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| Vol. 5 | Issue 13 | March 27, 2007 |    |
If you feel like your travel budget doesn’t stretch as far as it used to,
you’re not imagining things. A new study by American Express’ Business
Travel Monitor shows that prices are up all across the board — for airfare,
for hotels, and for car rentals. Getting more expensive fastest are international
hotels and domestic “bargain” airlines.
Domestic airfares grew faster than international fares last year, but slowed down toward the end of the year; the annual average ticket price of $231 dropped to $216. International hotel rates were up almost 9 percent, but hotels in the United States only raised rates by about 3 percent on average. Car rentals in Europe aren’t increasing much, while climbing about 5 percent in North America.
What you can expect for the rest of this year depends upon where you travel. According to American Express projections, European airfares are likely to increase the most in England and the least in Germany. In Latin America, greater capacity and more competition from low-cost carriers should help to offset expected increases; anticipate the largest increases — perhaps as much as 9 percent — in Brazil and Argentina, the least in Mexico.
In the Asia-Pacific countries, airfare increases should stay under 5 percent;
there, the biggest cost increases will likely be in the price of hotels. Increases
are expected to be minimal in Japan — 2 percent or less — and highest
in India, where hotels could become as much as 25 percent more expensive. China
and Hong Kong rates can be expected to climb about 10 percent, a bit less in
Australia and Singapore. 
Marriott International is kicking off Environmental Awareness Month on April
1, in conjunction with Clean Up the World, a global environmental organization.
As part of the effort, Marriott will run an information campaign about how
its guests and employees can be “green” on the road, at work and
at home. On Earth Day, April 22, all its guests will be offered a copy of True
Green, a new book featuring 100 everyday ways to help the planet.
Keeping with the earth-friendly theme, the SAS Group is giving passengers
the opportunity to offset the carbon dioxide cost of their air travel. Voluntarily
offsetting the environmental cost of carbon dioxide emissions is the latest
green thing to do, and SAS customers can log
on to the SAS Web site and click through to The CarbonNeutral Company,
which SAS has chosen to administer its offset program. Various sustainable-development
projects for renewable energy can be chosen as the recipient of donations to
offset the carbon dioxide emissions incurred for the duration of your flight;
for example, $26 for a flight between New York (JFK) and Scandinavia.
Operatic tenor Jose Carreras will perform a special concert in a spectacular
setting on June 8, and this is the last week to get tickets as part of a package
that also includes lodging and ground transportation. The concert will be held
in Malta’s St. George Square, with the 16th-century Presidential Palace
and the Malta Parliament in the background. Carreras will be accompanied by
the National Orchestra of Malta, and the 3,000 tickets will be hard to come
by. The five-star Corinthia
Palace Hotel is
including tickets in a three-night package including breakfasts, one dinner,
and chauffeured transportation to and from the concert, for $486 a person — it’s
only on sale for the rest of this month.
How’s this for the ultimate intimate leisure experience — a
canopied bed set up on the beach so you can watch the sunset, plus a table
for two set in front of the bed for a candlelit dinner once the sun goes down.
Guests of the Pueblo
Bonito Pacifica Holistic Retreat & Spa have the option to arrange
for one of five beach beds for $85 a night, including drinks and a snack, or
$190 including dinner
for two, on top of their normal room rates at the Cabo San Lucas resort.
Air Pacific, Fiji’s international airline, is launching Pacific Sun,
its new domestic airline, to serve the outer islands, including Vanua Levu,
where the most recent episodes of “Survivor” were filmed. Air Pacific
bought domestic airline Sun Air last year and has completed its plans to relaunch
it as its domestic subsidiary. Plans call for service to eight outlying destinations.
Some flights are already operating; a complete schedule, including connecting
service with Air Pacific’s flights out of Los Angeles (LAX), Honolulu
(HNL) and Vancouver (YVR), should be announced soon.
Candlewood Suites
21 Second St.
Jersey City, NJ 07302
tel 201 659 2500; fax 201 659 2900
www.candlewoodsuites.com
In the last decade, the Jersey City waterfront has sprouted gleaming high-rise office towers as New York City financial firms relocated to less expensive pastures just across the Hudson River from lower Manhattan. Residential high-rise condominiums followed, as did restaurants and hotels. Today, Jersey City’s Waterfront District, or “Wall Street West” as it is sometimes called, is creating lots of buzz.
One of those relative newcomers, at Harborside Financial Center, is Candlewood Suites, where I spent a working weekend ensconced in a comfortable studio suite. This type of accommodation — a spacious room that includes free high-speed Internet, free local phone calls, free parking, free movie DVD rentals, a fully equipped kitchen and a fitness club — is usually found in suburban areas many miles outside of big cities. But at Candlewood Suites Jersey City, Wall Street and Greenwich Village are just 10 minutes and $1.50 away on the convenient PATH train, and trendy restaurants and bars are within a few minutes’ walk of the hotel.
Each of the hotel’s guestrooms — studios or one-bedroom suites — is also equipped with a full-size work desk, two multi-line phones, a leather recliner, and TV/VCR/DVD player combo. Management has even thought to install cork bulletin boards near the desk, complete with pushpins.
I stayed here for comfort and price. Business hotels in Manhattan simply cannot offer the room size and amenities one finds across the river at the Candlewood for anything close to the Candlewood’s rates. The only tradeoffs, other than the not-quite-Midtown location, are the lack of room service, and housekeeping only on departure (although you get fresh towels whenever you want). The lower overhead affects prices, not the caliber of service; the staff on duty at the front desk was always attentive and helpful. The one-bedroom would also be a great option if you’re bringing the kids along.
I found the Waterfront District, with its breathtaking views of the Hudson and lower Manhattan, to be scenic, although certainly not quaint — there’s the somewhat eerie feeling of residing in a corporate office park rather than a city neighborhood. But several nearby restaurants, including Markers, Nicco’s, and Cafe Newport, help you get over any “but it’s not Manhattan” thoughts, and taking the short ferry ride from lower Manhattan to the Jersey City pier is a great way to decompress on the way to your home away from home.
Score: ••••• Ron
Bernthal
Northwest Airlines’ WorldPerks has a new promotion, Perkology,
that is running until the end of May and lets you accumulate as many as 50,000
bonus miles. The biggest chunk — 25,000 miles — is for signing
up for a WorldPerks Visa; the rest comes in increments between 500 and 5,000
miles for carrying out transactions with various WorldPerks partners. For example,
get 5,000 miles for spending $5,000 within the promotion period (mortgage and
real estate partner participation makes that a little easier); earn 1,000 bonus
miles through hotel and cruise partners. Car rentals, dining and retail shopping
are all on the qualifying 500-mile-bonus list.
If you’re really into Easter eggs, why not visit some Faberge eggs in
their home setting for the April holiday? The Hotel Astoria on St. Isaac’s
Square in St. Petersburg has a Happy
Easter package April 6-9 that includes three nights’ lodging
for two, breakfast, a three-hour city tour, entrance to the Hermitage Museum,
a classic Russian massage in the hotel’s spa, and a traditional Russian
dinner Easter buffet. The package costs about $1,800.
Thirty-one winners will share in a million-mile giveaway from American Airlines,
and you get three chances to win, if you hurry. Until April 10, register to
be automatically entered; refer up to two friends to get two additional entries.
One winner will be awarded 250,000 miles, and 30 winners will get 25,000 miles
each, no later than June 15. When you or your friends register, you’ll
be given the chance to view an online demo of American’s new awards booking
tool, but it’s not a requirement.
A new luxury resort on North Caicos in the Turks & Caicos Islands is offering
bargain rates for its first off-season. Beginning April 8, the St.
Charles resort, currently a 15-suite oceanfront property, is dropping
its rates by at least 25 percent and will start at $200 a night for a studio
and range to $2,000 a night for a three-bedroom penthouse. The resort is beginning
its second phase, in which it will add 75 more accommodations, a gourmet restaurant,
and a spa/fitness center.
Flights don’t start until June 2, but a limited number of special introductory
fares are on sale now for Iberia
Airlines’ new
nonstop service between Washington, D.C. (IAD) and Madrid (MAD). The new flights
will operate five days a week (no Wednesdays or Fridays). The introductory
fares start at $699 round-trip.
