It looks like the Hurricane Katrina has hurt another segment of the New Orleans tourism business as the steamboat cruise business is still hurting. Typically New Orleans is the starting or the end point to the Mississippi cruises. That is a large amount of hotel rooms that will not be filled during 2006.

The Delta Queen Steamboat Co. said the American Queen’s 2006 schedule will be cancelled “due to conditions in New Orleans and along the lower Mississippi River system.”

The vessel has been privately chartered through January, and possibly beyond that time, according to Delta Queen President Bruce Nierenberg.

The company said in a statement that it has seen strong positive momentum in bookings” in recent months and hopes this trend continues. But it is apparent that the upriver itineraries would have a difficult time supporting a three-boat operation” for the whole 2006 operating year.

The Delta Queen and Mississippi Queen are slated to operate with “minimal” schedule changes this spring. via Travel Weekly

If you are heading to New York City, open your wallet as hotel prices are exploding. We have a post of some great properties that below $250 a night here.

Hotel prices set wallet-busting records in New York City in 2005 after a long, slow recovery from the 2001 terrorist attacks.

The average daily price of a room in the city hit $292 in November, according to the hospitality industry analysis firm PKF Consulting. Figures for December weren’t yet available, but the city is a lock to break its previous record yearlong average of $237 per night, set in 2000.

Prices were high in every corner of town, from the noisy motels jammed into industrial neighborhoods near Kennedy Airport to the palaces near Central Park.

The Days Inn Brooklyn for instance sits on a charmless block in a working-class neighborhood 30 minutes by subway from the nearest tourist spot in Manhattan. Security glass encloses the front desk. Breakfast is packaged commercial pastry, served from a rack in a closet-sized lobby. The clean but drab rooms overlook train tracks.  Everything about the place says budget travel, except the price. On New Year’s Eve, rooms are going for $229 per night.

At the posh Mandarin Oriental, which opened in the new Time Warner building overlooking Central Park two years ago, the base rate for a room will rise to $725 in 2006. On opening night, the same quarters could be had for $595. USATODAY.com.

After Katrina, the state of Mississippi recognized the danger of forcing their casinos to remain of floating platforms, so they amended the gaming laws to allow land based casinos. Now, all of the major casino operators are racing to get their properties open, and jobs going in this stricken area.

The Isle of Capri became the first business south of U.S. 90 in Biloxi to reopen its doors Monday to the beating of steel drums and the delight of hundreds of gamblers.

“Let the good times roll,” Isle of Capri general manager Bill Kilduff said during a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

It is the second Gulf Coast casino to reopen since Hurricane Katrina pounded the state, following the IP, which opened Thursday.

Officials changed the Isle of Capri’s entertainment and convention space into game rooms with 728 new slot machines, 29 table games and a poker room with nine tables.

More than 500 hotel rooms and three restaurants also are open. USATODAY.comi.

Monterey is one of the most beautiful parts of the country, and for the months of January and February hotel rooms at certain hotels will be priced at $49 per night.

The “Wild for Nature” package, sponsored by the Monterey County Convention and Visitors Bureau, is available Jan. 1 through Feb. 28 and draws attention to the area’s migrating gray whales, birds and Monarch butterflies.

Among the deals are discounted rates at more than 20 hotels. Rates (based on availability) include Carmel River Inn and Monterey Hotel, $49 per night; Pacific Grove’s Olympia Lodge, $59 per night; Carmel Mission Inn, $69 per night. Hotel rates are lowest at midweek.

Various tours and activities are also discounted; among these is admission to the Monterey Aquarium (one free child admission with the purchase of an adult ticket).

For more information, call (888) 221-1010 or see http://www.montereyinfo.org .

One of my favorite experiences has been going to the Monterey Aquarium and the Santa Cruz area. They are beautiful places, and have the ability to be fun year round.

Source LA Times

The Hard Rock Empire is spreading out, and their next stop is a luxury condo hotel being built in San Diego.

Construction is under way on Hard Rock International’s first condo hotel (www.hardrockcondos.com), in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter, right. Scheduled for completion in spring 2007, the project calls for a 12-story, 315,000-square-foot hotel with 167 studio units ($400,000 and up), 253 one-bedroom suites ($1 million and up) and a spa and fitness center.

All units will be furnished and equipped with wireless Internet access, iPod connections, high-level audio and home-theater-quality video systems. Seventeen “rock star” suites of up to 1,700 square feet will feature martini bars, soaking tubs, rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia and original artwork.

The blueprints also include a Nobu sushi restaurant, a 5,000-square-foot concert hall, a fourth-floor terrace bar adjacent to an outdoor pool with cabanas, and a lobby lounge. The terrace bar and the lounge, designed and operated by the creator of After Midnight and the Whiskey Bar, Rande Gerber, will also have live music on occasion. via NY TimesThis is going to be one amazing property, and will wow the 18 to 35 set. Heck, I am 40 and it wowing me right now. And a condo hotel is a condo that rents out the rooms when the owners are not on site.

USA Today has a story on the top 10 Ski experiences that must be accomplished if you are a die hard skier. Here are the highlights.

• Jackson Hole  – With the highest vertical drop of any U.S. mountain, and seemingly endless black and double-black expert terrain, Jackson Hole lives up to its nickname, “The Big One.” Among expert skiers, its famous aerial tram has become an icon of the sport, representing the only motorized way to get to the hardest marked trails in U.S. skiing — the infamous Corbett’s Couloir, an elevator shaft of a trail which requires a literal leap of faith to enter, and the equally daunting Hobacks.
• Brekenridge – The much-anticipated Imperial Express Super Chair, a high-speed quad, reaches an elevation of 12,840 feet atop Breckenridge’s Peak 8 and accesses a whopping 400-acres of Breckenridge’s best intermediate and expert terrain. Much of this is double-black diamond runs that have long been the sole province of in-the-know locals willing to undertake the 45-minute hike previously required to reach the summit. The new lift takes two and a half minutes.
• Beaver Creek – You won’t find the ultimate in luxury ski lodging at the Four Seasons, or the Ritz Carlton or the Little Nell. For those with deep pockets who love deep powder, the ultimate experience is having the entire mountain to yourself, and that is exactly what you get at Trappers Cabin, the Game Creek Club Chalet and Tempter House. Trappers Cabin, on top of the Beaver Creek resort, redefines “roughing it.”
• Vail – At Vail, the chic 4-bedroom Game Creek Club Chalet sits next to the exclusive Game Creek Club restaurant at over 10,000 feet. Here the bellman takes you to your room by Sno-cat, and the Club’s chef pops by to prepare your private dinner and breakfast. In the morning, your private instructor for the day shows up at the door ($2800 for the whole property).
• The Ski Utah Interconnect Adventure Tour  – is a guided backcountry excursion for advanced skiers that links in-bounds trails at Deer Valley, Park City Mountain Resort, Snowbird, Solitude, Brighton and Alta with out-of-bounds connections between the mountains. There are no shuttles, just you and your regular alpine gear. This adventure guarantees great skiing, incredible views and a day you won’t soon forget. The tours operate daily from early December through late April, weather and conditions permitting, are led by professional backcountry guides and are open to advanced skiers in good physical condition.

The LA Times has a very interesting article on getting the best price on hotel rooms. The use of yield management by the hotel companies means that rooms can be sold for different rates depending on occupancy and other factors.

“The core concept of yield management is to provide the right service to the right customer at the right time for the right price,” the report says.

It’s all about timing.

A big problem, industry experts say, is that room demand waxes and wanes by day of the week, time of year, special events and other situations that hoteliers can’t control. Yet every night, a Hilton or Sheraton has the same 100 rooms to fill.

Ensuring that rooms get booked at the maximum price possible, without getting stuck with vacancies at 5 p.m., is a delicate high-wire act.

Enter yield management, which aims to “gain control of consumer demand by using time- and price-related strategic levers,” the report says.

Yes, they’re manipulating you.

By lowering the rate for stays during slack times, hotels induce penny-pinching vacationers to book then, filling rooms that otherwise would have gone vacant. By saving some rooms for last-minute bookers, often business people who have no choice, they can demand higher prices for the now-scarce rooms.

2006 will bring the brand new Westin Resort, Spa, and Condos at Dawn Beach on the island of St. Maarten. This will expand  Westin’s Caribbean resort market that includes the Bahamas, Grand Cayman, Puerto Rico and St. John.

The property, slated for completion in December 2006, will boast 310 hotel rooms and suites, 100 condominiums, a casino, a full service European-style Hibiscus Spa, restaurants, retail shops, ultra lounge and night club, amongst other amenities. The project is financed by Scotiabank.

The laying of the cornerstone comes some seven months after the developer showed interest in redeveloping the property, which was left in ruins by Hurricane Luis 10 years ago. The St. Maarten flag was hoisted by Leader of Government Sarah Wescott-Williams and a Westin flag by Jung to signal the official naming of the property.  via The Daily Herald

That is what is being predicted by American Express Travel Services. It looks like the European vacations will be very expensive even with the dollar gaining strength against the Euro,

American Express recently issued its annual business travel forecast. It foresees increases of as much as 6% in transatlantic business-class fares. Hotel rates, especially in major cities, also are likely to increase. AmEx predicts, for example, that London hotel prices — already so expensive that even the federal government allows $274 per day for lodging — will rise as much as 15%.

“It’s a combination of occupancy and capacity,” says Ruth Philpott, director of hotel procurement for EClipse Advisors, a division of American Express.

High demand from business and leisure travelers in major European cities, coupled with limited real estate for hotel development, allows hotel owners to charge top dollar — or euro or pound, since the American Express’ survey looks at prices in the local currency. This is an area where, for the first time in years, there might be some light for American travelers. via LA Times