Priceline Ends "Name Your Own Price" Car Rentals
Posted on 04/03/2018, 12:00 AM
Yet another core offering of Priceline has been carved away. The website, which made itself famous beginning in 1997 as a place where travelers could place low bids for various products without knowing in advance the brand of the seller, has ended its "Name Your Own Price" feature for rental cars. The website now only offers set prices for its brand-blind rental car inventory. Because of the sit...
Arthur Frommer: A Journalist Produces the Definitive Report on Disney Cruises
Posted on 03/26/2018, 12:15 PM
Most parents are aware of the ever-expanding Disney cruise line, which enables them to join their young children on a sailing designed to fascinate. Disney currently operates four big cruise ships, and two more are reaching completion in European shipyards. Impartial descriptions of those cruises are hard to come by. Persons who write for the newspapers are loathe to criticize the powerful Disn...
Arthur Frommer: Recent Tax Cuts Will Force Reductions in Travel Services
Posted on 03/23/2018, 5:15 PM
Some commentators have rejoiced over the recent reduction in federal taxes enjoyed by American corporations and the wealthy. Fewer of those pundits have pointed out that those reductions have been achieved in part by reducing our government’s expenditures for programs that improve our quality of life. The U.S. travel world—and especially our trains and passenger aviation—has suffered in parti...
Arthur Frommer: A Major Softening of Transatlantic Airfares Seems Underway
Posted on 03/23/2018, 1:45 PM
When my 15-year-old granddaughter was asked where she wanted to spend her springtime school break, she quickly answered “Paris.” And my daughter and her husband, not wanting to discourage the young one’s travel urge, set about to study the cost of transatlantic airfare. To their surprise, they quickly found a round-trip fare of only $400 between Newark and Paris. Now it is true that this ...
Disney World Now Charges for Parking at Hotels, Decreasing Their Value
Posted on 03/14/2018, 4:00 PM
It used to be one of the great courtesies of staying in a Walt Disney World resort hotel: You got free parking, and then you could take Disney transportation for free. It was touted as one of the perks and a big incentive to choose a Disney hotel over a room located outside the resort property's gates. Since Disney hotels are two or three times as much as a room of comparable quality a mile away, ...
Most Visited U.S. National Parks and Monuments in 2017
Posted on 03/05/2018, 10:45 PM
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 of federal protection. As the NPS points out, that figure is only a smidge lower than the record-setting 330,971,689 visits the agency logged in 2016—the year of its highly touted 100th birthday. The Blue Ridge ...
American Airlines Adding Basic Economy Fares to Transatlantic Flights
Posted on 03/02/2018, 12:00 AM
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 carriers such as Norwegian Air Shuttle, Iceland-based WOW air, and Level, a recently launched Spanish entrant in the cheap-flights-to-Europe race. Closer to home, Delta Air Lines has also begun selling no-frills ba...
This New Budget-Priced Transatlantic Airline Is Probably News to You
Posted on 02/22/2018, 5:45 AM
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 of the so-called “legacy carriers,” like British Airways, Iberia Airlines, and others. Result: A consortium of established airlines—British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus, and others—have recently created a brand-new ...
Resort Fees Are a Tax Dodge: Why They're Destructive for Us All
Posted on 02/21/2018, 12:00 AM
Americans despise resort fees. But in a shockingly short span of time, about a decade, we became blasé about them. Appallingly, the people once reknowned for feisty individualism and a testy spirit of fairness have rolled over like docile lap dogs—we sigh and pay hidden charges as if staying in hotels had always been this way. It wasn't. This is not normal. Can you remember how terrible you felt ...
Italian Airline Now Offers Free Stopovers in Rome
Posted on 02/06/2018, 10:45 PM
Rome remains a destination that rarely lacks for tourists. In 2017, more than 14.5 million of them visited the Eternal City—a nickname that might as well refer to the wait times in line for the Vatican during summer. But even more travelers could soon begin queuing up for trips to the Italian capital thanks to a new initiative from state-owned national carrier Alitalia. From now until the end o...
The Travel Services That Close in a U.S. Government Shutdown
Posted on 01/19/2018, 11:00 AM
As the wheels of Washington threaten to grind to a halt yet again, another United States federal government shutdown is a concern. Travel, by and large, is considered a "non-essential" function—and non-essential functions either dim or go dark. Generally speaking, here's what is not available during a federal government shutdown: Passport services Visa processing National parks and...
Tour Operator to Pay Passport Fees for Travelers Age 18–35
Posted on 01/13/2018, 9:30 AM
More than half of Americans age 18–35 don't have passports, according to Contiki, a tour operator specializing in that very demographic. For a limited time, Contiki is offering some passport-acquiring incentive to first-time international travelers—at least, those who fall within the 18–35 age range. Contiki customers who book one of the company's trips lasting longer than seven days can get the...
Now You Can Fly Round-Trip to Europe for €399—with a Catch
Posted on 01/11/2018, 12:00 AM
First, U.S. domestic airlines introduced Basic Economy fares so their rates would appear more competitive with low-cost carriers in Web searches. Now the transatlantic airlines are stripping down their benefits to compete with low-cost airlines. First it was Icelandair, which came up with Economy Light, which only allows for a single carry-on up to 22 pounds (10kg)—no checked bags permitted. TAP ...
No More Airline Miles for Hotel Stays Among Changes to Hilton's Loyalty Program
Posted on 01/10/2018, 11:30 PM
Hilton Worldwide is making changes to its 70-million-member hotel loyalty program, Hilton Honors. Among the most consequential of the updates: Starting April 1, members will no longer be able to earn airline miles from stays at Hilton hotels. Though it will still be possible to transfer loyalty points to the airline of your choice, the move makes it even harder for ordinary travelers to gain mile...
NYC's Met to Charge Mandatory Admission to Out-of-Towners
Posted on 01/05/2018, 11:15 PM
For the first time since its founding in the 1870s, New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art is instituting a mandatory admission fee. Starting March 1, visitors who do not live in New York State will be charged $25 to enter. That ticket will be valid for three consecutive days at the Met and its offshoots, the Met Breuer and the Cloisters. There will not be separate lines at any of those plac...
When Southern California Museums Open for Free This Month
Posted on 01/04/2018, 12:30 AM
The 13th annual Free-for-All day at Southern California museums will be Sunday, January 28. Nineteen institutions in the area will waive their admission fees on that day, offering access to their artistic, cultural, natural, and scientific holdings at no charge. An additional 18 museums where admission is always free are also listed as participants—though in their cases, we guess the event is m...
Royal Caribbean Increases the Daily Fee Used to Tip Staff
Posted on 12/29/2017, 12:00 AM
For the third time in three years, Royal Caribbean Cruises is hiking up its "automatic gratuity"—the term for the service fee that lines recommend each passenger pays per day during a cruise. They make this recommendation by automatically adding the tip to your bill. To raise or lower the amount—or strike it altogether for those who prefer to tip housekeeping staff, restaurant servers, and other ...
In January, Learn to Ski—for Less—in Michigan
Posted on 12/19/2017, 12:30 AM
It might surprise you to learn that Michigan has one of the highest concentrations of ski areas in the United States. There are around 40 places to hit the slopes in the state. According to the Detroit Free Press, only New York has more (take that, Colorado and Vermont). In January, 28 ski areas across the state are banding together to offer affordable introductory packages for downhill skiing...
Why Hotel Bills in Hawaii Are About to Go Up
Posted on 12/16/2017, 2:00 AM
On January 1, the tax on lodgings in Hawaii will increase by 1% statewide. But that's not all. The fee charged to tourists who rent rooms in hotels, condos, B&Bs, and "transient accommodations" of any other kind is going up to 10.25%. Paired with a 4% sales tax, that means state legislators will now charge visitors an extra 14.25% on top of room rates, simply for the pleasure of sleeping in p...
Airbnb Just Made Planning Group Trips a Lot Easier
Posted on 12/04/2017, 12:00 AM
Humans have always traveled in packs. But booking this style of travel online has always been difficult—few sites allow users to divvy up payments among several travelers. Airbnb to the rescue. The short-term rental marketplace announced last week that it is modifying its website and app to allow groups to reserve accommodations so that no one member will be left holding the bag. Here's...
