Marriott elite members get free Internet – the rest of us can still pay for it

by Scott Carmichael on

Starting May 7th, all gold and platinum members of the Marriott Rewards frequent guest program will get free Internet access when they stay at a Marriott, JW Marriott or Renaissance hotel.

All other Marriott properties already offer free Internet access for all their guests, so if you are staying at a Courtyard, Fairfield Inn, Springhill Suites, Residence Inn or TownePlace Suites, you won’t need to worry about being elite enough to get online for free.

This of course raises the question why Marriott can’t offer Internet for free, for everyone? The three hotels brands within the chain that still charge for Internet access are the “upscale” brands – and you’d expect the more expensive rooms to come with free access.

I’ve written about this before – in my opinion, every hotel should offer Internet for free to all its guests. By offering access for free to elite guests, Marriott gets one step closer to this, but this still leaves plenty of guests that will need to fork over some of their cash just to get online. It never ceases to amaze me how hotels tend to ignore this important perk.

Use Facebook to plan your next park vacation

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Municipalities are always feeling a financial squeeze, and the fallout from the financial crisis has only made an already grim norm even worse. It’s hard enough to get money for maintenance, let alone marketing. So, how can you get the info you need to plan your next park trip?

Try Facebook.

According to Inside Facebook, cities, counties and states are flocking to the social networking site to promote their parks to locals and prospective visitors from across the country and around the world. Most of the pages created, says Inside Facebook, focus on photos and Wall content, with few using notes and none really relying on Facebook’s discussion tools.

Most of the pages belonged to cities, though some states and counties were represented. Interestingly, larger destinations, such as New York City, Los Angeles County and Oregon haven’t experienced the level of success seen among smaller or less prominent locations. The little guy, it seems, already has a tight community feel that translates easily into a social media presence. Monterey, California’s page, for example, boasts 222 fans of a 61,000-person municipality. Meanwhile, Los Angeles County’s Department of Parks and Recreation Facebook page has only 55 fans. The county is home to 10 million people.Cost is among the reasons for the migration to Facebook. Using existing photos and content to populate a page brings no incremental cost to a medium that’s already free. Says Dan Costley, Monterey, California Park Recreation Superintendent: Literally we were told, ‘If you can borrow something from another department, cut back.’ You can look at something like Facebook and say, ‘Nobody is charging us for this.'” He continues, “So if it helps us save money and send the message to the right people, that’s always going to help us.”

Need some ideas? Check out these local park Facebook pages:

Click here to become a fan of Gadling on Facebook.

[Photo: Flickr | Buck Forester]

Use social media to plan your trip – International travel tip

by Gadling Staff on

Social media provides the easiest channel to prepare for a trip and gather information from friends — or from individuals you don’t even know. Let’s face it, people are willing to share their personal information.

On Facebook, update your status and ask friends for advice on places to see, food to eat, and more. Return the favor, and let everyone know how about your experience by posting updates via comments. Don’t forget to share pictures, too.

Another popular site, Twitter, can be used to perform keyword searches from the homepage. You won’t even need to build a network to find the most current information on any destination.

Hint: Be sure to follow Gadling for travel tips on Facebook and on Twitter.

Urban Dictionary’s 12 funniest travel entries

by Aaron Hotfelder on

We can’t guarantee that you’ll ever use (or hear) many of these travel terms from Urban Dictionary, but we can guarantee that this list is a lot funnier than the real dictionary’s 12 funniest travel entries. (Sample Merriam-Webster definition for tourist: “One that makes a tour for pleasure or culture.” See? It’s really missing a punch line.)

Anyway, here are some of our favorite travel-related entries from Urban Dictionary, the most useful of all websites besides the one you’re reading right now…

12. Travelanche n. When a considerable amount of bags and/or suitcases get packed into the back of a vehicle to the point that they are about to fall out.

11. Hotel n. 1. A place you never want to work; 2. A chill place to work if you can shake off the sh*t cranky bastards throw your way for easily remedied inconveniences.

10. Backpackistan n. The country that exists in the minds of twenty-something-year-old travellers throughout the entire world. Its citizens are identifiable by their dreadlocks, faux-tribal tattoos and strict, tiresome adherence to Bob Marley tunes. They eat falafel and juggle fire torches. Their economy is based around mooching, and the sale of Tibetan prayer flags and Che Guevarra marijuana pipes. Backpackistanis are united by a common language: broken English.

Example: “Even though I spent a year travelling through Paris, Madrid, Morocco, Bangkok, Bali, Sidney, Sao Paulo, Machu Picchu, Guatemala, and Southern Utah, I feel like the only country I really visited was Backpackistan.”

9. Road Trip n. When a bunch of kids get in a car (most likely a VW Bus, most likely with tons of drugs) and drive to an exotic destination (like Vegas or New Jersey). It happened more in the ’70s.

8. Travel ‘Stache n. A moustache grown and maintained for the sole purpose of a special vacation. This particular mustache is a head-turner in airports, train and bus stations, and cruise ships in particular. May be more noticeable to women, especially women with children ages 5-12.

7. Gap Year Tragedy n. A student who is enlightened by the insight afforded by global travel to the extent of cringeworthy personality renovation.

Example: “Man, I saw John after he got back after his 12 months in South America- bobble hat, dreadlocks and all.” “I heard it was Jean-Pierre these days. What a Gap Year Tragedy.”

6. Travel Wanker n. When someone has travelled overseas and, upon returning, can speak of nothing else. They are at their worst when in the company of fellow travel wankers. The conversation quickly deteriorates into an excruciating game of one-upmanship.

5. Hostel n. The place in Europe where your girlfriend stayed while on that college backpacking trip and slept with a bunch of European men who promised to call her and told her they’d come to America to visit her so they could get in her panties.

Example: “I don’t think you really wanna touch her. She stayed at a hostel this summer.”

4. Travel Nazi n. A person who transforms into a completely serious and un-fun mood when the time of travel has come. They always appear to be in haste as they are always 10 to 15 feet in front of the family. They must arrive 2 hours early to an airport gate and you may not leave your seat no matter how much you need to urinate or else “you might miss the flight.”

Example: “Where’d the Travel Nazi run to?” “He’s like 50 feet ahead, scouting out the quickest path to the gate so we can arrive before the flight leaves tomorrow.”

3. Tourist n. Stupid a**holes from outta town that take pictures of anything and everything and annoy the crap out of all the locals and will stand in the middle of the road, block traffic and almost get hit by a car to take a fu*king picture of a church. [Guilty!]

2. Laviator n. A person or people who take photos of themselves in the lavatories (restrooms) of airplanes. [This word was coined by our own Heather Poole.]

1. Passport Constipation n. When you have applied for a passport with the US Government 6 months ago and you are leaving tomorrow and still can’t squeeze out a passport for your spring break trip.

Example: “Hey Tracy, have you received your passport yet for our trip to Punta Cana on Friday?” “H*ll no, the US government has passport constipation! They can’t seem to squeeze out the passport I applied for 6 months ago!”

Virgin Mobile relaxes limits on prepaid broadband offering

by Scott Carmichael on

More Virgin news this afternoon, but this time it is from another of the Virgin brands – Virgin Mobile. Last year, we reviewed the Virgin Mobile Broadband2Go adapter, and as a quick reminder – this prepaid no-contract 3G service allows you to get online anywhere you are within the Sprint coverage area. Unlike most other products, the Broadband2Go service does not use contracts, and you are free to use the service whenever you want, by using a Virgin “TopUp card”.

Back when we reviewed the service, the most expensive plan cost $59.99, and came with a paltry 1GB of data transfers within 30 days. Virgin just loosened that limit, and now offers 5GB for the same price. This puts the Broadband2Go service on the same price point as “postpaid” or contract 3G services, making it a very interesting deal.

The adapter also dropped $50 – and now costs just $99.99. The adapter is available at your local Best Buy or directly from Virgin Mobile (with free shipping and no activation fees).

The US has long been lacking in the prepaid data marketplace, so it is refreshing to see a company finally introduce a decent prepaid data product. As we mentioned in the review, the speeds are great, coverage is fantastic, and the adapter itself performs very well.