Oh, and they only focus on the premier Las Vegas Hotels so you do not get to Vegas and end up in a less than steller hotel miles from nowhere to save a buck. You stay at a top property and have money for all of the fun Vegas activities.

Experts are predicting increases in air travel expenses of 5 to 10 percent with most leaning to the high end. The perk that many companies are thinking about cutting back on, first class travel.

High oil prices and tight limits on the number of seats for sale are expected to drive up air fares.
In mid-November, business fares on the 280 busiest U.S. routes were up 8 percent year-over-year, according to price tracker Harrell Associates.
The AmEx forecast foresees an annual increase next year for international business-class fares in a range of 5 percent to 10 percent. For domestic coach fares, it projects increases of 1 percent to 5 percent.
Many big employers are looking for ways to manage around the fare increases. Mona Crisp, travel manager at Dallas-based 7-Eleven, is pushing her travelers to take responsibility for saving money without necessarily reducing their travel.
7-Eleven — like nearly three-quarters of companies that responded to a National Business Travel Association survey — now provides its corporate travelers with an online booking tool that compares fares. via IndyStar.com

Automobile renters with corporate accounts are not expected to see much of an increase as the bargaining power for the companies is still very strong. So if you are a small businessman or family looking to rent a car expect to see a modest increase in the price of a car rental when you travel.

The American Express Global Business Travel Forecast projects an increase in rental car rates next year of 4 percent or less.
Prices for airport car rentals “are a function of the number of people getting off of airplanes,” says consultant Neil Abrams, who advises companies on rental-car contract negotiations. “And as long as airline deplanements continue to rise . . . there will be some ability to raise” rates.
The National Business Travel Association forecasts a larger 2008 increase in rental car costs than does AmEx: 5 percent to 7 percent. But AmEx takes into account off-airport rentals, while NBTA does not.
Abrams and the NBTA expect the average rental rates paid by big corporations that can negotiate high-volume discounts with rental-car companies to rise only a bit, if at all.
To the extent that big corporations succeed in getting volume discounts, small companies and entrepreneurial business travelers will bear the brunt of rental-car companies’ expected revenue increases.
Gasoline prices also are likely to increase total spending on rental cars. via  IndyStar.com.

USA Today has the top 10 places to view Christmas Lights across the United States this year.

The top 10 are:

• Biltmore Estate Asheville, N.C.
• Dana-Thomas House Springfield, Ill.
• The American Club Kohler, Wis.
• The Farmers’ Museum Cooperstown, N.Y.
• Strawbery Banke Museum Portsmouth, N.H.
• Stowe at Night Stowe, Vt.
• Molly Brown House Museum Denver, CO
• Mary Todd Lincoln House/Hunt-Morgan House Lexington, Ky.
• Farolito Walk Santa Fe, NM
• Napa County Landmarks Napa County, Calif.

And I want to add one more to the list, Callaway Gardens just south of Atlanta has an amazing show called Fantasy in Lights.

Hotels will see an increase over the rate of inflation but of all the major categories will go up the least in terms of year over year increases. As a matter of fact, the rise in hotel rates will be the lowest since 2003.

Business travelers continue to show an affinity for upscale, luxury hotels like Ritz-Carlton and Four Seasons. And a large number of road warriors continue to find their way to midpriced chains like Hampton Inn and Holiday Inn Express.
In response, proprietors of those two kinds of hotel properties can be expected to raise their prices more than any other hotel types in 2008, according to PKF Hospitality Research.
PKF predicts the average room rate in the U.S. will go up about 5.3 percent, to just over $109 a night. But rates in the luxury segment will rise 6.6 percent to an average of nearly $309 a night. Midmarket hotels lacking formal food and beverage operations are forecast to bump up their prices 6 percent to $92 a night.
The American Express Business Travel Forecast paints a similar picture for hotel price increases next year: up 4 percent to 6 percent in the midmarket segment; up 5 percent to 7 percent in the higher-priced segments of the market. via IndyStar.com.

The extension was added to the appropriations bill for the Department of Homeland Security.
Congress originally set Jan. 1, 2008, as the date that all travelers entering the United States from other countries in the Western hemisphere would be required to have a passport. The Department of Homeland Security proposed moving up that deadline to Jan. 8, 2007, for cruise ship and airplane passengers.
Now Congress has pushed back the passport deadline for land and sea travel to June 1, 2009. Passports or other secure documents could be required earlier than this date if the government makes a lower-cost identification option available and installs the technology to read these cards at entry points.
Congress didn’t change the passport deadline for air travel. Airlines already ask passengers for passports for international travel, even in the Western hemisphere, so the new requirement won’t disrupt air travel, according to the Travel Industry Association of America.  via the Dayton Business Journal

HOLLAND AMERICA LINE will outfit all its ships with cell phone capability by March 2007, the line said; the service is currently available on the Volendam. The technology allows passengers to make and receive calls and send text messages on their own cell phones or personal digital assistants while onboard and be charged international roaming fees. The line partnered with SeaMobile, which provides the same service on ships for Silversea Cruises, Oceania Cruises and Crystal Cruises.

The rates, more than a $1,000 increase on a $2,000 premium, are effective Aug. 15 for new customers and Nov. 15 on renewals. State Farm Florida first sought an average 79 percent increase when it asked for higher rates in May, but the company withdrew that request earlier this month.

State Farm officials have said they sought the rate increase to enable the company to continue to underwrite coverage in the state. Other companies also have sought rate increases.

Allstate Floridian has pursued a different strategy, dropping Florida customers to reduce its risk from hurricane damage. Allstate has plans to drop 350,000 home policies. In March, the company had 529,000 Florida homeowners’ policies.

Nationwide has a pending request to increase rates by 71 percent on the 261,000 policies it has in Florida. via The Quad-City Times Newspaper

Passengers should see the new, commercialized sickness bags in September, he said.
The ads are just the latest initiative the company has used to squeeze out a bigger profit.
America West, which merged with US Airways last year, had the first advertisements in the industry on tray tables, the first airline gift cards and the first in-flight meals for sale.
“Little things like that work,” said Michael Boyd, president of the Boyd Group, an aviation consulting group in Evergreen, Colo. “Barf bags have a lot of shelf life — people aren’t barfing as much in planes as they used to.”
The new bags drew a few chuckles among US Airways passengers at the company’s hub at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.
“I would honestly pay no attention to an ad if I got sick,” said Nathan Vierra, 19, a student. “But hey, if skateboarders can sell ad space on their T-shirts, I guess why can’t an airline sell ads on barf bags?” via  MSNBC.com.

Do you wonder if Princess and the cruise industry just dodged a huge bullet and this ship is not seaworthy? Or was this just a fluke occurance that the steering problem that caused the roll was human error?

One passenger said seawater flooded several upper decks of the Crown Princess, forcing water from a swimming pool “like a mini-tsunami,” and breaking windows and furniture.
The vessel, with about 3,100 passengers and 1,200 crew, had just departed Port Canaveral on Florida’s east coast en route to New York when it listed badly to its left side, said Coast Guard spokesman Petty Officer James Judge.
The ship then righted itself before returning to port, where the Coast Guard said all passengers and crew had been accounted for.
Besides an adult and a child who were critically hurt, 12 people were seriously hurt and about 70 had lesser injuries, said Cape Canaveral Fire Rescue Capt. Jim Watson.
Thirty-three people were taken to hospitals, he said. Most had bruises and minor back and neck injures.

Dozens injured after cruise ship tilts - Yahoo! News.