Loews Regency Hotel teams up with NY Yankees to offer hotel packages

by Melanie Nayer on

Who needs Yanks tickets? If you didn’t get your pick this season, Loews Regency has a deal for you. The Loews Regency Hotel on Park Avenue has two new “Pinstripes on Park” offers perfect for Yankee fans wanting to see their champions at Yankee Stadium this season.

The hotel’s line up of packages range from $489 for the “Home Base” package (includes luxury accommodations and main level tickets) to $1,665 for the deluxe “Suite Steal”, which includes field level seats and luxury accommodations in a one bedroom suite.

Pinstripes on Park — Home Base $489

  • Accommodations for two in a Luxury King room
  • Beer and pretzel welcome amenity
  • Two “Light Green” Main level tickets at Yankee stadium
  • $10 Metrocard and directions to and from Yankee Stadium via NYC Transit

Pinstripes on Park – Suite Steal $1,665

  • Accommodations for two in a luxury One Bedroom Suite
  • Beer and pretzel welcome amenity
  • Full American Breakfast for two in 540 Park or from Room Service
  • Two “Red” Field Level tickets to Yankee Stadium
  • Luxury sedan to and from Yankee Stadium from Capricorn

Packages are available from July 1 – Sept. 23, 2010, and must be booked a minimum of 14 days prior to the selected game.

Hard Rock Hotel Chicago goes to the dogs

by Melanie Nayer on

You want to see the Windy City but you don’t want to leave behind your furry friend. No worry – the Hard Rock Hotel Chicago is going to the dogs, literally, with their new “Party like a Rottweiler” pet package that allows visitors to the hotel to bring along their best friends (of any size!) without worry.

Why they chose a Rottweiler we don’t know, but it does add a certain edge to the fun. The hotel is offering the following to four-legged guests:

  • Travel-ready collapsible bowl
  • Natural, grain-free treats and meals from Companion Natural Pet Food
  • Doggy “clean up” bags and dispenser
  • Hard Bark Hotel guitar dog toy
  • Signature Hard Rock Hotel Chicago dog tag

Also, guests staying at Hard Rock Hotel Chicago are permitted to leave their pet in their room, as long as a cell phone number is provided to the hotel’s concierge. Concerned that your precious pup is wreaking havoc in the hotel? No worries if you’re an iPhone or SmartPhone user – borrow Hard Rock’s ‘Pet-Cam’ (free of charge) and keep an eye on your pet while you are out. This camera keeps an eye on your room, and allows guests to access the video feed from anywhere on their laptop or handheld device.

In addition to the above perks, dog-walking, dog sitting and doggie day-care services are also available.

Airline passenger stupidity ends with indictment, not bang

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Would you like to be featured on Gadling? It’s not as hard as you think. It just takes a little bit of planning … with a healthy dose of stupidity. In fact, you can get your 15 minutes of fame the way Derek Stansberry did. Here are four steps to take to turn your bad decision into one that everyone will judge you for.

  1. Book a trans-Atlantic flight, maybe to Paris
  2. Slip a note to a flight attendant explaining that you have a fake passport
  3. For good measure, let federal air marshals know that you have brought dynamite with you
  4. Wait for the federal grand jury to indict you

It worked for Stansberry. The Riverview, Florida, resident took care of steps 2 and 3 on April 27, 2010. Now that he’s been indicted (step 4) on charges of interfering with flight crew members and giving false information and making threats, he’s scheduled to be arraigned on July 28, 2010 in Bangor, Maine. Why Bangor? That’s where the Atlanta-to-Paris flight was forced to land as a result of Stansberry’s shenanigans.

Currently, the 27-year-old is free on $20,000 bail … and he’s famous for the moment.

[photo by Aaron & Alli via Flickr]

Distracted driving rules drive you to distraction

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Road trips are a staple of summer travel. You load up the car, cram in the kids and put the pedal to the metal. Well, it’s not that simple any more. The rules with which you have to contend vary from state to state, especially when it comes to distracted driving (also “known as get off your cell phone while driving”). Can you go hands free? Should you just shut up and drive? It depends on the state.

We’ve become more reliant on our cell phones, and not just for talking. Travel apps abound, and iPhones, BlackBerry devices and Androids laden with them help us communicate with each other to get local color, find hotels and cheap gas and even get from Point A to Point B without getting lost. All these tools that make travel easier could make driving safely harder, as you desperately need to monitor the Twitter public timeline while blowing down the highway at an absurd rate of speed.

Well, it turns out that keeping track of distracted driving rules from state to state, particularly if you’re on a long road trip, can lead you into distracted driving. Simply put: trying to obey the law can cause you to break it.Distracted driving laws, according to MSNBC, are far from uniform:

So far, 30 states – and some local jurisdictions, including Chicago and Phoenix – now have laws that address using cell phones or sending text messages while driving. Fines range from $20 to $150 for the first offense.

Unfortunately, the laws aren’t uniform. One state may ban handheld phone use in cars while another may allow it. Texting while driving is banned in dozens of states, but will result in a ticket in others only if you get into an accident.

Just keeping track of distracted driving laws can distract the heck out of you. So, you may want to print them out, MSNBC suggests, particularly since these laws aren’t always posted at state borders. A better idea, I think, is to e-mail or text them to yourself … which only works in states where you can use your cell phone while driving. D’oh!

Even better? Bring a copilot.

[photo by Lord Jim via Flickr]

Everybody wants to work for Delta

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Anyone who wants to work in the airline business, take note: Delta is hiring. The largest airline in the world is getting ready to add 1,000 positions around the world. In particular, look for openings at its 25 largest airports in the United States. Sounds good, right? Brace yourself, though. The airline expects more than 65,000 applications to come in for these positions. To give you a bit perspective on this, 81,000 people work for Delta already. So, the company will probably receive applications from a group equivalent to 75 percent of its employee population.

Delta’s looking to add bodies because of “near-record percentages of seats filled,” according to Bloomberg, but this does reflect a decline in routes in order to manage vacant seats and pump up revenue per available seat-mile.

While Delta’s 1,000 positions are helping a beleaguered airline industry, it’s still a drop in the bucket – as evidenced by the expected 65,000 applications. The total airline workforce shed 18,756 jobs from May 2009 to May 2010.