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Lies, Lies, Lies
The Travel Critic · December 14, 1999

I can't think of any other business that lies to its customers -and itself - more often than the travel industry. It has only become worse with the Internet, where postings spread faster than an oil slick, regardless of whether they're fact or fiction.

Consider:

So-called "improvements" to economy class. United Airlines recently touted a new class of steerage on its site that created seats with "36 inches of pitch compared to the standard 31 inches." But it's not as much an improvement as a reversion to the amount of legroom that was standard a few years ago.

The rates we're quoted by car rental companies - all of them. Just call a car rental company and ask for a price, then check it against what you're charged when you settle up. Half the time those extra car fees, taxes and surcharges aren't mentioned unless you specifically ask the reservationist for a grand total. In my book, that's lying.

Bogus ads for vacation specials. These really irritate me, because they're often placed in Sunday newspapers or in online banner displays with the knowledge that they'll be sold out long before the ad runs. Then, when consumers call in or click on the Web site, they're hit with a pitch for a more expensive getaway.

So I was suspicious of Renaissance Cruises' recent proclamation that it would "tell the truth" about its ships online. Generally speaking, cruise lines are notorious polluters, liars and exploiters of both their employees and customers. What could possibly make Renaissance the exception?

"Yes, it's true that the travel industry in general and the cruise lines specifically are guilty of misleading people," admits Renaissance Cruises executive vice president Frank Del Rio. "But we're different."

Indeed, I was surprised to learn how unconventional the cruise line was. Not only does it ban smoking and children from its ships, but it has pursued a strategy of direct bookings from its Web site, something its competitors have been slow to do, for fear of angering travel agents. What's more, its Internet presence offers a forum for customers to post their stories, both good and bad, about their trips. And it invites a ship-by-ship comparison between the Renaissance fleet and the rest.

Terry Ott, a frequent cruiser based in Northwest Fort Lauderdale, Fla., who spent his entire career in the travel industry before retiring from Northwest Airlines, thinks the rhetoric is for real.

"Living here in South Florida, you have a continuous flow of press about and for the cruise industry. The offshore dumping, the sexual harassment, and the fact that the cruise lines don't pay federal taxes," he says. "I think Renaissance is positioning itself as the white knight of the industry, the do-gooders. I mean, I haven't seen Princess or Carnival do a comparison of its ships on their Web sites." While the Renaissance ratings appear legitimate, I'm not inclined to buy the latest public relations ploy by all-inclusive chain Sandals.

In a recent press release, it noted that because "the all-inclusive industry has spawned resorts that fail to live up to the name, Sandals Resorts chairman Gordon 'Butch' Stewart today introduced a comprehensive rating system for [its] all-inclusive properties and challenged others in the industry to adopt it."

The resort company has joined forces with a "leading travel Web site publishing company" that I've never heard of, to offer the ratings online. Added Stewart, "Consumers are being misled by resorts that claim to be all-inclusive but in reality are really partial-inclusives."

Funny he should talk about misleading. Sandals offers free weddings for guests who stay on its properties for more than six days and a no-questions-asked hurricane guarantee that are, at best, disappointing and at worst, downright deceptive.

"I would take anything Sandals says with a grain of salt," says John Frenaye Jr., owner of the Carlson Wagonlit Travel affiliate in Annapolis, Md. Three of his clients recently booked a weeklong honeymoon, assuming that the "wedding is always free" at Sandals.

When his agent confirmed the final arrangements, it turned out that only certain rooms could qualify for the gratis ceremonies. Rather than lose a client, Carlson Wagonlit covered the additional costs.

Another honeymooning client got stuck on a Sandals property during a hurricane and was refused admittance to the beach but wasn't offered any compensation. "They told me the eye of the hurricane had to pass over the hotel in order for the hurricane guarantee to apply," he says.

Sandals spokeswoman Carolyn Bojalad insists that "if a guest's stay is interrupted by a hurricane -even for a day -then the hurricane guarantee applies." Similarly, she says, the free wedding applies to "any room at any property, as long as you stay six days."

It hardly matters.

As one of his competitors, who asked to remain nameless, puts it, "a rating system can't have any credibility if you are rating yourself, and if you make exaggerated claims about your properties, people will eventually find out."

Christopher Elliott is a travel commentator and author of A Bridge to Nowhere: A Year in the Florida Keys. All e-mailed questions may be edited, condensed or republished at the site's discretion.