Hotels on social media: we’re trying!

by Tom Johansmeyer on

For the properties using social media, the effort seems to be paying off. Guests are using tools like Facebook to score discounted rates all over the country. This shouldn’t exactly be shocking, but since the travel industry lags other businesses, there’s a sort of novelty to the impact of promoting in these emerging online environments.

What’s interesting is that the greatest benefit may not be the booking itself, or the attendant revenue. Rather, it’s the subsequent online chest-puffing involved in telling the world you scored a great deal. Why? It’s electron-based word-of-mouth, which sends people over to the property’s Facebook page creating the potential for more clicks, bookings and braggadocio … to kick the cycle off again.

Restless natives refused entry, opportunity to beat up English on home turf

by Andrew Evans on



After days of travel document bureaucracy and Homeland Security snafus, the 23-member Iroquois Nationals lacrosse team has still been refused boarding flights and denied entry into the United Kingdom based on the explanation that their yellow Iroquois Nation passports are not internationally recognized. Never mind that the Haudenosaunee Confederacy passports have been used to travel outside of the United States since 1977, never mind that her majesty Hilary Clinton issued her very special Secretary of State magic wand blessing over the team so that they could travel on their passports “just this once”, the British border agency still insists the team arrive in Manchester, England carrying either a United States or Canadian passport. (How shocking that of all people, it’s the British who would be sticklers for rules.)

But in all the media hubbub that’s followed, nobody’s pointing to the obvious: the Iroquois Nationals were scheduled to play the English team this very evening (July 15th), however as of this morning, they were forced to forfeit the game, granting all points to the English team, (not unlike much of history.) That the people who invented the game of lacrosse are being denied access to the world championships held in the same country that once tried to divide and conquer their people has more irony than some long-running British sitcom. When asked to explain exactly why the Iroquois lacrosse team (with travel passes issued by the American Secretary of State) was still denied entry to England, the British Embassy in Washington, DC referred to the following statement from the UK Border Agency:

“We would be pleased to welcome the Iroquois Nationals Lacrosse Team but like all those seeking entry into the UK, they must present a valid immigration document that we recognise as valid to enable us to complete our immigration and other checks . . . The [Iroquois] passport does not have security features you would expect from a modern international travel document. There are no encryption devices, no holograms, etc. They are paper and would be relatively easy to recreate.”

One would think that this whole fiasco might be resolved simply by the US State department issuing a list of cleared names to the UK government. In their recently released statement, the UK says they are in the process of further discussion with the US Authorities to resolve this situation.

The Iroquois Confederacy consists of over 125,000 people who live in the United States and Canada. Another fun fact: Haudenosaunee means “people of the long house.”

Natasha Bedingfield joins Hotel Indigo in “Locals Know Best” competition

by Melanie Nayer on

The Hotel Indigo chain is launching a national campaign with pop singer Natasha Bedingfield to entice travelers to reconnect with their hometowns.

From now through Aug. 15, Hotel Indigo is asking people who live near its 30 hotels in the USA to share their picks for the best places to visit in their hometown. The best answers win prizes, including the possibility of appearing in an ad with Hotel Indigo in People Magazine, and the chance to meet Bedingfield.

The “Locals Know Best” campaign was set up as a way to tell frequent travelers that they can rely on Indigo hotels to reflect the unique culture of that specific town. In an interview yesterday from Atlanta, Bedingfield said she jumped at the opportunity to team up with Indigo “because it’s all about the local people, which is something that really resonates with me.”

The contest officially launched at Hotel Indigo’s Midtown Atlanta hotel and featured a few songs from Bedingfield.

Want to join the competition? If you’re the unofficial tour guide of your city and know the best places in town, check out one of Hotel Indigo’s live auditions or enter online.

[via USA Today]

Las Vegas, off the beaten Strip

by Jeremy Kressmann on

The Las Vegas Neon Museum doesn’t announce itself with flashy lights; you have to find it in less obvious ways. Take a $20 dollar cab ride up to northern edge of Sin City, past the baking asphalt parking lots erupting with weeds and stout pawn shops eager with WE BUY GOLD placards, to the nondescript building the museum calls home. That’s when you’ll see it. Across the street, shimmering in the desert heat like a mirage: a gigantic, rusty-metal pool player. In one hand a cue, cocked, ready to fire, the player’s torso twisted in contrapposto like a billiard-playing colossus. Near this metallic giant lay dozens of gorgeously decorated neon signs – Stardust, Golden Nugget, Silver Slipper – artwork from a bygone era of Vegas history, out of sight and out of mind. Las Vegas is not a city that honors its past. Yet somehow fragments remain, ready to reveal their secrets to visitors who venture beyond the town’s glittering Strip.

Vegas is town forever stuck in the present; a city that appears to have neither a past nor a future: it simply is. It’s a fact borne out by the city’s relentless reinvention, renovation and recreation. On the famous “Strip,” outdated hotels are leveled to make way for the newest mega-resort. Even finding a clock inside a casino is a challenge. All of this suggests a town that ignores the passing of time in exchange for the pleasures of an ephemeral present. Except not all of the Old Vegas has disappeared; it’s simply been shoved to the margins. Venture ten minutes from ageless Las Vegas Boulevard and a different Vegas emerges; a destination of Atomic Era drinking dens, whimsical pinball parlors and a museum harboring a gallery of neon masterpieces.

If you’ve ever wondered what exists in Vegas beyond Roman Strip Malls and Eiffel Tower knock-offs, it’s time to dig beneath the surface. Let’s tour Las Vegas, off the beaten Strip. Keep reading below for more.A Neon Graveyard
If it’s possible for an Inert Gas to symbolize the magnificent highs and tumbling lows of Vegas history, then Neon is it. This strange element has been fueling the glowing signage of Las Vegas ever since mobster Bugsy Siegel dared to imagine this fantasy desert town as the world’s foremost gambling mecca. Though the casinos of Bugsy’s day long-ago met the wrecking ball, some of their signage lives on at the Neon Museum in northern Las Vegas.

For $15, visitors can explore “canyons” stacked with old Vegas neon signage, and imagine for a moment what once was: a place that hummed with a fiery visual energy, full of wildly exotic genie lamps, cocksure cowboys and colorful flamingos erupting like fireworks in the dark. It might not look like the Louvre or The Met, but this is one of the world’s great repositories of art, strokes of neon artistry left to rust and bake in the relentless desert sun.

Drinking in the Past
The Atomic Liquor Store is more than a bar: it’s a temple to long-lost Americana. Reportedly the “oldest bar” in Vegas, this drinking den got its name from the 1950’s nuclear tests that took place only 60 or so miles from its front door. Swanky Vegas cocktail lounge this is not. In addition to its location deep in the heart of seedy Fremont Street, visitors will need to be buzzed in the locked front doors.

But fear not, this historical oddity is worth the trip. From the minute you catch a glimpse of the sturdy decades-old neon sign out front, greeting you like an old friend, to the inflation-proof $1 cans of Busch Beer and molding pool tables, you’ll feel as though you’ve traveled back in time. The bar’s ramshackle decor, killer jukebox stocked with plenty of Springsteen and Mellencamp and a rotating cast of local Sin City characters is guaranteed to provide a memorable night out.

Playing for Keeps
Games are the de facto language of gambling. In Las Vegas, wherever you move you’re sure to encounter these games, the constant gaze of a slot machine or the hypnotic spinning eye of a roulette wheel beckoning you to try your luck. But a very different type of game competes for your attention at the Las Vegas Pinball Hall of Fame. Except instead of one-armed bandits you’ll find 10,000 square feet of vintage pinball and arcade games from the 1950’s, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and 90’s, waiting for you to give them a play.

Whether you’re a fan of Captain Fantastic or Guns ‘n Roses, Waterworld or Pac-man, there’s a childhood memory begging you to relive the past. Drop in a quarter, and a real-life time machine springs back to life. Bells clink. 8-bit explosions foam in your eardrums. A flickering orange glow of enjoyment fills your view. But too soon, your pinball disappears from view and the machine again falls silent; a teasing vision of a Vegas that once was, but is no more.

Europe’s relaxed attitude toward nudity makes American travelers uncomfortable

by Laurel Miller on

While the image of a naked Rick Steves getting a rubdown in a Turkish bathhouse might be a bit TMI for many of us, the seasoned traveler, guidebook author, and travel show host makes some excellent points in a recent CNN article on Europe’s cultural tolerance for nudity.

According to Steves, who starts the piece with a flashback from a 1978 trip, “if you can leave your inhibitions at home, you can better appreciate some of the amazing experiences Europe has to offer.” Like, perhaps, ogling soapy boobies on a Belgian billboard, or admiring “sunbathing grandmothers [with] no tan lines,” in southern France. Or visiting museums.

Actually, Steves himself admits to being “uncomfortable” when confronted with all the nekkidness Europe has to offer, but he’s quick to point out that the trend is often rooted in a historical, sociological context. Turkish baths, for instance, were partly designed as a gathering place, where Muslim women could socialize, celebrate the birth of a child, or search for a suitable bride for their sons (and you think your mother-in-law is bad). And, he adds, he likes “a continent where the human body is considered a divine work of art worth admiring openly.” Cheers to that.

[Via Tribune Media Services]
[Photo credit: Flickr uses historic.brussels]