Welcome to The Morning Shave for Monday, February 3, 2025. Expedia shares booking hacks that no longer work, and what travelers should do instead to find lower flight prices. Marriott is offering a limited-time elite status match. And American Express is eliminating some benefits and redemption options. Visit BaldThoughts.com/tms to read all the stories.
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The Morning Shave
These Popular Travel Booking Hacks Were Just Debunked by Expedia — but Here Are New Tips on How to Save.
Travelers are always looking to save money on flights, hotels, and other travel expenses. While some people still think there’s a “best day to book flights,” those old rules don’t really apply in today’s travel world. To learn about the best ways to save money on flights, check out the Expedia Air Hacks report.
How you can leverage this promo to fast track to Marriott elite status
Marriott elite status comes with numerous perks designed to improve your hotel stay. The perks vary by level, and you can reach higher levels based on your annual activity or by having the right credit card. For a limited time, you can qualify for a fast track to Marriott elite status by completing select activities. Are you planning on taking advantage of this promo?

American Express Changes: ShopRunner & Auto Purchasing Program Ending.
Credit cards change benefits on a regular basis, which means that a card that was worthwhile yesterday may not be today. In this case, Amex is eliminating a points redemption option, a useful free shipping benefit, and its auto purchasing program. While I haven’t used all of these benefits, the free Shoprunner 2-day shipping benefit has been a real money-saver over the years. However, so many sites offer free shipping now, that it has lost much of its value.
Hyatt Extends Discussions with Playa Hotels on Potential Acquisition.
Hyatt and Playa Hotels extended their discussion period to February 10th. The hotels reached an exclusivity agreement late last night, but have been unable to come to terms that were agreeable to both sides. Playa Hotels is a developer of all-inclusive resorts, and it owns or operates 24 resorts with more than 8,600 rooms. Its properties are located at prime beachfront locations in Mexico, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic. These resorts would be a welcome addition to the Hyatt portfolio for travelers to earn and redeem points.
Will luxury travel slow down? One expert expects a dip in hotel rates.
As travelers get spooked by a resurgence in inflation and the uncertainty of tariffs, they may not be willing to open their wallets so widely on vacation. This hesitancy to spend could lead to a recession and a drop in hotel rates… especially at affluent, aspirational, and luxury hotels.
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Nice list today. It might be interesting to see some more details on the Expedia findings since at least the Sunday departures being cheaper for international trips hasn’t been what I’ve encountered but they must have gotten the information somewhere.
Do you worry much about AI publishing on Boarding Area and in general undercutting your work? The newest BA member comes across as a bot and not a particularly good one but AI is only going to get better. It’s creepy, a little scary, and exciting at the same time but in a venue like BA I’d just as soon stick with humans doing the writing even if that makes me old fashioned.
Hey Christian, thanks! Here’s the link to the Expedia Travel Hacks findings. I imagine that the data is based on the millions of transactions that are booked through its various platforms (Expedia, Vrbo, Hotels.com, etc.).
AI is definitely impacting the content creation industry. A lot of my freelance writing clients have either stopped or cut way back as they try to use AI to replace us and lower costs. However, AI isn’t that good right now, and it will never replace the personal stories and experience that true travel journalists have. As for the newest BA blogger, I’m not sure. I honestly don’t read all of the BA content, but I’ll keep an eye out for it.
Skylar Sky is the AI name although I suspect a pseudonym. The stuff is both fawning and completely vanilla at the same time and is impressively unoriginal.