Monthly Archives

Monthly Archives for July 2005.

A pillow to rest on

by Gary Leff

westin
Jul 24 2005

Probably the best marketing bang for the buck in hotel history was Westin’s introduction of the Heavenly Bed. Travelers came to trust the brand to provide them with a good night’s sleep. A more recent trend in hotels is paying attention not just to the best but to the pillow in particular. The trend started at the Benjamin hotel in New York and has spread, there’s now a recognition that people sleep differently and different types of pillows can enhance or detract from a night’s sleep. The New York Times piece on the subject could have been made really useful with an added discussion on what pillows best match which sleep habits, a subject about which I know little. I understand the entire bed effect, and while I like the Westin Heavenly Bed I find…

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No outside food or drink

by Gary Leff

british midland international
Jul 24 2005

bmi has introduced its buy-on-board menu and it contains this frustrating statement: Only food and drinks purchased from the cabin crew may be consumed on board. I’m not sure how or whether this will be enforced, but it’s a striking policy. US domestic carriers offering buy-on-board haven’t adopted similar policies… yet.

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Dishonesty at GlobalPass

by Gary Leff

inside flyer interview
Jul 24 2005

InsideFlyer interviews the President of GlobalPass who tries to explain the gutting of their program. The most offensive piece has been taking existing mileage holders and requiring them to earn additional points in order to use miles already in their accounts. The new program offers points for booking travel through their portal, which may even be more expensive than competitors, and then for each new point earned one can use an existing point.The explanation is that the program needs frequency from their members, people got too good a deal in the past, and the old model of awards they promised wasn’t good for the company so they shouldn’t have to live up to those promises.Not at all surprising, but also a good reminder that this has never been a trustworthy program. GlobalPass is not a…

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A new wrinkle in the debate over daylight savings

by Gary Leff

daylight savings
Jul 23 2005

Airlines oppose the move to extend daylight savings time to March and November because if the rest of the world doesn’t go along the timing of their flights will be out of sync with limited landing slots in foreign airports. One estimate I’ve seen is that this will cost US airlines more than $170 million per year, though I presume the figure is somewhat self-serving and likely lower in reality. Perhaps the cost argument isn’t the only place to focus. Tyler Cowen asks whether daylight savings time is dangerous, because the moving the clock forward is equivalent to imposing a mild case of jetlag on the whole country. Some data suggests that automobile accidents go up after the change to clocks, although the data is far from conclusive (Tyler observes a lack of data on…

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Multilevel Marketing for Credit Card Rewards

by Gary Leff

Multilevel Marketing for Credit Card Rewards
Jul 23 2005

Colloquy reports on a new program in the United Arab Emirates where cutomers receive a 1% rebate on their spending and a 1% rebate on the spending of everyone they refer for the credit card. I haven’t seen anything like this in the U.S. (though there are certainly one-time referral bonuses for getting someone to sign up for a card) but I certainly expect to.

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Be careful whom you trust

by Gary Leff

usatoday
Jul 22 2005

USA Today reports on bloggers on the payroll of government tourist bureaus. Blogs tend to criticize other blogs, and many blogs permit comments (my current technical difficulties notwithstanding) so the blog’s culture of critique should limit the harm from this. Blog content should stand on its own, regardless of funding. But be aware of potential shading, influenced by financing of blogs. This isn’t new, surprising, or all that different from traditional travel writers whose perspectives may be colored by the advertisers at their publications or the free trips and upgrades handed out by travel providers. It’s always worthwhile using a skeptical eye towards travel writers. I want to know, though, how to get my hands on some of this money — then you could hermaneut my own writing all you want!

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Travel and weirdos

by Gary Leff

people on board airplanes
Jul 22 2005

Tyler Cowen wonders whether airplanes make weird people seem less weird. More broadly, travel brings different types of people together and that kind of mixing tears down frames of reference that allow people to judge others weird. If his hypothesis is correct, he then wonders Does this mean that weird men are more likely to have foreign wives?

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Cheap Vegas Hotel Night

by Gary Leff

Mandalay Bay hotel is available on Orbitz for $20 the night of August 29th. It’s a prepaid Summer of Fun rate which should include a $25 dining credit and 50% off passes to the spa. No other night appears to have this same rate, and the deal won’t last long.

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Wedding Crashers

by Gary Leff

john mccain
Jul 20 2005

Last night I saw Wedding Crashers. I don’t usually comment on movies here, but the opening scene features Dwight Yoakam and Rebecca DeMornay fighting over Yoakam’s frequent flyer miles in their divorce settlement conference. This was a raunchy, funny movie. Senator John McCain with a very brief appearance in the film has been all over the media, getting asked why he’s in this kind of movie when he spends his time railing against Hollywood for producing just this kind of product? The answer, which he won’t give, is that he’s a cynical politician who exploits anti-Hollywood sentiment but frankly enjoys these movies. Maybe McCain is a Straussian after all. While funny and creative, the opening of the film was absolutely brilliant taking the main characters through a series of different ethnic weddings each one funnier…

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