybe Rolex? Weirdly, it would take awhile before I might come across JetBlue in that skimming of my mental Rolodex. However, JetBlue is about to change all that. The company, who most recently made headlines by implementing peak/off-peak bag charges and being an ardent suitor of the decidedly un-premium Spirit Airlines, has now decided to, um, reverse course by launching business- Mint-class lounges in Boston and New York as well as a new, coming-soon “premium” TrueBlue credit card. And get this: lounge access will only be for international business class passengers, top-tier Mosaic elites and premium credit card holders. Being lucky enough to grace any of those categories will allow you to bathe in 8,000 luxurious square feet of JetBliss, with “a full bar, barista-manned coffee bar, private workspaces, multiple lounge areas, and complimentary food and beverages.” Let me repeat: The…Food…Is…Free. What luxury. I don’t know that I’ll ever darken the hallowed doors of such an exclusive space, but I look forward to Greg the Frequent Miler (who’s the trailing spouse of a Mosaic Level 4) giving us an inside look before his next free helicopter ride across Manhattan.
And speaking of fancy, Priority Pass adds more mechanical spas
This is a bougie Saturday Selection, no doubt. Priority Pass is a network of over 1,300 airport lounges, restaurants and “experiences.” I’m told that some people pay for Priority Pass, but I imagine that the vast, vast majority of memberships come as a result of holding one of a multitude of premium credit cards that include it as a perk. Priority Pass has been a partner of Be Relax spas for awhile, offering three different free treatments, only one of which is performed by a human: a ten-minute foot massage. The other two “experiences” involve plunking yourself down into a lounger for a mechanized massage (I’ve tried these once or twice and have not been 100% convinced by the cleanliness involved in between “experiences”). Priority Pass has evidently found that its customers are clamoring for more massaging chairs, as it’s now added another provider: XpresSpa. There are actual humans that work at the whimsically-named XpresSpa, but Priority Pass customers won’t bother them, as the benefit is a 25-minute joyride in one of their “zero gravity massage loungers,” one of which is pictured above. Ben over at One Mile at Time gives the deets on the new bennies, helpfully adding that “there’s no need to tip the massage chair.“
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was laughing/squinting/howling so hard above that when I first read:
“significant excitement”
I saw “excrement”
Can the gang at Marriott shoot any less straight?
Bonvoyed!
Fwiw I have been reading research report summaries that point to a particular traveler segment as particularly profitable for the loyalty programs: under 35 who prefer to purchase aspirational experiences (what in my day was called aspirational consumption) often using points.
Apparently they are willing to pay more on a few experiences rather than lesser amounts on a larger number of experiences. And will pursue whatever points method of purchase even when that might ultimately be a less economically beneficial method.
If true, this research does a lot to explain Bonvoys otherwise inexplicable program choices. As well as indicate how this has the potential to be highly profitable for Marriott for several years to come.
I’m somewhat skeptical but the findings are intriguing.
FWIW, as a regular Starbucks customer (I know, insert insults here; so sue me) I’d have to say that since the redo of their points program I consider 4 cents a pretty good return and have yet to score a 5 cent one. In the old days it was easy to get close to 6, but those days are long gone. Then again, maybe I just don’t drink fru-fru enough giant concoctions.
Regarding arrests a la Hertz, irrespective of the outcome, a person’s criminal record will reflect an arrest. Even if the arrest is expunged from one’s record, TSA’s database will continue to reflect it and its presence can interfere with one’s application for or renewal of TSA Pre-Check. If this happens to someone, the person should then appeal to the TSA Ombudsman with appropriate documentation. Best of luck.
Hertz has in recent months also charged for fuel when returning a vehicle with a full tank. Receipts are important to have/keep incl credit card statements as proof.
The “funny” thing is that rental cars are specially equipped with telemetry, which includes fuel level. The check-in person doesn’t need to look at fuel level because the company’s system already knows it. As such, it is disingenuous at the least and fraudulent at the most to charge for fuel if the telemetry system has already recorded full. That’s an item for some state’s attorney general.
You are a funny man.