“Vacation deprivation is at an all-time high,” says Sally McKenzie, vice president and general manager of the online vacation website Expedia.com. Harris Interactive and Ipsos were hired by Expedia to study U.S. vacation trends. Ms. Mckenzie continues, “there are incredible health and wellness benefits associated with time off from work.” It looks like Americans will be missing out on all the fun this year.What were the findings? U.S. employees this year will likely forfeit more than 574 million vacation days. That is an extra 150 million vacation days forfeited this year over 2005 levels or about 4 vacation days that go unused per employee.Why don’t Americans learn from foreign employees and enjoy the vacation days they have earned?There are many reasons. One of them is still our upbringing with the Puritan work ethic. Our country was founded on hard work and long hours. Taking days off is still looked upon by many employers as being slothful, lazy, and not being productive. With the downsizing that has been going on in corporate America, employees are nervously looking over their shoulders wanting to make sure they give no one any excuse to replace them. They all want to look like team players.Gasoline prices are out of sight. With some working families having to pay an extra $1500 to $2000/year for gasoline, right there their summer vacation has gone up in gas fumes.The Federal Reserve increasing interest rates is hurting vacationers. It is estimated that in 2005, almost 40% of mortgages were the exotic kinds with adjustable rates, zero interest, etc. With the Federal Reserve having raised interest rates for almost 20 quarters in a row, many families are seeing their mortgage payments jumping from an extra few hundred a month, to in some case over an extra $1000 per month. For some families it is a choice of wanting to keep the roof over their heads. Vacation time has gone out the window.A final reason Americans are not taking more vacation time is vacation resorts and destinations are not exciting people into wanting to take days off of work.A lodging magazine survey showed that the typical resort, averages around a 15% repeat guest rate. “That is a horrible number,” says Tom Mulhall, past president of the Palm Springs Chamber of Commerce. “That means the typical resort and resort destination is doing something to turn off 85% of its guests. We pride ourselves on averaging just over a 75% repeat guest rate ourselves.”Tom and his wife Mary Clare own The Terra Cotta Inn Clothing Optional Resort and Spa in Palm Springs, CA http://sunnyfun.com and Tom feels that today’s cookie cutter chain hotels are more interested in maximizing the revenue from a guest instead of a guest getting to maximize their fun. Chains need to understand that guests have to have a great experience at a resort and at a destination. When guests feel like they have to “watch their wallet” every time they walk into a lobby, they start to resent it. And charging hidden “resort fees, and outlandish parking rates” has probably cost more resorts lost repeat guest then anything else. Until chains understand that, repeat guest rates will still suffer.Tom concludes by saying,”last week, one of my guests told me he had accumulated over 50 vacation days at work. I asked him why he did not take more travel time. He said, outside of the 2 week vacation he spends with us each year, no other vacation resorts excite him and his wife. ‘I don’t want to waste my vacation time at some mediocre place,’ said the guest. ‘We did that when we were younger. Now I would rather save vacation days to cash out at retirement instead of using them now.’” Chilling words for the travel industry.This year it looks like travel destinations and resorts are going to have to work harder than ever to recapture the vacation time and hearts of the American traveler.

The age of the internet has provided a wide range of conveniences and nowadays, people make travel plans without leaving the comfort of their homes. As long as you posses an internet connection, you are able to plan your holiday without leaving your home. In this rapidly advancing world, making online travel booking has become particularly common. It is not only making travel reservations that you can do through the online systems, but also making vacation package deals.Traveling from one place to another is now trouble free and you ought not to wait till you arrive at your destination to book your hotel. Travelers do not also have to rely on the telephones, which might not be reliable. The internet is more trustworthy since there is little chance of mixing up your reservation or forgetting to fill in reservations log, as compared to dealing with individuals. You are going to get information immediately when you make your booking online.Benefits of online travel booking
Firstly, the internet has numerous websites that claim to offer best online travel deals. Therefore, this has significantly enhanced competition among different companies offering this service, and the best part of this is that the traveler benefits from this. They are coming with better services to stay in business by providing excellent online travel deals to clients. The majority of websites have agreements with the main airlines that offer them discount and other bargains. The websites will pass a portion of the discounts to the clients, and as a result, the client gets cheaper flights when compared to travel agents who also charge their commission on the tickets.You will normally have the opportunity of comparing the costs of travel portals and numerous websites. You may also try different packages introduced by them. These include car rentals, hotel stay among others. There are some travel review websites reviewing many hotels and airlines. You may peruse these reviews prior to booking your ticket. Another main benefit of online travel booking is that you are able to book them anywhere at any time. You may check the flight’s status from your home.You do not have to remit any fees or commission to anyone. Majority of airlines have their websites today that will show you its flight’s status and available seats. The sites have also begun voice support service, and you can now contact customer care service when you have any reservation related to your bookings. Another advantage of online travel booking is that it is extremely convenient and safe than ever before. People have reported a decrease in the number of credit card frauds and scams. Credit card payment today has become one of the most secure alternatives to pay online. Therefore, you are certain of trouble free travel ahead.It is, however, advised that when making your reservations online, you must always make sure that you are dealing with a reputable site. In a majority of cases, you will be needed to pay through your credit card. In order to avoid your money and information falling into unscrupulous hands, you should only deal with the hotel’s official website. You should be cautious not to pay any money to sites that claim to be working on behalf of the hotel.

How long will you have to deal with hotels that do not care about you especially when you travel to another place? It is always a problem when you have to stay with hotel staff you do not know how to talk to and sleep in rooms with uninvited visitors like rats and crock roaches. And that is the reason you need to be certain before you go on that trip. This article is furnished with five great points which will always help you have a good time at a carefully chosen hotel.Since you will have to pay, it is very vital to know the prices of the hotel you intend to choose. This will surely aid you to know how to plan your trip so as to manage your budget. This piece of information can be attained from the coupons that they give out. The World Wide Web is also an excellent place to grab such information.Once you are able to get in touch with them online, you can as well find out the offers they have on board, there are also a lot of privileges that they, offer so this is they to get all such knowledge about the hotel.If you are there on a meeting or for a conference then time will be an important commodity. So it is very important to know how easy or difficult is it to move around. The hotels might have a good transportation system. This will help you plan on how to move from place to place with out wasting all the time in traffic or doing something else.There are some very vital facilities that can make life at the hotel very relaxing and just like home. If you can have access to a salon and a beauty shop, then your hair will not be a problem, it could even be a venue for your best game or a swim pool. These can bring a whole new experience and one must border to know about their existence. All you have to do is to call them and they will let you know it.A hotel could have the best of amenities but the kinds of workers they have can make you have a terrible experience, it is therefore very important to make sure of a good working staff with some professional attics of services. It not very difficult to find out this, just, place a call to the front desk and judge from their interactions with you..You can get this information from the local tourism sector as well.If you wish to go a step further, then you can always contact revisers on Google for real life encounters. Very credible sites like Yelp and Travel Advisor also have a review of these places collected from people who have had encounters with such hotels and that can help you make a choice.