This Website Gets You Free Room and Board in Many Countries, Says Arthur Frommer
Posted on 04/22/2019, 9:00 AM
When I first learned that a granddaughter of mine was planning to spend three months in Japan earning her room and board through work performed as a volunteer, I was concerned and suspicious. It was only after we had heard from previous volunteers of this sort that I grew calm about this partial use of her “gap year” from college. The organization that plans such volunteer work in countrie...
Arthur Frommer: The British Outlawed Deception by Hotels. Why Won't America?
Posted on 04/15/2019, 9:00 AM
A British organization that regulates hotels—it’s called the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)—has just taken steps to prevent U.K. hotels from using deceptive sales tactics. Its approach should surely be adopted by our own Federal Trade Commission. The Brits have won adoption of the new anti-deception rules by several gigantic hotel-booking organizations that publish hotel vacancies...
This Rolling Hotel Moves to Wherever the Surf's Up
Posted on 04/09/2019, 7:15 PM
A new hotel makes traveling among the beaches of southwestern Portugal super-easy—because it's the hotel that does the traveling. The Truck Surf Hotel is just that: a cargo truck that has been converted into a surf hotel. The double-decker B&B on wheels features a kitchen, living area, bathroom, and large sliding doors on the lower level. Upstairs, hydraulic arms extend to make space for fiv...
Arthur Frommer: Decent People Will Avoid All Contact with Brunei
Posted on 04/08/2019, 9:00 AM
It is highly unlikely that many of our readers will travel as tourists to the nation of Brunei on the island of Borneo in the South China Sea. The economy and currency of that nation are so strong (based on oil and natural gas reserves) that prices there are forbidding. Accordingly, Brunei doesn’t react to threats of tourism boycott, and enjoys very little tourism in any event. One recent visi...
Tipping in Costa Rica: A Gratuities Guide for Hotels, Restaurants, and Tours
Some tips on tipping to follow while checking out Costa Rica's cities, beaches, and jungles
When Should You Book Airfare and Hotels? A Huge Study Reveals the Current Answers
Posted on 04/03/2019, 1:00 PM
The Airlines Reporting Corporation’s annual Travel Pricing Outlook study (conducted in partnership with Expedia) arrived with very little fanfare this year. Which is odd—and not so odd. Odd because it is, by a factor of a gazillion, the largest study of the year, for the size of the numbers being crunched. And not so odd because this 2019 study, the fifth annual one, doesn’t really break much n...
South African President de Klerk's Retreat Becomes All-Inclusive Beach Lodge
Posted on 04/02/2019, 4:00 PM
The coastal retreat of former South African president F.W. de Klerk has been reborn as an all-inclusive, eco-conscious lodge overlooking an untouched, nearly 4-mile (6km)-long stretch of Indian Ocean beachfront. Set to open April 15, Lekkerwater Beach Lodge is located about a 3-hour drive east of Cape Town in a secluded area of De Hoop Nature Reserve, a landscape of sand and scrub between the oc...
Tipping in Portugal: A Gratuities Guide for Hotels, Restaurants, and Taxis
What to tip waiters, taxi drivers, tour guides, and hotel staff in Lisbon, Porto, and other locations in Portugal
What? Self-Disinfecting Hotel Rooms Open in an Old Danish Brewery
Posted on 02/28/2019, 8:00 AM
Part of Copenhagen's iconic Carlsberg brewery, where the Danish pilsner was made from 1847 to 2008, has been transformed into a stylish new hotel. The 155-room Hotel Ottilia, named after the wife of Carlsberg founder Carl Jacobsen, occupies two red brick buildings in the complex, situated near the Copenhagen Zoo, galleries, and trendy Nordic restaurants of the Vesterbro district. The Carlsberg Vi...
Tipping in China: When You Can—and When You Shouldn't
Gratuities aren't standard in China. Here's when to tip waiters, hotel staff, and tour guides—and when to keep the change.
Finally! After Years of Waiting, TWA Hotel at JFK Opens Reservations
Posted on 02/08/2019, 10:45 PM
Booking a room at the TWA Hotel at JFK Airport is off to a lovely start. On Valentine’s Day, Thursday, Feb. 14, at noon, reservations open for stays beginning May 15, 2019. The grand opening is an illustrious second act for what was once known as the TWA Flight Center, a major hub during the Jet Age era. Designed by architect Eero Saarinen and opened in 1962, the distinctive terminal, cons...
Hotel Booking Sites Are Using These Shady Tactics to Trick You into Booking
An investigation of the major hotel reservation websites has exposed some of the mind games they play to deceive you about rates and urgency.
When Is a Home Rental Legal in New York City? Ask Arthur Frommer, a Former Lawyer
Posted on 01/31/2019, 1:00 AM
There is perhaps nowhere in America that more needs the services of Airbnb than New York City. Its hotels are frequently sold out, and even when available are sky-high in price. So low-cost Airbnb is best for your next New York stay, right? Not so fast. Fearing the impact of Airbnb upon the housing needs of permanent residents, both the city and state of New York have passed rules gre...
Casino Giant Caesars Planning Non-Gaming Hotel in Arizona
Posted on 01/30/2019, 6:45 PM
Las Vegas-based Caesars Entertainment, the company behind the Caesars, Harrah's, and Horseshoe brands of casino resorts, is expanding beyond slot machines and roulette tables. Caesars opened two non-gaming resorts in Dubai in late 2018 and started work on another casino-free property in Los Cabos, Mexico that's scheduled to start taking guests in late 2020. Now the company has announced plans f...
Floating Hotel Debuts in Edinburgh, Near the Queen's Old Yacht
Posted on 01/11/2019, 10:00 AM
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II has been a yachtless monarch since the 1997 decommissioning of Her Majesty's Yacht Britannia, which was eventually sent to the Port of Leith in Edinburgh to serve as a tourist attraction. Today, visitors to that Scottish city with the frequently mispronounced name can see the decks, surprisingly modest bedrooms, galley, and state dining room of a ship used by the roy...
Tipping in Japan? Not So Much a Thing
Why Japan doesn't go for gratuities—but why you still might have to pay extra fees for meals and accommodations
Tipping in Germany: A Gratuities Guide for Restaurants, Hotels, and Taxis
How to tip restaurant servers, cab drivers, and hotel staff in Germany—without overdoing it
Watchmaker Shinola Is Opening a Hotel in Downtown Detroit
Posted on 12/18/2018, 9:30 PM
Detroit-based Shinola, maker of watches, fancy bicycles, and other luxury goods, is expanding into the hotel business. The 129-room Shinola Hotel is set to open in the company's hometown on January 2. Developed in collaboration with local real estate firm Bedrock, the property encompasses three new buildings as well as two historic ones—the former homes of the T.B. Rayl Co. department store an...
What to Tip Waiters, Hotel Staff, and Taxi Drivers in France
Some pointers on how to pay gratuities—without overdoing it—in hotels, restaurants, and taxis in France
The Caribbean's Newest Resorts are Now North of Cancun, Reports Arthur Frommer
Posted on 12/13/2018, 12:00 AM
We Americans tend to have widely divergent views about Mexico. Some regard that nation as a place of constant poverty and problems. Other more perceptive types are aware of Mexico’s skyrocketing rise in the world of tourism. Mexico is currently enjoying a major increase in its yearly number of international visitors, and similar advances in many other industries. In particular, giant new hotels...
