7 Days, 7 Travel Stories

1. Some business travel advice from the Times of India...

• The lighter you pack, the faster you can move through the airport to your taxi, hotel and meeting.
• Wear your power suit on the plane and take it off once you get to the hotel.
  Get rid of wrinkles with a good, hot iron, and a touch or two of fabric freshener to eliminate lingering airline funk.
• Bring interchangeable outfits to save packing space.
• Bring travel size toiletries. Roll your shirts, blouses, slacks and skirts into bundles so they fit easier in your bags and allow more space for files, DVDs, and other business resources.
• For those who want an extra level of space, purchase a ziplock storage bag and fill it with clothes, roll it up to push out excess air, and seal it.
• Pack certain items within other items to save space. For example, pack your socks inside your shoes or ties within your casual polo shirts. Choose luggage that allows you to quickly pull out things like a computer at security.
• Use a carry-bag with outside pockets large enough to hold certain items - like laptops, cell phones, boarding passes, and personal identification.

2. Notes from a tourism researcher. Even though the travel industry is as major source of jobs, tax revenue and often, urban revitalization, governments still lack an understanding of the extent tourism plays in economic development. Tourism and economic development go hand-in-hand. On the do-it-right list--Tourism requires friendly people and good service. Tourism requires a secure community with police fire and first aid personnel playing an important role in making visitors feel secure. Tourism requires good restaurants, hotels and things to do, and if visitors are not treated well when visiting, there is very little chance that they will move their business and family to the location.

Tourism also adds prestige to a community. People like living in a place which others consider worthy of visiting. Community festivals, traditions, handicrafts, parks and natural settings all add to the desirability of a locale and its ability to sell itself to potential outside investors. Quality of life is also reflected in a community's museums, concert halls, theatres, and uniqueness. ETN

3. One buck marketing...Go, which operates interisland air service in Hawaii, made 1,000 one-way tickets available on its web site, http://www.iflygo.com/, for one dollar each. The carrier gave buyers a 12-hour window to purchase the tickets. About 20,000 people visited the site in the first hour of the sale, and that Sabre, the Web site's booking engine provider, was unable to handle the volume. The Web site was down for several hours while Sabre conducted repairs. The $1 fare was Mesa’s way of celebrating Go’s one-year anniversary. The airline had notified its regular customers on Monday of the sale, which was for midweek travel from June 11 through Dec. 15. TW

4. Up Yours...Budget Rent A Car recently made-over its road-trip-themed blog which provides travelers with an online forum to share road trip stories, receive free travel ideas and tips, find money-saving deals, and contests to win a variety of prizes being daily.
Called "Up Your Budget," the blog is now in its third year of operation. http://www.upyourbudget.com/ Earthtimes.org

5. Lights out. Motel 6 plans rolled out the hospitality industry’s first national fluorescent light bulb and battery recycling program. Motel 6 is the US’s largest hotel chain with nearly 900 properties. In January of 2006, Motel 6 began retrofitting rooms with fluorescent lighting. With the lights starting to dim, each Motel 6 property will receive a box designed to collect light bulbs and a container for batteries. Materials are then shipped to a recycling center. Batteries, light bulbs and electronic equipment typically contain mercury, lead and other heavy metals that are considered hazardous to the environment.

Motel 6 is owned by Accor North America, which also maintains brand control over Sifitel, Novotel, Ibis and Studio 6. Accor’s Earth Guest program consists of extensive and ongoing environmental initiatives including the planting of 20,000 trees representing each Accor employee in North America, implementation of a 65-point environmental check list at all properties and at the corporate headquarters, and donation of $375,000 to educational and charitable groups.

6. With carbon-offsetting becoming the hot marketing cache for travel companies, Travel Weekly reports that some environmentalists, analysts and others wonder whether if it is really doing any good. Of concern...lack of standards that make it ripe for manipulation.

7. The travel industry is among the top 25 businesses that the Better Business Bureau monitors for fraud. One industry insider says that travel fraud costs Americans an estimated $12 billion a year. The most popular scams involve bargain-priced package deals that require hefty down payments. Some throw in the airfare for free but forget to mention that a hotel room upgrade could cost them six times more. The old adage, “if it sound too good to be true,” form the watchwords to smart travel buying.

To be safe, travel experts advise travelers to book through a trusted agent and never pay by cash or check. They also warn consumers not to give out credit card numbers over the phone unless it’s to a familiar person or company. And one should always be suspicious of unsolicited offers. Voice of America

One for the Road: TripAdvisor.com marked a major milestone this week by adding its 10 millionth user-written review. In celebration, the travel site has added a travelers’ network feature that lets registered site users invite people from their email address books who are also TripAdvisor members to share their site screen name so reviews they have written are highlighted in the searches. Boston Globe

Rich’s Weekend Reader is published by AndTyler222. All rights reserved. Information from various sources and mostly rewritten. andtyler222@verizon.net