Ilene Coffey's room at an Orlando hotel comes with an unexpected surprise: a $50 fee for a "short stay." When she protests, her hotel and online travel agency tell her she must pay. What's worse, she can't back out -- if she does, her credit card will be charged for the stay. Is there a way out of this mess?
Hikers who perch atop a nearly 100-foot rock cliff that plunges to the crashing surf below are greeted by a spectacular vista with no signs of civilization, perhaps the same scene that caught the eyes of European explorers who passed by these shores 400 years ago.
Vacation season is nearly over, and kids are returning to school with the telltale tans and smiles that mean they had a wonderful and relaxing holiday.
It's the Paris version of the "staycation": Marc des Bouillons lounged in a beach chair with a book, surrounded by women in bikinis, ice cream stands, a DJ spinning summer tunes and kids running amok.
Anita Fancon and her husband want to fly from Tucson, Arizona, to Bordeaux, France in business class. They have the miles they need, and they've already cashed them in. But do they have the seats? American Airlines says they do, except on the flight from Dallas to London. Is there anything Fancon can do to secure the seats she's already paid 180,000 miles for?
Far from the lines of tourists that snake around the entrance of Machu Picchu, hundreds deep before dawn, is Fausta Colonia's open-air kitchen.
From treks in the Arctic circle to luxury "eco-lodges" in Costa Rica, there are many types of vacations and holiday companies that like to highlight just how much they care about the environment.
Four-year-old Grace Layman, decked out in full frilly flower girl regalia, excitedly led her smiling surprise guest to the separate kids' party she was hosting at her dad's wedding reception. Mickey Mouse wowed everyone -- grown-ups too.
Ecotourism represents a set of principles that have been successfully implemented in various global communities, and are supported by extensive industry and academic research. The following definition of ecotourism, established by TIES in 1990, is the most widely used and recognized definition of ecotourism: "responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people" (TIES, 1990). Ecotourism is an important and growing segment of the global tourism industry that is making significant positive contributions to the environmental, social, cultural and economic well-being of destinations and local communities around the world. Furthermore, ecotourism has provided an impetus to assist in greening the tourism industry on many fronts.
Flying solo? Prepare to pay up.
Ilene Coffey's room at an Orlando hotel comes with an unexpected surprise: a $50 fee for a "short stay." When she protests, her hotel and online travel agency tell her she must pay. What's worse, she can't back out -- if she does, her credit card will be charged for the stay. Is there a way out of this mess?
Hikers who perch atop a nearly 100-foot rock cliff that plunges to the crashing surf below are greeted by a spectacular vista with no signs of civilization, perhaps the same scene that caught the eyes of European explorers who passed by these shores 400 years ago.
Vacation season is nearly over, and kids are returning to school with the telltale tans and smiles that mean they had a wonderful and relaxing holiday.
It's the Paris version of the "staycation": Marc des Bouillons lounged in a beach chair with a book, surrounded by women in bikinis, ice cream stands, a DJ spinning summer tunes and kids running amok.
Anita Fancon and her husband want to fly from Tucson, Arizona, to Bordeaux, France in business class. They have the miles they need, and they've already cashed them in. But do they have the seats? American Airlines says they do, except on the flight from Dallas to London. Is there anything Fancon can do to secure the seats she's already paid 180,000 miles for?
Far from the lines of tourists that snake around the entrance of Machu Picchu, hundreds deep before dawn, is Fausta Colonia's open-air kitchen.
From treks in the Arctic circle to luxury "eco-lodges" in Costa Rica, there are many types of vacations and holiday companies that like to highlight just how much they care about the environment.
Four-year-old Grace Layman, decked out in full frilly flower girl regalia, excitedly led her smiling surprise guest to the separate kids' party she was hosting at her dad's wedding reception. Mickey Mouse wowed everyone -- grown-ups too.
Ecotourism represents a set of principles that have been successfully implemented in various global communities, and are supported by extensive industry and academic research. The following definition of ecotourism, established by TIES in 1990, is the most widely used and recognized definition of ecotourism: "responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people" (TIES, 1990). Ecotourism is an important and growing segment of the global tourism industry that is making significant positive contributions to the environmental, social, cultural and economic well-being of destinations and local communities around the world. Furthermore, ecotourism has provided an impetus to assist in greening the tourism industry on many fronts.
Flying solo? Prepare to pay up.
Penobscot Bay may be one of the world's great cruising grounds for sailors, but you don't need a mast to fall under its watery spell. Kayakers love it, too. Ancient glaciers sculpted the big bay's granite coast, creating countless inlets and coves to explore. The setting offers snug harbor towns and inviting inns, many an easy paddle apart. Throw in the world's tastiest lobster and you have all the ingredients for a self-propelled trip that's more relaxing than taxing.
Vacation is the oasis in the midst of your occupational desert, if you will.
Two canoes were crushed running over a dam in southeastern Slovenia, killing 8 people
Eleven hundred and six steep, stone steps that never seem to end.
The 17-day games were supposed to generate a buzz throughout the summer, leading to a tourism windfall with fully booked hotels and free-spending customers. But Beijing's summer tourism season has been slow
Shortly after its opening in 2006, I decided to visit the Lodge at Woodloch, a destination spa deep in the Poconos. Upon my arrival from New York, I discovered the property had no cellular service, so I made several calls home from my room phone, expecting to fork over little more than a dollar. Imagine my surprise when my hotel bill revealed a $7.38 charge for each time I picked up the receiver, despite having never actually reached anyone.
Violence in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince is holding back the nation's dreams of building a viable tourism industry, despite its success in neighboring Caribbean nations
ShoreTrips' business is booming, so you'd think owners Julie and Barry Karp could relax a bit. The couple developed a niche - arranging land tours for Caribbean cruise ship travelers. While cruise vessels have been disgorging hordes of passengers into ports and onto buses and walking tours for decades, their operators faced increased competition from landlubbers when the Karps founded their firm in 2001.
China is one of those places where there has long been a real appeal to being on a tour. Having expert help to organize the logistics (and a bilingual guide on the ground) takes some of the anxiety out of visiting what can be a fairly overwhelming country.
When Mike Sinyard started importing Italian bike parts in 1974, his toughest challenge was finding space to store them inside his eight- by 30-foot trailer.
When Jerry Leonard and his wife transfer from their cruise ship to a train, they give Princess their luggage, which includes a bottle of Cognac. The luggage is lost and later found, but the cruise line confiscates the Cognac. Should it replace the bottle -- or is he out of luck?
Will Allen III, a management consultant from Raleigh, North Carolina, is a platinum member on a handful of airlines, but his loyalty is waning.
Let's assume, for a moment, that you can't stop 2008 from becoming the Year of the Fee.
What's not to like -- from a kid's perspective anyway.
In 2002, at the ages of 62 and 48, Pat and Catherine Patterson decided to leave it all behind. They sold their real estate business and their cars, gave their furniture to their children, and put their home up for rent. Strapping their remaining possessions to two bicycles, the couple set off to bike around the world.
Travelers treat searching for hotel rates online like a game of roulette: try enough combinations (dates, locations, travel agencies), and you'll score the perfect one. But it's easy to forget that booking a room through an online travel agency means that if you need to change your travel dates or find a better deal, you may pay a penalty, often upward of $25. Add to this the fact that hotels don't reward loyalty points for stays reserved through discount booking sites, and that bargain-basement price doesn't look so appealing. Avoid pitfalls by following these approaches:
There are more than 160 ships in the fleets of the 24 major cruise lines and more than 7,500 itineraries, from Alaska to Zanzibar. So how do you decide which one most suits your style? Follow these 10 steps to ensure smooth sailing:
First it was the airlines, now it's the turn of hotels to take the budget concept into the mainstream. Demand is surging for cheaper hotel rooms, not just from thrifty tourists but also from business travelers in search of value. And budget brands are responding to the demand with ambitious expansion plans.
The North African country with the fastest growth rate in tourism sent out a clear message that its own private sector will now play a more prominent role in developing its all-important travel industry, indicating that it is ready to use expertise acquired over several decades of steady growth to spearhead new initiatives that would put a large number of unknown sub-Saharan countries on the map.
Thinking of taking a cruise? Then you picked the right time -- and you're reading the right story.
Happy family cruises are all alike because they allow parents and kids to each be happy in his or her own way. A parent of a toddler, for instance, might be happiest with a cruise that provides trustworthy child-care services at flexible hours. Children, of course, have their own priorities. A teen, say, will probably want lots of activities for socializing after 10 P.M.
It has been a year of promising news for the globe-trotting business traveler. Yes, there have been all the woes of increased airport security, packed planes, heaving hotels and bursting business-class lounges, but some of the headlines have brought encouragement for a better future.
How do you make a good travel experience out of a business trip? There may be times when quick and efficient transfers and check-ins are what is most important from a excursion, but with the holiday season almost upon us, even the most hardened road warriors will be forgiven for thinking more about winding down for the year than business.
It's increasingly popular--and surprisingly affordable--to set sail with the kids in tow. Find out ways to save when planning, booking, and cruising.
His mother is scheduled to fly to Hawaii with his aunt and cousin, where they plan to board a cruise. But hours before they leave, Lawrence Dean Parrish finds out that their flight schedules have been changed. Now his mother, who is 74 and suffers from glaucoma, is flying solo and his aunt and cousin are on another flight. Neither the travel agency nor the cruise line will help. Is her vacation sunk?
The airplane has become, for many, climate change public enemy number one. And for good reason, say environmentalists. The air travel sector now carries the label of "the world's fastest growing source of greenhouse gases" according to Friends of the Earth (FoE), with airplanes pumping out more than 600 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) every year. That's nearly as much CO2 as the African continent annually expels.
Tropical Storm Noel, which has killed at least 48 people, was moving away from the Cuban coast late Wednesday and strengthening over warm waters, prompting tropical storm watches to be issued for South Florida.
Tropical Storm Noel weakened Tuesday over most of Cuba after lashing the island's northern coast, but heavy rains continued to deluge the Dominican Republic, Haiti and portions of the Bahamas, forecasters said.
The $90 Targus Corporate Traveler means serious business. The ballistic-nylon, briefcase-style case looks ready to survive the bumps and knocks of even the most aggressive travel schedule, which isn't to say that the bag is all utility with no style.
For older men who know the difference between a waltz and fox-trot, being a cruise ship host offers evenings in the dance floor spotlight and days in the ocean sunlight traveling to places they would have never seen otherwise.
Travel is the world's biggest business and one of its fastest-growing too. But hotels, resorts, airlines and cruise lines have been slow to grapple with the huge environmental and social consequences of what they do.
Squeezing regular workouts in between client meetings and business dinners can be a challenge, especially when you're operating out of a hotel in an unfamiliar city.
Gena Welsh and her husband each receive a $150 certificate when their flight is delayed. But now the company that gave them the voucher -- TransGlobal Vacations -- has become Funjet Vacations. And it's balking at giving them the credit. What should she do?
SINGAPORE AIRLINES' A380 AUCTION
SINGAPORE AIRLINES' A380 AUCTION
You press your body tightly against the rock, fingers running along its crevices, trying to keep from slipping.
The negotiations are over. The treaty has been signed. The skies across the Atlantic are now open for free movement of flights between European and U.S. cities. Now the battle commences between airlines as they prepare for their new-found commercial freedom when the Open Skies agreement comes into action in March 2008.
July and August tend to be sleepy months on Wall Street as traders ditch their terminals and head for a beach house in the Hamptons or a summer resort on Nantucket.
Next time you visit the Big Island, why not skip the fancy resort and hop in a VW camper van?
After months without a day off, it's official: You need a vacation.
So summer's here, and the thermometer has consistently hovered at 80°-plus. You've got one thing and one thing only on your mind, and it's not the Hickenlooper report, which was due last week: You want to get straight out of the office and take a vacation.
Rescue authorities reported all five people aboard a small sightseeing plane were killed when it crashed in a mountainous area of southeast Alaska on Tuesday, a Princess Cruises spokeswoman said.
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Essay: When resorts are tailored to comfort tourists by offering familiar experiences, it can be hard to remember just where you are
It's never going to happen to you, right?
I've been on my share of vacations with friends and extended family and survived the most common pitfalls - like people running up the group tab at dinner with expensive wines, planned activities that I wanted no part of and living arrangements that afforded too little privacy.
ANNE SCHUETTE, SADLY, WAS NOT SURPRISED WHEN HER mother Dorothy died in 2003 after years of battling cancer. But discovering that her mother had left her and her two siblings $400,000 each was a shock. "I had no idea she had that much money," says Anne, 48, who described the revelation as "bittersweet."
I've been on my share of vacations with friends and extended family and survived the most common pitfalls—like people running up the group tab at dinner with expensive wines, planned activities that I wanted no part of and living arrangements that afforded too little privacy. The topper for me was the time a vacation mate I didn't know well but had invited as part of a large group got nailed cheating in a card game with my better friends. I was stuck between their cold shoulders and my misbegotten guest for the rest of week.
When Delta Air Lines cancels the return portion of Sara Grimm's Puerto Rico getaway, Travelocity's fix is to refund her first vacation package and then ask her to book a completely new one. She does, but weeks later, there's no sign of the money she spent on the first trip. Should Grimm dispute the charges with her credit card -- or is there a better way?
Dave Malone is a traveling man. He makes at least 40 trips a year for business, and has done so for some 30 years.
Whether driving over fallen trees on highways to uncover the devastating effects of a hurricane or getting on a flight at a moment's notice to keep up with a breaking story, Chris Davis, a veteran photojournalist, is not the average business traveler.
I don't think my dad ever changed a diaper. Not at home. Certainly not on vacation.
Tourism industry leaders will propose a $10 fee for visitors from England, France, Germany and 24 other "visa waiver countries" -- money that would be spent to promote travel to the United States and to pay for ways to ease border inspection bottlenecks, it was announced Friday.
Q: What can one do about a boss who is a chronically poor listener? I will mention an idea, boss will say nothing about it, then come up with it on his own or find it elsewhere later and tout it like the best thing ever. There will be no mention of me coming up with it first.
Internet searches provide hints on how we really feel about the economy
Not again!
The cost of executive travel includes more than just the money paid out for an air ticket or a taxi ride; business trips also have an environmental price tag.
Since he's traveling during hurricane season, Al Cooper takes out an insurance policy for his Mexico vacation. It's a good call. A few days later, he's diagnosed with cancer and has to cancel his trip. But now his insurance company, Access America, refuses to honor his claim. What gives?
Steve Chavez is willing to go to extremes to combat rising health care costs. The president of Integrated Control Systems, a 180-employee Albuquerque construction firm, Chavez has watched costs for...
Worries about inflation are tugging at the U.S. economy again, as consumers pay more for everything from gas to groceries. But that's not the only place where our purchasing power is declining.
On a recent business trip to San Diego, California, Kurt Barrett took his family to Sea World.
We made fun of my sister mercilessly -- behind her back, of course.
We're looking into the future this month on CNN Business Traveller 21st Century.
Unless you're looking to buy a new home right now, you may be having a hard time imagining the upside to the bursting of the real estate bubble. Well, here's one: There are a lot more places to rent at the beach.
While the average traveler is as comfortable reserving a flight online as he or she is buying a book at Amazon, cruise sales are still largely the domain of travel agents. Only 8 percent of passengers book cruises online. But now that you can buy cruises through online agencies such as Expedia, and the meta-search engines Kayak and SideStep make it easy to do research, it's time to reevaluate your approach.
The U.S. currency is king no more, but not everyone is spilling tears over the dollar's decline.
I know this is kind of counterintuitive right now, but I think JetBlue is onto something.
The captain of the Sea Diamond cruise ship blamed currents for last week's sinking off a Greek island, state-run television reported Sunday.
Chuck Carpenter's passport looks more like an exotic guidebook than an official document.
When the aspen Ski Company launched its environment division -- a kind of green management team, think tank and consultancy -- it was the first of its kind in the ski industry: an in-house watchdog to prevent the resort from gorging on energy and trampling its fragile ecosystem. Ten years later, the division's director, Auden Schendler, spends at least as much time thinking about saving Aspen as he does about saving its environment. Both, it turns out, are highly vulnerable to climate change.
Khaldoon Khalifa al Mubarak is a man in a hurry. The 31-year-old, American-educated developer steps on the gas of his silver Audi and zooms past a hole in the ground crawling with construction work...
This month on Business Traveller we're taking another look at some of the stories and issues you wanted to see again.
Many small business managers work during their time off and some even admit to reading work-related e-mails while in the bathroom, according to a survey released Monday.
For vacationers, there's an affordable, comfortable and convenient alternative to booking a hotel room. It's renting a whole house.
See the travel secrets gallery
Budget airlines have revolutionized the airline industry in the past five years, and now specialist all business class airlines are hoping to transform the high-end of air travel in the same way.
Most elite travelers would never dream of booking a prepackaged vacation. Maybe they should. By booking the hotel of your choice but reserving your flight and rental car through programs like Ameri...
The foibles and vices of frequent flyers has been revealed by a survey carried out by website TripAdvisor.com.
Adventure was the goal when John and Karen Lewis liquidated their assets to buy a large tract of Costa Rican rainforest in 1990.
Is looking inside a laptop the same as opening up a suitcase? In the eyes of U.S. federal law they are.
In November, CNN Business Traveller is all about connectivity -- connecting people and places with new technology and experiences.
Among water people, there are planers and there are displacers.
Three years ago, when Rwanda launched a tourism campaign, the idea seemed far-fetched. Hotels and restaurants were grungy. Only one carrier flew direct to Rwanda from Europe. And memories of the 19...
To airline industry insiders, the hours spent idling in airport terminals because of delays or extended layovers are known as "dwell time." To millions of time-constrained business travelers, the e...
EVERY FALL, cruise lines move their ships to warmer waters for the winter--and you can go along for the ride. These one-way repositioning, or "repo," cruises have unusual itineraries and more time ...
In our age of convenient and affordable air travel, it is hard to imagine the daunting challenge Orville and Wilbur Wright faced as they attempted the first powered flight on December 17, 1903.
When a major storm hits the Caribbean, most airlines and hotels eventually wind up waiving the usual restrictions so that customers can change or cancel their plans free of charge. But because policies have traditionally been announced on a case-by-case basis -- and at the last minute -- you had little choice but to wait and cross your fingers. Now, after two brutal hurricane seasons, a few airlines and tour operators have taken steps to ease travelers' concerns.
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