PE.com - Tourism Blog

(No longer limited to Palm Springs and land/The Press-Enterprise)

Feel a little restricted by your clothes when you travel? Now's your chance to hop on board a commercial flight and strip down to your essentials.

From Reuters via USA Today, a German travel agency is offering a completely nude flight from Erfurt to Usedom (which sounds more like corporate slang than a Baltic Sea resort) for $735 round trip.

While the crew will remain clothed, passengers will only be allowed to be naked while on board, although remaining au natural would do wonders for expiditing security lines.

Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 2:07 PM, January 31
Comments: Add/View (0)
Tags: odd travel
Permalink

The Palm Springs Desert Resorts Convention and Visitors Authority (perennial winner in the "Longest Name for a Quasi-Government Agency" contest) has apparently scrapped its old slogan "Give in to the Desert" in favor of "Palm Springs California -- an Oasis of Desert Resorts"

A couple bits of background:

1. The old slogan was originally introduced as "Give in to the Desert - You're Surrounded," which unnerved a few branding experts I spoke to at the time who thought it sounded like hostage taking. Eventually a less claustrophobic sounding "Give in to the Desert" was used.

2. The CVA gets most of its funding from city members (Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Cathedral City, Indian Wells, Indio, La Quinta, Rancho Mirage and Desert Hot Springs) who give the group a portion of the hotel taxes it earns. Because all eight cities are investing in the organization that is set up to promote the desert to meeting planners, groups and the press, no one city wants to be left out. So instead of letting "Palm Springs" get all the glory in branding efforts, they always try to add "desert cities" to account for the rest of them.

So after a marketing firm, Reno-based InfoSearch International was paid $10,000 to reccomend a new slogan (they suggested "Palm Springs, California's Desert Oasis") the CVA's cities voted to add "desert cities" to it.

In a Power Point marketing presentation to the governing board, the CVA's administrators acknowledged that there's a "Lack of brand clarification - the destination, is not sending a clear destination branding message"

Check back later - I'll be posting a list of memorable travel slogans to other destinations.

Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 12:13 PM, January 31
Comments: Add/View (0)
Tags: palm springs
Permalink

(Homewood Suites La Quinta)

Out of 26 new Homewood Suites that opened in 2007, the Homewood Suites in La Quinta is king among customers according to the company that manages it.

Windsor Hospitality Group claims they had the highest Hilton Hotel Corp. "SALT" score, "Satisfaction and Loyalty Tracking," among the new hotels with a 97 percent rating.

Anyone stayed there yet? If so, what'd you think?

Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 11:20 AM, January 31
Comments: Add/View (0)
Tags: hotels, la quinta
Permalink

Since everyone has a blog (including yours truly) it only seems fair that the Transportation Security Administration has launched its graphically-spiffy, movie-title-sounding Evolution of Security blog.

From the TSA's press release:

"We at TSA understand the 'why' of the security process and the reasoning behind it, but the public's perception of TSA is based solely on their checkpoint experience. We need to do a better job of explaining the 'why," said TSA Administrator Kip Hawley. "This blog is aimed at providing an interactive forum where people can share feedback and get answers."

Good point from Hawley. Travelers should expect, in the least, a "why" they're being pulled aside for extra screening, or seem suspicious based on behavior profiling or can't take seemingly innocuous items on a plane with them.

Expect to hear from TSA administration heads as well as security screeners we all meet during our travels, according to the agency.

Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 11:17 AM, January 30
Comments: Add/View (0)
Tags: TSA
Permalink

Admittedly, I've taken my fair share of shampoos, conditioners and stationary sets from hotels, but a 5-gallon punch bowl?? Or banquet chairs?? That takes a special breed of person - particularly a Copperfield or MacGyver with suspect morals or prankster psyche.

The Press-Enterprise has done a story before about The Mission Inn in Riverside's quest to reclaim what has been taken from them or bought in sales years ago when the idea of preservation had hardly occured to the then owners, but the hotel got another mention in USA Today story here.

Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 10:33 AM, January 30
Comments: Add/View (0)
Tags: hotels
Permalink

Hey folks, I'm at the DEMO 08 conference in Palm Desert today and the name of the event is pretty self-explanatory -- tech companies launching new products or ideas present six minute "demos" after taking the stage to techno music (the wall in the media room is vibrating a bit, really) and pitch their ideas to a crowd of investors, business-types and we of the media.

Among the 77 companies here, two are travel related and may be interesting to those who are all too familiar with Facebook and the like, or already reccommend their travels to others on sites like Travelocity, Expedia and Orbitz.

Buzka Popnet is from a couple of Austrailians who thought friends and family searching online for possible vacation ideas, bookmarking sites as they go along, may want to share all those Web sites with their travel mates at one time, rather than copying and pasting links in e-mails. Travelers can create folders (i.e. Seattle vacation) and collect the Web sites they don't want to forget in it. They can also attach comments to sites and send them on to friends or family. You can also see what your friends and family bookmark.
From what I could tell, its essentially an organizational tool for folks who may think regular old browser bookmarking is too plain.
Personally, all I wanted to do while planning a trip to Ireland with my friend Jessi last year was to be able to send her the exact frozen site from airlines and train fares so we could figure out costs and schedules while we both planned the trip on our own times. The folks at Buzka claim that will be a feature in a month or so. I hope so.

Citiport is from Taiwan and is looking for locals - no matter where you're from. Their site depends on the locals who sign on and reccomend hotels, restaurants, attractions to the travelers (also, locals can be travelers, so its one symbiotic social networking site). If folks appreciate your reccomendations, you could get promoted to "tour guide" status so your reccomendations hold more sway, kindof like an e-bay seller with a slew of good reviews. I'm not entirely sure if there's any reward to being a tour guide though. Like Buzca's Popnet, it's free to sign up.

Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 2:16 PM, January 29
Comments: Add/View (0)
Tags: travel web sites
Permalink

(Space suit from Orbital Outfitters)

Space, the final frontier, is feeling a little less like the shaky camera stylings of Star Trek fantasy and more like a place we (everyday people) might get to visit in our lifetimes thanks to the marketing prowess of Virgin Galactic that promises imminent launches of its commercial space flights at a mere $200,000 a pop.

And when we DO start traveling to the not-so-distance reaches of outer space, we'll need suits. That's where Orbital Outfitters come in. The DC-based company was at the Angel Capital EXPO (essentially a speed dating round for investors and young companies) Monday in Palm Desert with its space suit on display. A video that played on the company's displayed laptop showed space travelers in a model of the XCOR spacecraft snapping digital photos from the cockpit.

CEO Jeff Feige was careful not to give away any of the proprietary secrets of the space suit that debuted last October but did mention it'd be more intuitive than current NASA suits so novice flyers could handle it.

"Not all your customers are going to be test pilots," he said. "I knew this was a niche that needed to be filled."

Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 5:24 PM, January 28
Comments: Add/View (0)
Tags: space tourism
Permalink

I just checked the Mobil Travel Guide announcement and no Inland hotels, restaurants or spas among its list that earned four and five stars.

See the full list at this site.

Agree with Mobil's choices?

Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 8:13 AM, January 28
Comments: Add/View (0)
Permalink

The Mobil Travel Guide will announce which U.S. hotels and restaurants have garnered its rare five star award, and who else won at least four stars today. Last year, no Inland hotels and restaurants were among those who earned four or five stars so we'll see if the IE earned star status this year. Granted the system for granting stars is particularly stringent (I recall one factor requires hotels to have 24 hour room service. For hotels in the desert at least, it just doesn't pencil to have that service during the summer).

Which local hotels and restaurants do you think should make the list?

Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 12:16 AM, January 28
Comments: Add/View (0)
Permalink

When you're not texting photos to your friends of inane things taken with your camera phone or surfing the mobile version of Facebook to see who has commented on your status update, you can check into your flight on American Airlines. The airline has announced that passengers using web-enabled cell phones and blackberrys can log onto www.aa.com to check in for their flight, check their flight's status and look at their itineraries.

Folks will eventually be able to actually buy tickets from their cell phone or change their reservations later this Springs, according to the company.

From the sound of the press release, it doesn't look like it will function like what Continental Airlines is testing where the boarding pass itself is encoded on the cell phone screen and then scanned like a barcode at the gate.

I'm just waiting for a phone with a printer attached.

Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 10:59 AM, January 25
Comments: Add/View (0)
Tags: airlines
Permalink

As if I needed another reason to visit Seattle -- the Hotel Monaco is now offering Guitar Hero III nights in its lobby every Friday from 5 to 6 p.m. during its usual wine hour, according to a story from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

That's in addition to bringing you a goldfish and its bowl, upon request and hosting fortune tellers twice a week.

Rates look pretty pricey at about $300 including taxes, but there are cheap, and equally hip flights now available on Virgin America.

Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 5:05 PM, January 24
Comments: Add/View (0)
Tags: hotels
Permalink

(Virgin Galactic)

Brush off your space suit. Flights on the first ever commercial space tourism company will start next year. Richard Branson, the hip billionaire behind the first private space tourism company, Virgin Galactic, just recently revealed what the ship will look like complete with a moon roof (with, what I presume will be a much better view of the moon than the one you have from your SUV) and space to float around in zero gravity.

If you've got $20,000 for a deposit and another $180,000 to pay once you take your flight, you could call the only travel agent in the Inland Empire booking space flights: Jim Sheehy in Palm Desert.

Here's his info verbatim from Virgin Galactic's Web site (don't mind the travel agent PR) :

Jim Sheehy, Protravel International - Palm Desert Protravel International is one of the largest travel agencies in the country. The secret to our success is we have the best agents working for us partnered with the best travel vendors in the industry. Our company mission is to provide quality services, value added amenities along with exceptional prices. Please contact our space travel specialist, Jim Sheehy, Managing Director Southwest Division, on1800 854 4707 or jsheehy@protravelinc.com. You can call into one of our offices 73-722 El Paseo, Palm Desert CA 92260

Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 4:45 PM, January 23
Comments: Add/View (0)
Tags: space travel
Permalink

What's the first thing to line-item veto in corporate budgets when the economy starts to sour?

Travel.

And what can you or I do without?

You guessed it -- travel.

That's what happened during the last recession go around.

One researcher I've spoken with from PKF Hospitality Research said a Darwin scenerio typically plays out during rough times. The hotels that were struggling before will continue to devolve since those people who were willing to pay to stay, won't be much longer.

Any intention to change your travel plans based on the fantastic economic conditions we're facing? Lemme know.

Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 5:49 AM, January 23
Comments: Add/View (0)
Tags: hotels
Permalink

The Agua Caliente Casino Resort and Spa is a few months away from opening its $300 million hotel but before it does, the tribe is re-opening its Steakhouse restaurant this Friday at 5 p.m.

It's inside the hotel, so chances are you'll get a peek of the hotel's interior design while you're there including the two-story waterfall in the lobby's entrance, according to a press release from the group.

Free food alert! The Steakhouse will be serving a sampling of hors d' oeuvres and chef Tim Wilcox will be presenting a cooking demonstration on Feb. 11 at 4 p.m. For more information call Andrea Carpenter at 760-202-2670.

Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 5:14 PM, January 22
Comments: Add/View (0)
Tags: agua caliente, hotels
Permalink

(ExpressJet lands at LA/Ontario International Airport in early 2007)

UPDATE: I just talked to Kristy Nicholas, spokeswoman for ExpressJet, and while it may seem odd for the CEO of an airline to stop by a local chamber meeting, in ExpressJet's case it isn't, she said. She also said the visit isn't a sign that service through Palm Springs International Airport is on the horizon, it's just an effort to get more folks in Palm Springs to their flights in Ontario. See the original post, and my initial thoughts below:

ExpressJet, the relatively new branded airline that serves LA/Ontario International Airport with 15 destinations (most of them direct flights without a layover) will be making an appearance at the Palm Springs Chamber of Commerce meeting tonight from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Forest Lawn Mortuaries at 4707 E. Sunny Dunes Rd.

What's odd is that ExpressJet isn't a Palm Springs Chamber of Commerce member and has never directly reached out to Palm Springs residents before. The airline's CEO, Jim Ream, is scheduled to appear in person and raffle off two round-trip tickets

I have a call into Palm Springs International Airport to see if the folks there have been trying to land ExpressJet service. Otherwise this just may be the airline's attempt to encourage residents to opt for Ontario Airport rather than Palm Springs Airport which is typically more expensive and has less direct flights.

Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 10:04 AM, January 22
Comments: Add/View (2)
Tags: airlines, expressjet
Permalink

Temecula is being eyed for a new hotel. The Staubach Company which was founded by former Dallas Cowboys' quarterback Roger Staubach, was in town Nov. 14 to scope out possible locations for a hotel, according to a report from the city's economic development department in this week's City Council agenga. The company generally helps its clients select sites, buy real estate or sell real estate in addition to other consulting roles.

Thanks to Temecula reporter Jeff Horseman for a heads up on this.

No telling where they were looking or how serious their client may be, but I'll keep you posted here.

Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 4:04 PM, January 18
Comments: Add/View (0)
Tags: hotels, temecula
Permalink

There's always a chance that while watching reality shows, typically any of the many on VH1 or MTV, you'll catch a glimpse of our Inland Empire's hotel offerings.

The Miramonte Resort & Spa
Starred in the first season of Flavor of Love on VH1.
Highlight: A hotel employee looks a little frightened when Flavor Flav and two of the contestants vying for his love are left to their own devices in the spa. What did she think would happen when you give three adults (I use that term loosely) mud and a shower on a dating show?

(VH1) Flavor Flav Enjoying the Desert

The J.W. Marriott Desert Springs Resort and Spa
Long the playground for "Saved by the Bell" (Jesse Spano couldn't possibly let her dad get married!) and the detectives from the short-lived "P.S. I Luv You," the Real Housewives of Orange County invaded the hotel for a weekend of relaxation and dancing at Costas nightclub.

The La Quinta Resort & Club
While the plot for the X-Effect on MTV is a little suspect (the channel reunites exes for a weekend while their new significant others spy on them) the first episode looks as if it was filmed at the 800-room La Quinta Resort & Club in La Quinta.

Seen a local resort on a reality show lately?

Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 2:24 PM, January 17
Comments: Add/View (0)
Tags: hotels
Permalink

The developers of an aLoft hotel in Rancho Cucamonga are still aiming to be the first in the nation to open their aLoft hotel. The much ballyhooed offshoot from Starwood Hotels aims to be a hip, trendy business hotel for the economical traveler who covets a reservation at the pricier, trendier W Hotel (also owned by Starwood).

Paul Novak, developer with the John Buck Co. building the Rancho Cucamonga aLoft said the hotel is scheduled to open in the latter part of May.

"The objective is to have it be the first one," he said.

Also vying for the "first to open" honors -- Lexington, MA.

Also, I can't believe I managed to miss this when it was first posted but below is a fake news video about the ground breaking in Rancho Cucamonga last year. Besides being a little disturbed by the fakeness especially the "quotes" from Starwood from their "sources", I apparently made an unwilling cameo at the 2:20 mark (chick in the grey slacks to the left of the fake reporter)

Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 5:31 AM, January 16
Comments: Add/View (2)
Tags: hotels, rancho cucamonga
Permalink

(Nakheel)

Leave it to Dubai to let a developer build a donut-shaped hotel on a man-made island. According to other hotel blogs Dubai developer Nakheel, which has been working on making a series of island that are shaped like continents, has plans to build the circular hotel. There's no mention of it on their company Web site, but the renderings look similar to other plans.

I'm just hoping they have an elevator with the spirit of the "inclinators" at the Luxor in Las Vegas.

The other wild hotel idea from Dubai? A hotel where each individual floor of the skyscraper rotates 360 degrees around.

Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 3:59 PM, January 15
Comments: Add/View (0)
Tags: hotels
Permalink

Indian Wells has lost a second luxury hotel brand that had plans to build a resort near the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Today, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts announced it will be the luxury brand for a new resort to sit next to the headquarters of the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic (starting this week) off Interstate 10 and Cook Street in Palm Desert.

Construction on the 300-room hotel will likely start in 2009 for a 2011 opening and include 125 homes that may or may not be rented for nightly stays by their individual owners.

Fairmont had planned to build a five-story condo-hotel project in Indian Wells. Dallas-based Remington Hotel Corp. recently pulled out of plans to build a 267-room condo-hotel also near the Indian Wells Tennis Garden off of Highway 111.

Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 12:56 PM, January 14
Comments: Add/View (0)
Tags: hotels, indian wells, palm desert
Permalink

Apparently women business travelers don't use laptops (or shoes for that matter) while traveling for business according to the TSA.

I just noticed the two video offerings on the Homeland Security agency's Web site that explain what the security process may be like for the female business traveler:

And for the male business traveler:

I don't know what's more disturbing - the fact that they've had these gender-specific videos up on their Web site since at least Sept. 2006 or no one thought they could make a video for, say, all business travelers.

Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 9:22 AM, January 11
Comments: Add/View (2)
Tags: security
Permalink

(Your choice of pillows at the Holiday Inn)

My philosophy: the more pillows the better.

Holiday Inn has answered my call. Resting on the beds at the new Holiday Inn City Center in Palm Springs are "Pillow Menus" that let you order the pillow that's just the right fit for you.

Me? I'll take 5 of the medium down pillows, thankyouverymuch.

Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 10:42 AM, January 10
Comments: Add/View (0)
Tags: hotels
Permalink

(View of the Riviera as of Jan. 7, 2008. The new fence announces a Fall 2008 opening)

If Elvis really is alive and he comes back to his former haunt, the Riviera Resort & Spa in Palm Springs, he's not going to recognize the joint.

His stage in the Mediterranean Room is in tatters, bracing for its renewal as a 12,000 square foot spa. The pool is drained, prepped for when it will be completely rebuilt in an ameoba-like shape surrounded by fire pits.

After entertaining a possible sale to another developer who wanted to convert some of the hotel into condos (that fell through), the current owner Noble House Hotels & Resorts has big plans for what the hotel will likely look like when it re-opens before the end of the year.

Thanks to Jim Lopez, the hotel's director of sales and marketing, who gave me a behind the scenes tour of the property that has long been shrouded by construction fencing since the company bought it in May 2006. At that time the company had said it would spend $50 million and 18 months renovating the property. Lopez said the price tag is now about $70 million.

I would venture to guess its fairly odd for a hotel developer to show off a property in such disrepair it'd make a good setting for a classic horror movie, but Lopez has good reason to show it off. He's promising an unbelievable "after" in the Riviera's makeover.

The hotel, first built in 1959, is billing itself as legendary and Lopez has started showing off plans to meeting planners looking for a place to stay starting in 2009.

Its 476 rooms will become 407 after smaller rooms are combined to make rooms that had been about 300 square feet into 463 square-foot rooms. None of the rooms will be sold as condos.

The lobby will be gutted and bulky front desk removed and replaced with individual podiums. A hotel bar will be added. And parking lots will be turned into landscaped water-features and more fire pits.

I'll be writing more about the tour so check back here for the full story.

For more photos, click the link below.

(What the exterior of the rooms may look like -- orange accents and dark wood edges. No more aging canvas awnings)

(The pool, now drained, will be re-shaped and surrounded by fire pits)

(Inside the Riviera's former theater where the Rat Pack and Elvis performed. Plans include making the space into a 12,000 square foot spa with two locker rooms, pool and fitness equipment)

Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 5:31 AM, January 09
Comments: Add/View (0)
Tags: palm springs, riviera
Permalink

ExpressJet Airlines, which flies out of LA/Ontario International Airport is bracing for the worst in weather this weekend so its allowing folks who booked a flight through Sunday Jan. 6 to change their flight once without any penalty fee. If your flight gets cancelled this weekend, the airline will refund you the cost of booking the ticket originally.

Otherwise, be prepared to wait out the storm.

If you want to change your reservation call 888-958-XJET (9538). To check your flight's status call 877-958-FLTS (3587)

Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 4:55 PM, January 04
Comments: Add/View (0)
Tags: airlines, expressjet
Permalink

So you think you've seen a Holiday Inn? You haven't been to Palm Springs yet. Taking a note from the city's penchant for and surplus of modern architecture, the just opened Holiday Inn City Center on Highway 111 and Sunrise Way has the moss green exterior, bright accent colors and stand-out tented entrance designed by local modern architect James Cioffi.

The 229 rooms (and 20 suites) are also pet-friendly for dogs no more than 20 pounds which will tack on an extra $20 to the bill, and according to the press release there will be a "People Food for Dogs" menu including "Chick-n-Paw Pie, Tuna Mutt Casserole and 5-Star Mutt Buffet."

I'll be checking out the hotel for myself Monday so check back for my first-hand take.

(Courtesy of the Holiday Inn City Center)

(Courtesy of the Holiday Inn City Center)

(Courtesy of the Holiday Inn City Center)

Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 10:24 AM, January 04
Comments: Add/View (0)
Tags: palm springs
Permalink

For some time it seemed as if no one could talk about anything else but condo-hotels as if the idea of paying $1 million to own a hotel room for two weeks of the year while hoping tourists would rent your room the rest of the time was elementary.

It seemed to work in San Diego where all 420 rooms in the downtown Hard Rock Hotel were sold in one day including to Kevin Martin before the recent Southern California wildfires destroyed his home leaving him with no house and a $1,700 a month mortgage payment for his condo that wasn't even open for business until its grand opening this month.

It was also the only way to finance a hotel according to hotel developers who brought their concepts to city councils mesmerized by the potential hotel tax and cache of a five-star resort that wouldn't need funding help from city coffers.

In the Coachella Valley, the concept gained significant buzz when Remington, a Dallas-based hotel management company, announced it would build its first $280 million Remington resort in Indian Wells with condo units starting at $900,000. That was back in Jan. 2006.

Quietly, the company has given up on the project.

No ground has been broken and there's no sign of the company's Las Montanas Resort online. The most telling is the fact that www.remingtonlasmontanas.com now directs visitors to this corporate site instead. A site set up to advertise its real estate offerings is virtually blank except for an unidentified photo of an Indian Wells hillside and a computer generated rendering of what they intended the rooms to look like.

I have a call in to the city to find out if the project has been taken over by anyone else.

Apparently Remington raised $28 million in the first 60-days of announcing the project in reservations though according to Jim Kleczewski's bio for his new job as a real estate agent in Arizona. His old job was serving as project manager for the Las Montanas proposal.

What happened to the money folks invested to reserve a room? Not sure. But I'll find out and let you know.

UPDATE -- The developer that owns the land Remington was going to build its hotel on is Sanderson J. Ray out of Irvine. According to the community development director in Indian Wells, Sanderson J. Ray is looking for a new hotel brand to step in and built the hotel. It isn't clear if the new concept will be a condo-hotel or regular hotel.

Posted by Kimberly Pierceall at 5:22 AM, January 02
Comments: Add/View (0)
Permalink