Watch: Hotel Guest Films Skin-Crawling Bedbug Infestation
Posted on 01/04/2016, 12:45 PM
Social media has clouded our heads with a lot of useless, anxiety-inducing information, but for the traveler, it has its uses. This week, a budget traveler in New York City decided to warn the world about that city's Astor on the Park hotel, taking out his mobile phone and recording what he says is a bedbug infestation. Insect infestations are not the norm in hotels, and they can happen eve...
Hilton's New Mandatory $50 Cancellation Fee
Posted on 12/28/2015, 12:45 PM
The giant Hilton hotel brand is piloting a new way to make life miserable for travelers: It has started charging $50 for cancellations, no matter when they're made. Under the new rules, once customers have made a reservation, it will cost $50 to get out of it, even if the change is requested weeks before the date. Previously, most hotels allowed cancellations up until the posted deadline ...
In the Caribbean Hotel Rates Plummet in the Three Weeks Immediately after New Year's Day
Posted on 12/20/2015, 5:15 AM
That's true of both the pricier islands and the ones with budget accommodations. Some ideas for a last-minute trip....
Two New Passport Rules Elicit Anger
Posted on 12/15/2015, 1:30 PM
The U.S. State Department has changed the rules for passports in two ways. First, as of January 1, 2016, it will no longer allow you to add pages to your passport if you fill up the ones you have with visas and entry stamps. Previously, you could get extra pages sent to you or have them sewn into your passport at consulates and embassies. If you're a regular visitor to the many countries that...
Coming Soon: Planes with Skylights?
Posted on 12/10/2015, 1:30 PM
In the never-ending quest to figure out new enticements to squeeze cash out of passengers, airline operators in a corner: There's not much space to add more stuff. According to The Telegraph, an aviation inventor has come up with a new twist. It's a bubble-shaped skylight that passengers can pop their heads into, giving them a 360-degree view of the sky as they fly through it. As envisioned...
Snacks Are Back On United Airlines
Posted on 12/10/2015, 10:15 AM
Well here's some news that may put a smile on your face (just as it's moving your belt buckle an inch more towards your hips). United Airlines has announced that it will be bringing back free snacks to "thousands of its flights" beginning in February of 2016. Just which of those flights hasn't been specified, though the snacks have been revealed. Morning travelers (before 9:45 am departures) ...
Manhattan's New Tourist Sight: Jerry Seinfeld
Posted on 12/02/2015, 11:30 AM
The modern tourist landscape New York City continues to co-opt some of Las Vegas' best ideas: In 2013, Billy Joel announced his once-a-month residency at Madison Square Garden, giving Americans with no interest in Broadway a regular reason to fly to Midtown Manhattan for a show. Joel's stint is currently set to end in April, but Jerry Seinfeld has risen to fill the gap. Starting in January, S...
'70s Heartthrob is Now Upscale Cruise Director
Posted on 12/01/2015, 5:30 AM
If you were a North American teenager in the 1970s, you certainly remember Willie Aames. He became a teen magazine cover boy and Battle of the Network Stars fixture by appearing on the dramas Family and Eight is Enough, and when those ended, he became half of Gen X's version of Crosby and Hope by teaming with Scott Baio in the teen sex comedy Zapped! and on the iconic (for Gen X, anyway) '80s s...
London's Black Taxis Will All Soon Accept Credit Cards
Posted on 11/30/2015, 11:30 PM
London's licensed cab drivers famously have a larger hippocampus (the part of the brain that's responsible for memory) than average folks. That's the result of two years of studying (on average) for the grueling test all must take, proving they have memorized the location and name of every street in the spaghetti-tangled landscape of London. But it seems they haven't been smart enough to comp...
Cyber Monday Travel Savings: A (Growing) List
Posted on 11/29/2015, 10:30 AM
Apparently tryptophan, the sleep-causing amino acid in turkey, also inspires wild bouts of shopping. How else to explain the mad rush after the holidays to empty Best Buy and Target? Now, travel marketers are trying to get in on the action, pleading the (worthy) case that adventures are a much better gift than any sweater or cellphone case. A slew of them will be putting forward "Cyber Monday...