Tagged: scams

"White-Collar Trickery": Arthur Frommer Blasts Las Vegas for Hidden Fees

By now, most Americans are aware of the “resort fees” that numerous greedy hotels add to their bills, even though the hotel in question is by no means a “resort.”  Most of us simply…

In Las Vegas, Now You Have to Look Closely at Your Bill for Hidden Fees

Las Vegas has long been known as Sin City but lately, it’s turned into Fee City. We’ve bemoaned the resort fees that nearly every hotel in Las Vegas charges. But now Sin City is…

Resort Fees Repel Foreign Visitors and Cheat People: They're Destructive for Us All

Americans despise resort fees. But in a shockingly short span of time, we became blasé about them. Appallingly, the people once renowned for feisty individualism and a testy spirit of…

Arthur Frommer: Resort Fees are Immoral, But More Hotels Are Imposing Them

At a large and growing number of U.S. hotels, final room prices have recently risen by thirty to sixty dollars because of "resort charges" billed to hotel guests. This has happened…

The Latest Travel Scam Targets Conference Attendees

My good friend K is a brain tumor specialist. She's invited to speak at conferences across the globe, and has done so without incident...until this past spring.  She was working in her…

A Passenger's Warning About Ryanair—And Three Things Every Ryanair Customer Must Know

Although Ryanair is notorious among European travelers for henpecking its customers with extra fees—they view it as a necessary evil if you're desperate for savings—not everyone in the…

Hilton To Charge More To Let You Cancel?

Remember last fall, when Hilton started testing a mandatory $50 fee for cancellations no matter how early they were made?Yeah, well, the hotel company finally picked up on what…

A Dramatic Rise in Travel Scams Must Teach Us to be Vigilant and Aware on Our Vacations in Unfamiliar Settings

We live in a nation besieged by imposters. In our homes, the phone rings several times a day with various robot-callers threatening us with debts that don't exist, offering…

Hilton's New Mandatory $50 Cancellation Fee

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…

Beware the Hotel Room Pizza Delivery Scam! They Could Steal Your Credit Card Info

You just arrived in town after a hellish 10-hour battle with the U.S. airlines. You're worn out, you're hungry, and all you want is an easy bite to eat before bed. Good fortune!…

Book a Resort Room, Get a Sofabed? How Third-Party Bookings Can Go Wrong And How to Fix Them

Last week, I used a discount hotel app to book a room in Orlando. The property I chose, the Wyndham Grand Orlando Resort Bonnet Creek, is a major resort on Walt…

Where to Ski this Winter: U.S. Resort Upgrades & Improvements

Ski resorts from coast to coast were busy this summer with all sorts of upgrades and improvements on-mountain and in the villages below. From newer and faster lifts to bigger and…

How to See a Bullfight in Madrid

Love it or hate it, bull fighting -- heck, bulls in general -- are big business in the city of Madrid. In fact, bullfighters -- often-short, sequin-outfitted men -- are the country's…

Post-Flu Planning: All-Inclusive Mexico from $389 for 3 Days with Airfare

Travel can be a fickle, unpredictable thing, governed by all kinds of forces, some large, some small ... and some in the form of an internationally spreading strain of the flu that we…

What's New: An Online Update for Frommer's London

Planning Your Trip The Queen has officially opened Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5, (www.heathrowairport.com) calling it "a 21st century gateway to Britain." The spacious $8.5 billion…

What's New: An Online Update for Frommer's Croatia

When the 7-time Emmy award winning TV show The Amazing Race put Dubrovnik on its itinerary in October 2007, it was confirmation that Croatia had arrived as a tourist destination.…

Greenwashed! Make Sense of the Travel Industry's Eco Promises

Book an airline ticket, save the planet.Re-use the towel in your hotel; stop global warming. Rent a hybrid car; reduce our dependence on fossil fuel.Lofty promises made by…

How to Do the Denali Shuttle Bus Safari

Denali National Park is managed the way a park should be: for the animals, not for the cars. That means a visit is different from what you may have experienced at other parks,…

What's New: An Online Update for Frommer's Barcelona

In Barcelona, the slopes of Montjuic, site of the 1992 Olympics, are in the throes of a big planting spree at the time of writing (March 2007), and the shrubs and flowers sown at the…