901am

New Media News Every Morning

Hotwire shares 7 practical summer travel tips

By

hotwire.jpg Hotwire.com, a leading discount travel site with low rates on airline tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars, cruises and vacation packages, offers seven easy tips to help steal a deal this summer. This is in light of escalating gas prices, increasing hotel rates, and packed airlines.

“Travelers should know that the joy of a summer getaway doesn’t need to be overshadowed by the stress and expense involved with planning a trip,” said Travel expert Clem Bason. “Flexibility is the key, and a tiny change in plans can lead to big vacation savings.”

If you are interested with other travel news, read our recent posts about Top 20 Pet Friendly Summer Vacations of 2007, Expedia’s new service for unmanaged business travelers, and TripAdvisor’s new traveler network.

Originally posted on June 26, 2007 @ 1:48 pm

BringFido.com announces Top 20 Pet Friendly Summer Vacations of 2007

By

BringFido.comBringFido.com, a popular dog travel website that provides online reservations at more than 15,000 pet friendly hotels, announced the Top 20 Pet Friendly Summer Vacations of 2007.

“A lot of people consider their pets a part of the family, so it’s no surprise that when they load up their cars and head off on vacation this summer, they’ll want to Bring Fido too,” Melissa Kendall, founder and president of BringFido.com, said. In fact, according to the Travel Industry Association of America, 41% of all dog owners will travel with their pooch this summer. Where are they all going to go? Recent searches conducted on BringFido.com show that the twenty most popular dog friendly vacations this summer will be:

(1) Kissimmee, FL
(2) San Diego, CA
(3) Las Vegas, NV
(4) New York, NY
(5) Myrtle Beach, SC
(6) San Francisco, CA
(7) Chicago, IL
(8) Houston, TX (9) Nashville, TN
(10) Charlotte, NC
(11) Atlanta, GA
(12) Boston, MA
(13) Los Angeles, CA
(14) Virginia Beach, VA
(15) Seattle, WA
(16) Asheville, NC
(17) Savannah, GA
(18) Key West, FL
(19) San Antonio, TX
(20) Washington, DC

Originally posted on June 21, 2007 @ 7:03 am

Priceline beams Shatner Negotiator character into MySpace

By

shatner-youtube.jpgPriceline headed into MySpace territory today with Captain Kirk at the helm. Its new offering is a MySpace page dedicated to actor William Shatner’s Priceline character known as “The Priceline Negotiator.”

The object of this new MySpace page is obviously to drive more people to use Priceline’s online travel booking service. Shatner’s page is loaded with goodies for those who like the Negotiator character. These goodies include several free ringtones, previously unreleased video and audio footage, bio information and the ability to put Shatner’s picture into your vacation photos.

Visitors can also add Shatner’s page to their MySpace friends list. Doing so will enter them into The Negotiator’s Sweepstakes, where first prize is airfare for two to the Caribbean and a 7-night stay at the Marriott Curacao Resort. This MySpace page is not Shatner’s first venture to that Web site – he has a personal MySpace page as well.

Originally posted on June 13, 2007 @ 4:00 pm

Priceline removes booking fees for all flights

By

priceline.jpg Priceline, a leading U.S. online travel service for value-conscious leisure travelers, eliminates booking fees for all domestic and international flights purchased by July 4th for travel up to 330 days from date of purchase. Every flight and itinerary is on sale, except for those purchased through priceline.com’s Name Your Own Price® service.

“Since this sale is good for last minute and advance purchase tickets, it will appeal to many different types of customers,” said Mark Koehler, priceline.com’s Senior Vice President, Airline Ticketing. “Travelers can use this sale to lower the cost of their upcoming summer vacation. They can purchase tickets for a fall getaway once the crowds thin out. Or, consumers who like planning ahead can buy their Thanksgiving and Christmas airline tickets now and lock in the additional savings.”

Priceline.com’s Summer Flights Sale applies only to published-price itineraries where travelers pick their exact carrier, flight times, routes and price. The sale does not apply to priceline.com’s Name Your Own Price® service, where consumers already can save up to 40% over the published prices found on major online travel reservation sites.

Originally posted on June 12, 2007 @ 10:07 am

JetBlue, Google team for in-flight tracking

By

jetblue.jpgJetBlue Airways announced a deal with Google to put Google Maps as a real-time tracking channel on the airline’s seatback televisions. It was not announced when Google Maps would begin appearing on JetBlue flights.

Google Maps will appear as a GPS-enabled moving maps feature. Fliers will be able to track their in-flight status on-screen as they soar along at 35,000 feet. JetBlue and Google are not leaving people on the ground out of the loop either. An online offering lets anyone track live flights using Google Maps, including the flight’s estimated departure and arrival times.

To celebrate this new partnership the two companies are hosting a photo contest between now and September 3. Photos taken from the window of any JetBlue flight can be submitted along with information to help identify the photo’s location, etc. JetBlue will post customer photos to a Google Maps mash-up, where customers can vote on their favorite shots at the end of the summer. Based on customer votes, the top 10 photographers will receive roundtrip travel for two to any of the airline’s 54 destinations.

Originally posted on June 7, 2007 @ 1:15 pm