LivingSocial launches “room service” in the Washington, DC market

by McLean Robbins on

This week, deal megalith LivingSocial announced their newest food service offering, dubbed “room service” in its hometown market of Washington, DC.

It marks the first time LivingSocial has offered a non discounted product to users, but also greatly expands their market. How does this fit into travel, you ask? It’s simple – restaurants in LivingSocial areas are now offering delivery, which makes “ordering in” to your hotel room easier than ever – and eliminates those ridiculous room service taxes and charges. The options are limited so far, as the service is very much in beta, but we can see this being an easy option for restaurants that are already offering delivery and a popular service among LivingSocial’s consumer base. Of course, restaurants that want to apply a “deal” to their delivery certainly can, and so we’ll likely see great discounts in the future.

Even more interesting is their new “Room Service” option, which pairs LivingSocial with fine dining restaurants to offer a true gourmet service in the privacy of your apartment, home or living room.

According to Living Social: “Along with an elegantly plated meal on ceramic dishware, we’ll provide you with everything you need, from a cloth napkin to candles. As for those dirty dishes? We’ll take care of those, too. Just place them in a LivingSocial Room Service container, leave them outside your door the next day, and we’ll pick them up.”

Sounds simple enough to us. The restaurants partnering with the site in its beta test will offer pre-set menus and will likely be around the cost of a menu for two plus tip. Delivery, the fine print says, is only available on Thursday or Friday nights and within a two-mile radius of the restaurant.

If the first restaurant to pilot the program in DC, Kushi, is any indication, the restaurants will be of a rather high quality – this is by far one of our favorite sushi spots in the city. The menu offerings look more like a high-end tasting menu than a standard dinner, and the price, $66 per person with tax, tip and delivery, sounds quite reasonable for the amount of food and quality offered. We only wish they delivered wine and cocktails too!

It’s too early to tell what implications, if any, this will have on actual room service at hotels, but we can surely say that we’ll be testing the offering at our home in Arlington, Virginia (just outside the DC line) sometime very, very soon
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Forbes Travel Guide launches Startle.com in conjunction with 2012 award winners

by McLean Robbins on

Today, Forbes Travel Guide (formerly the Mobil Travel Guide) announced their 2012 world winners of their four- and five-star hotel properties and also the launch of Startle.com, their new “curated” site for luxury properties worldwide.

The site launched with content for 72 US and five international markets, according to TechCrunch, and includes content from the Forbes reviews as well as specialized content from influential “Tastemakers” like Ivanka Trump and chef Eric Ripert alike.

The site is set up in a Q&A style where travelers can find answers to questions like “What are the rooms like at X hotel,” or “What are the bathrooms like in the suites” and get detailed responses about specific properties. City-specific guide information is also available. So far, the site seems most similar to a review platform like Oyster, but geared towards luxury properties already on the Forbes list.

A select deals component called “Startle Me” is also available, which looks like it takes aim at sites like Jetsetter.com, offering discounted package offerings at places like Nemacolin Woodlands Resort and The Mayflower Inn and Spa.

We’re excited to see how the site evolves – at present, more than 350 establishments on the Forbes Travel Guide list are accounted for. For those who are already fans of luxury travel and wish to visit spots on the Forbes list, this site will prove exceptionally useful. For those who want to explore additional destinations are are looking for more unique properties offering an experience that is still upscale but perhaps not “four star” by Forbes’ standards, the site may not prove as interesting.

In the interest of full disclosure, this writer has previously worked as a freelancer with Forbes Travel Guide.

Americans leave an average of 11 vacation days on the table each year

by McLean Robbins on

We’ve spent the past two weekends trying to plan a last-minute pre-holiday getaway and keep coming to the same conclusion … it’s just too busy at the office to take time off right now. Turns out, we’re not alone – a recent Harris Interactive study conducted on behalf of JetBlue Airways found that 57% of working Americans will have unused vacation time at the end of the year, and most of them will leave an average of 11 days on the table – or nearly 70% of their allotted time off.

The survey also showed that while more than 60% of those with vacation days believe they deserve to take their time off, 39% report having reservations about asking their boss for a vacation.

It’s difficult, as numerous studies show that employees who don’t use vacation time have lower levels of productivity and satisfaction with their job, as well as higher rates of health problems.

To assist, JetBlue launched a “Getaways Granter,” a new custom Facebook application that serenades bosses with a custom video request for vacation approval.

“We were surprised to learn that almost a third of American workers feel guilty, nervous or stressed when asking for a day off of work,” said Grant McCarthy, director of JetBlue Getaways. “Whether outdoor wrangling, island hopping, or romantic retreating, JetBlue Getaways wants to help people make the most out of their unused vacation days. We believe people deserve their vacations, so much so that we will go out and ask their boss for them.”

With the new Getaways Granter, JetBlue will take the edge off of requesting vacation days by allowing fans to plug in their desired number of days off before choosing from four destination themes to suit their getaway needs. They can even upload a photo of their supervisor to be featured in the video, crooning bosses everywhere into letting employees take their much-needed getaway.

Hmm. We’re pretty sure that our boss would prefer a politely-worded email. The program, while creative and an interesting way to use social media to get the world out about Jet Blue, seems like a gimmicky promotion that won’t go over well in the workplace. Still, we hope you remember to take advantage of your vacation time.

New travel alert tool helps passengers get the seats they want, even on sold out flights

by Jessica Festa on

Expertflyer, a company that gives travelers information so that they can get the best possible airline tickets, is offering a free feature to travelers who want to change their seat or who are trying to get onto a sold out flight. To take advantage of the tool, called “Seat Alerts”, travelers create a free account on the ExpertFlyer website where they can setup an alert to be notified when the seat they want becomes available. This can be helpful for passengers who find themselves stuck with a ticket for the dreaded “middle seat” or who are having trouble getting onto a sold out flight.

Usually, airlines require flyers to have a ticket and will only change a passenger’s seat to another “unoccupied” seat. Travelers also usually have to wait until boarding time to find out if the seat they want becomes available. With “Seat Alerts”, travelers no longer have to wait and can switch their seat online once they receive a notification via text or e-mail.

The free feature allows travelers to maintain one active Seat Alert at a time. Additional alerts can be purchased for $0.99, and ExpertFlyer paid subscribers will be able to post several alerts at one time.

For more information, click here.

Super Mario flashmob takes over the Chicago, Illinois, Magnificent Mile

by Jessica Festa on

On Wednesday, more than 90 costumed Super Marios took over the streets of the Chicago, Illinois, Magnificent Mile. Around lunchtime, the flash mob broke out into dance in front of the John Hanock Center in an effort to promote Ninetendo’s new video game, Super Mario 3D Land.

As you can see in the video, one man really enjoyed Nintendo’s marketing efforts (although he had some trouble getting the moves down). The mobsters in the video are part of “Attack!”, a company that organizes promotional flash mobs around the country.

Check it out for yourself:

View more videos at: http://nbcchicago.com.