Eat out for Haiti: Participating restaurants give 10% to Haiti relief

by Melanie Nayer on

It doesn’t take much to donate. In an effort to help Haiti, we’ve reported the travel companies offering ways to donate miles and points to the Red Cross, and we’ve listed the phone numbers for you to call or text your pledge. Now there’s news of an entirely other type of hospitality getting into the donating spirit, and it’ll be hard for anyone to not contribute.

This Sunday, January 24th, restaurants in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and Las Vegas will be raising funds to aid Haitian relief efforts with Dining Out For Haiti. All you have to do is show up, order a meal and pay your bill, and up to 10 percent of the restaurants sales that day will go to Doctors Without Borders, Partners in Health, and Action Against Hunger.

Among the restaurants participating are the Gramercy Tavern and Tribeca Grill in NYC, Mario Batali’s Carnevino in Vegas, and Pizzeria Mozza in LA. A list of participating restaurants can be found here.

Stay at a Sage hotel, donate to Haiti relief

by Katie Hammel on

There are countless ways you can donate money and supplies to help the victims of the Haiti earthquake. Here’s one more way you can help, just by going about your travels. Stay at a Sage Hospitality Group hotel, now through the end of January, and the company will give $10 per room, per night to the Red Cross.

54 Sage hotels throughout the US are participating in the promotion. Guests do need to book the special “Help Haiti” rate, which has limited availability, in order to make the donation.

The Sage group is offering a few other promotions that benefit victims of the disaster. Coco Key Water Resorts, a division of the hotel group, will offer 1% of all food and beverage purchases to the Red Cross, and will offer a $5 pass on January 26, with all proceeds going to the Red Cross.

Sage has a history of offering great rates and promotions to help others. In the past, they’ve offered free nights to volunteers, service-people, and teachers.

Cruises confounded about Haiti – to dock or not to dock?

by Annie Scott on


Private beaches in Haiti like the one in Labadee, above, have long been a stop for cruise lines like Royal Caribbean. In the aftermath of a devastating earthquake, should they stay away?

According to The Guardian, Royal Caribbean “leases a picturesque wooded peninsula and its five pristine beaches from the government for passengers to ‘cut loose’ with watersports, barbecues, and shopping for trinkets at a craft market before returning on board before dusk.” A ship like the one above docked in Haiti on Friday, just sixty miles from the earthquake zone. Another is reportedly scheduled to arrive in a few days.

Some passengers are “sickened” by the thought of vacationing on the ravaged island and refuse to leave the ship, despite the fact that the RC is bringing food (to be distributed by Food for the Poor) and donating all proceeds from the visit to Haitian relief efforts.

A statement from John Weis, vice-president of Royal Caribbean says “In the end, Labadee is critical to Haiti’s recovery; hundreds of people rely on Labadee for their livelihood.” … “We also have tremendous opportunities to use our ships as transport vessels for relief supplies and personnel to Haiti. Simply put, we cannot abandon Haiti now that they need us most.”

Royal Caribbean employs 230 Haitians and has pledged $1 million to help earthquake victims. So. Could you enjoy a luxury picnic an hour away from where 50,000 – 200,000 were recently killed in a natural disaster and thousands remain homeless and starving?

[via The Guardian]

Donate and earn miles when you give to Haiti relief

by Grant Martin on

Donating to the earthquake relief effort in Haiti should be a no-brainer, but for those who haven’t given or who would like to give more, the travel industry is offering a few additional mechanisms, some with incentives.

As of Tuesday morning, here’s a comprehensive list of how you can donate your miles via assorted airline or hotel websites.

  • American Airlines will give you 250 miles if you donate $50 to the American Red Cross or 500 miles for $100.
  • Continental OnePass members can donate to the American Red Cross directly, and CEO Jeff Smisek is reported to be matching coworker donations up to $50,000
  • Similar programs are in place at Delta and United.
  • Spirit Airlines, which flies daily flights to Haiti, is returning 5,000 miles to anyone who donates at least $5 to their charities.
  • JetBlue and Southwest won’t let you donate miles, but they do have donation links to the relief effort on their main pages.
  • In addition to matching the donations of their employees, US Airways allows Dividend Members to donate their miles.
  • Hyatt Gold Passport members can donate increments of 5,000 points by calling 1-800-228-3360, Hilton members can convert 10,000 points to a $25 donation at their site and Priority Club and Choice members can also chip in.
  • Starwood hotels are matching all donations, where 4,000 points will equal $50.
  • In addition to the $500,000 that Bill Marriott gave to the relief effort (classy!), you can donate your Marriott points here.

Did we miss anything? Drop off links in the comments below and we’ll update the post.

Gadlinks for Thursday, 1.14.2010

by Katie Hammel on

It’s almost Friday! Here’s a few more travel tidbits from around the net to help you soldier on until the weekend.

More Gadlinks here