Articles

Trends & Hacks

Article / Slideshows

Things to Do on Catalina Island, L.A.'s Island Getaway

Just about everything about Catalina is incongruous. Found 22 miles into the Pacific Ocean southwest of Los Angeles, this rugged isle is a bastion of laid-back calm within sight (on a…

Article / Passportable

Makeup Mogul Bobbi Brown Opening Her Own Hotel in New Jersey

Makeup designer and skincare expert Bobbi Brown is going from fashionable boutiques to her own fashionable boutique hotel. Known for creating a popular line of understated cosmetics…

Article / Hotels

The New Park MGM Replaces the Monte Carlo—and Las Vegas' Outdated Hotel Traditions

This spring, a new casino hotel on the Las Vegas Strip rises from the bones of an old one. Is it possible to give an enormous hotel complex a sophisticated boutique feel?

Article / Passportable

Disney World Now Charges for Parking at Hotels, Decreasing Their Value

Update: Disney Parks finally rescinded fees for self-parking at Walt Disney World resorts in January 2023. Click here to read about that.It used to be one of the great courtesies of…

Article / Passportable

New Club Med Openings: Sicily, the Great Wall, and More

Club Med has embarked on an ambitious expansion project.The pioneer in all-inclusive resorts plans to add 15 new properties to its worldwide roster by the end of 2020, opening five…

Article / Passportable

"Millennial" River Cruise Brand No Longer Restricted to Millennials

U by Uniworld, a new river cruise brand originally restricted to passengers aged 18 to 40—then 21 to 45—has now dropped upper age limits altogether.When the brand's pair of sleek,…

Article / Passportable

For Tourists, This Is the Last Straw!

Last call! More and more, you're going to have to go without drinking straws.Single-use plastic straws are distinctly unkind to wildlife. Fresh straws choke animals. Then each straw is…

Article / Passportable

Booking.com Introduces New Program for Unusual Stays

Unconventional accommodations like treehouses, yurts, and barns have proven popular on vacation rental sites such as Airbnb and HomeAway. For the increasing number of travelers seeking…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Privacy vs. Security: How Hotel Guests Can Get Around the Rise in "Room Checks"

I do a strange thing in hotel rooms sometimes: I host a live radio show. When I'm on the road, thanks to the magic of Skype, my room becomes my studio. And it used to be a quiet, easy…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

The Ever-Expanding Footprint of Airbnb and What It Means

With speed more head-spinning than Linda Blair's in The Exorcist, Airbnb has been growing and changing and growing once again. In just the past 18 months or so, it has added online…

Article / Passportable

Most Visited U.S. National Parks and Monuments in 2017

The National Park Service (NPS) has released its visitor numbers for 2017. A total of 330,882,751 people spent time at American national parks, monuments, and other sites deemed worthy…

Article / Passportable

American Airlines Adding Basic Economy Fares to Transatlantic Flights

Starting in April, American Airlines is selling bare-bones "basic economy" tickets on some flights to Europe. The move seems an obvious effort to compete with low-cost transatlantic…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

The World’s Most Rewarding Source of Free Homestays Is, and Remains, Servas

Organizations come and go that arrange for you to stay free-of-charge in someone else’s home or apartment in the course of your travels. The latest leaders in this effort are…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Why Don't More People Think of Renting an RV from a Private RV Owner?

Probably the most misunderstood, most underused travel facility is the recreational vehicle capable of both housing and driving a family. All over America, persons own such RVs, but…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Introducing Evaneos, a New Tool Connecting You with Local Planning Help

Planning for vacation is generally done in two ways today. There’s the O.C.D. version, in which the traveler spends weeks poring over the internet, reading guidebooks, putting down…

Article / Slideshows

The Notorious B 'n' B: Infamous Historic Buildings That Are Now Hotels

You can’t blame a building for whatever shady, salacious, or downright gruesome dealings go down there. So why let a little mayhem scratch places off travel itineraries? The opposite…

Article / Passportable

Carnival Announces New Cruises to Cuba

Carnival Cruise Line is significantly increasing its sailings to Cuba. In 2019, the company will schedule 17 new cruises to the island aboard the recently renovated Carnival…

Article / Passportable

Huge New Atlantis Resort Opens in China

The world now has three Atlantis resorts to overwhelm visitors with an ocean's worth of watery amenities and maximalist architecture. Joining sister properties in the Bahamas and Dubai…

Article / Passportable

New Looks for Two of London's Most Important Art Museums

Fans of art and architecture already have a lot to keep them busy during stays in London—and with free admission at most of the top cultural institutions, the city's treasures are easy…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

This New Budget-Priced Transatlantic Airline Is Probably News to You

Most everyone by now has heard of Norwegian Air Shuttle, which flies the Atlantic at rock-bottom prices. Although Norwegian suffered a loss in 2017, it has struck fear into the hearts…

Article / Hotels

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…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

How Not to Do Yosemite in Winter

I sometimes think my real job as a travel writer is to be an idiot. It's my job to make mistakes and then report on them so that my readers can have fun, safe, and error-free…

Article / Passportable

Paris' Grand Palais Getting a Grand Makeover

The Grand Palais in Paris is getting its largest refurbishment since opening for the Exposition Universelle in 1900, when the mammoth hall on the Champs-Élysées was used to show off…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Japan's Ultra-Cheap “Bed-in-a-Box” Hotels Have Resurfaced—in London

Many years ago, when Japan was the world’s leading economy and Japanese businessmen were hard-striving cheapskates anxious to squeeze out any savings, several properties in Tokyo…

Article / Passportable

After 50 Years, Jesus' Baptism Site May Fully Reopen to Tourists

The section of the Jordan River traditionally designated as Jesus Christ's baptism site, where the Man from Galilee kicked off his mission to bring peace to the world, is currently…