It’s that time again. The Sochi Olympics have already begun, and the Opening Ceremony is Friday at 11 a.m. Eastern time. This is the first winter Olympics I’ve missed being at since Nagano. I was the Star’s Olympics assignment editor and on-site web person for all the Games from Sydney in 2000 up to Vancouver in 2010. Vancouver was a magical way to finish my Olympics career. I spent pretty much 15 to 16 hours a day at the Main Press Centre, organizing assignments and covering the odd press conference and writing sometimes eight or 10 stories a day for Read more
Canada
Mark my words; it’s only a matter of time until we start paying for our first bag on WestJet flights. WestJet yesterday upped prices by two per cent in response to the falling Canadian dollar. Air Canada did the same thing, as apparently did Air Transat. With the loonie down around 90 cents (it was up slightly yesterday), they probably have no choice. Some airlines, including Sunquest and Air Canada Vacations, already brought in special surcharges to make up for the falling dollar. Experts have said these moves have added seven to nine per cent in total costs to many Read more
It’s about time. I’ve been arguing for years that Canadian tourism folks are sailing the wrong waters by spending too much time and energy on emerging markets and forgetting the giant next door. Now I’ve got more company. In a press release issued yesterday in advance of next week’s Canadian Tourism Marketing Summit, it was revealed that a survey by HLT Advisory found an incredible 79 per cent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed with a proposal to focus increasingly scarce marketing resources on U.S. residents. Only four per cent of folks disagreed with something called the “Connecting America” initiative, Read more
A brilliant, new way to earn free trips faster. A lot faster. The folks at Rocketmiles and Aeroplan are announcing a partnership today that will “help put people on vacation faster.” Rocketmiles is an incredibly smart program where you can earn thousands of points with Aeroplan or other airline reward programs while booking hotels in cities around the world at excellent prices. The Chicago-based company was founded in 2012 and is headed up by American Jay Hoffmann, who used to work with the United Mileage Plus program and at Groupon and other companies. “I’ve seen what works, “ he told Read more
Great downtown Toronto location? Check. Sleek room design with a kitchen and laundry? Check. Chic lobby with a giant bank vault in the basement and a huge, grand hall upstairs? You got it. I had a chance to bed down at the historic 1 King West Hotel and Residences on the weekend and came away hugely impressed. I had a model suite and not all rooms look like mine just yet, but I’m told they’re being renovated and mine will be pretty typical. The suite I had on the 10th floor was quite large and comfortable; probably 425 square feet. Read more
