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Articles Tagged ‘hotels’

Top 10 bargain travel destinations for fall

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

Fall is shoulder season, the period between summer and holiday season known for low cost travel and fewer crowds at many vacation hot spots. This year, the Orbitz Insider Index reviewed average hotel costs in 10 popular shoulder season destinations, identifying which give travelers the most value this fall.

Dublin and Bermuda top the list, offering the highest year-over-year percentage savings. But, thrifty travels should set their sights on a fall vacation to Las Vegas, San Juan, and once again, Dublin, all of which offer average hotel rates under $100 per night. (more…)

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Posted in International Vacations, Las Vegas Vacation, Top 10 Lists, Travel Deals, Travel News, Travel Tips | No Comments »

Hotel hot sheet: More and More and More Properties

Monday, September 28th, 2009

By Joe Brancatelli

Lest you think the meltdown of the lodging industry would slow the development of new properties, consider this new crop of openings. If there is any bright side to these newbies, consider that several are actually in areas that honestly need new properties. One example: the new Hilton Garden Inn branches in Troy, New York, and Presque Isle, Maine. Then there’s the new 144-room Residence Inn in Yonkers, New York. One property that isn’t opening into a hotel shortfall, however, is the 155-room Aloft, one of Starwood’s new brands, near BWI Airport in Baltimore.business_travel1

Internationally, two new properties of note:  the 272-room InterContinental Kiev in the Ukraine and the 563-room Shangri-La Ningbo in China. Big doings in the luxury segment, too. The 99-room  Jefferson in Washington has reopened after a top-to-bottom renovation of the 1923 Beaux Arts building. The Jefferson is about four blocks from the White House. The Hotel Bel-Air will close on September 30 for a renovation that may take up to two years. And Mandarin Oriental is pulling its name off its hotel in Macau, China. The property has been renamed the Grand Lapa. Radisson has planted its flag on the former Red Lion hotel in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (more…)

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Posted in Business Travel, International Vacations, On the Road, Travel News | No Comments »

New hotels open in Fort Lauderdale, Honolulu, Washington

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

Business travelBy Joe Brancatelli

ANNALS OF RECESSION I

More Charges for Comfy Coach Across the Pacific: Trans-Pacific premium-class traffic is plummeting, falling even faster than trans-Atlantic travel up front.

According to IATA, the airline trade group, premium-class travel fell by almost 30 percent in March compared to March, 2008. Qantas, the Australian carrier, has been among the hardest hit.

Besides the 30 percent traffic decline, Qantas says that those fliers still buying premium-class flights are paying just half of last year’s going rates. As a result, Qantas has simply stopped selling first-class tickets on at least three routes, including its San Francisco-Sydney service.

That means some lucky fliers will get business-class service, but be upgraded to the seats in the larger, plusher first-class seats. However, coach passengers who want to score a roomier exit-row seat will have to pay for the privilege. Qantas now charges a premium of $60 to $100 for an exit-row seat assignment. That essentially matches the exit-row premium imposed last fall by Singapore Airlines on many of its trans-Pacific flights.

(more…)

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Posted in Business Travel, California Vacation, Flights, Florida Vacation, Hawaii Vacation, International Vacations, Las Vegas Vacation, On the Road, Travel News | No Comments »

United, Delta, Alaska launch new flights

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009

Business travel By Joe Brancatelli

NET NEWS

The Cost of Internet on the Road Is Coming Down: Without much fanfare, Boingo, the global network of 100,000 Wi-Fi hotspots, has slashed its monthly price by more than 50 percent. The basic domestic plan has been cut to $9.95 a month, down from $21.95. The domestic Boingo service covers hotspots operated by AT&T, T-Mobile and others inside thousands of hotels, Starbucks, McDonalds and bookstores nationwide. Boingo's move comes as residential-oriented broadband firms have begun bundling remote Wi-Fi access with their own monthly fees. Cablevision, for example, offers its users in the New York metropolitan area some Wi-Fi access on the road. Verizon, which sells DSL and fiber-optic Internet to residential customers, is readying an announcement that would give them some free Wi-Fi hotspot access, too. And T-Mobile has joined other big cellphone companies in selling 3G modem sticks that allow laptops to surf the Internet using mobile-phone networks.

(more…)

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Luxury Atlanta hotel opens

Thursday, May 28th, 2009

Business_travel By Joe Brancatelli

HOTEL HOT SHEET

The New Hotels Keep on Coming: With hotel occupancy plummeting and room rates falling precipitously, logic would lead you to believe that the hotel industry would stop opening hotels. But that's not how it works in lodging, when projects put into the pipeline years ago keep gushing out. So get out your scorecard and make note of this week's new openings. … There are four new Hilton Garden Inn properties: a 224-room Hilton Garden Inn at Toronto/Pearson Airport; a 140-room hotel in Ridgefield Park, New Jersey; a 105-room outlet in Tifton, Georgia; and a 115-room hotel in Fontana, California. … There are two new Courtyard by Marriott properties: a 218-room hotel adjacent to the New York Avenue Metro Station in Washington and a 92-room hotel in Denton, Texas. … Meanwhile, InterContinental has opened a 100-room Candlewood Suites in Manassas, Virginia, and a 100-room Hotel Indigo in San Jose, Costa Rica. …. The 125-room boutique Moonrise Hotel has opened in St. Louis. The hotel has a rooftop terrace; introductory rates start at $159 a night. … Just what we needed: another luxury hotel. This one is the 151-room St. Regis Atlanta in Atlanta's Buckhead neighborhood. … And not even Brighton, the famed if faded British seaside resort, can resist the lure of the chain hotels. Two of the city's best known properties now sport brand flags. The Royal York is a Radisson and the Lansdowne Place is now a Park Inn.

(more…)

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Orbitz Hotel Price Assurance: Go Ahead, Book Early

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

Harford_Hovercraft By Barney Harford, President & CEO, Orbitz Worldwide

We’re announcing today the launch of Hotel Price Assurance, an industry-leading innovation that promises you the best Orbitz rate when you book a hotel on Orbitz.com. Hotel Price Assurance is all about providing peace of mind to customers who want to book early but be protected in case rates drop later  — and it’s completely automatic.

No one else is doing this for hotels.  Once again Orbitz is leading the way, as we did with the launch of Flight Price Assurance last year.

Here’s how it works: You book any pre-paid hotel on Orbitz, another Orbitz customer subsequently books the same hotel stay at a lower rate, and Orbitz automatically sends you a check for the difference. If you’re really lucky, we’ll deliver it by hovercraft.

The launch of Hotel Price Assurance comes on the heels of the groundbreaking introduction of Total Price hotel search results at the same time as the launch of our aggressive Hotel Fee Cut promotion just a couple of weeks ago. And the launch a month ago of our Biggest Hotel Sale Ever.

There’s really no reason to look anywhere else when you need to book a hotel. And we’re taking that message to America in the new Orbitz TV ad that airs for the first time today. Check it out here:

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Posted in Travel Deals, Travel News, Travel Tips | 1 Comment »

Delta changes some international flights

Thursday, April 23rd, 2009

Delta
By Joe Brancatelli

ROUTE MAP

Delta Will Draw Down Some International Service: From the moment it declared bankruptcy in 2005, Delta Air Lines began shifting massive amounts of capacity to international routes. It has launched dozens of logical routes and almost as many insane ones. Most recent entry in the insane ledger: three weekly flights between its Atlanta hub and Brasilia, Brazil, scheduled to begin on December 11. With its recent merger partner, Northwest Airlines, Delta's operations are now 40 percent overseas. But the worsening economy is finally catching up with Delta's international plans. Starting in September, Delta will drop 10 percent of its overseas service. Although it has yet to offer details, watch for the airline to eliminate marginal routes, thin out frequencies on some of its most heavily serviced routes and switch to seasonal service on routes that can't support year-round service. Meanwhile, however, Delta continues its open up new international increase in New York City. Effective May 22, it will add daily New York/LaGuardia-Bermuda service. A month later, it will add flights between Kennedy and Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

(more…)

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Posted in Beach Vacation, Business Travel, Caribbean Vacation, Flights, On the Road, Travel News | No Comments »

Orbitz Hotel Total Price: Big Day for Online Travel

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

Barney_Harford By Barney Harford, President & CEO of Orbitz Worldwide

Big day today. At Orbitz.com we just announced the launch of Total Price hotel search results, making it dramatically easier for consumers to search for hotels.

Until today, there was no convenient way for consumers to compare multiple hotels on a Total Price basis. Consumers had to click through to the hotel details page for each hotel to see how much it would cost to book.

With Total Price hotel search results Orbitz is changing that, and making the world a better place. As of today, we’ll be showing you the base rate, taxes & fees and Total Price per night upfront on the initial search results page.    

And that’s not all. We’ve also dramatically cut booking fees on all of our hotels around the world for bookings made by July 15. Of course, lower booking fees mean a lower Total Price. We’re daring you to compare the Orbitz Total Price before booking your hotel anywhere else.

This comes on the heels of the recent launch of our "Biggest Hotel Sale Ever," featuring discounts of 30% or more at thousands of properties worldwide through May 31.

Are you kidding? There’s really never been a better time to travel. So get busy, get booking!

Hotels_Total_Price

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Posted in Travel Deals, Travel News, Travel Tips | 1 Comment »

Business travel: Hotels update rewards programs

Monday, April 13th, 2009

Business travel By Joe Brancatelli

HOTEL HOT SHEET

Great News for Frequent-Guest Program Players: The Starwood Preferred Guest program has completed its annual property reclassification, which sets award levels for hotels based on average daily rate and other factors. The news is good this year: About 150 properties will charge fewer Starpoints for free rooms and only about 80 hotels will charge more… Marriott Rewards has added a spiffy new way to use your points: free membership in Priority Pass, the airport lounge program. Annual membership costs 20,000 points (pay per lounge visit); 55,000 points (ten free club visits); or 85,000 points (unlimited visits). … Fans of the Rat Pack era take note: The Cal Neva Resort has gone into receivership after defaulting on a $25 million loan. The property in Lake Tahoe was once owned by Frank Sinatra and was a Rat Pack hangout. … The former Holiday Inn located a mile from the New Orleans airport has undergone a $28 million renovation and reopened as a Crowne Plaza hotel. … … The overcrowded Chicago hotel scene is losing two potential new properties. Shangri-La, the well-regarded Asian chain, has canceled plans to open a Chicago branch, and Marriott has exited a property meant to be the chain's first Edition hotel. Edition is a new brand Marriott is planning to build with boutique hotelier Ian Schrager.

(more…)

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Business travel: New hotels open in Seattle, Tempe

Tuesday, March 17th, 2009

Business travel
By Joe Brancatelli

HOTEL HOT SHEET

Do We Need All These Properties? Almost half of the nation's hotel rooms are now empty, yet new properties continue to open because the big chains can't plug the development pipeline. Hilton, for example, has opened a 210-room Hilton Garden Inn in downtown Minneapolis. Meanwhile, Hyatt has opened the 346-room Grand Hyatt Seattle and a 567-room hotel in Sha Tin, in the New Territories area of Hong Kong. Also in China, Renaissance has opened a 684-room hotel in a 60-story high rise in the Cloud Nine commercial complex. The lobby is on the 25th floor. And there are two more hotels in overbuilt Arizona, too. Starwood has opened an Aloft hotel in Tempe and Radisson has opened a 154-room property in Yuma. … Meanwhile, the Don Shula Golf Club in Miami Lakes, Florida, has been reflagged as a Hotel Indigo. And Florida's Naples Grande Beach Resort (formerly the Registry Resort) has become part of Hilton's Waldorf Astoria Collection.

NEED TO KNOW

On-the-Road Intelligence to Help You Travel Smarter: Several struggling casinos in Atlantic City have teamed up with Amtrak and New Jersey Transit to launch a rail connection from New York and Newark. The ACES Train will operate on Friday, Saturday and Sunday between Penn Station in Manhattan, Penn Station in Newark and the Atlantic City train station. Fares currently start at $50 one-way. … Caribbean travelers take note: KLM drops its flights between Amsterdam and the Dutch territory of Aruba at the end of March. … A new version American Express card tied to the Hilton HHonors program is loaded with perks. The Surpass card offers complimentary HHonors Gold status if you spend $20,000 a year and top-level Diamond status if you charge $40,000 a year. It also awards nine HHonors points for each dollar spent at Hilton properties, six points per dollar spent on some categories of purchases and three points per dollar for all other spending.

TRAVEL TECH TALK

Better Travel Through Technology: A group of mobile-phone makers says it will standardize handsets so that they can use common AC chargers. The group includes Nokia, Motorola and Samsung and two wireless carriers, AT&T and T-Mobile. The consortium promises to introduce the standardized chargers by 2012. … A year behind its announced schedule, Southwest Airlines has launched a test of in-flight Internet service. The test will be expanded to a total of four aircraft next month.

Related Orbitz resources:

Joe Brancatelli is editor and publisher of JoeSentMe.com, a non-commercial Web site for business travelers. Copyright 2008 by Joe Brancatelli. Licensed by contract for Orbitz use.

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