New Mexico hotel pool closed after 2 guests contract Legionnaire’s disease

by Melanie Nayer on

Our friends at USA Today are reporting the Best Western hotel in downtown Socorro, N.M., had to close its pool after health authorities found two people who stayed there contracted Legionnaire’s disease.

While the New Mexico health department continues to investigate whether or not the pool is the source of the problem, it’s important to point out a few things about Legionnaires:

While the cases are rare, they are severe. Legionnaire’s disease is an acute respiratory infection usually contracted from infected water that is breathed in or ingested.

Back in December, the Kimpton’s EPIC hotel in Miami was shut down when the local health department suspected the same type of problem in the hotel’s drinking water. In that case, one of the guests with Legionnaire’s disease had died but in the end, the hotel was given the all-clear by health officials and it was determined that the hotel was not the carrier of Legionnaires.

Meanwhile in New Mexico, the Best Western remains open while its pool and spa areas go through a cleaning process, including a thorough inspection of the hotel’s water system.

[via USA Today]

Best Western announces new hotel points matching program

by Melanie Nayer on

If you have hotel points from other hotels, Best Western will match them. Of course, there’s a catch: you have to be a member of the Best Western Rewards loyalty program and have elite status with another hotel group.

Best Western’s new “Status Match, No Catch” program rewards members of its free loyalty points program with matching elite status of any other hotel loyalty program-free of charge.

Here’s how it works:

Starting now, new and existing Best Western Rewards members can upgrade their Rewards status by contacting Best Western and providing proof of elite status with another hotel loyalty program. Best Western Rewards points will be earned at the equivalent elite status immediately.

According to the hotel’s website, members of the elite status loyalty program with Best Western enjoy:

  • Gold Elite (awarded after 10 qualified nights in one calendar year), which earns a 10 percent Rewards bonus
  • Platinum Elite (awarded after 15 qualified nights in one calendar year), which earns a 15 percent Rewards bonus
  • Diamond Elite (awarded after 30 qualified nights in one calendar year), which earns a 30 percent Rewards bonus.

Time to start digging through your old accounts for those extra hotel points.

Creative ways to work the system for cheap travel

by Alison Brick on

Call it cheap. Call it resourceful. But when you’ve got travel on the brain and you’re on a budget, you gotta do whatcha gotta do.

A post on MSNBC.com embraces the cheap with ingenuity. They’ve pulled together a list of ideas for shaving a few dollars off of some of those travel necessities. Some are a little questionable, others are tried-and-true favorites, but they all do the trick. Try them for yourself:

  • Access free wi-fi from hotel parking lots. (“As long as you don’t camp out for too long, you’ll rarely get hassled.”) Holiday Inns and Best Westerns come highly recommended.
  • Ask for the flagpole/boiler/ice machine room (the one that nobody wants because it’s too noisy)
  • Earn a free Whopper at Burger King after answering the phone survey found on receipts
  • Ask the parents to come along so you can use the senior discount
  • Grab food from the complimentary breakfast and save it for a snack or lunch
  • Snatch pre-read magazines from seat-backs on the way off the plane
  • Buy food souvenirs from local grocery stores instead of tourist shops
  • Make your own oatmeal, with the help of the in-room coffee maker
  • Take advantage of membership discounts through Costco, AAA, and AMEX

What about you? What are your own unusual tips for saving money?