Every year, thousands of travelers sit through a timeshare presentation promising decades of guaranteed vacations, only to later discover that a well-chosen loyalty program might have delivered the same lifestyle without the mortgage-sized commitment.
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Points and miles get all the glory, but the unsung hero of smart travel planning is what happens when things go wrong - a cancelled flight, a lost bag, a sudden illness abroad.
When elite status and stacks of points fail to deliver, what actually separates a great hotel loyalty program from a mediocre one is how its people treat you when things go sideways.