Archives: Hotels

A Round Up of the Most Popular and Best Travel Sites

Posted on by Chris

When you’re planning a vacation what are your ‘go to’ travel sites?  Tripadvisor is probably one of them, along with Expedia, Travelocity, or maybe Priceline?  These are included in ebizMBA’s list of the Top 15 Most Popular Travel Websites.  Rounding out the top 10, besides the four mentioned, are Yahoo Travel, Orbitz, Kayak, Hotels.com, Travelzoo and Hotwire.  A site that is missing from the list, but is better than them all, is one called Hipmunk, according to Forbes writer Bruce Upbin.  He believes it is the best travel site on the web because it does the best job in presenting hotel and flight information and provides the best user experience.  You can read his review of the site here.  Budget Travel also recommends Hipmunk.  The travel site is on its list of 8 Cool New Tools for Finding the Perfect Hotel.  Also on the list, along with a description and tips on how to utilize each site, are:

BackBid (backbid.com); DealBase (dealbase.com); HotelSweep (hotelsweep.com); Momondo (momondo.com); Room 77 (room77.com); Room Key (roomkey.com); YourRoomKey (yourroomkey.com).

And finally, consumer advocate (and former travel agency owner) Clark Howard has his list of favorite travel websites.  Many of the ones listed above are included here, but there’s also some additional ones such as SideStep.com, Mobissimo, and FareCompare.

What travel site do you recommend?

Hipmunk’s mascot (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A Few Very Unusual U.S. Hotels

Posted on by Chris

Instead of sleeping in a typical hotel or bed & breakfast next vacation, why not bunk in a lighthouse, a train car, or even a jail?  Tripadvisor has a list of 10 Quirky Hotels located around the country that will definitely give you a more memorable stay.

 Have you ever wanted to spend your vacation in a shack?

Photos of Shack Up Inn, Clarksdale
This photo of Shack Up Inn is courtesy of TripAdvisor

Hotels Seeking to Increase Revenues with Extra Fees

Posted on by Chris

By now we are used to getting nickel and dimed by the airlines and have adopted some strategies to avoid a few of their extra fees (not checking luggage and taking our own meals on board, for example).  Now, Budget Travel reports that some hotels, in an attempt to increase revenue, are taking the same approach as the airlines by charging for services and items that were previously included in the room rate.  Consumer advocate, Clark Howard reports he’s recently seen unusual charges such as newspaper fees, automatic safe fees, and mini- bar fees (whether used or not).  The best bet is to ask upon check-in about any extra “fees” that may be imposed, reject them, and then carefully review your bill before checking out.  Have you been presented with any unusual hotel charges?

Review your bill carefully before checking out of a hotel.

High-End Fashion Hotels

Posted on by Chris

SmartMoney reports on a new trend in the hotel industry – pairing designer brand-names with upscale hotels.  Haute couture designers such as Versace and Armani, along with jewelry designer Bulgari, have gotten into the hotel business, which allows them to showcase their products and sell them in the on-site shops.  These hotels in locales such as Dubai and Australia (with some slated to open in the U.S.) are more for the fashion-conscious luxury travelers who are not concerned about rewards programs.

Guest room in Palazzo Versace, Dubai

The Most Unusual Spas in the World

Posted on by Chris

Spa Tourism is a popular segment of the travel market with Spas and wellness centers generating about $60 billion in worldwide revenue. Resorts and hotels make up 10% of spa providers, day spas make up 80%, and medical spas make up the last 10%.  With the proliferation of spas around the world and increased competition, spa providers are having to make their services – and buildings – stand out from the rest.  Flavorwire has located 10 spas around the world that provide clients with experiences both serene and unusual.  They include a salt cave in Chicago, an underwater spa in the Maldive Islands, and a Geomagnetic Vortex spa in the Mohave Desert.  Which one would you like to visit?

 

Oil rig spa, one of the top ten most unusual spas in the world

 

Sources:

http://www.firstresearch.com/Industry-Research/Spa-Services.htmlhttp://www.globalspaandwellnesssummit.org/images/stories/pdf/8%20-%20spafinder%202012%20spa%20trend%20report.pdf

 

Hotel Secrets Revealed

Posted on by Chris

You may want to steer clear of the hotel mini-bar when you travel.  Not because of its exorbitant cost (which is reason enough), but because contents may not be what they appear to be.  The Daily Beast recently published an article, 12 Hotel Secrets by Hotel Staffs, From Minibar ‘Refills’ to Ritz-Carlton Largesse, revealing how things really work in the hotel world.  After reading, you may decide to take your own drinking cup with you when you travel!

                   The coverlet on your hotel bed is not clean as it appears.

J.D. Power and Associates Best Hotels of 2012

Posted on by Chris

Research company J.D. Power and Associates annually surveys hotel guests to determine the best hotels both in the U.S. & Europe.  Factors that are taken into consideration include ease of reservations; ease of checking in and out; room cleanliness and quality; quality of food and food service; hotel services; facilities; and room costs and fees.  These are the hotels that came out on top:

 

U.S. 

Economy budget –                       Jameson Inn

Extended stay –                             Homewood Suites

Luxury –                                          Ritz-Carlton

Midscale full service –                 Holiday Inn

Midscale limited service –         Drury Hotels

Upper Upscale –                          Omni Hotels and Resorts

Upscale –                                        Hilton Garden Inn, Springhill Suites

 

Europe

Economy –                              Premier Inn

Midscale –                              Ramada Hotels

Upper Upscale –                  Steigenberger Hotels and Resorts

Upscale –                                Hilton Garden Inn

 

Do your experiences correspond with their findings?  Have you had an unusually pleasant experience at a property not listed?  You can check out the ratings for yourself and see also what hotels are at the bottom of the ratings at J.D. Power.