Year: 2014

Hotelscombined.com affiliate program is biggest ongoing online scam

Dan Winther
HotelsCombined Scam

In 2005, Yury Shar, Brendon McQueen and Michael Doubinski (all three formerly worked for HotelClub) partnered to create a hotel comparison site where users could access the best rates from a variety of top travel sites all in the same place. Today, HotelsCombined has nearly 200 employees and 17 million users monthly. The site is available in more than 220 countries and in 39 different languages. In 2010, HotelsCombined won TRAVELtech “Website of the Year and was named a finalist in the Telstra 2010 Business Awards. In the same year,…

Keep Reading....

Your guide to 100% successful Schengen Visa Application!

Dan Winther
Schengen Visa Application

Obtaining a Schengen visa can be a nightmare at the best of times for the national of countries like India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Thailand and most of the Middle East and African countries. You need to obtain a ton of forms for your application and jump through hoops for the embassy but there is always a nagging feeling that the embassy has not informed you of ALL the Schengen Visa requirements. Yes, believe me they deliberately leave things out and if they have outsourced their visa application processing…

Keep Reading....

Taj Dubai opening deferred until first quarter of next year

Dan Winther

India’s Taj Group has delayed the opening of its flagship hotel in Dubai until the first quarter of next year from this year’s fourth quarter. The launch of the 296-room Taj Dubai, which will be located in Burj Khalifa downtown, is part of Taj’s plans to expand its footprint in the Middle East. Taj Group, which owns the Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai, is a unit of the Tata Group conglomerate. Taj Group has 108 hotels in India with an additional 17 international hotels in the Maldives, Malaysia, Australia, the…

Keep Reading....

What Should Cruise Agents Do to Increase Revenue in 2015?

Dan Winther

By: Susan Young As cruise sellers look ahead to Wave Season and taking advantage of new cruise products in 2015, Travel Agent asked several trade and cruise executives what agents should do 2015 to ensure success and increased revenue. Much of their advice goes back to the basics of being a proactive, professional agent. Here’s a sampling of their feedback. Become a Product Expert Product knowledge is absolutely imperative, believes John Lovell, president of Vacation.com: “To ensure their cruise business revenue increases in the coming year, agents definitely need to…

Keep Reading....

Danish hospitality giant acquires Copenhagen Marriott Hotel

Dan Winther

Solstra, the brand behind Copenhagen’s Hotel Bella Sky and Crowne Plaza Copenhagen Towers, has acquired the Copenhagen Marriott Hotel. The sale makes Solstra – a majority owner of Scandinavia’s largest exhibition and conference facility the Bella Center – one of Denmark’s largest operators in the hotel, conference and hospitality industry with a revenue of approximately DKK1bn (£107m) annually. As part of the purchase, Solstra will change its name to to BC Hospitality Group A/S. The Copenhagen Marriott Hotel will continue to operate as normal. Oscar Crohn, managing partner at Solstra…

Keep Reading....

Amazon to Get Into Hotel Booking With Launch of Travel Site

Dan Winther

Amazon.com is poised to launch its own travel service, featuring booking at independent hotels and resorts near major cities. The initial rollout of Amazon Travel would feature a curated selection of hotels within a few hours’ drive from New York, Los Angeles, and Seattle. The service will likely go live around January 1, 2015. We contacted representatives of three independent hotels, two of which signed up for the new Amazon service and one that was strongly considering the option. Properties would load their room types, availability, pricing information, and photos…

Keep Reading....

Deck the Malls: Christmas shopping tips for New York, Boston and Chicago

Dan Winther

Thomas Breathnach breaks out his big city Christmas shopping tips for travellers heading to New York, Boston and Chicago this season.   by Thomas Breathnach 1. New York Over 100,000 Irish travellers fly Stateside for the annual transatlantic shopping splurge and, unsurprisingly, most of them fill their Christmas stockings in NYC. The Big Apple might still be struggling to find itself a post-Carrie Bradshaw style icon, but in terms of trends, bling is out – and with the city’s Garment District booming again, local designers are most certainly in. This…

Keep Reading....

Couple ‘Fined’ £100 By Hotel For Bad Review on Tripadvisor

Dan Winther

A couple were “fined” £100 by a Blackpool hotel after they wrote an internet review describing it as a “rotten stinking hovel run by muppets”. Tony and Jan Jenkinson stayed at the Broadway Hotel in August and were so disappointed with their accommodation that they took to TripAdvisor to share their experience. The couple later found their credit card had been charged £100, with the hotel stating its policy was to charge for “bad” reviews. The policy, included in a booking document, reportedly says: “Despite the fact that repeat customers and couples love…

Keep Reading....

A Deadly Tourist Destination now, once land of smiles

Dan Winther
A deadly tourist destination

World’s favorite tourist destination is slowly turning into a deadly tourist destination. We are not saying this but Australian author John Stapleton is suggesting that widespread police corruption, violence and crime are all blighting a country once commonly referred to as the ‘Land of Smiles’ In his book Thailand: Deadly Destination, Mr Stapleton attempts to expose the reputation of Thailand as a welcoming country, claiming a boom in tourism since the 1960s has created a hatred of foreigners and a ‘murderous indifference’ to the millions of tourists who flock to…

Keep Reading....

Here’s How To Book The Best Hotel In Town With Just One Tweet

Dan Winther

Stefano Pozzebon A new service on Twitter allows users to reserve a hotel room with just a couple of tweets. The system is called #TweetStay, and is from the hotel booking website Stayful. Here is how it works: First the costumer tweets their request to a Stayful account, including destination, price range, arrival date and number of nights. At this point, the Stayful team negotiates a private deal with the hotels available in town, securing a cheaper offer than most of the costumers would get on their own. Here is…

Keep Reading....