Arthur Frommer's Blog, page 12

Arthur's Blog: Oyster.com's New "Photo Fakeouts" Feature Reveals Hotels' Marketing Deceptions

I've just spent a pleasant half-hour idly moving a computer cursor over the many items of information displayed on the three-year-old, heavily-revised, and expanded Oyster.com, which purports (among other things) to expose the deceptions in hotel advertising and marketing. I last reviewed Oyster.com back in 2010, when its emphasis was on the hotel reviews prepared by employees of the site who had, by that time, physically visited and inspected some 900 hotels in 14 major cities. Oyster.com was since brought to my renewed attention by a reader of this blog, who suggested I re-visit it.
It now performs what seems to be a more dramatic function, placing its initial emphasis (the subject of its main menu page) on pointing out the fakery in hotel photographs. That's only one of Oyster's many efforts, of course, but exposure of deceptions is the initial bait it uses to get you interested in the site. "The Hotel Tell All" is how it describes itself. 
One example: Oyster.com posts a picture of a rooftop swimming pool used in the brochure of a particular hotel, and then shows a wider-angle view of the same swimming pool showing it to be flanked (and made unpleasant) by a mammoth Macy's department store adjoining the hotel. It shows the misleading photo of a hotel's beach, and then -- alongside that photo -- it shows a more revealing and realistic photo of the same beach.
But that's only one of its current revelations. It posts (in a blog carried in its archives) amazingly frank write-ups of many hotels, including an admiring plug for a Denver hotel that allegedly will now be enjoying a great deal of business because of the recent legalization of a certain relaxing substance in Colorado. What other hotel site would imply such a thing? It lists "romantic" hotels, among groupings of deluxe hotels, pet-friendly hotels, hotels for destination weddings, hotels for drinking and dining, and so on. 
It also performs a more standard function by permitting you to make reservations at hotels in numerous cities, after you have first scanned what purport to be advantageous rates at those hotels. It is apparently an aggregator (my own guess) of the results appearing in the many standard hotel search engines, which is how, I guess, it earns money. I can't for the life of me figure out how else this elaborate (and very attractively designed) hotel site funds itself, or pays the salaries of the many full-time hotel investigators it claims to employ. These are the people who allegedly roam the world inspecting and taking photos of hotels, and then identify "Facts or Fake Outs" in the way these hotels present themselves.
The website is so broad in its coverage, going into so many angles, working hard to be the website for hotel freaks, making the choice of a hotel the most important selection in travel planning, that you could spend hours reading and trying to understand it. If any of our readers have any better information about the ownership of, or purpose of, Oyster.com, I'd be grateful to receive it in a comment to this blog. And if any of our readers have used it to actually obtain a hotel reservation, I'd be grateful to hear of your experiences. In the meantime, I think you'll find it entertaining -- and useful -- to spend a few minutes with Oyster.com. 

Arthur's Blog: Atlantic City is Open for Business

Though it's not one of my own favorite places, Atlantic City is apparently open for business. That's a report by Seth Kugel, the "frugal traveler" of the New York Times, who traveled by bus to Atlantic City this week for the purpose of checking out damage from Hurricane Sandy. According to Kugel, those TV images of a destroyed boardwalk were of a residential area of the gambling city, and not of the well-preserved, open-for-business boardwalk fronting all of the famed casinos and saltwater taffy shops beloved of gaming types. Kugel won $60 at the slots, treated himself to a good meal at one of several restaurants jammed with happy patrons, and reports that all the attractions and lures of AC. are as potent and supposedly satisfying as ever. Don't ever say that we at Frommers.com are dismissive of low-life urges.

Arthur's Blog: Incredible Home Rental Discount for Service Members and Government Employees

Until November 20 at 5pm Eastern Time anyone who has ever served, or is presently serving, in the armed forces, or is otherwise a federal or state employee, can take advantage of a rather remarkable sale offered by the Armed Forces Vacation Club (www.afvclub.com; click on "Search Space-A"). It's the option to book a vacation home or apartment in any of the 50 states (including Hawaii), or in nearly any foreign country, for a flat $299 covering a seven-night rental. Literally thousands of properties are available at that price. I should have brought this deal to your attention several days ago, when I first learned of it, but have at last remembered and are curing my own laggard memory. If you have any vacation plans and are one of the privileged, government-related group, you can save big by going fast to the website listed above.

Arthur's Blog: Ultra-Tough Conditions Predicted for Thanksgiving and Christmas Fliers

The number of flights has been drastically cut. Yet the number of potential passengers is considerably up, reflecting renewed economic confidence by the American public. The seats already sold for Thanksgiving dates are therefore nearing 97% of capacity, with most vacancies only on red-eye flights. The flights for Christmas are almost as full. The upshot, according to Scott Mayerowitz of the Associate Press (who appeared as a guest on last weekend's The Travel Show): big problems for Americans who haven't yet made their flight reservations for those two big holiday periods.
Don't expect any last-minute discounts or deals, he says. The airlines want full price. Don't plan on arriving at airports a scant hour or so in advance of departure. The heavy presence of inexperienced, once-a-year travelers will mean big lines and slow processing at the security gates (unlike frequent travelers, these amateur flyers won't arrive with slip-on shoes, easily doffed). And don't, whatever you do, bring along fully-wrapped Christmas or Thanksgiving presents -- they will need to be clumsily unwrapped by sharp-eyed TSA agents. Keep the wrapping paper and the ribbons separate from the gifts, and wrap them stylishly only after you have passed through security.
Any other holiday advice from this long-experienced aviation maven? If you are able to obtain a recently-cancelled seat, make sure it's for one of the first, early-morning flights of the day. Severe weather conditions in late November and late December may cause flights to be cancelled, and your best bet will be for a flight scheduled later in the day, to which you can transfer. But if you have booked a late afternoon or early evening flight, you may have no remaining flights to try for. That's fairly obvious, right?
And if you're still looking for one of those holiday-period flights, you'll find that the cheapest ones are those requiring a connecting flight en route. Indeed, those awkward connecting flights, and not non-stop flights, may be the only affordable options avaiable to you.
Better yet, consider flying out on Thanksgiving day itself, or on Christmas day itself, when the airports are quiet and planes have some seats left. Though you'll arrive late for that Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, you will at least have arrived. Bon Voyage! 

Arthur's Blog: Excellent New Book Exposes Hotel Industry Secrets

When a newly-pubished book about the hotel industry, Heads in Beds by Jacob Tomsky, came to my attention a few days ago, I assumed it was simply a now-it-can-be-told expose of behind-the-scenes secrets in this important segment of the travel industry. It is more than that. It is a fascinating story about a young man's growth of self-awareness that simply takes place in the hotel industry, as he moves from one position -- valet-parking attendant to housekeeping supervisor to front desk clerk -- in two big hotels, one in New Orleans, the other in New York City.
Therefore, in writing about its expose of hotel secrets for this blog, I don't mean to denigrate the book or to be unaware of its literary qualities. We will be hearing a great deal more from its author, Jacob Tomsky, as he proceeds to write other autobiographical books. But in the course of creating a really excellent, serious book about personal growth, he did let slip a number of practical approaches to hotel reservations and the like, which I can't help noting for this practical, service-oriented blog in Frommers.com.
You get less desirable rooms when you book them through Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity or Priceline: About this important point, the author is quite clear. Since reservations made through an online travel agency result in much less income to the hotel -- it receives a sharply-discounted portion of the room rate you pay -- the average hotel obviously reserves its better rooms for the people who book direct with the hotel -- and at full price. The author furnishes several graphic examples of this. If the hotel is overbooked and you are sent to another hotel, your room at that other hotel should be totally free-of-charge to you. The process of sending you to another hotel, if your desired hotel is totally full at the time you appear, is known as "walking a guest". And it is an undisputed tradition of the hotel industry, according to Tomsky, that when this happens, you do not pay for your overnight stay at the new hotel to which you are "walked". I myself had been unaware of this, and some guests -- according to our author -- should be quite pleased when they are told there is no space for them -- they save a great deal of money.Hotels are unaware of the specific movie you have chosen to view in your room. Therefore, feel totally at ease if you select a raunchy film -- the downstairs personnel is unaware of your choice. Though previous mechanical systems permitted the front desk people to know the exact title of the film you have chosen, that is no longer the case. Charges assessed for using the mini-bar in your room are uncertain and subject to abuse. Because hotel personnel are often mistaken in determining whether the contents of the mini-bar have declined in number, and often move about those items and cause the resulting count to be inexact, our author claims you should be strong in asserting yourself if you deny, upon checking out, that you have used the mini-bar. In this respect, he could be accused of advocating that you make a false denial of that fact, but the language in his book is inexact on this point. In any event, he does claim that the front desk personnel will not dispute your claim if you truthfully deny having used the mini-bar. 
So there it is -- a really excelleng, good read, and a book of quality, that you can obtain either online or from a bookstore, by requesting Heads in Beds by Jacob Tomsky. He is a talented writer, and we'll be hearing more from him.  

Arthur's Blog: Pot Tourism, Learning Vacations, Travel Insurance & the Omega Institute in Costa Rica

Since this is a blog about travel, not politics, it's hard to include comments on last Tuesday's vote in Colorado legalizing the use of small amounts of marijuana for recreational purposes -- something that will attract a lot of vacation visits to Denver and other cities and towns of the Centennial State. But if any of our readers would like to append comments below, they are free to do so.
I get a great many inquiries about the availability of learning vacations in the summer of 2013. You can get details about Cornell's Adult University (in Ithaca, New York), which I attended two summers ago, by going to www.cau.cornell.edu. And you can snare the latest news about the Oxford Experience in England (which I attended last summer) by going to www.conted.ox.ac.uk/oxfordexperience. I can't refrain from quoting Oxford's own press release about this remarkable program: 

The six-week program takes place from June 30 to August 10, 2013, with each week starting on a Sunday and finishing the following Saturday. Small classes of 12 are taught by friendly tutors and the more than 60 courses offer a variety of subjects: Charles Dickens, Paradise in an English Garden, From Rasputin to Putin, Introduction to Particle Physics, Cathedrals of Britain, The Victorian and Edwardian Home, The Gothic Novel, Alice’s Adventures in Oxford, The Operas of Verdi, The Indian Empire, Anglo-American Relations and the Making of Modern Britain, Political Philosophy, 20th-Century Poetry, Spies in British Fiction.

The impact of Hurricane Sandy on travel is so fresh that many vacationers will now want to place more emphasis on obtaining travel insurance when they plan a trip. You can get the most comprehensive information at InsureMyTrip.com (listing the covered events in the policies of several major insurance companies, and their prices). Or you can go to the information offered by one of the biggest of the travel insurance companies, which is TravelGuard (www.travelguard.com, phone 800/826-1300). Though policies differ in important respects (and should be carefully studied), most of them protect against (a) trip cancellation, interruption or delays, (b) lost or delayed luggage, and (c) medical expenses and evacuation, in addition to offering emergency assistance of various sorts when travel problems hit. But -- and this is important -- most policies do not cover insolvency of the tour operator or airline (although some do, for a stiff extra charge)
Finally, if you're looking for a fairly-imminent winter vacation, keep in mind that the famous, far-out, introspective, life-changing, Omega Institute is offering vacations at its own resort in Costa Rica, during a 2013 period that runs from January 5 to February 16. All the details (yoga classes, meditation, achieving longevity, alternate health measures, relationships, weight loss) are at www.eomega.org/costa-rica, or call 800/944-1001.
Have a good weekend!

Arthur's Blog: Another UGC Travel Site's Reputation Has Suffered a Blow in Great Britain

Having launched a major, months-long campaign designed to challenge the reliability of TripAdvisor.com, a British "reputation management" company called KwikChex has now moved against still another travel website that relies almost solely on user generated content (UGC). This time the object of scorn is an Internet service called AirlineQuality.com that purports to print objective reviews of airlines and airports by the passengers who have allegedly used those airlines and airports. Responding to a claim that these critics may never have actually used these facilities, the prestigious Advertising Standards Authority of Great Britain has ruled that AirlineQuality.com has no proof that the reviews it publishes aren't fakes. Similar allegations, of course, have been made against TripAdvisor, although it should be pointed out that the latter are simply allegations that haven't yet been conclusively proved one way or another.  Nevertheless, as we noted in an earlier blog, the Gannett Corporation (which publishes  USA Today ) is apparently promoting a new user-generated review site called HotelMe.com, which will require proof that a critic actually stayed at the hotel he or she has criticized or praised before that review will be published ("Verified Reviews Based on Real Stays" is its slogan). Currently, it is a matter of sharp contention as to whether TripAdvisor.com has proof of the bona fides of the people who declare that they have either loved or hated a particular hotel. And so it goes. How many of the user-generated reviews are from actual users, and how many have been sent in by friends or competitors of the hotels or restaurants that are the subject of the review? 

Arthur's Blog: Week's End Round-Up of Thoughts on Travel

Here are a handful of stray travel thoughts from a New Yorker bowed down by the aftermath -- limited electric power, spotty transportation, chilly weather -- of Hurricane Sandy.
The British press is full of colorful stories about a fracas between Ryanair and a female passenger about her right to carry a book onto the plane, in addition to her one piece of permitted carry-on luggage. Ryanair claims much more was involved than a book -- that the passenger sought to rush onboard past the screening staff -- and that the matter was one of decorum and permissible behavior. The other passengers, all of whom took the side of the female flyer, vehemently deny this was the case. Whatever the cause, would you want to run such an obstacle course in order to board a plane? And has the Ryanair staff grown a bit batty in the context of all the rules and regulations they need to remember?
In case you may have forgotten, the long weekend after this coming one, namely November 10, 11 and 12, will find every National Park of the U.S. waiving entrance fees (and also presenting major commemorations and historical re-enactments associated with Veterans' Day). This would be a fine occasion for you to schedule a visit to a National Park in your vicinity, that you might have always planned to visit but haven't yet seen. This will be a budget-priced holiday, requiring only that you reserve accommodations on park grounds or nearby.
What's the other best way to enjoy a vacation once election tension has disappeared? I'd consider five leading candidates: 
First, a vacation exchange, swapping your home or apartment for that of a foreign family in an interesting country; using the lightning-like facilities of the Internet, the arrangements can be made in a day. Second, sign up for a British-organized intellectual adventure, either from Martin Randall Travel or on a cruise operated by Swan Hellenic. Third, consider a winter trip to Stockholm, and visit the bookstore of the Swedish Institute in the downtown area, assaulting you with all sorts of new ideas for civic improvement in your own area. Fourth, go on a hiking or biking tour or Florida or southern California. And lastly, make health the object of your vacation, signing up either for a stint at the Duke University Diet and Fitness Center in Durham, North Carolina. or at one of the three Canyon Ranches, or at Rancho LaPuerta in Tecate, Mexico, across the border from San Diego.
Persons I know have put off their planned trip to Israel in late January because they have heard that this time of year is a "rainy season" in Israel. I put the question, via e-mail, to a friend who lives in Israel and here's her exact response: "Israel is never really cold and rainy...and we are all happy when it does rain. Usually, if there is rain, the sun comes out and there are rainbows. But do be aware that it is not usually hot during late January/February, although Eilat and the Dead Sea are always warm, and you can include those places in your plans if you are looking for a spell of warm weather."

Arthur's Blog: 16 Travel Questions from Readers and Listeners

Here is a sampling of questions recently phoned in to The Travel Show. Were any of our answers off-track or inappropriate?
Q. What's that website address again for the British foreign office and its advice on the safety of visiting particular countries?
A. www.fco.gov.uk/travel.
Q. A travel agent is claiming that we must pay $985 for a round-trip air ticket between Newark and Orlando, Florida. Is this correct?
A. Change travel agents. A price of about $351 is more like it, from American Airlines or Delta making one stop each way.
Q. What tour operators will offer a good, cheap tour to China? And who will offer a middle-priced one?
A. ChinaSpree.com for cheap, Pacificdelighttours.com for the middle.
Q. We want to schedule a cruise for a family reunion in July of 2014. Where can we get the cheapest rate?
A. It's much too early to even look, and no one will offer you anything but the standard rate so far in advance. Wait until July of 2013, and then start searching the discount cruise brokers.
Q. What was that website that specialized in off-the-beaten-track travel?
A. Vayable.com.
Q. I will be on a cruise to Buenos Aires. Can I get a day tour to Antarctica?
A. You must be kidding.
Q. What activities are available to me on a visit to New York, that are not the standard ones? 
A. The off-Broadway theatres presenting avant garde and counter-culture plays. And at least one water tour, like one circling Manhattan in a sightseeing boat.
Q. I'll be in Amsterdam for three days. Could I include a one-day visit to Bruges in Belgium?
A. Yes, but with some difficulty. Trains will take you there, via Brussels, and if you leave very, very early in the morning from the Amsterdam train station, you can squeeze in a short visit before returning to Holland.
Q. I'd like to schedule an off-beat island for my winter vacation in the Caribbean. Where would you suggest?
A. St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia, or Bonaire.
Q. Which are the companies that schedule port tours operated in a 12-passenger van? (We're going on a cruise).
A. ShoreTrips.com, CruisingExcursions.com, PortPromotions.com, PortCompass.com.
Q. Is it safe to go to Tunisia?
A. The State Department added Tunisia to its travel warnings just a short while ago. (An attack took place on a U.S. government consulate in a suburb of Tunis).
Q. Because Tibet has been closed to tourism, our tour operator replaced it with a stay in Kunming. Anything to do or see there?
A. Kunming is a city of seven million people, full of theatres, museums, historic attractions, good restaurants.
Q. How much should we tip the waiter at a Chinese or Indian buffet restaurant where the waiters perform lesser functions than usual?
A. 10% to 15%.
Q. Which are the standard, popularly-priced cruiselines, and which are the lines one step up in quality and price?
A. Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, and MSC are the standard lines, while Holland America and Celebrity are one step up. Princess Cruises? About half-way between the two categories.
Q. We can't seem to find a tour of Spain and Portugal geared to our particular religion?
A. Try SpecialtyTravel.com.
Q. Why do you take calls from listeners phoning from their automobiles? Don't you know you are encouraging unsafe driving habits?
A. You are absolutely right.
You can hear The Travel Show on Sunday afternoons between 12-2pm ET or visit www.wor710.com for a streaming version of the live broadcast.

Arthur's Blog: As Some NYC Airports Reopen, a Look at Stunning Under-$730 Round-Trip Fares to European Cities

With the announcement that Kennedy and Newark airports in the New York City area will re-open on a limited basis today, it again becomes reasonable to consider the European vacation opportunities that those two airports allow. It behooves us all to attempt to resume our normal economic lives, and thus at least partially overcome the effects of the tragic events imposed by Hurricane Sandy.

The most interesting current development in travel is the constant lowering of autumn and winter prices for trans-Atlantic flights -- especially from New York City, the logical gateway to Europe. I wrote a couple of weeks ago about Aer Lingus's sale that saw $600 round-trip fares from New York to Dublin and $700 round-trip fares from New York to Paris, Amsterdam, & Brussels -- fares that were matched briefly by Delta. Those prices still remain available, and although you don't find them on every day of the week, you find them with sufficient frequency to insure a low-cost flight.

Currently, the other spectacular airfares are those round-trip rates on Lufthansa between New York to Berlin for $669 and Moscow for $709 including all fees, taxes and fuel surcharges, available to travelers who are willing to reach those destinations via a stop in Frankfurt, Dusseldorf or Stuttgart. These have now been surpassed in interest by the announcement from Iberia Airlines of Spain that it will be charging autumn and winter round-trip rates from New York of only $710 to Madrid and $730 to Barcelona. The latter two cities are such fascinating places to visit, and so full of absorbing attractions, that they are powerful competition to the fall/winter trips you might otherwise consider to the tropics of the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America, or Hawaii. A week or so in Madrid or Barcelona is now possible for an airfare cost that is not much more than you would pay to the tropics.

Finally, Istanbul is a cheaply-reached destination this fall and winter. Turkish Airlines is offering an amazing $656 round-trip airfare between New York and Istanbul (Ataturk Airport) throughout the fall and winter until near the end of March. Pay that little, and you'll find that the total costs of a winter stay in Istanbul are so low as to permit a very reasonably priced one-weeker in the Turkish capital. You'll have more than enough to see and do, and you'll do wonders for your health by scheduling several, successive immersions in a Turkish bath, in steambath establishments located all over the city. Roberta and I went to one that had never before seen a tourist, and the various attendants seems to get big kick out of pounding, slapping and scraping two westerners in Turkish-bath style.

So there you have it. Some of the most colorful cities in Europe are now less than $700 away, provided you visit in autumn and winter, on a flight emanating from New York.