Hello and happy Sunday, travel friends, both near and far. Here are some articles we’ve read from other bloggers (and other sources) that we think you may like, so we’re passing them along.
- A thread is going around social media sites asking if TripAdvisor is still relevant. We’ve been asking if you’re able to trust TripAdvisor for years. We’ve developed our own rules when looking at reviews and still use them, even after removing one of my reviews from the site.
- This next post needs a warning that the content may be upsetting to Hyatt Globalists. I’ve rarely seen the number of passionate replies as there was to the decision by someone not to try to keep World of Hyatt Globalist status after having it for a year. It’s not a popular hill to stand on but as someone who is proud not to have loyalty to any program, I get why someone would feel it’s not worth the effort to keep top-level status. It’s not saying that you don’t like Hyatt, but that, like us, you can still like Hyatt even if you’re not a Globalist.
- We’re moving to a new phase of the COVID-era which means we’re seeing headlines that would have seemed outrageous a year ago. Ready or not, governments are getting adjusted to the level of severe COVID cases and deaths enough to relax restrictions. Iceland is one of the first to lift all restrictions, from immigration testing, mask requirements and social distancing guidelines. We visited Iceland last year shortly after they relaxed masking restrictions and testing requirements and wrote what it was like to live in a world with no COVID rules. They’ve recently caught some heat for saying that everyone needs to catch COVID to get to the next stage of the pandemic but in a highly vaccinated population and with 2/3 of residents already having recovered, it’s a bet they’re willing to make.
- It’s no secret that we’re big fans of the TWA Hotel at JFK Airport. We’ve stayed there twice and love the history and the vibe which is unlike any other hotel we’ve visited. However, we freely admit that the hotel has some serious problems. I saw a recent hotel review that included a visit to the hotel pool. Doing some research, I found that the TWA hotel still requires reservations for the rooftop area (except for first thing in the morning) but they’ve done away with charging guests staying overnight to visit the pool or to eat/drink at the pool bar. I don’t know if this is only a change during the winter months but this was one of the most onerous hotel fees we’ve ever seen.
- One of the perks for those who’ve signed up for the new Capital One Venture X is a $200 credit for vacation rentals. I used it to pay for my Airbnb in Hawaii. This is a new bonus category for Capital One cards and people are discovering that some unexpected expenses are triggering the credit.
Want to comment on this post? Great! Read this first to help ensure it gets approved.
Want to sponsor a post, write something for Your Mileage May Vary or put ads on our site? Click here for more info.
Like this post? Please share it! We have plenty more just like it and would love it if you decided to hang around and sign up to get emailed notifications of when we post.
Whether you’ve read our articles before or this is the first time you’re stopping by, we’re really glad you’re here and hope you come back to visit again!
This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
