Jun 30th, 2011 at 11:00AM: As the travel industry claws its way back from the depths of the 2008 financial crisis and subsequent consumer credit hangover, bright spots are already beginning to emerge. And unsurprisingly, it's the non-traditional sort that seems to be leading the charge. After all, stung by layoffs, pay cuts and other personal austerity measures, we've had to find ways to spend less while still traveling. ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
vacationrentals posts
High finance for HomeAway says a lot about travelers
Jun 30th, 2011 at 11:00AM: As the travel industry claws its way back from the depths of the 2008 financial crisis and subsequent consumer credit hangover, bright spots are already beginning to emerge. And unsurprisingly, it's the non-traditional sort that seems to be leading the charge. After all, stung by layoffs, pay cuts and other personal austerity measures, we've had to find ways to spend less while still traveling. ...PackLate.com's newest idea: sleeping with strangers
Mar 11th, 2011 at 9:00AM:
I've never been skiing and I've never heard of PackLate.com. And yet, here I am, hopping from ski shop to ski shop in Austin, Texas of all places. I'm trying to nail down a ski jacket worth the money, but I've already assigned more than five hours to this task and I'm beginning to work out the math of my time vs. my money vs. my ski jacket as I pull into the sixth store. I don't think my ...Grantourismo blogger on guidebooks and travel writing
Nov 30th, 2010 at 11:00AM: Last week I posted a Q & A with blogger Lara Dunston and her husband and partner Terence Carter about their travel project and blog Grantourismo. In addition to good advice about renting a vacation apartment and getting "under the skin" of a place when traveling, they had a lot of interesting things to say about guidebooks, both from their experiences writing them and how they see travelers ...Q & A with Grantourismo round-the-world slow travel bloggers
Nov 24th, 2010 at 2:00PM:
With all the holiday travel madness just beginning, sometimes it's nice to take a breath and think about taking travel more slowly. I recently had a chance to meet up with blogger Lara Dunston and her photographer-writer husband, Terence Carter, of the round-the-world travel project and blog, Grantourismo while they were traveling through Istanbul. Lara and Terence hosted me at their fabulous ...TripAdvisor picks the top ten most expensive vacation rentals in North America
Jul 15th, 2010 at 9:00AM:
You think finding a sub-$200 hotel in the summer is a challenge? Consider the challenges for the rich and famous - do you go with a 12 bedroom mansion, or can you settle for a mere 10? Will the kitchen be large enough to feed all 250 guests at your poolside soirée?
And then there is the pool itself - is one pool going to be enough, and will the fitness room be large enough? Yes - the ...7 day vacation rentals for $199 through Wyndham Worldwide
May 14th, 2010 at 12:00PM:
Looking to vacation on a budget? Wyndham Worldwide has some hot deals on 7-day vacation rentals for just $199. The availability is obviously limited, and there is a bit of fine print involved, but I was able to find several properties for the advertised price.
To clarify - the $199 price is for 7 days - and since many hotels retail for the same price for just one night, you'll understand ...Vacation homes and social media worth a million dollars
Mar 20th, 2010 at 2:00PM: Did someone mention a travel slump? Second Porch, up in Portland, Oregon, must not have received the memo.
Damned memos.
The new company just picked up $1 million in A-round financing (an early round, for those not of the finance world) which was led by the Oregon Angel Fund. Translation: a few people are making a seven-figure bet on a travel company in a shitty market. And I think it's pure ...LetMeGo to pit hotels against each other directly
Dec 30th, 2009 at 10:00PM: Normally, I'd think that a website inviting hotels to beg for bid on the insane and detailed requests of travelers would be a nonstarter. But, we're in the middle of a brutal travel market recession. And, this decade has been awful for airlines and hoteliers alike. So, if the industry is going to learn any lessons from this turbulent decade known as [well, nobody really figured that out what to ...Where have all the timeshares gone?
Sep 30th, 2009 at 12:30PM: I know there are a handful of people out there who have taken the bait: just sit through a short, two-hour presentation, and we'll pay for your trip to luxurious-fill-in-the-blank-destination. Well, more and more of you are saying "no" this year. Timeshare sales are expected to fall 30% this year, following the glory days of 2004 to 2008.
Until last year, everything looked great for the ...Pay to sleep on a stranger's couch with AirBnB
Jul 22nd, 2009 at 3:30PM: I recently came across the website AirBnb.com, which promises to connect "adventurous travelers" with "nice folks" willing to let strangers stay in their apartment, spare room, or even on their couch - for a fee. Basically, if VRBO (Vacation Rentals by Owner) and CouchSurfing had a love child, this would be it.
At first I thought it was just a way to get money out of people who (somehow) still ...Economic consequences: travel with your family
Jun 28th, 2009 at 12:00PM: I guess there are some families that genuinely enjoy traveling together. Dozens of people buy out plenty of space in a motel – or line up a few cottages – and arrive in force for some good ol' fashioned family bonding time. I wouldn't do it (coordinating travel inside the immediate family is hard enough), but there's an element that will.
Take out the element that looks forward to a ...Budget Travel: Renting a vacation apartment
Feb 19th, 2009 at 11:30AM: Pssst. I've got a secret. Did you know you can stay in some the world's most beautiful and unique accommodations, located in the best neighborhoods and do it all for rock-bottom prices? Surprisingly enough, it's not some hidden boutique hotel chain or Priceline deal. I'm talking about vacation apartment rentals. The beauty (and the hassle) of renting an apartment when traveling is you get to do ...Blog-beg for a free vacation
Jan 7th, 2009 at 8:31AM: Do you like free stuff? Well, if you're not a newlywed, there are still plenty of ways to score a trip on someone else's dime. They guys over at HomeAway have set aside $5,000 in prizes at some top-shelf vacation rental destinations. If that doesn't sound like a lot of cash, consider how much blogging I'd have to do to hit that (hint: a lot). And, the worst part is that all you have to do is what ...Carbon Monoxide hazard: Take the detector on vacation
Dec 18th, 2008 at 4:30PM: This is the time of year when carbon monoxide poisoning stories begin to circulate. I heard one story yesterday on the Today Show that caught my traveler's ear. A family who was recently vacationing in Aspen died from carbon monoxide poisoning while slumbering. (See article.)
The family was staying in an upscale vacation rental where such tragedies are least expected. At the end of the segment, ...VRBO, Vacation Rentals by Owner has an easy to navigate new look
Nov 14th, 2008 at 11:30AM: The newly designed website of VRBO--Vacation Rentals by Owner is a snap to use. Clicking on a particular region of one of the maps is one way to zoom in on a specific destination. Click on a state, for example, and whoosh, there you are browsing the bounties.
In each state, rentals are divided into regions. I went to Montana and then to Butte which pointed me to four vacation home rentals, two ...
