Kimpton takes the edge off tax season

by Tom Johansmeyer on

‘Tis the season for taxation. We gather up our W-2s, sift through 1099s and try to figure out just how painful the experience is going to be for our wallets. Tax season isn’t the most pleasant of experiences for many, so Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants is hoping to take the sting out a little bit. With its “Sweet Tax Relief” deal, Kimpton will make sure tax time leaves you with an enjoyable taste in your mouth – for a change.

To start, participating Kimptons will pay your room tax for you, for stays during the entire month of April. And, your meal tax will be picked up when you throw down some grub at its restaurants. If you’ve ever taken a close look at your restauant receipt or hotel folio, you know just how substantial this savings can be. To sweeten the pot, so to speak, candy bars like “Payday,” “100 Grand” and “Sugar Daddy” will be provided, which you can munch on while waiting for your late checkout to come.

According to Niki Leondakis, chief operating officer of Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, “Tax season can be a stressful time of year and this fun promotion is a great way for travelers to save a few dollars on the road and enjoy some sweet treats.”

Celebrate Earth Day with a volunteer vacation!

by Kraig Becker on

2010 will mark the 40th anniversary of the founding of Earth Day. Originally conceived by Senator Gaylord Nelson, the event was meant to remind us to stop and think about the amazing, yet fragile, planet on which we live, and possibly consider the ways that we can work to protect the environment around us. Today, that message is as important and relevant as ever, and Earth Day is celebrated across the globe in a number of cultures and countries.

This year, Earth Day falls on Thursday, April 22nd, and to celebrate Lake Quinault Lodge and Kalaloch Lodge, both located on Washington State’s Olympic Peninsula, are offering environmentally conscious travelers a chance to do their part to protect the environment while on a volunteer vacation. Visitors can join the Washington CoastSavers on Saturday, April 17th, as they work to clean up the beaches at Kalaloch, and then celebrate with a barbeque afterwards. A week later, on Saturday April 24th, volunteers have the opportunity to join the park service in restoring Kestner Homestead, a family cabin that was built back in 1862 and is now part of Olympic National Park.
To show their appreciation for the efforts of the volunteers, the two lodges are offering an online only discount for those who choose to stay with them. These Earth Day Volunteer Vacation deals allow guests who particpate in the beach clean up to stay in a Seacrest room at Kalaloch Lodge for just $99 or a log cabin for $109. The special rate is available for a single day between April 15-18, and includes entry to the CoastSavers barbeque as well. Volunteers who elect to stay at the Lake Quinault Lodge can get a one night stay on April 23, in either a Lakeside or Main Lodge room beginning at just $109. That rate includes two box lunches to take to Olympic National Park the following day.

This is the third year that the resorts have offered these volunteer vacation deals, and to further show their commitment to the environment, they’ll throw in a $15 gift certificate for anyone that arrives in or on a “green” vehicle. The gift certificates are redeemable in the lodges’ stores, restaurants, and giftshops, and is another reward for guests looking to further reduce their carbon footprint.

To take advantage of one of these deals simply book online at www.VisitLakeQuinault.com or www.VisitKalaloch.com.

Yotel hotel pods coming to New York

by Melanie Nayer on

Hotels come in all shapes and sizes. From luxury suites to standard rooms to hostels, there’s a hotel room for all sizes and budgets. Now, for those needing a quick nap on a dime, one more hotel type makes its way to the states: the pod.

The Yotel – a brand of sleeping pod hotels – will open a 669-room in New York City in 2011. The pod hotel will be located 42nd street and 10th and rooms will go for $200- to $250-per-night. According to a press release, the room are almost twice the size as its U.K. counterparts and will be called “cabins” instead of “pods.” The purpose, however, remains the same.

Yotel was established by YO! Sushi founder Simon Woodroffe and his partner Gerard Greene. Popular in the U.K., the Yotel charges £25 for 4-hour stays in their hotel cabins in Europe, as they are made to be a resting place for travelers who are waiting for flights.

But is it a good deal? At $200-$250 a night you could easily find another hotel room in New York, but location will be your concern. If you’re looking for midtown or Times Square, but don’t want a hostel, the Yotel might work. A press release said the Yotel cabins will have “relaxing purple mood lighting, rejuvenating monsoon rain showers, luxury bedding, complimentary Wi-Fi and a flat screen television.” There will also be a restaurant and bar, an outside terrace and business lounges at the hotel.

Before you go, be sure to check out Gadling’s Travel Talk TV!

Business travelers will take upgrades over free food and web

by Tom Johansmeyer on

If you were traveling on business, which would you prefer: free in-room internet access, frequent room upgrades or complimentary breakfast? According to a poll of Hilton’s HHonors program, the room upgrade hit #1, followed by the free grub and finally comp’ed web access. Barbara De Lollis, of USA Today‘s Hotel Check-In column, speculates that this is because business travelers want comfort and can convince their companies and clients to pick up the tab.

Reading this article made me think back to my years on the road as a management consultant, and to my surprise, my behavior aligned with the survey results. Room upgrades mattered most. I’d get a bit more elbow room. It wasn’t about status, importance or even being able to run laps around my temporary living room. Larger guestrooms – and suites, especially – allowed me to put more physical space between where I lived and where I worked while on the road. When workdays stretch past 16 hours, it’s important to have any coping mechanism you can grasp, and being able to segment off the work space sure helped.

While I personally detest the hotel practice of charging for web access, it’s never an issue when I’m traveling on business. The companies and clients for which I’ve worked have picked up the tab without a second thought. When on vacation, I regularly had my companies pick up my internet tab, as well, a small price for them to pay to have access to me while I was away. Likewise, clients and employers pay for food. And personally, I’m rarely thrilled with the food offered at free hotel breakfasts and when I travel on my own, I usually pay for a good meal than suffer through a free one. Also, I never really ate breakfast during my road warrior days, and I know I wasn’talone. So, a free breakfast is really … well … worthless.

What’s missing from the survey, unfortunately, is club-level access. When I was on the road all the time, this was my favorite amenity. It gave me a place to go other than my room, where I could get a drink, grab a snack and unwind. Hiltons definitely delivered best on club lounges, with the two most memorable for me being the Hilton Embassy Row in Washington, DC and the Hilton in London, Ontario. The former was comfortable and great for networking, and the latter had the best club-level service I’ve ever experienced.

A snapshot of Hotels.com’s annual price index

by Amy Chen on

How do you know if you’re actually nabbing a great deal? For starters, it helps to know what other people are paying.

Hotels.com has been compiling its Hotel Price Index since 2004. The info is based on average prices actually paid by consumers who book through Hotels.com. These prices also factor in any promotions (4th night free, 30 percent off, etc…). Trend data can be a bit dry, so here are some highlights from the 2009 report that was released today.

Globally, travelers paid 14 percent less for hotel rooms in 2009 than in 2008. The numbers work out to roughly what we were paying back in 2003, according to Nigel Pocklington, Hotels.com’s vice president for global marketing. It’s a classic example of decreasing demand plus too much supply.

Prices listed below are the average nightly rate paid for a room, plus a comparison of 2009 data to 2008 numbers.

Las Vegas: $85; 18 percent cheaper
New York City: $199; 24 percent cheaper. “It’s unprecedented for a New York City hotel room to go below $200 in recent years,” Pocklington told me by phone.
Dublin: $122; 27 percent cheaper
London: $185; 18 percent cheaper. Pocklington notes that if comparing in British pounds, rooms in London were 7 percent cheaper, but with the currency fluctuation factored in, 2009 inventory was more like 18 percent less than 2008 prices.
Bangkok: $100; 16 percent cheaper
Hong Kong: $125; 20 percent cheaper
Sydney: $131; 18 percent cheaper
Cape Town: $130; 2 percent cheaper
Dubai: $185; 25 percent cheaper

I was surprised to see that a room in Dublin ($122) was roughly on par with Hong Kong’s nightly average of $125. Meanwhile, London and Dubai tied at $185. The question on everyone’s mind is, of course: What about this year?

“2010 will be a year of stabilizing, but it will still be a good year for travelers,” Pocklington said. “Shop around and book early. There will be attractive promotions throughout the year.”

As you evaluate travel deals this year, it won’t hurt to use this price index as a benchmark to see how 2010 is really measuring up.