Disney on a dime: Yes, Mouseketeers, you can do it
May 18, 2009 ·
Disney World has been on our kids’ minds this year, but it wasn’t in our family budget. What’s a parent to do? Approach a trip to the Magic Kingdom and the rest of the sprawling Walt Disney World Resort with the same mind-set as the old Midas muffler commercials: I’m not gonna pay a lot [...]
Conservation effort targets Montana hotels guests
May 4, 2009 ·
People checking in at some Montana hotels and other lodging establishments will be asked whether they care to contribute a dollar or two to help conserve part of the landscape that draws tourists here by the millions. A new program invites innkeepers to make ever-so-subtle pitches for small sums that will help pay landowners who [...]
Hotels: Orbitz “tellin’ it straight” with prices; drops booking fee, too
April 22, 2009 ·
Kudos to Orbitz for making it much easier—and cheaper—to book hotels. Travelers know all too well that with every online agency, the listed price is not the bottom line—it’s just the start. You must click through page after page and go 95-percent-of-the-way toward booking a room before you see the hidden charges for booking and [...]
Hotel chain sells cars, electronics by machine
April 9, 2009 ·
In the market for a Bentley sports car, a Jean Paul Gaultier dress or a cell phone, but don’t feel like dealing with a pesky salesperson? Literally at the touch of a button, visitors to the Mondrian South Beach can buy those items — as well as more prosaic hotel gift-shop staples like toothbrushes — [...]
Hotels: Orbitz’s biggest sale ever
March 25, 2009 ·
Believe it or not, Orbitz has improved on the concept of languishing on a beach at a five-star resort—the website has made it cheaper to do. With its Biggest Hotels Sale Ever, customers who book through May 31st just might be able to trade the shadow of economic doom for the shade of a poolside [...]
Traveling to Hawaii on the cheap
March 16, 2009 ·
In an attempt to be frugal amid the economic downturn, Karl Stetson and his family in Seattle, Washington, planned to skip their annual trip to Hawaii. That is until Stetson began noticing airfare and hotel rates plunge this year. Last week, he caved, purchasing plane tickets for less than $450 a person, a sweet deal [...]
Nine tactics for travel in 2009
February 17, 2009 ·
If you think 2008 was a rough year for the travel industry, you haven’t seen anything yet. Even before January was out, 2009 showed record drops in travel and bookings to some of the most historically recession-proof destinations — Las Vegas, anyone? Virtually every sector of the travel industry is facing the worst booking rates [...]
