VANCOUVER & NYC ON SALE...BOARDING PASSES ON YOUR PHONE?

Not sure what to do with your summer holidays? A trip to Vancouver sounds like a great option given an apparent drop - a big drop - in hotel prices.

According to hotwire.com, you can get a 3-star property in Vancouver for just $70 U.S. this month, down 38 per cent from a year ago. New York properties in the 3-star category are down to around $119 a night, a drop of 32 per cent from June, 2008.

As for Toronto, they said a 4-star property is $77 this month, a 23 per cent decline from a year ago.

Here's the list of the top 10 price drops, with examples of current deals in U.S. dollars:

1. Vancouver        38%     3-star property $70

2. New York         32%     3-star property $119

3. San Diego        29%     3-star property $72

4. Tampa             26%     3-star property $71

5. Montreal          23%     4-star property $97

6. Las Vegas       23%     4-star property $76

7. Toronto            23%     4-star property $77

8. Oahu, Hawaii   22%     3-star property $77

9. Orlando           22%     4-star property $69

10. Los Angeles   21%    3-star property $74

For more information, go to hotwire.com/hotelratereport

CARIBBEAN DEALS (THERE"S NEVER BEEN A BETTER TIME TO VISIT, PART 6)

You can scan a list of travel deals all over the world and probably find 1,000 press releases every day that talk about how there's never been a better time to visit such and such a place. They're mostly true, as it turns out, as there are some remarkable buys out there.

John Israel, Caribbean regional director for Orbitz.com, tells cnn.com he's seeing deals of 65 to 70 per cent off hotels in the Caribbean and that families can "save bundles" by buying a package deal.

Gabe Saglie of travelzoo.com says folks should seek out new resorts who might be looking to fill empty beds.

WHAT'S WRONG WITH PAPER?

Spotted an item on newsweek's site talking about how more and more airports and airlines are letting folks use their cell phone as a boarding pass. Apparently the airlines, Delta among them, will send you a text message with a barcode in it and you just open the message and show your phone to the security/desk person and on you go.

Call me old-fashioned, but is it really that much of a hassle to carry a paper boarding pass?

MAINE WANTS YOU

USAToday also reports that the company operating the ferry that goes from Nova Scotia to Maine is changing its marketing to go after Canadians and try to get them to go to Maine.

"In past years, Bay Ferries has focused mostly on getting Americans to use The Cat to get from Maine to Nova Scotia. But the relatively strong Canadian dollar is causing the company to shift some of its ad dollars to the Canadian market," the paper said.