Skift Business Traveler: Marriott Runs Towards Millennials… and Stumbles

What to Know Now

There’s an uptick in advertising from Marriott headed your way if you’re one of those “young folks” called millennials. The hotel brand just enlisted an ad agency to start targeting a younger audience, so now with your daily instaface and youtime there may be a small, rambunctious Marriott banner hocking the wares of your local downtown SpringHill suites. The campaign on Reddit has already started.

Meanwhile, in a patently not-millennial friendly move, the company was just fined $600,000 for actively blocking third-party Wi-Fi in one of their Tennessee hotels, though they sheepishly suggest their decision was for the consumer’s safety. Apparently one hand isn’t talking to the other at Marriott HQ.

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Social Quote of the Day

Oh @MarriottIntl you can’t expect to woo #geny (http://goo.gl/ZuCux9) if you block access to/charge for wifi: (http://goo.gl/mTcCTL)

– @pdxnicolle | Nicolle Merrill, Content strategist for niche travel.

Airlines

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Airline Bosses Say Ebola Fears Aren’t Affecting Bookings: American Airlines Group Inc. and British Airways said bookings remain intact after the disclosure that an Ebola patient made a trans-Atlantic flight and became the first person diagnosed with the disease in the U.S. Read more at Skift

Airports

American Airlines Says Delta Isn’t Making the Most of Its Tokyo-Haneda Slot: American Airlines Group Inc. asked U.S. regulators for flight rights to Tokyo held by Delta Air Lines Inc., saying the smaller carrier isn’t making the best use of access to the Japanese capital’s close-in Haneda airport. Read more at Skift

Tomorrow’s Best Airport Security Is Already In Your Face: Advancements in biometric technology won’t revolutionize travel, they already have. What awaits us is further enhancement, greater sophistication, and ultimate invisibility. Read more at Skift

British Airways: Heathrow expansion is a ‘lost cause’: Heathrow expansion is a “lost cause”, according to the airport’s largest airline, despite a cross-party pledge to make a quick decision on new runways in the next parliament. Read more at The Guardian

Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport Is Building the State’s Largest Solar Panel Installation:  The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport is planning a $25.4 million solar power installation to generate nearly 20 percent of the airport’s electricity. Read more at Skift

Tech

San Francisco Expands Its City-Wide Free Wi-Fi, Thanks to Google: San Francisco launched free Wi-Fi access at more than 30 public parks, plazas and recreation areas on Wednesday, thanks to a grant from Google. Read more at Skift

Amtrak to Close a Tunnel on the U.S.’s Busiest Commuter Train Corridor:  Amtrak, the U.S. national rail operator, said the century-old commuter-train tunnels beneath the Hudson River need repairs from Hurricane Sandy that will require them to be taken out of service for extended periods. Read more at Skift

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Hotels

Marriott Pays $600,000 Fine for Blocking Guests’ Wi-Fi Hotspots: Marriott International will pay the government a $600,000 fine for jamming conference attendees’ own Wi-Fi networks at one of its hotels, forcing them instead to pay as much as $1,000 each to use the hotel’s own connection. Read more at Skift

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Hilton to Sell Waldorf Astoria New York to Chinese Firm for Nearly $2 Billion: The speculation is now over as to when Hilton Worldwide would finally sell a huge asset, the Waldorf Astoria New York, as the company announced it reached a deal to sell the historic Manhattan property to Anbang Insurance Group Co. for $1.95 billion in cash. Read more at Skift

Marriott Steps Up Its Content Game to Lure Millennials to Its Hotels: Marriott International this week announced the launch of a creative and content marketing studio that will produce content from TV shows to GIFs in an effort to get Marriott’s 18 brands at the forefront of millennial travelers’ minds. Read more at Skift

Your Turn

This week marks the inaugural issue of The California Sunday Magazine, a new project from Doug McGray. Read portions of the first issue here.

Tips and Comments

Can be sent to [email protected] and @grantkmartin. We publish the Business Newsletter twice a week on Monday and Thursday.

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