Monday, February 28, 2011

BEDBUGS!?

Want to know if you hotel has an infestation?

www.bedbugregistry.com

Bed bugs do not fly; the burrow. They are carried place to place in clothes, your skin, furniture, briefcases..... and porous material.
It is important to note that while not considered a public health concern as there are no know diseases carried by bed bugs, they are non the less annoying.

New Hampshire vs the TSA?

Who would have thought New Hampshire would be on the leading edge in defense of the Constitution! Bravo!

See excerpt below for what is in front of the NH legislature

_________________________________________________________________________

An ACT making the touching or viewing with a technological device of a person’s breasts or genitals by a government security agent without probable cause a sexual assault.

1 New Subparagraph; Sexual Assault; Touching or Viewing by Government Security Agent. Amend RSA 632-A:4, I by inserting after subparagraph (c) the following new subparagraph:

(d) When the person, acting in his or her role as a security agent of the federal, state, or local government, touches the genitals or breasts of any other person or touches or views with any technological device the genitals or breasts of any other person without probable cause for such touching or viewing. For purposes of this subparagraph, the following shall not constitute probable cause: discussing or possessing a copy of the Constitution, discussing the security apparatus of an airport, being on the premises of an airport, possessing an airplane ticket or any other type of ticket for access to mass transportation, driving a motor vehicle on a public way, or ownership of firearms.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

10 tips to mobile phones

1. Don't get a new phone until after your contract expires. Mobile companies will start to woo you (retain) as a customer and the discounts & free offers will start rolling in.

2. Always go into a retail store at end of month when they have promotions & quota's to meet

3. Never use 411. They charge over $1. Use 800-FREE411 or 800-CALL411

4. Never forget to mail in the rebates on new phones & contracts. It is lost money if you don't follow up

5. Leaving phone near steam is as bad as dropping it in a bucket of water

6. If you are way over on minutes, call and upgrade your plan. It will be alot cheaper than $.25/$.35 a minute

7. check your memberships; many offer mobile phone company group discounts

8. Want to cancel a contract without penalty? Tell company your moving where they don't have service. They might not check.

9. Watch your bill. If they add taxes & fees you were not advised of, they have to remove them. Federal law states you must be advised.

10. Never buy accessories at the story. Go to the flea market or buy on internet for the same items at more than 50% discount

11. If your call quality degrades, don't hang up! Phone companies track dropped calls to identify & fix those spots.

12. NEVER, NEVER text something to a number you see in an advertisement. Just say now to free ring tones, horoscopes, tips or jokes of day, etc. It will likely register you for a monthly service and those fees can be extraordinary. The phone company can not help you get them removed as they are a third party provider.

Are you still reading? Yes, I said 10 tips and gave you twelve. A bakers dozen. :)

Thursday, February 17, 2011

US Airways flight attendants to stage protests

US Airways flight attendants will stage protests at four airports on Thursday, expressing displeasure that they haven’t received a new contract that "reflects the sacrifices they made for the success of the airline."

Flight attendants will picket at Charlotte, Washington Reagan National, Philadelphia and Phoenix airports.

Since US Airways and America West merged in September 2005, flight attendants and airline management have been unable to hammer out a contract that covers flight attendants from both airlines.

The flight attendants said its union, the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, broke off talks last week after US Airways management "presented a proposal that contained concessions in health care and sick benefits, gutted scope and merger protections for flight attendants and contained no meaningful wage increases."

My two cents; maybe they should just be happy to have a JOB!?

website domain url's

The day of the .com as the standard is long gone. The internet is really expanding into terrific new areas. We all know of the original .co.uk (for UK businesses) and then other country extensions following like .co.de for Germany. Then the .us (for US based businesses), then .travel for travel related, .co (a shorter version of .com... anyone see how Overstock got in on that quickly; they are now www.o.co) and now there is .asia for businesses in Asia. Terrific!

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Hotel resorts file for bankruptcy

According to a report in Bloomberg, five resorts filed for bankruptcy after a lending group, including Paulson & Co., Winthrop Realty Trust and Capital Trust Inc., took over from Morgan Stanley’s real estate funds. As of Nov. 30, the resorts totaled $2.2 billion in assets and $1.9 billion in debt. The lending group will continue to keep the hotels open while they restructure the debt. The resorts are The Grand Wailea Resort Hotel & Spa in Hawaii, The La Quinta Resort & Club PGA West in California, the Doral Golf Resort & Spa in Miami; the Claremont Resort & Spa in Berkeley, Calif.; and the Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa in Phoenix.

Chapter 11 papers were filed yesterday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York City. The property bankruptcies are due to the drop in occupancy rates and average room rates, as well as the fact that hotel guests spent close to $100 million less in spas, restaurants and stores at the resorts in 2010, compared to 2007. bloomberg.com

The best way to protect yourself from this is travel insurance. Any licensed agency, like POTHOS, can provide individual or group insurance protections.