Arthur Frommer's Blog, page 54

Today, April 20, Will Be Remembered As A Milestone in the Extension of Consumer Protections to Air Passengers

You will be reading, in every form of media ranging from newspapers to websites to TV newscasts, about the regulations proposed today by the Department of Transportation under the direction of Ray LaHood, Secretary of Transportation. Those new rules, if finally adopted, will at last require airlines to include all taxes and fees in the prices they advertise for a flight. They will give passengers 24 hours in which to revoke a reservation for a flight scheduled more than a week ahead. They will extend the rule against stranding passengers on the tarmac for more than four hours, hitherto limited to domestic flights, to international flights. They will greatly increase the compensation to passengers for being bounced from an overbooked flight.

What a brouhaha will now erupt! Already, the airlines have issued protests dripping with dire predictions. You may recall that when similar rules against tarmac strandings were applied to domestic flights about a year ago, every air carrier predicted there would be wholesale cancellations of flights by airlines seeking to avoid penalties for such strandings. This didn't happen, and it seems likely that many of the other protests and loud denunciations will also turn out to be exaggerated and overblown. Why shouldn't the airlines list taxes and fees in their advertised prices?

In one respect, the new regulations have pulled back a bit on a new rule relating to baggage charges. You may recall that two days ago, I wrote about the prediction from an Associated Press reporter that the Department would force the airlines to return the baggage fee on luggage that was delayed for more than two hours. Although the new regulations continue to require such a refund on baggage that has been irreparably lost, it will not do so for mere delays. One victory for the airlines.

Ray LaHood needs our support. There will be a mighty battle waged against the new rules, possibly including legal action, and public sentiment will be important. You might send an e-mail of encouragement to officials at the Department of Transportation, whose activism in this area is heartening.

Considering an English Summer School? A Little Late? Then Give a Thought to Marlborough College

I'm not suggesting that every place in Oxford's and Cambridge's summer schools have been taken; but many of the most popular courses are now full (it's April, after all), and what remains may not be to your liking.

So turn instead to Marlborough College in Wiltshire, England. Marlborough is, usually, a large, private boarding school for youngsters of high school age, a place that the British refer to as a college (with a green campus ringed with graceful buildings in the center of an historic town). And in the summer, it accepts adults of all ages to participate in classes ranging from the literary works of Thomas Hardy to the steps of Scottish Dancing. I've had the most enthusiastic recommendations for it (my sister attended one year), and its curriculum is broad enough to satisfy almost any seeker of knowledge and/or intellectual entertainment.

The tuition and accommodations are quite reasonable (about $490 for the average week), the cost of meals runs about $50 for a week of lunches, around $102 for a week of dinners, and the details are all found at www.mcsummerschool.org.uk . I'm currently on the lookout for summer courses at other British colleges (they must exist), but wanted to convey the news of Marlborough before completing that job of research.

Tripatini's "Ask a Travel Pro" Will Give You Answers to Difficult Travel Questions

Anxious to travel between two small towns in Poland but you don't know how? Looking for a Caribbean island with a café for playing chess? You're a vegan and you don't know how you'll survive on a boat tour of the Galapagos Islands?

If the travel question is too difficult for even the strongest information website, if you've searched in vain for answers to seemingly-insoluble travel conundrums, then you'll want to click on the words "Ask a Travel Pro" at the top of the social-networking website known as Tripatini.com ( www.tripatini.com ). Numerous human equivalents in travel of the people we call "nerds" -- countless travel wizards, dozens of prolific travel writers -- have signed up with Tripatini.com to answer the most difficult travel questions.

If you simply want to view questions posed by other users of Tripatini, and the answers to those questions, there's no problem. You can see those brain-testing interrogations by simply logging on.

But if you want to pose your own question to Tripatini's troupe of experts, you've got to register. And therein lies a bit of work on your part. Pardon me, you creators of Tripatini, but my biggest gripe in computerdom is the requirement that you write down the words spelled by two wavy artistic creations of script appearing in a box, and you decipher them successfully, before you are then permitted to continue. And that's not all. On Tripatini, after you've given them your user name and password, and the decipherment of the wavy letters, you then pull up a screen containing ten minutes' worth of biographical questions -- "Who, exactly are you?" "Are you a travel professional?", "If not, are you simply an avid traveler?" -- that must be properly answered before Tripatini.com will let you proceed.

I'm told that an obstacle course of the sort appearing in Tripatini is nothing unusual, that numerous websites of social networking -- like Facebook, for instance -- confront you with the same obligations before they'll admit you to the network.

So if you're willing to devote ten minutes to Tripatini's own obstacle course, you can then make use of what is an excellent travel service on the Internet.

The Department of Transportation Wants Fees for Lost and Delayed Baggage Refunded -- Airlines Don't

In the realm of "Ripley's Believe It or Not," is news that the airlines are vehemently opposing a proposed rule of the Department of Transportation requiring that they refund any baggage fees to passengers whose luggage they have lost. I have always assumed, and it seems indisputable, that airlines are required to refund to you the value of the contents of a suitcase they have lost (although the value of those contents is subject to dispute). But would you believe that some of them claim they have no obligation to refund the $25 and up fees that they have earlier collected for checking a first suitcase on board a flight?

[image error] Photo Credit: tirc83/istockphoto.com

According to an Associated Press article by Scott Mayerowitz ( twitter.com/globetrotscott ) that hasn't received the attention it deserves, Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood has determined that the airlines should henceforth refund the $25 baggage fee not simply for luggage that is lost but also for luggage that is delivered to the passenger more than two hours late. And since there are apparently millions of suitcases each year whose delivery is delayed to that extent, the airlines are going berserk.

The Department of Transportation needs to hear support from us consumers for regulations they are promulgating in our behalf. Such comments cause them to dig in their heels and courageously face the airlines' onslaught. Among other things, the proposed regulation will require (in effect) that airlines assign a sufficient number of baggage handlers to unload and deliver luggage, which is certainly not the case now, as any passenger who has waited 40 minutes and more to get their luggage will attest. Certainly, if baggage is delayed by two hours (or lost), the least that can be done is to refund that confounded $25 luggage fee.

U.S. Vacation Rentals for the Coming Summer Are Going Fast -- Or Are Already Gone

On yesterday's Travel Show ( www.wor710.com/arthur-frommer ), my daughter and I interviewed New York Times travel writer Michelle Higgins ( twitter.com/michellehiggins ) about the prospects for vacation rentals in U.S. resort areas (beaches, mountains, riversides, rural areas) for the upcoming summer season. She reported, in general, that the demand was strong for such rentals (and up by as much as 30% over last year), that many areas and properties were already largely booked, and that popular holiday periods (July Fourth weekend and Labor Day, in particular) were virtually sold out. But there are exceptions, according to her, in several areas of the country that aren't nearly as popular as the famous beaches and other renowned locations:

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Photo Caption: Siesta Beach, on Florida's Gulf Coast.Caroline Bistline/Frommers.com Community
Coastal Maine and New Hampshire still have a substantial number of vacancies, she stated, and there is even something of a glut of space in Maine, where "deals" are available even at the peak of the season. The Florida Gulf Coast has not yet fully recovered from the BP oil spill, tourism is still down, and a firm known as Kaiser Realty in Gulf Shores, Alabama, is giving 25% discounts to persons who cite a discount booking code, "UP". The Outer Banks of North Carolina still has vacancies at good rates, even though bookings are up from the figures enjoyed last year. The mountain areas (like the Great Smoky Mountains) are where the most vacancies are still found, and one can find attractive rates for rentals of vacation homes and cabins near Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Near Pigeon Forge, in fact, cabins in forest clearings can still be had for $99 a night.The Jersey shore? Only if you're willing to stay seven to ten blocks away from the beach can deals still be had. I'm passing on her observations, as they were delivered.

Yes, Vegas Is Still in Trouble: Just Look at the Rates for Swanky Properties

In describing the sorry plight of the 4,000-room Aria Hotel of Las Vegas' brand-new City Center development, I've pointed out that on many dates in April (what's left of it) and May, Aria was discounting its super-deluxe rooms down to $129 a night. That's for lodgings that were designed to rate at least $300 or $350 a night (and more) normally.

I should have drawn equal attention to the Aria's even-more-luxurious sister resort, the Vdara Hotel, which has 1,495 suites, each with a "gourmet kitchen" (their term). Whereas Aria, in its desperation, is willing to accept $129 a room, Vdara is pricing its suites on a number of dates in April and May at only $119 a night! So here's your chance to enjoy palatial surroundings for a price that wouldn't get you in to a converted tenement in Manhattan.

In the remaining days of April, Vdara's booking chart (go to www.mgmresorts.com to look at those calendars) shows Vdara willing to rent its suites (and keep in mind that every one of Vdara's units is a suite of far greater splendor than the rooms in Aria) for $119 a night per suite on the nights of April 17, 18, 19, 20, and 21. It will sell them for $129 a night on April 24.

In May, Vdara will rent its suites for $119 a night on May 2, 3, 25, 26, 30, and 31. It will then charge a big $129 a night on May 1, 4, 5, 15, 16, 17 and 18.

In June, Vdara will rent its suites for $129 a night on a staggering 16 days in that month: June 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30.

Note how, in April, May and June, many of these rates of desperation are available for continuous periods of five days at a time, enabling you to enjoy a protracted bargain-basement vacation in Sin City for a mere pittance. (That's provided, of course, that you don't take a single meal in the Vdara, or use any other of its facilities with their awesome prices. You've got to exert self-control.)

The Decline of Japanese Tourism to Hawaii Has Not Had the Impact Many Observers Predicted

Several weeks have now elapsed since the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, and it is quite apparent that the Japanese economy will continue to suffer from those events. Shortly after the initial news, I contacted Jeff of Beat of Hawaii ( www.beatofhawaii.com ), the perceptive website about tourism to the islands, and asked him to assess the impact of the Japanese tragedy on Japanese tourism to Hawaii. He responded, in an e-mail that I reprinted in full, that Hawaiians were concerned but not yet persuaded that their economy -- namely, Hawaii's economy -- would also suffer. Or that any change would be brought about that would make travel to Hawaii more favorable for U.S. tourists.

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Photo Caption: North Shore beach, Oahu. seattlenativemike/Frommers.com Community

Yesterday, I asked him to bring us up to date on the continuing impact of Japan's trouble on Hawaii, and he responded to me that the total amount of Japanese tourism to Hawaii had declined over many years prior to the earthquake, for reasons of Japan's own, continuing, slight economic recession. And therefore, he pointed out, the amount of Japanese tourism to Hawaii -- about 17% of the total tourism to Hawaii from all countries -- was not enough to threaten any major impact to Hawaii. And although Japanese tourism has declined as a result of the earthquake/tsunami, the reduction has been largely offset by an increase in tourism from the U.S. mainland. Therefore, he concluded, there has not yet been any significant impact on hotel prices in Hawaii.

His complete e-mail to me is as follows (and I thought you would be interested in it):

Japanese tourism to Hawaii hit its peak in 1997, when 2.15 million visited here. It hit a bottom in 2008, and has remained at near record low levels. Last year, there were only 1.2 million Japanese visitors in Hawaii. That represented about 17 percent of the $11.4 billion overall visitor industry revenue.

While Hawaii had been anticipating an increase in Japanese tourism in 2011, that outlook has definitely reversed. In the first two months of 2011, Japanese tourism in Hawaii had been up nearly 28 percent compared to the same period last year.

Thus far, tourism from the US Mainland and Western Canada appears to be making up the difference caused by the loss of Japanese visitors. As a result I have not seen significant softening in overall pricing in hotels, and there have been few opportunities in terms of airfare sales. Obviously some properties and businesses have been impacted more than others. I recently posted a $69 Aqua hotel special. I checked with Aqua, and they told me that the significant price drop on that property was the result of a loss of planned Japanese visitors.

In the long-term, the outlook is good for the return of Japanese visitors. Japan's love affair with Hawaii remains as strong as that of North Americans. However, based on experience with the Kobe earthquake in 1995, wherein it took years for a full recovery to occur, this will likely be worse.

Summer/Fall Cruise Prices in the Mediterranean are Virtually Collapsing

Two weeks ago, a noted cruise broker told me -- in confidence -- that summer/fall cruise prices in the Mediterranean are virtually collapsing. Subsequent public announcements of extraordinary prices from other cruise brokers seem to have confirmed that dire assessment.

Take, for example, this just-released offer from Online Vacation Center (tel. 800/329-9002; www.onlinevacationcenter.com ): autumn sailings of Royal Caribbean's Brilliance of the Seas , 12 nights from Barcelona to Sicily, Rhodes, Athens, Istanbul, Malta, and back to Barcelona (departing on Sept. 28, Oct. 10 and 22) for only $799 per person for an inside cabin (or $67 a day). From the same company, only slightly higher in price are 12-night Mediterranean sailings of the elegant Celebrity Solstice leaving Barcelona on May 26 and June 19, on which veranda cabins (cabins with balconies) are selling for $1,199 per person. Add another $100 and you can book the departure of the Celebrity Solstice on June 7 (veranda cabin for $1,299 per person). 

But what about the added cost of flying round-trip from the U.S. to the Mediterranean to board these ships? If booked independently, you can expect to pay at least $1,500 for round-trip flights to Rome. Another cruise broker, Travel Themes And Dreams (tel. 877/870-7447; www.travelthemesanddreams.com ) has thought of that by combining flights, one-night hotel, and a 12-day Greece/Turkey cruise aboard Royal Caribbean's Mariner of the Seas in an ocean-view cabin (departing from Rome on June 4). Here, round-trip airfare from New York is included in the price (as are all transfers between airport and hotel, hotel and port, and port to airport in Rome), as well as a night in a four-star pre-cruise hotel in Rome. The total cost? $2,299 per person. Your other costs: taxes on air, hotel and cruise (add $149); air add-ons of $299 from San Francisco and $99 for departures from south Florida. 

I could cite many more examples of this sort. It's obvious that the cruise lines have simply assigned too many ships to the Mediterranean for late spring, summer, and fall -- but with the declining demand for Caribbean sailings during that period, it would seem they had no other alternative.

A Comprehensive Tour of Costa Rica, Including Airfare, Fuel Surcharges, and Accommodations for $1,099

Gate 1 Travel ( www.gate1travel.com ) has done it again. At a time when round-trip airfares are skyrocketing because of fuel surcharges, it has created a means of enjoying a 10-day trip to Costa Rica including airfare and fuel surcharges for a total of only $1,099 per person, and also including nine nights of accommodation in four Costa Rican locations, breakfast daily, and many other meals, as well as escorted sightseeing. The price of $1,099 is valid for the departure of September 4, and rises to $1,249 for all other departures from May through November of this year.

Specifically, for $1,099 on the September 4 departure, you receive:
Round-trip airfare between Miami and San Jose, Costa Rica, including fuel surcharges (with other departure cities available for only slightly more);All transfers between airport and hotel in Costa Rica;3 nights accommodation in San Jose, 2 nights in Arenal, 2 nights in Monteverde, and 2 nights in Tortuguero;14 meals, consisting of 9 breakfasts, 3 lunches and 2 dinners;Escorted motorcoach sightseeing in each location, including the services of an English-speaking tour manager your first 6 days in Costa Rica;All entrance fees to sightseeing attractions. The $1,099 price requires that you book by April 18, phoning tel. 800/682-3333, and citing promotional code DLCRT150 when you make the booking. Phoning after April 18 will result in a still-attractive price of $1,299 for the same features.

This is the least expensive, comprehensive tour of Costa Rica of which I know, and an excellent, affordable travel opportunity.

Israel Is A Prime Destination for High-Quality Medical Care At Discount Prices

The State of Israel isn't often regarded as a key destination for medical tourism. One of the reasons is that Israel's 70 major hospitals offer reasonably priced treatments, usually costing about 30% less than in the United States, but they don't charge the absurdly low fees that you'd enjoy in Mexico, Central America, or the Far East. Those latter countries have facilities charging at least 70% less than the typical medical bill in North America.

But even though Israel's prices are only slightly lower than in the U.S. and Canada, their treatment facilities are generally regarded as the full equal of hospitals and clinics in the U.S. and Canada. Such modern new complexes as the Rabin Medical Center on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, the Assaf Harofeh Medical Center in Tel Aviv, the Enaim Eye Center in Beersheba, and the Emek Medical Center in northeastern Israel, are renowned in important specialties of medicine, and have ultra-modern equipment ranging from hyperbaric chambers to imaging institutes.

And then there's the Dead Sea (and its associated health resorts), one of the lowest points on earth, with mineral-charged waters and unique air atmosphere, to which thousands of persons suffering from various skin ailments and pulmonary problems come for treatment each year from all over the world. Various patient-accepting research centers there are also renowned for their treatment of psoriasis and other ailments.

If you are seriously interested in the idea of Israeli medical treatment, then you might want to request a copy of Israel: A Medical Tourism Manual, produced and published by Israel Travel News. For more information, go to www.itn.co.il .