Drewwager94

When elite status and stacks of points fail to deliver, what actually separates a great hotel loyalty program from a mediocre one is how its people treat you when things go sideways.

Booking a five-star escape with only a few days' notice used to mean paying rack rates or settling for whatever room was left.

There's a particular kind of magic in walking into a hotel room and finding a chilled bottle of champagne waiting, condensation beading on the ice bucket, a handwritten card with your name spelled correctly.