On the Sunday, May 12th, Mother's Day edition of The Travel Guys.... In the Travel News, the Utah Attorney General's office is investigating
Expedia for collusion with some major hotel chains. Speaking of major hotel chains, Hilton has taken over the top spot from Marriott in "brand value," as measured by Brand Finance Hotels ranking. Marriott's brand value suffered a 30 percent reduction, while Hilton's was climbing 17 percent. The brand value is based in part on marketing investment, stakeholder equity and business performance. Of course, Marriott has been plagued with a series of problems after its merger with Starwood.
Our Smarter Traveler segment looks at recent rankings of hotels, airlines and other travel providers, based on their service levels. In our Travel Mailbag, Mark answers questions on passports for tiny travelers (babies), Southwest Advance Boarding Passes and how to find out if your cruise ship is clean. Finally, we take you to Oregon's North Coast, where their latest tourism promotion is rewarding local service station attendants for being the best tourism ambassadors in the region.
On the Sunday, May 5th edition of The Travel Guys.... In The Travel News, Marriott is going into the hotel rental business, aka Airbnb. Believe it or not, the same week Marriott makes that announcement, Airbnb announces they are going into the hotel business. Coincidence? We think not. The SAP Arena in San Jose has announced they are joining the growing ranks of public venues adopting a Clear Bag Policy. Basically, it means any bag you bring into the arena has to meet very specific size requirement and it must be clear. To begin with, the arena is offering a $5 bag check if yours doesn't meet the requirements. San Jose isn't the first and we suspect this will quickly become the standard. Time to buy a see through bag.
We make you a Smarter Traveler with a break down of Hotel Safety ideas. Most people remember to lock the deadbolt (you DO remember that, right...), check window locks on ground floor rooms and even connecting room locks. But what about that door hanger you put out to order breakfast? You didn't write your name on it, did you? And how easy is to to access your room through the elevator? Let's talk. Even a Do Not Disturb sign will not keep hotel staff out of your room, and we explain why. Gwen Duncan, our favorite Travel Advisor, comes by to talk about their recent rip to Japan. The ups, the downs, the ideas to make you smarter than Gwen when you go..... Call Sports Leisure Vacations at (916) 361-2051 to RSVP!
On the Saturday, April 27th, 2019 edition of The Travel Guys… In the Travel News, Expedia has struck new deals with suppliers, keeping hotels and air available on their platform. A lack of customs officers is causing problems at airports around the country. The problem: Many of the agents have been sent to the southern boarder by the president and there aren't replacements available. Lines at Atlanta's Hartsfield Airport have reached 2-3 hours on several occasions in the past two weeks. Check the list below for a cruise line which will take you to Game of Thrones sites, and there's a new museum in Japan... Reporter and Tour Director Clayton Whitehead joins us to tell listeners about two upcoming adventures: A Coast-to-Coast trip across Canada by rail, and a journey along the shores of the Mississippi River, stopping in places like The Field of Dreams and Mark Twain's home of Hannibal, MO. Richard Lewis, Executive Producer of the Music Circus and Broadway Sacramento joins us to talk about the line-up for the next season and more importantly, how the shows will shift from the community center theater to Memorial Auditorium for a year.
On the Easter Sunday (April 21st) edition of The Travel Guys... In the Travel News, United and Expedia are in a p-ssing contest, which could end up with United flights not being available on Expedia's various platforms. Sacramento has new air service. Once a day non-stops to Santa Barbara on Contour Airlines. When should you reserve your summer travel? Survey says 5-8 weeks ahead of your flight. Only one problem. That's based on history. In previous years however, there weren't 40-50 planes grounded (Max 8-9) every day. Our featured guest is Cynthia Nichol. In our extended interview, we talk about a variety of airport issues, including parking, running out of gates during morning rush (and overnight parking places to put those morning rush planes), the price of gasoline near the airport, the possibility of an airport hotel and much more.