Stay at The Blackstone and explore Chicago by bike

by Katie Hammel on

We’ve been talking a lot about green travel this month. Well, here’s one more way you can do your part to reduce the impact your travels have on the environment. Book a room at The Blackstone in Chicago through October 31, and you’ll be given two Strida bikes to use for the duration of your stay.

“Bike Chicago” package prices range from $199 to $269 per night and include overnight accommodations for two, a city map and the use of two bikes. Strida bikes are the world’s lightest collapsible bikes, so you can easily pedal around town and then fold up the bike and carry it with you on the bus or El if you need to travel farther than you’re willing to pedal. And because biking all over Chicago can take a lot out of you, The Blackstone will also provide you with some tasty fuel – a picnic lunch for two from Mercat al la Planxa, a Catalan cuisine restaurant inside the hotel.

The Blackstone is a Marriott property located on Michigan Avenue, near Grant Park. While it’s not the cheapest accommodation you’ll find in the city, the hotel’s restored luxury (it was originally built in in 1910), excellent service, and ideal location make it well worth the price. For the date I checked, the bike package was only $40 more than the basic rate, an amount you could easily spend on cabs over the course of a weekend. So overall, I ‘d say this is a pretty good deal. See Chicago, save some money, and do a little to help save the planet at the same time.

Help save the sea lions when you stay at Portofino Hotel and Yacht Club

by Katie Hammel on

Warm waters caused by El Nino currents may be responsible for the record number of sea lions that have shown up weak and hungry along the California coast this year. In Sausalito, the Marine Mammal Center says it has rescued a record number of exhausted and malnourished sea lions, who can’t find enough food to survive because the squid and anchovies they normally eat have headed out into colder waters. While the center normally helps around 600 sea lions, so far they’ve rescued over 1000 in the last 7 months. In southern California, the Marine Mammal Care Center in San Pedro has taken in 365 sea lions since January.

Want to help? You can book the “Save the Sea Lions” package at the Portofino Hotel and Yacht Club in Redondo Beach. For $299 per night (plus tax), you’ll get an ocean-view room, a sea lion stuffed animal, a disposable camera, and a two-hour paddle-boat rental so you can get up close to the sea lions in the water. 10% of the proceeds from each package sold will go to the Marine Mammal Care Center to help them rescue and care for the sea lions. You can also visit the Center to learn more about their efforts firsthand. They don’t charge admission but do accept donations.

[via Los Angeles Times]

Americans prefer independence (when traveling)

by Tom Johansmeyer on

The United States is the largest leisure travel market in the world – by far. The closest point of reference is the entire European Union. We’re three times larger than our closest competitor, the United Kingdom. Yet, despite our size, we just don’t spend as much money on packaged travel. In fact, the folks in the UK spend 50 percent more on it than we do.

Over here, the travel business accounts for $271 billion a year, according to travel industry research firm PhoCusWright, and only 7 percent of that ($18 billion) is spent on travel packages. Meanwhile, the UK has an $84 billion-a-year travel industry – not even a third of ours – and they spend $30 billion a year on packages (35 percent of the local market).

What’s the deal?

There are plenty of reasons bandied about. Europeans tend to take longer vacations, with 10 to 14 days not unusual (especially for the residents of northern European countries), and they tend to take more time off than the workaholics in the United States. They go more and longer, which translates to increased spending.

But, this doesn’t explain the affinity for packages. What makes Americans different?

Well, independence is a major factor. Americans usually prefer to set their own agendas, deciding what they want to see and do, taking on the task of research (and coming to places like Gadling – thanks, by the way, we all appreciate it) and putting together the pieces on their own.

Maybe we’re getting lazier or trying to seem like sophisticated Europeans, but the packaged travel market is growing on this side of the Atlantic, even rapidly. Of course, you need to compare it to starting point to understand how this can happen. In 1999, the packaged travel market was effectively nonexistent. Some large, enterprising online travel agencies, however, created a market from nothing, and turned it into an $8 billion space by the end of last year. This “new” offer has grown at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 50 percent during this time, while tour operators have seen aggregate revenues decline at a compound annual rate of 5 percent.

So, we’re still not heavy package buyers in the United States, but taking the easy way out is becoming more and more attractive.

Insider’s look: why does defining “package” matter?

by Tom Johansmeyer on

For the average traveler, definitions don’t matter much. You figure out the type of trip you want to take, whip out your credit card and do the deed. It’s really pretty damned simple. But, for every purchase you make, there are countless eyes watching. Nothing nefarious is going on; it’s all actually quite innocent. When you think about how many people rely on your willingness to open your credit card – and how the travel market as a whole is being beat to hell this year – it makes perfect sense that the industry will watch, analyze and try to find new and interesting ways to get you to lay out some cash for travel.

For the business, definitions are incredibly important. When they look at where the money is going, how a particular trip is defined allows these insiders to communicate, develop strategies and invest in different excursions. If one guy says, “Packages are hot,” and another doesn’t define packages the same way, limited resources will be wasted. When money is pissed away, there isn’t as much available for discounts and other promotions. So, nailing down the lingo actually helps you in the end.

What’s at stake in all this? Well, according to travel industry research firm PhoCusWright, just over $18 billion. Yeah, it’s in bold for a reason. This is a hefty chunk of the total U.S. travel market, but it’s also among the most difficult to understand. There are nuances that mess with the vocabulary. I spent some time as a strategy analyst covering this industry, and sorting out the details is an absolute nightmare.

So, if you’re at all interested in the business of travel, take a look after the jump at the different flavors of “package.” I know there have to be a couple of geeks like me out there who find this stuff fascinating.

Okay, you made it past the jump! You’re one of the devoted. So, let’s get into the weeds. PhoCusWright has a solid definition of package: “a travel reservation containing at least two of the three major travel components (flight, accommodation, car rental) where there was a single booking and payment transaction.”

This isn’t exactly brain surgery, until you think about the different ways that you can pull this formula together. There may be other components, including transfers, day tours, activities, meals and travel insurance. Is an all-inclusive a package? According to this definition, it is. But, you’re really just booking the resort, rather than using a service to pull together the different parts from several vendors. It can get muddy fast.

A package (or, “vacation package”) may include: flight, accommodation, rental car or transfer, day tours or activities, meals and travel insurance.

A charter, on the other hand, is “a flight where the tour operator takes risk on the inventory (or owns the plane) and, usually, sells the seats as part of a package.”

This, of course, differs from “escorted tours,” which “usually include more travel components and have fixed departure dates.”

If you’re looking for a definition of “FIT,” go for the most recent. It used to translate to “foreign independent travel,” which consisted of “leisure trips abroad without an escort or fixed package structure.” This has changed, however, and now refers to “flexible independent travel.” The parts may look like a package, but the itinerary is built specifically for the traveler.

And then, there’s group travel. This consists of both packages and FITs for groups of leisure travelers, with “group” starting at nine people. But, it can vary.

Got a handle on all this? Let’s make it worse.

There are also a number of package providers. “Total vacation packagers” (TVP) is used for all tour operators – but not the online packaging conducted by the major online bookers (like Orbitz). A tour operator provides all kinds of packaged travel, with “escorted operators” a subset that focuses on specialty programs that can become pretty complicated. Online packagers aggregate and sell (duh) online, and wholesalers bundle and resell different products as packages, even if there’s no common theme.

Click here if you’re in the biz and would benefit from buying the full report.

Venice is totally flooded. How about a cheap hotel and some boots?

by Jeremy Kressmann on

You kind of expect a visit to Venice will include some water. This uniquely Italian city, first settled by the Romans along a chain of islands on the Adriatic Sea, has always been inextricably tied to its watery origins. The city rose to prominence due to its wealthy seafaring merchants, and most iconic images of the town inevitably include a canal vista complete with gondolier, happily serenading lovestruck passengers.

Unfortunately, water-loving Venice is for once longing for some much needed dryness. The liquid-loving capital has been plagued for the past two weeks by unusually high tides, leaving many parts of the city like the famous Piazza San Marco submerged under as much as three feet of filthy water. Though the floods are beginning to recede, the municipality of Venice has been coping by erecting tall wooden platforms along heavily trafficked paths and many businesses and cafes are closed or have limited hours.

The city’s floods don’t seem to have dampened the spirits of its hotel owners, however. Ever the entrepreneurs, visitor packages have recently been announced offering special “flood discounts” as well as a free pair of rubber boots for tramping around in the muck. How’s that for hospitality? Room service and a pair of waders.

It’s an ingenious, albeit curious, solution to keep the city’s tourist lifeblood flowing during an obviously difficult time. Flooding is a fact of life in Venice – but the current waters warn of far-more grave issues for this historically aquatic metropolis. As the forces of global warming exacerbate the damage of rising water and cause further harm to the city’s businesses and architecture, Venice is facing some hard choices about the city’s sustainability and its tourist future.