hotels Page 18

On the Sunday, March 7th, 2021 edition of The Travel Guys… In the Travel News, Marriott is paying its employees to take the COVID vaccine, California theme parks are reopening - sort of, and you can now fly to Cancun non-stop from Sacramento. The man who is The King of Walking Tours of Times Square has a new virtual tour, a Broadway Pub Crawl. The next one is on St. Patrick's Day (fee for this activity). Owner Tim Dolan is on hand to tell us how we can join in. Our Smarter Traveler segment focuses on vaccine travel. The European Union appears poised to create some type of vaccine travel pass. Whether its a hard card you carry, or something electronic; it could make travel safer or more difficult, depending on your point of view. Plus, are Americans passing on spring break travel this year, waiting for more vaccinations? Randy Paragary is a Sacramento restaurant legend. Now he's ventured into the hotel business. The Fort Sutter Hotel has opened downtown and Randy joins us to talk hotels and restaurants during COVID.

On the Sunday, November 15th, 2020 edition of The Travel Guys… In The Travel News, Delta says the "banned for no mask" list has reached 550. Air tickets and hotels for the Biden-Harris inauguration in January are in short supply and prices are climbing. In our Smarter Traveler segment, we share the story of travelers buying fake Covid test results and how you can avoid being a victim. Joe Brancatelli is a travel blogger/columnist and Mark is a big fan of his pay-to-read website, JoeSentMe.com. Joe has noticed that hotels are cutting Covid corners. They tell us it's because of safety concerns. But is it more about cost-savings than the virus? Joe, Mark and Tom ended up in a lively conversation.

On the Sunday, March 1st, 2020 edition of The Travel Guys… In the Travel News, airlines and hotels are allowing cancellations to a growing number of international destinations because of the Corona Virus.  Check with your airline or hotel for an update.  Remember, only selected international destinations are impacted.  Alaska and American Airlines are back in bed together again.  You can earn miles for one while flying the other, redeem awards, etc.  This comes only months after the two airlines announced they were ending their relationship... In our Smarter Traveler segment, Mark explains when an airline owes you a hotel room for a canceled flight (hint, the answer isn't what you think), and are ride shares really cheaper than taxis?  Evidence seems to point in the opposite direction. The second half of the show is dedicated to a roundtable discussion about the Corona Virus.  Travel Advisor Gwen Duncan and Reporter Clayton Whitehead join us for a lively discussion about travel insurance, whether or not it's safe to travel, etc.  The phone lines are 916-921-1530 and 800-834-1530 will be open for your calls.

On the Sunday, October 6th, 2019 edition of The Travel Guys… In The Travel News, the entry of Southwest into the Sacramento-Hawaii market has seen it's first casualty.  Alaska Airlines will stop flying non-stop to Kona in March.  The airline has been flying the route 3-4 days a week since the spring.  With Southwest adding non-stop flights to Honolulu and soon to Maui, with direct service to Kona, Alaska decided to cut and run.  A bay area Kona route was also dropped.  Hawaiian Airlines flight attendants have set a November 20th strike vote date, after negotiations with the airline over two years have failed to get them the deal they want.  With Southwest ramping up service to the islands, it might be an inopportune time for Hawaiian to have any sort of service disruption.  Finally, Mark has the story of an elderly couple who say they were tricked into smuggling more than $1million worth of drugs inside of four suitcases in their cruise ship cabin.  (Upon closer examination, the couple was convicted of trafficking cannabis near Norway in 2010, and despite a low income, had taken a string of luxury cruises recently).  They could face up to 12 years in jail if convicted. Chris Elliott, our consumer advocacy friend (www.Elliott.org) updates us on legislation which might be moving resort fees (and their cousins, urban and other "destination" fees) towards the exit door. We open the phones and ask you to play "What overpriced things should I not purchase at the airport?"  Should be easy, since everything is overpriced at the airport.  Tell us the worst offenders and perhaps win a $50 Macy's gift card, just in time for Christmas shopping. Finally, we tell you why you should put one of your shoes in the hotel safe.  Yes, really.  Why?  If you are prone to leaving things in your room, particularly in the safe, you aren't likely to walk out with only one shoe on, are you now?  Pretty good idea, if you ask us.