Monday, May 23, 2011

Featured Hotel: The Olsen Hotel – Boutique South Yarra, Melbourne Accommodations

Our featured hotel right now is the Olsen Hotel, in South Yarra, Melbourne, Australia.


The Olsen Hotel offers travelers premier South Yarra accommodation with 229 elegant five-star suites that are infused with the lyrical works of revered Australian Landscape artist Dr John Olsen.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Summer Travel to The Breakers Palm Beach

This summer, discerning travelers are vying for the most memorable vacation they can get for their investment, at a convenient, stateside location. On the island of Palm Beach, Florida, The Breakers is that iconic oceanfront destination and luxury Florida escape, made compellingly affordable with an enticing summer vacation promotion.


From June 1 – September 30, 2011, rates start at just $269 per room per night based on superior accommodations, and added value abounds with a variety of exceptional amenities either free or priced at a significant savings: complimentary weekday incentives such as continental breakfast, kids' meals, kids' camp and valet parking; complimentary daily benefits such as unlimited tennis and fitness classes, as well as savings on golf, dining, spa, bungalow/cabana rentals, on-site shopping and more.

Complimentary weekday benefits include:

* Continental breakfast buffet: Monday - Thursday mornings (special pricing Friday - Sunday)
* Access to Spa & Oceanview Fitness Center: Monday - Thursday (special pricing Friday - Sunday)
* Kid's meals ordered off children's menus, ages 12 and under with paying adult: Monday - Thursday (special pricing Friday - Sunday)
* Kids camp: Monday - Thursday (special pricing Friday - Sunday)
* Overnight valet parking: Sunday - Wednesday nights; $20 per night Thursday - Saturday


Complimentary benefits, seven days a week:

* Unlimited tennis
* Unlimited fitness classes
* WiFi & Internet access, local calls


Special summer savings:

* Unlimited golf on the Ocean Course and The Breakers Rees Jones® Course, at specially priced greens fees (including cart), starting at $60 per person, per day:
o $60 per person, per day, from June 20 – September 30, 2011;
o $130 per person, per day (18 holes); $80 per person, per day (9 holes) – from June 1-19
* Dining
* Spa Services
* Bungalow Rentals
* Shopping

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental Passes High-Speed Taxi Tests

The Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental has successfully completed its high-speed taxi tests. This is the last in a series of functional tests planned in preparation for first flight.

During the testing, the airplane reached a top speed of approximately 90 knots (103 mph, 167 kph), and the pilots lifted the nose gear from the pavement.


The 747-8 Intercontinental is the only jetliner in the 400- to 500-seat market, stretched 5.6 m (18.3 ft) from the 747-400 to provide 467 seats in a three-class configuration and a 14,815-km (8,000-nmi) range. Using 787-technology engines, the airplane will be quieter, produce lower emissions, and achieve better fuel economy than any competing jetliner. The 747 Intercontinental will provide nearly equivalent trip costs and 13 percent lower seat-mile costs than the 747-400, plus 26 percent greater cargo volume. Operating economics will offer a significant improvement over the A380. The 747-8 is more than 10 percent lighter per seat than the A380 and will consume 11 percent less fuel per passenger than the 555-seat airplane. That translates into a trip-cost reduction of 21 percent and a seat-mile cost reduction of more than 6 percent, compared to the A380. Both the 747-8 Intercontinental and 747-8 Freighter can use the existing infrastructure and ground equipment at most airports worldwide.

http://www.boeing.com/commercial/747family/747-8_facts.html

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

American Airlines Statement in Response to Sabre's Actions

American Airlines today received notice from Sabre that it has taken a set of punitive actions against the airline and its customers, despite the fact that American has met all its obligations and continues to work in good faith with Sabre.

The actions, which include biasing its shopping displays, are anti-consumer, anti-competitive and harmful to its subscribing agents.

Sabre's actions are discriminatory and patently inconsistent with both its contractual obligations and its professed goal of ensuring full transparency for the benefit of consumers and travel agents. In contrast, the actions only serve to protect Sabre's market position and attempt to force airlines and travel agencies to rely exclusively on its legacy systems that only lead to higher fares and fewer choices for consumers.

American is committed to working with all efficient distribution channels, including traditional travel agencies, online travel agencies and global distribution systems

American Airlines and American Eagle fares and schedules – including all international and domestic classes of service – are widely available through a number of outlets, including American's own website, AA.com, which features our Lowest Fare Guarantee, as well as through American's reservations agents, thousands of travel agencies in locations worldwide, online travel agencies such as Priceline.com and metasearch engines such as Kayak.com.

Current AMR Corp. (NYSE: AMR) releases can be accessed on the Internet.

The address is http : // w w w . a a.com

SOURCE American Airlines

Monday, January 3, 2011

Orlando Rewards Travelers With Vacation Makeovers

Just in time to ring in 2011, Visit Orlando is launching its first-ever 'Vacation Makeover' search where any traveler in America could be selected to receive the Orlando dream trip of a lifetime that only the country's most visited vacation destination can deliver.

Beginning today, travelers can submit stories to VisitOrlando.com/makeover of their memories of their most challenging vacation planning issues, most exhausting excursion, nerve-wracking retreat, or the time a holiday went haywire. Their entry will put them in the running to receive a one-of-a-kind Orlando vacation that solves their previous vacation challenges and comes complete with airfare, accommodations, attraction admissions, ground transportation, and more.

Virgin America New Year's Resolution

Virgin America has announced a New Year's fare sale, featuring even slimmer fares on the airline that's reinventing flying as we know it.

Virgin America is encouraging flyers to ring in the new year by experiencing its award-winning service and see for themselves why the carrier was named "Best Domestic Airline" in both the prestigious Conde Nast Traveler's Annual Readers' Choice Awards and Travel + Leisure's Annual World's Best Awards readers' survey for the third consecutive year. Virgin America is now offering low 14-day advance purchase fares to all of its destinations.

Vacation.com Acquired by Travel Leaders Group

Travel Leaders Group has acquired Vacation.com® from Amadeus Americas, Inc.

Vacation.com is a leading leisure travel marketing organization powered by real travel agents. It easily ranks as North America's largest vacation and cruise selling network in terms of locations with more than 5,100 travel agencies throughout the United States and Canada.

Travel Leaders Group has total travel sales in excess of $6 billion, and owns well-known agency brands such as Travel Leaders, Tzell, Results! Travel, Nexion, Cruise Holidays and Cruise Specialists.

First blog post on AA Conversation

I thought I would start blogging and start a conversation about my favorite hotels and my travels around the world.

So, I reserved this new blog here on Blogger and will be chatting and posting about my experiences. Hopefully you'll find it all interesting. Stay tuned!