Six and Seven Star Hotel Rating Inflation
So far no international classification for hotels exists, but that hasn’t stopped ambitious hotel marketers from slapping any number of stars, diamonds, and cacti on their properties and touting them...
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Azores, Family Travel Treasures of the Atlantic
The Azores! What else except a huge dose of tectonic magic explains the nine wayward, islands of the Azores, scattered randomly in the middle of the Atlantic.These sleeping beauties...
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Junk, Junk and Fun: City Museum, St. Louis
The generically named, City Museum is anything but a generic museum. This St. Louis museum is more like a fun house or carnival than a museum.Made almost...
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Penalizing the Single Traveler
The math is simple but deceptive: If a hotel room cost two hundred bucks, that’s a hundred bucks per person, because hotels assume two people...
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Dude Ranches for Families
When 180 horses’ hooves pounded the ground a few feet from me, manes flaring and breaths misting ghost-like in the chill Colorado mountain air, this city boy was transfixed.It was the 5:30...
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How Guys Travel
Give a guy a choiceWould he prefer a major sporting event like the Super Bowl, front-row seats at a major musical event like a U2 concert in London … or spending a week in Hawaii or...
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How Come I Didn’t Know That! Avoiding Cultural Snafus
OK, you’re lucky enough to be in Italy…and you’ve actually been invited to a dinner party.So, when in Rome do as the Romans do:...
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Are Teen Spas Self-Indulgent?
The “Teen Spa Program” at Pinehurst Resort (Pinehurst Village, North Carolina) is designed “to reduce teen stress through aromatherapy, massage, soothing music.”“We...
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Pay To Pee?
When the airlines started charging for everything from pillows to soft drinks and baggage, many of us, facetiously, wondered out loud when the airline would start...
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Banning Kids From Flying
Most Americans aren’t anti-kids. Just the ones that fly it seems. A recent on line chat had a curmudgeonly majority of flyers saying kids don’t belong on planes....
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Six Star Ratings Fraud!
My jaw dropped when an on line travel review site announced that it would add a new tier to its Star Services ratings for hotels: Six Stars. What qualifies as s a...
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Drugging Kids on Planes
When we created a Travel Video PostCard video a year or more ago about the practice of some parents giving their kids Benadryl or a related...
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Lost Luggage Nightmares
Lost Luggage Nightmare [email protected]’s a nightmare. We drag our luggage through security and customs. And break our backs jamming them in the overhead bins.Then there’s the...
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Honeymoons to Familymoons
Honeymoons to FamilymoonsChrissy and Herb Strickland from Florida were getting married.But this time, a second marriage for both, it wasn’t just between them.They...
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How Not To Travel Like An “Ugly American”
It's part of travel's enduring mythology: The American tourist, unable to manage even a few sentences in any language other than English, and oblivious to the cutlure and traditions...
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The Lure of Dark Tourism: Murder and Mayhem
Places like Cambodia’s Killing Fields, Auschwitz, New York’s Ground Zero, or the Wolf’s Lair where Hitler barely survived an assassination attempt in 1944, exert a powerful pull on travelers.But...
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The All Male Spa Comes of Age
Ladies, did you know that there are six men-only spas in the United States? These include Nickel Spa for Men in New York City, The Grooming...
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Making the Most of Your Familymoon: Marriage with Kids in Tow
According to the Stepfamily Association of America, there are now as many stepfamilies as “intact” families. The Association says a...
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Action and Social Media Support Entrepreneurs Aiding Indian Women
When Nicki and Kria heard there were more than 40 million widows in India -- 10% of the country's female population -- they had to act. The report from
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Coming Soon to a Theater Near You: Your Next Vacation Destination
With the Oscars coming up, I wonder, will Zero Dark Thirty generate buzz about Pakistan? Will Argo help to promote Iran? Will Les Miserables keep everyone away from France?
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Sunset Hill House Is A Snowbound Oasis
New England is not an easy place to get to know in winter, but Sunset Hill House in Sugar Hill, New Hampshire is an island of light in snowbound...
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Family Travel Bloggers Rule and Sponsors Take Note
Family Travel bloggers rule these days. They are mostly women -- some dads -- all of whom have a vibrant thing going on with each other about all things travel: destination tips and trips; legal advice...
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Presenting Portland Maine
Sometimes the grass is not greener in the other fellow's city. Take Portland, Maine for example. Portland isn't the distant cousin of Boston, Baltimore, or other places that have redone their waterfronts...
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Cows, Canines and Kids: The Chesterfield Inn
Cows, Canines and Kids: The Chesterfield Inn We missed the Strolling of the Heifers, a yearly event here in Brattelboro,...
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Halifax, Star of Nova Scotia, Canada
Calling at the port of Halifax, the capital of Nova Scotia, can be a both an entertaining and educational experience, as the scenic city has great museums, gardens and historic forts.For a small...
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Mixing the Business Trip With The Family Vacation
The road warrior, the business traveler, represents a huge 50% or more of a hotel’s revenue, so the report just out in Travel Leaders was good news.The 2011 business travel...
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The Next, Best Air Fare Search Engine!
Don’t let that cute, little chipmunk with the aviator goggles fool you! Hipmunk is, at last, an air-fare search engine that's elegant, simple and free from the agony of...
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World’s Best Hotels: TripAdvisor’s 2011 Travelers Choice Awards
When TripAdvisor came out with its highly-publicized list of the world’s dirtiest hotels, many thought it was a shameless grab by the review giant for publicity. But others, including...
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Are Foursquare’s Mayors Doomed?
So, how long will being a Foursquare Mayor matter now that the 6-million strong Location Based Service is moving toward segmentation?In fact, is there any real “grown up†reason to...
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When Will We See The Pyramids Again?
The questions as to when travel to Egypt will resume, and Egyptian itineraries re-established are big ones among the decision makers in the US travel and tourism industry, and are being discussed daily. The...
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Business Travelers Want to Ban Kids From Planes
Not so long ago we stumbled upon an online chat where the subject was banning children from flying, or at least banishing them from flying in business class.So we were not...
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Tourism to Egypt Snapshot
Call it the Digital Revolution become Political.The “Jasmine Revolution” that ousted Tunisian ruler Zine Ben Ali spread with uncanny speed to Tahrir Square, the heart and soul...
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TripAdvisor Names The World’s Dirtiest Hotels
It made the news at CNN a few hours ago.Then Time NewsFeed picked up and amplified the story: TripAdvisor has just come out with its list of the top dirtiest hotels in the world. It made the...
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St. John’s Maho Bay And Westin Resorts, U.S. Virgin Islands
St. John, with its low-key development and gorgeous underwater marine parks may be our favorite of the Virgin Islands for the active family.Nobody doesn't love St. John. This island, in my opinion...
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Untroubling Tunisia: Waiting for Travel and Democracy
The thirty or so countries that make up the Arab world are not known for enlightened or progressive leadership.But it was not always so.In the Middle Ages...
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Mad Guests and UFOs: Why Hampton Hotels Are Number 1
Did you hear the story of the Hampton Hotels guest who took advantage of the chain’s 100%, no-questions asked refund policy?
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Nantucket Video PostCard-Poets, Whales and Celebrities
(Please watch the 1-minute, sound-rich Nantucket Travel Video PostCard at the end of this post)Nantucket Island is one of those places where the images linger...
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Out Guessing The Hotel Guests
It's one of the great ironies of social networking that companies, in this case hotels, hire top marketing research firms and pay them big bucks to determine customer needs and levels of satisfaction.Instead,...
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Slamming The Single Traveler
Why should a single traveler have to pay the same price that a couple pays for a hotel room?There’s two of them and only one of you, so as a single traveler you’re being penalized...
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Why We Are Sexier On The Road
We knew travel was a terrific aphrodisiac, we just couldn’t prove it. Then came a report that the majority of couples have more sex in a week’s vacation than they do in two months...
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Battle of the Brands: Leveraging Location Based Marketing
Last week I was invited by the Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI) ) to attend a webinar called Leveraging Location Based Marketing.Last week I was invited...
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TripAdvisor Adds Cool New Feature: Reviews At A Glance
TripAdvisor Adds Cool New Feature: “Reviews At A Glanceâ€Twitter FollowIt’s not easy to findGo to TripAdvisor. Look for the hotel whose reviews you want to read.TripAdvisor...
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Top Ten Travel Social Network Sites for 2010
It’s pretty common these days for someone to come up with a “top ten†best web sites list or air fare search engine list or applications,...
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Hotel Sleep Police Keep The Peace
Maybe I won't have to travel with my white noise maker or ear plugs anymore.Loud hotel guests, especially when they occupy the room next to mine, or, worse, on either side or even a floor above...
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eBags Pushes Travel To Embrace Social Media
Charlene Li, co-author of the groundbreaking books, Groundswell, and Marketing in the Groundswell, (now CEO of Altimeter ) tells the story of Jim, a hard-traveling, hard-nosed computer seccurity...
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Summer Fun, Vermont Style
Want to enjoy budget summer fun in Vermont? FTF gives you the inside scoop on where to stay and what to do in the snow-free Mt. Snow Valley. It's not sleek or chic like Woodstock, but...
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Breakfast at Tivoli’s: Copenhagen, Denmark With Little Ones
From museums to gardens to castles, FTF tells you where to take the kids in Copenhagen, Denmark.I remember Copenhagen, Denmark well. I lived there years ago when I was the director of a theater...
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Nicaragua: Now Open for Curious Travelers
The black silhouette sculpture of Augustino Calderon Sandino (1895-1934) with his iconic fedora dominates the hillside of Managua, Nicaragua’s capital, and still...
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Secretive Lisbon and Heartbreaking Fado Music
Lisbon is one of Europe’s best kept secret destinations. And the Fado music will break your heart. Let it. You'll never suffer so beautifully!Exotic, coastal, full of winding streets and terrific...
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