Travel Industry Archive

Hostels now more like boutique hotels — The term “youth hostel” maybe not be correct anymore, since most now seem like boutique hotels catering to families wanting low-cost, informal-style lodgings. And the demand keeps growing, a spokesman for the Western Canada for Hostelling International reported. One of the new hostels includes the Painted Turtle Guesthouse, a 20-room...

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It looks like Glenn Tilton has finally started to publicly declare his succession plan for United Airlines, and John Tague unsurprisingly tops the list. He was named president of the airline last week. What does this mean for the way things are going at the airline? Not much right now. My guess is that this simply solidifies what has been going on at the airline anyway, but now it’s...

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There’s been several news reports about a secret government do-not-travel list where employees are prohibited from conventions or other meetings. On that alleged list are cities like Orlando, Fla., Las Vegas and Reno, according to the Wall Street Journal. Instead, federal agencies are being told to hang out in more sober cities like Portland, Ore. or Fort Collins, Colo. (Snooze!) It all...

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So we’ve been talking a lot about how the recession is affecting the hotel industry here in the United States because, well, that’s where we are. But how are hotels doing in other parts of the world? According to Trivago, a hotel price comparison Web site that publishes a monthly hotel price index, the European hotel business is struggling, too. Madrid and Barcelona, Spain, have...

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If you’re looking for some good news this quarter among all the gloom and doom, look no further than the blue crew. JetBlue posted its Q2 results and they were very good. The airline may have had a rough period in the past couple of years, but things are looking very strong right now. In the second quarter, JetBlue posted net income of $14 million excluding special items. That was more...

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I wrote about this story in my Roundup, but it deserves a takeout simply because it’s going to be a trend in the coming year. Boston’s mayor wants to hike both hotel and restaurant taxes (called meal taxes) to help with the city’s loss of revenue. It’s a move that has been growing in many cities across the country. The proposal will go before the city council next week....

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Allegiant released second quarter numbers this week, and they were far better than last year’s. The airline made $37.8 million (25.5 percent margin) vs $4.7 million (3.6 percent margin) in Q2 of 2008. It’s not the bottom line, however, that’s so interesting but rather how they got there. Were it not for the tanking of fuel prices, Allegiant would have had much different...

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Boston wants higher hotel and restaurant taxes — Boston’s Mayor Thomas M. Menino wants to tax hotels and restaurants more to raise revenue for his cash-strapped city. Menino is proposing a 2 percent rise in hotel tax, to a total of 14.45 percent in state and city taxes, and raising the meal tax another .75 percent, to 7 percent. The new taxes would go into effect Oct. 1 if...

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Yesterday, four airlines reported results, and only one of them reported a loss. Shocking, considering how much gloom and doom has been out there, right? Well, don’t get too excited. Nobody is really happy right now. Allegiant reported a strong profit, of course, but I’ll touch on that one in a later post. So, let’s start with Southwest. They actually did squeak out a...

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The luxury hotel where the term “AIG Effect” was coined (due to AIG having a lavish corporate retreat after receiving government bailout money) was taken over by Citigroup Inc. Monday. The resort was in default for a $70 million loan. With occupancy of only about 15 percent this summer, it was impossible to repay the loan and the 400-room hotel sank deeper in debt. However, owner...

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