Seeing Is Believing: An Update of Holiday Inn Express Syracuse-Fairgrounds

We discussed the changes and even some surprises that Holiday Inn brought us before. Today, I toured the newly-renovated Holiday Inn Express Syracuse-Fairgrounds. I really like the new design. It looks clean and modern. Seeing is believing. Here are some pictures I took during the tour.

1. Top right --- Front Desk: new logo, new lighting, fresh blue color, and a friendly Front Desk agent.

2. Middle right --- Guestroom: this hotel also has refrigerator, microwave, and electric safe in each guestroom. How nice! (Not every Holiday Inn Express features these facilities though.)

3. Top left --- Breakfast: it serves typical continental breakfast plus some hot items like sausage, bacon, cheese omelette, etc. The blue colar and the lighting enhance the "freshness" feel.

4. Bottom right --- Mini Market: a small convenient store. Many limited service hotels have mini market now.

5. Bottom left --- Small conference room: using blue-color bottle water shows the attention to details.

How do you like or dislike the new design? Will you choose to stay in an updated Holiday Inn for your next trip? (Pictures are also available in my Facebook page.)

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United Airlines pushes economy-class travelers away with a new frequent flyer program

United Airlines just revealed massive changes to its MileagePlus Program. How much a traveler spends on the tickets is the only thing that matters in the airline’s new frequent flyer program.

Not long ago, United quietly switched from a distance-based reward program to a fare-based frequent flyer program. Since 2015, people earn mileages based on how much they spend on the air tickets instead of how far they fly.

For example, I typically earn about 4,000 reward miles for a round-trip ticket between Los Angeles and Asia, even though the distance of the trip usually ranges from 10,000 to 12,000 miles. Nevertheless, the distance I fly still matters because it will be counted towards the “qualified miles” for elite status.

Now, the airline wants to take a big step further to (only) reward those top-spending travelers as their elite customers.

The terms used in the current MileagePlus Program

There are four elite statuses in the United Airlines MileagePlus Program, including Premier Silver, …

Promoting student success in the STR Student Market Study Competition

I was in New York City (NYC) over the Veterans Day weekend for the HX: The Hotel Experience 2019, one of the most important trade shows in the lodging industry. Similar to last year’s trade show, the HX 2019 also entailed four components, including HX: The Marketplace, HX: The Conference, Boutique Design New York, and the STR (Smith Travel Research) Student Market Study Competition.

STR is the leading data analytics provider for the lodging industry. Since its debut in 2015, the STR Student Market Study Competition (the STR Competition hereafter) has received significant attention from the hospitality programs around the world.

This year, over 20 students from the Collins College of Hospitality Management at Cal Poly Pomona traveled to NYC for HX 2019. Moreover, six of them also participated in the STR Competition for the first time.

In the end, the Cal Poly Pomona team won the 2nd Prize among the 25 competing colleges and universities. The other winning teams include Michigan State …

Want a job at McDonald’s? Now, it is as easy as talking to Alexa

McDonald’s Corporation introduced the world’s first voice-initiated job application process called McDonald’s Apply Thru. Now, job seekers can initiate the job application process through McDonald’s Apply Thru by taking to either Alexa or Google Assistant.

How McDonald’s Apply Thru works
The job application process begins with the applicants saying:
“Alexa, help me get a job at McDonald’s.”
or
“Google, help me get a job at McDonald’s.”
Then, the job applicants will need to answer a few basic questions, including their name, job of interest, and the location where they want to work.
Afterward, the job applicants will receive a text message with a hyperlink that will take the applicants to continue the rest of the application process.
Where McDonald’s Apply Thru serve
McDonald’s Apply Thru is now available in nine countries, including the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, and Spain. It will be made available to other countries in the coming months.
Why McDona…

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Linchi Kwok, Ph.D.

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