InterContinental Davos to rebrand as AlpenGold Davos

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• Chrisasaurus says:

  8 May8 May 09:25

  Curve app not working for anyone else?

  • Sam says:

    8 May8 May 09:31

    Was crashing for me yesterday on iPhone. Got the latest version and it’s back to normal

    • Alex Sm says:

      8 May8 May 11:33

      They are introducing Rewards and may have wider issues with the app

• Nick says:

  8 May8 May 10:13

  I’m starting to think we might see more debrandings coming. The GBT/Egencia deal is going to change the corporate hotel market massively, and if more people are using Expedia portals then branding is less of a draw than it once was, and corporates don’t typically care all that much for hotel loyalty schemes that only their employees benefit from.

  • Bagoly says:

    8 May8 May 11:17

    Do large corporates (if any still have corporate travel booking services) have bulk-purchasing arrangements with hotel groups?
    The ones they have with airlines seem to have always been largely separate from the frequent flyer schemes.

    • Rob says:

      8 May8 May 11:30

      There are huge bedbanks that buy huge numbers of rooms. Kaligo, most tour operators etc buy from a bedbank. They may buy, say, 25% of annual room nights in a resort hotel for a 50% discount.

      • Alex Sm says:

        8 May8 May 11:34

        What are the names of bedbanks? Or is it companies like Opodo and Expedia?

        • RussellH says:

          8 May8 May 11:51

          Opodo + Expedia will, I assume, buy from bedbanks, who are wholesalers while Expedia etc are retailers.
          I used to know the names of the bedbanks when I was tour operating (>8 years ago), but they seemed to change names / ownership / go bust frequently. Not household names, but maybe owned by household names.

        • Rob says:

          8 May8 May 13:53

          Private equity has been pushing hard into bedbanks in recent years and there has been a lot of consolidation. We looked at buying GTA back in 2009ish when I was in PE – they ended up doing a trade deal but the founder did accept our intro to HSBC Private Bank where it became apparently the biggest opening deposit from a totally new customer!

          Very short intro here: https://www.hospitalitynet.org/explainer/4100771.html

        • Andrew says:

          8 May8 May 17:09

          HRT used to have “arrangements”.

          Just have a look at your online corporate travel desk and you’ll get a fair idea.

        • Alex Sm says:

          8 May8 May 18:14

          Thanks Rob, very interesting. They look like GDSs in the aviation world

• Tariq says:

  8 May8 May 10:20

  On the subject of reflags, a hotel that looks very much like the Hilton Warwick is now appearing in Marriott search results. No brand stated, but would assume it’s going to be a Delta.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    8 May8 May 10:34

    Yeah it has new owners and it’s reflagging as delta. I hope it has some sort of refurbishment as it’s a dive.

    • RussellH says:

      8 May8 May 11:44

      Agreed, it was not that wonderful.
      But it was, usually, worth what I paid for it – ~£40 per night incl breakfast (as gold).

  • RussellH says:

    8 May8 May 10:41

    No brand stated as such, but there is now a panel telling you about Delta Hotels on the hotel info site.
    Delta would seem about the right standard, gien that the not-so-far-away Delta Milton Keynes used to be a Hilton too (at least according to my 2013 edition stanav).
    And it is no longer on the Hilton site.
    Hilton are now offering, though not open, the DT Chesford Grange, which from the pictures would be more inspring than the Warwick Hilton

    • Tariq says:

      8 May8 May 11:51

      Yes, Delta MK used to be a tired old Hilton. Moxy MK seems set to be open in the next month or so which is likely to be a much more modern experience, except without free parking that’s available at the Delta.

• Definitas says:

  8 May8 May 10:43

  Crowne Plaza at Miami Airport was a great redemption for airport stop overs. It was a sensible number of points, had a good shuttle service and good facilities. It is now a Sonesta. We will miss it.

  • Lady London says:

    8 May8 May 13:31

    Pretty sure I saw something recently about Sonesta having a new loyalty scheme. They took a large number of hotels away from IHG in the US recently so they for sure have critical mass.

    • RussellH says:

      8 May8 May 13:46

      “Redeem your Sonesta Travel Pass points for a free night with as little as 10,000 points at participating locations worldwide. We give you more with points that never expire and no blackout dates*”.
      https://www.sonesta.com/travel-pass/how-to-redeem-points

    • David says:

      8 May8 May 14:57

      Last I looked they had the IC Houston

• Rob says:

  8 May8 May 14:06

  What happens to existing IHG points bookings in a deflagging? I snagged a suspiciously good deal at the Davos I/C for next Feb on points. Should I assume my booking will be cancelled? Or is there an off chance that it’ll be honoured by new brand?

  • Rob says:

    8 May8 May 15:45

    It will be cancelled, because no-one will be paying the hotel.

    • Alex Sm says:

      8 May8 May 18:36

      Any chance to challenge this? If it was booked and bookable at the time of booking, IHG and hotel should honour, no? Even if at their expense

      • Rob says:

        8 May8 May 21:16

        IHG probably deflags 1 hotel per week on average. The rules are set. Remember that the hotel would only have got $50 for your reward booking anyway.

• Lulworth says:

  8 May8 May 15:53

  OT – can I use a British Airways eVoucher to part pay the cash element of an avios booking? If so, how do I do this as I can’t see where I can enter my eVoucher number online when making an avios booking? thanks

  • Jphan says:

    9 May9 May 04:16

    No you can’t use the evouchers for the ‘taxes and fees’ part of a Avios booking unfortunately. To be fair to BA it’s tucked into the evoucher T&Cs

• BuildBackBetter says:

  8 May8 May 20:35

  https://www.finews.com/news/english-news/39001-credit-suisse-to-sell-the-golden-egg
  Some background on the Davos hotel…

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