Falling Canada Hotel Prices...Choice-Expedia fight...Jim's Deal of the Day
Okay, it's not their best weather. But it's a great time to visit Calgary, Montreal and Quebec City. Perhaps a little easier, and better from a meteorological standpoint, is that prices have fallen for hotels in Niagara Falls.
Hotwire.com published its October Canadian Hotel Rate Report today and found that Calgary four-star hotel prices fell 11% from this time last year to $104, while those in Niagara Falls dropped by 10% to $115. Also falling 10% were four-star properties in Montreal and Quebec City ($104 for each).
The cost of a five-star hotel in Vancouver dropped nine per cent to $122, Hotwire said.
A CHOICE-EXPEDIA DISPUTE
A story in Travel Weekly the other day said Expedia has stopped selling Choice Hotel properties because the two sides couldn't agree on a new contract.
I tried to search for a Comfort Inn in Orlando on expedia.com and came away with zilch, even though they have properties in the land of the mouse. When I looked for a hotel in Niagara Falls on expedia.ca, it came up with a Comfort Inn property. But when I looked for one at Pearson Airport, the Comfort Inn near the airport didn't come up.
It's possible some of the individual hotels have individual deals with Expedia that mean they're not part of the Choice Hotels dispute.
Either way, the story is an interesting one.
The Travel Weekly piece pointed out Choice has some 5,000 hotels around the world operating under such brands as Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Quality, Sleep Inn, Econo Lodge, Rodeway Inn, Clarion and Cambria Suites (and, boy that's a lot of hotel names in one group ain't it?).
Choice said Expedia was trying to "dramatically alter their agreement, asking for full control of our franchisees' room inventory and pricing..."
Expedia returned the fire, stating it was "disappointed that Choice has decided to take what amounted to good faith negotiations...and publicize them in such an innacurate and misleading manner."
Ouch.
LANGUAGE DISPUTES DOWN SOUTH
Interesting story in the papers today about the Texas cops who gave ordinary drivers tickets for failing to speak English; a direct assault on their rights. Soon after reading that,I spotted something in USA Today about a hotel operator in New Mexico who's being picketed for forcing his employees to Anglicize their names and forbidding them from speaking Spanish.
It's a very touchy issue south of the border.
TURKEY DAY TROUBLES?
A new survey from American Express says 30 % of U.S. consumers plan to adjust this year's Thanksgiving (Nov. 26) travel plans, normally the busiest travel time of the year down south. The survey also said 19% of the general population that traveled last year will stay home in 2009; not good for the industry.
JIM'S DEAL OF THE DAY
Twenty-seven cities, seven countries, one seat sale: Lufthansa has airfares to
as well as
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