advertisement

In Declaring War Against the "Online Travel Agents," The Major Hotel Chains Have Created a Mighty Reason for Always Going Direct to Those Hotels

By Arthur Frommer

Posted on 06/23/2016, 11:15 AM

The battle between America's large hotel chains and the so-called "Online Travel Agents," who attempt to place reservations at such chains, has now come into the open. Hilton Hotels, among others, has begun placing large advertisements urging the public to place their reservations directly with the various Hilton hotels, and not to use the "O.T.A.'s" (Expedia, Priceline, Booki...

The Legality of Short-Term Apartment Rentals Remains Hotly Contested, But Numerous Additional Companies Have Now Begun Acting as Agents for Such Rentals

By Arthur Frommer

Posted on 06/20/2016, 11:00 AM

Source: FreeImages.com/miro_penev In all of travel, there is no topic more puzzling and contradictory, more challenging and debatable, than the short-term rental of apartment accommodations. In cities scattered across the nation, and overseas, various laws prohibit some such rentals or burden them with odd requirements, and innocent people have been prosecuted for running afoul of the...

A "Refurbishing" by Carnival Cruises of the Classic 'Queen Mary 2', Has Raised Danger Flags About a Possible Alteration of the Latter's Character

By Arthur Frommer

Posted on 06/20/2016, 11:00 AM

Sculpture aboard the Queen Mary 2, 2013 When I first learned that the Queen Mary 2 was going into drydock for several weeks, for a "complete overhaul," a "retro-fitting of the entire ship," I felt sick at heart. It was as if every fear that cruise critics like me had felt when the Queen Mary's Cunard LIne was acquired by the slick and modern Carnival Cruises. If you had asked me at th...

There are Tentative Indications That a Slight Decrease in Tourism May be Currently in Progress, Opening Opportunities to Travelers Who Have Not Yet Made Their Plans

By Arthur Frommer

Posted on 06/11/2016, 2:15 PM

Photo credit: Carnival Cruise Lines Is the current travel season an especially slow one? Are there plenty of empty seats on both domestic and international flights? A number of old-timers in travel will claim that travel is always slow in a presidential election year, when national politics captures the attention of millions, a phenomenon known in the trade as the "election year curse...

A Survey Performed by a Noted Analyst Shows a Sudden Increase in the Sales of Printed Travel Guides

By Arthur Frommer

Posted on 06/11/2016, 11:45 AM

Photo credit: Manfred Heyde via Wikimedia Commons As the co-publisher (with my daughter) of a series of printed guidebooks, it would not be appropriate for me to use this blog to publicize our own particular books. But when it comes to the entire guidebook industry, some comments might be in order. In the six years prior to 2014, the travel guidebook industry was in serious t...

Disney Is Opening a New "Magic Kingdom" in Shanghai, China, And from All Reports it's a Stunning Advance in Theme Park Design

By Arthur Frommer

Posted on 06/03/2016, 2:00 PM

Disney Parks China itself is such a fascinating touristic destination that it really doesn't need another attraction. And yet that's exactly what it got this month, in the opening of the Shanghai Disneyland. Larger by far than any previous Disneyland in the U.S., Paris or elsewhere, this one incorporates such new advances in electronic wizardry, spread over awesomely-large grounds, t...

The Galapagos Islands, Which for Years Have Been Stigmatized as an Expensive Cruise Destination, Are Actually Visited Cheaply by Tourists Living in Budget-Priced Hotels and Visiting the Unique Wildlife by Short Ferry Rides

By Arthur Frommer

Posted on 06/03/2016, 2:00 PM

Photo credit: C. Dorobek/Flickr Ever since the widespread popularity of cruising, the Galapagos Islands have been regarded as primarily a cruise destination to be visited on small and very expensive ships. The Ecuadorean government has been strongly opposed to the use of large cruise ships to visit these environmentally sensitive islands, where wildlife has remained untouched and undi...

Las Vegas Just Got Pricier. MGM Resorts Eliminates Free Parking At Its Sin City Properties

By Pauline Frommer

Posted on 06/02/2016, 1:30 PM

Gamblers know: in Las Vegas, the house always wins. Drivers now need to adopt the same mindset, because on June 1, one of Sin City’s most beloved traditions was trashed. Don’t worry, the dancing fountains are still sloshing away. But on June 1, nearly half of the hotels on the Strip instituted parking fees—a new normal after decades of free parking inside those cavernous resort garages. M...

A Free Trip to Paris? Fantastique! Including a Stay in a Purpose-Built Apartment in the Actual Eiffel Tower? Mind-Blowing

By Pauline Frommer

Posted on 05/27/2016, 3:30 PM

They said it wouldn't last. The Eiffel Tower was built for the 1889 World's Fair and was only supposed to stand for 20 years after that event. Truth is, many in Paris wanted it torn down sooner, including a group of famed artists and authors (including Guy du Maupassant and Alexander Dumas fils) who demanded its leveling. Novelist Joris-Karl Huysmans went even further, calling it a "hole-ridd...

The Immense Increase in Chinese Tourism Creates Career Opportunities for Young Americans Willing to Learn Chinese

By Arthur Frommer

Posted on 05/26/2016, 7:30 PM

Photo credit: joebrandt/istockphoto.com At a time when tourism is dramatically down to places like Turkey, Egypt, Belgium, Tunisia, and North Carolina, a favorable picture is supplied by the number of Chinese tourists now traveling to all over the world. Recent announcements by national tourist officials confirm that outgoing Chinese tourism is now measured in the tens of million...

Displaying entries 691 - 700 of 1285 in total