u/The-Tradition

We are at four. A Protege, a Tribute, a Mazda 6, and a CX-5.

The 6 and the 5 are our current vehicles. My wife hasn't driven anything other than a Mazda for almost two decades.

So, I'm attending a work conference at the Kimpton Monaco Washington, DC in October.

The hotel has a special landing page for attendees of this event. The hotel landing page had the days of the conference prefilled on the booking page. We are allowed to add up to three nights before and three nights after at the negotiated group rate for anyone who wants to add some leisure time to the work trip. I did not want that and booked for the standard check-in on Tuesday and check-out on Thursday dates.

The next day, I received an email saying that my reservation has been modified. What? They added Monday night turning my two-night stay into a three-night stay. I sent an email to the hotel politely asking what's up with this, and have received no response.

What's the right move here? Send another email? Try to call? Contact the event organizer for help? Suck it up and stay the extra night?

I am a VERY seasoned traveler (Hilton Diamond; Marriott Titanium & Lifetime Platinum) and I have never seen anything happen like this before. I swore off IHG brands 10 years ago after a series of bad experiences, but there really isn't another realistic option near this hotel. The group rate is indeed a fantastic discount over what nearby properties are asking and I want to be within walking distance as I won't have a car, so... I'm going against my vow to never stay at an IHG property again and then this happens.

Every time I wear jeans TSA says they spotted "something" on the scanner and I get pulled for the pat down. This never happens when wearing other sorts of pants.

Are the jeans the problem, or am I imagining things?

Edit: For reference, I fly around 8 round trips a year. Not a million miler, but getting really familiar with certain trends. Usually I'm wearing work slacks and that's never an issue. But jeans seems to trigger something.

Booked a room for one night at the Courtyard at the Springfield, MO airport. I was pleased to find a "Pointsavers" rate of 20,000 points.

Then I did the math. Worked out to be 0.875 cents per point. The regular rate was more like 0.692 cents per point. And that price was pretty consistent in that town (better deals down in Branson, but I need to be by the airport that night for an early departure).

That's slightly better than the accepted 0.8 valuation, but not much.

I guess it is what it is...

I'm flying in on Saturday. Staying for four nights and five days, flying home on Wednesday night.

Of course I can never travel somewhere for leisure purposes without a weather crisis (long history of this), and they're predicting EXTREME DANGEROUS HEAT with "feels like" temps approaching 110 degrees every day I'll be there.

Where to go to escape the heat?

I hope Breeze is interested in taking their gates.

In the old days, the standard offering was the little airplane bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and body lotion. Hotels also provided facial bars and bath bars of soap.

Then they switched to the pump bottles mounted on the wall. At first there was shampoo, conditioner, and body wash in the shower, eliminating the bath bar, and a lotion dispenser on the wall by the sink counter. You also still got a facial bar (and make-up removing wipes if you're lucky).

More and more often, I'm seeing caulk filling the holes where the lotion dispenser used to be, and a really sad bar of soap. No lotion.

Is lotion a casualty of the quest to maximize profit?

After 18 years with this pool, I think I've set a record at 90 degrees F. That's insane.

Central Florida.

100% chance of rain at 4 p.m. Gotta love Florida...

UPDATE: Rain was 45 minutes late, but definitely 100%.

I've tried to nod off and take a little nap, but that never works for me.

Then I see other people who pass out immediately after buckling up and they're snoring before the safety presentation.

How do they do it?

This probably isn't fair because of the circumstances, but I stayed at the Courtyard Florence, SC Convention Center late in the summer after Covid happened. There was hardly anyone at the hotel, and apparently no housekeepers either.

When I walked in the room and inspected it, something just felt off. Then I noticed it. There was a credenza that's intended for the in-room coffee setup, but there was nothing on it. Peeked behind it and the wall... there's the coffee maker and the sweetener/creamer service set-ups on the floor, all covered in a nice layer of dust. If there was any time when you might actually want in-room coffee, it was during the pandemic.

So later I was turning down my bed covers and there was a giant palmetto bug under the sheets. I tried to smack him with a shoe but he flew away and scurried under the A/C unit. I got no sleep that night knowing that monster was in the room with me.

I guess I could have asked for a different room? The place was basically empty. But there's no guarantee a new room won't be worse?

What's your Marriott Tale of Woe?

Hampton Inn Raleigh Downtown. This was shortly after mobile keys were introduced.

I arrived after a grueling nine-hour drive. Approached the desk to check-in and the FDA said, "I activated your digital key. You can go straight up to your room."

I replied, "I don't like the digital key, it doesn't work on my phone." She replied something about "You have to click on the dot."

I said, "I don't have a 'dot' can I please just have a.... "

She snatched the phone out of my hand. I was like, "WTF?"

Then she put my phone down on the desk and said, "I don't have time for you" and called on the guy behind me in line to check him in while I stood there in disbelief.

After she was done with him I gritted my teeth and said, "Can you please just give me a plastic key card."

She made one for me with extra attitude, and I called the Diamond Desk to complain as soon as I got to my room.

I specifically told them I do not want any compensation, I just wanted them to educate this property that the digital key isn't mandatory and to give guests a plastic key card if requested. They completely agreed with me and apologized profusely.

I have been an Honors member since 2012 and Diamond for most of that time, and for many years prior to that stay. I have never encountered such an unpleasant person working for a Hilton property than her.

Oh, and if you stay at this property, bring earplugs for trains and nightlife noise at all hours of the night.

So what's your Hilton Horror Story?

Never understood how "Dick" is a nickname for Richard. But there are many other variants.

So, I filled a pan with hot water placed in the cook chamber right in front of the heat from the firebox. Over the course of a seven-hour cook (pork butt), I had to add more water once.

This REALLY helped to keep temperatures stable even though I was fighting wind, too. Probably one of the easiest cooks I've ever done on an offset. It just rocked solid all evening. Temps were also much more consistent across the entire cook chamber. Super happy.

At midnight it was hitting the stall at 160-ish and the bark looked fantastic so I wrapped it and put it in the oven at 200 while I slept. In the morning, the temp was 177. I bumped the oven temp up to 215 and it's now at 190. I will soon change over to the "warm" setting at 150 to hot hold until it's time for an early dinner this afternoon.

But here's the weird thing. The grease bucket was FILLED to the top with water. A drip pan in the cook chamber caught all the drippings from the pork so it wasn't that. This was nothing but water.

There was a little bit of water in the ash can under the firebox door. Dew probably created that instead of rain, and no rain was forecast. No where near the volume as in the grease bucket.

So how did the bucket fill with water? The only theory I have is all the water vapor from the water pan condensed in the cooker and drained out the bottom. Probably went through two quarts of water, so that's a lot of water vapor. The water pan did not leak.

Any other ideas? Next time I'll definitely look to see if water is dripping into that bucket.

If there's a Publix where you live, check your weekly flyer. Where I live, Publix is selling choice brisket for $5.99/lbs. I haven't seen it that low in a loooong time.

EDIT: Looking at these responses and WOW! I guess beef prices have really come down!

What the grocery store giveth, the gas station taketh away....

This is so annoying. I'm eight nights away from hitting platinum and Marriott owes me eight nights. I would like to select my Annual Elite Choice benefit!

So, I had two, one-night stays at two different Springhill Suites in North Carolina this week. The first hotel, my stay updated and I was credited the points and the elite night the afternoon after checking out. Same day!

The second hotel, the night updated IMMEDIATELY upon checkout, and the points posted that afternoon. Again, SAME DAY!

The FDAs seemed to be struggling to check me in at both properties (even though I already checked in on the app) and both of them mumbled something about the "new system."

Anyway, I'm sure the bugs will get worked out but this is WAAAAAAAY superior to the old way of waiting 10 days and filing missing stays cases all the time.

All praise The Power of M!