US News’ best US travel programs, Spirit adds first class and glamping with Hyatt (Saturday Selection)

Spirit Airlines becomes a normie and adds fare bundles and first class, Hyatt brings “glamping” into the fold and US News releases its annual ranking of the best travel rewards programs. 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).

US News rankings of US travel programs are out…and a little surprising

Ranking the various travel rewards programs is a fun, stimulating debate for at least 0.4% of the population at large (although maybe 75% of the folks reading this post :)). Loyalty programs can inspire quite a bit of, well, loyalty; I’ve read quite a few comment threads over the years where people fiercely defend the besmirched honor of Delta Sky Miles or World of Hyatt in the face of outside doubters. So, if you’re looking for a good ice-breaker around the cocktail table at either of the two upcoming Chicago Seminars, try out, “what do you guys think of US News ranking Wyndham Rewards as the #1 hotel program in the US?” And nope, that’s not even a joke. Wyndham barely edged out Marriott Bonvoy (#2) and World of Hyatt (#3) by a couple hundredths of a point and almost pulled a Katie Ledecky by nearly doubling up on Hilton Honors (#11). Sure, according the US News, Wyndham has a few flaws. It “can take six to eight weeks for partner rewards to be processed,” it “has a limited number of high-end properties” and “membership perks are minimal until Diamond status.” But on the other hand, it offers “free stays at all-inclusive properties” and has “more than 8,000 participating properties worldwide.” No wonder it’s #1!

Spirit adds fare bundles, first class and becomes…a normal airline?

Jumbo shrimp. Seriously funny. Sounds of Silence. Spirit First Class. Until this week you could have looked at that list as a Jeopardy contestant and easily come up with the question: “What are oxymorons?” Spirit Airlines, while being widely known in points and miles circles for its planes-of-existence-spanning loyalty program, has never been a byword for luxury. Or comfort. Or free seat selection. Or included snacks Or…you get the idea. Last week, the airline followed Southwest’s example of trying to hang out with the cool, legacy airlines and announced that it will be completely overhauling the way that it sells tickets. Instead of charging $1.42 for the fare and then adding on ancillary fees for anything else that might happen on the aircraft, it will soon be selling fare bundles that effectively correspond to basic economy, main cabin, premium economy and first class (except they call them Go, Go Savvy, Go Comfy and Go Big). The first class “Go Big” option gets you the famous “Big Front Seat”, along with free wifi, drinks, checked/carry-on bags and priority boarding. Greg and Nick went big before it was “Go Big” and really enjoyed it; I mean look at those smiles. Now all Spirit needs to do is to find some grumpy flight attendants and it will almost feel like AA or United.

Nothing says “glamping” like World of Hyatt

While it might not seem obvious given my occupation and predilection for blingy lodging, I absolutely love camping. Backpacking, car camping, beach camping; it’s all wonderful as far as I’m concerned. There’s nothing quite like hearing the sound of a river or the ocean waves while drifting off to sleep, waking up at night (like I almost always do because I’m of an age) and finding the sky smothered with stars or having cocktails while being the only one watching the sun set over a backcountry lake.

That said, I’ve always been a bit confused by “glamping.” Don’t get me wrong, it looks fun and I love that it gives folks who are camping-skeptical an opportunity to get a little closer to the outdoors without having to take out a second mortgage on gear they may never use again. But, wowza, it often seems expensive for what you get. It’s sort of like a hotel without the ensuite bathrooms or temperature and sound control and camping without the views and solitude. Earlier this year, Hilton Honors ventured into the “glampground” by adding the ability to earn and redeem Hilton Honors points at Autocamp, which offers customers the opportunity to spend the night in tricked-out Airstream trailers. Now Hyatt, which find itself in the odd position of copying what Hilton’s doing, has added Under Canvas, a glamping operation that has locations right by many US National Parks (which I’m also a huge fan of), some of which are considered “Dark Sky Resorts”…ie, good places for stargazing. I will say, some of these glampgrounds look sweet…and even better, seem to have a great sense of integration with the surrounding landscape. Now that we can book them with points, maybe I’ll finally have to see how the other half camps.

Capital One scares the $&#$ out of cardholders with “restriction notices”

People who are into points and miles can sometimes start to develop a very serious phobia: real humans looking at their credit card habits. While most of the world buys normal things on their one or two credit cards and then pays them off (or doesn’t), “gamers” might spend $1000+ at grocery stores several times a month, regularly buy hundreds (or thousands) of dollars in gift cards or sign-up and cancel the same credit card. Again. And again. And again. While folks tend think they’re safe as long as they can trick the AI overlords with their buying patterns, they fear that the jig will be up as soon as a human customer service rep looks at their account and asks “did you really spend $12,000 at Lonestar Steakhouse last month?” Within that context, Capital One (the bank that shut down Greg the Frequent Miler for no reason…and then did it a second time) has been scaring the pants off of folks with a “restriction notice” that pops-up when they’re logging into their accounts. It reads “In order to avoid restriction or closure, please call 888-249-3773 by xxxx to provide important business information;” ominous-sounding language that certainly makes it seem Greg-like a shutdown is on the way. Mark over at Travel on Points got the dreaded notice recently and tells his story in the linked post. Turns out there might not be much to fear after all.

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