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ELLIOTT'S E-MAIL
The Last Honest Travel Newsletter
http://www.elliott.org

January 1, 2001

> Inside

* This Week in Travel
* Happy New Year
* Socking it to Wired Guests
* Living and Dying in Online Travel
* Food Fight
* Grimes: Elite Service a Floor Away
* Maxa: Most Expensive Cities
* Riley: Slam Passengers

> This Week in Travel

I could spend an entire paragraph analyzing last week's bankruptcy filing by Commodore, but is that any way to welcome the New Year? Didn't think so. Fact is, other than the cruise line's unfortunate sinking, it was a "dead" week in the industry, with only your e-mails to keep me entertained. "I appreciate a good, occasionally self- deprecating column like your predictions review column [last] week," wrote David Huiner. "I don't have the time to do a scorecard of all the journalists I read, so doing your own, honest scorecard gives you more credibility in my book." (Thanks, David.) Regarding the follow-up to Pam Garza's Delta flight nightmare, reader Jerome Johnson notes, "If this situation truly happened the way Ms. Garza described, obviously other passengers would have seen it. Surely, at least one passenger would have complained to the media about it." (Jerome, I have a feeling we'll hear more on this soon ...)- CE

> By The Way

** Happy New Year
Here's wishing you and your family a happy and prosperous New Year! May all of your flights be safe and comfortable, your rental cars be smoke- and surcharge free, and your hotel rooms be clean and quiet in 2001. Thank you for making Elliott's E-Mail the most-read travel opinion newsletter on the Internet, and we look forward to serving you in the coming year.

> Our Sponsor

This issue of Elliott's E-Mail is underwritten by PS Inform, the daily news service from PositiveSpace. Unlike the travel trades, PS Inform doesn't claim to cover all the news ... just the news travel agents and their clients need to know. PS Inform is free to qualified travel professionals. To subscribe, click on http://positivespace.com/v2/redirect.phtml?loc_id=11 (Note: you may have to cut and past the URL into your browser if your e-mail program truncates it.)

> Elliott's Commentary

** Socking it to Wired Guests
Art Emery is the kind of traveler who tends to take things at face value. Free breakfast, for example, means that you won't see a bill after the meal. The room rate you're quoted by a hotel is the rate you'll actually be charged. And a toll-free phone call is, well, toll free. So you can imagine the Dallas consultant's surprise when he checked out of a Sheraton property in Indianapolis recently and was presented with a charge for his "800" number calls. In a "best of" edition of The Travel Technologist at http://www.elliott.org/technology/2000/hotelsock.htm

** Living and Dying in Online Travel
One of the cool things about having your commentaries posted on the Internet is that you get calls from principals at startup companies who want to pick your brain about online travel. In a column I wrote last April at the start of the dotcom crash, I ponder what makes an online startup successful - and what can doom it to failure. As the optimism of a New Year gives way to the reality of a stock market correction, the comments are every bit as timely as they were then. Read more in this week's installment of Inside Interactive Travel at http://www.elliott.org/interactive/2000/startups.htm

** Food Fight
How hard is it to eat healthy on the road? For many travelers, it's almost impossible. Take airline food, for example. A spring 2000 study by online health site eFit suggests it's healthier to consume a McDonald's Big Mac, french fries and a strawberry sundae than to eat most airline dinners. Although the airline industry says it's working hard to upgrade its in-flight menus, health-food advocates remain unhappy. Find out why in this month's travel column in Entrepreneur Magazine. Click on http://entrepreneur.com/Magazines/MA_SegArticle/0,1539,285015----1- ,00.html

> Other Voices

** Grimes: Elite Service a Floor Away
For a comfortable and convenient hotel stay, it might be worthwhile to pay extra to stay on an elite floor, reports Paul Grimes. The floors go by various names, such as "executive," "concierge" or "club" levels. You'll typically find them at full-service hotels, especially those that are popular among business travelers. Access is sometimes restricted; many elevators won't even stop at elite floors unless a passenger inserts an appropriate room key into a slot on the control panel. Read more at http://www.smarterliving.com/columns/paul/20001228.html

** Maxa: Most Expensive Cities
It takes an average of 36 minutes of work to pay for a Big Mac around the world. But in one city, you'll have to work nearly three hours to afford one; in two others, just nine minutes will do the trick. The "Big Mac Test" is just one of many yardsticks reported by Swiss banking group UBS in its new survey, "Prices and Earnings Around the Globe." The information is instructive not only for travelers, but for anyone considering relocation, reports Rudy Maxa. Get more at http://www.msnbc.com/news/501974.asp

** Riley: Slam Passengers
It's the battle cry of today's ticked-off travel writers: Slam the airlines. Security expert Terry Riley's colleagues, from Cheap Charlie to David Kirby, do it regularly, much to the delight of Ticked.com's readership. But while Riley's no fan of the airlines, he's not a blustery critic of them either. Sure, people get frustrated when flying. Some even get dangerous. However, he points his finger of culpability more often at dimwitted passengers than at the airlines that take them aloft. Get the details at http://ticked.com/errtravel/2000/errworthy.htm

> Your Opinion Matters

Read something you disagree with? Got a story idea or a gripe? Your opinion can make a difference. E-mail us at editor@e... or call (410) 626-9618 with any comments, feedback or suggestions about anything in this newsletter. Your participation won't just make it a better service, but it could also improve travel.

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