Travelocity guarantees quoted car-rental rates

Travelocity guaranteesquoted car-rental rates
The top online booking service, Travelocity, says it now guarantees that the final rental rates for cars booked through its site will be within 1 percent of the quoted rate, excluding extras such as refueling, insurance and damage waivers.
Travelocity said all the agencies whose cars it offers, including Hertz, Avis, National and other well-known rental companies, have agreed to certify the quoted rate information under a program dubbed Total Pricing for Cars.
The new policy reflects one of the quirks of the car rental business: Rental rates have long been notorious for the surcharges assessed by local and state governments and for other hefty fees related to airport concessions. Such add-ons can amount to 25 percent or more of the total cost.
In recent years, car rental agencies have improved their record for revealing the total costs in advance, and renters who book through the companies' own Web sites can usually find those details.
But when booking through the many online services that act as brokers, such information has not always been available, and renters who pay more than expected can grow weary of using the booking method.
Travelocity's program may nudge its main competitors toward similar policies.
A Travelocity spokesman said that if any discrepancies arose beyond the 1 percent limit, Travelocity would act on behalf of renters to resolve differences with the rental companies.
Customers can call (888) 709-5983 or e-mail consumer.relationstravelocity.com.
NYC promotesCrystal District
Everyone knows New York has its garment, diamond, and gallery districts. Now the city is promoting a Crystal District, a five-block stretch of Madison Avenue between 58th and 63d Streets that includes five luxury boutiques specializing in the sparkling glass. Located on this stretch are Steuben and Swarovski -- which opened stores there in recent years -- plus Baccarat, Daum and Lalique stores, which together offer "the richest concentration of crystal decorative objects and jewelry in the world," the city's tourism office says.
Although Prague and other world crystal centers might quibble with that claim, there's no doubt a crystal shopper can find a world-class selection in the area.
For information: Baccarat, 625 Madison Ave. at 59th Street, phone (212) 826-4100, www.baccarat.fr; Daum, 694 Madison Ave. between 62d and 63d Streets, phone (212) 355- 2060; Lalique, 712 Madison Ave. off 63d Street, phone (212) 355-6550, www.lalique.com; Steuben, 667 Madison Ave. at 61st Street, phone (800) 424-4240, www.steuben.com; and Swarovski, 625 Madison Ave. between East 58th and East 59th Streets, phone (212) 308-1710, www.swarovski.com.
Airline group offersCircle Pacific Pass
Those who hanker to tramp around Pacific Rim countries and islands can consider the new Circle Pacific Pass being offered by the Star Alliance, an airline group that includes United, Singapore, Air Canada and four other carriers. Passholders can spend up to six months covering up to 22,000 or 26,000 miles in places such as Australia, Thailand, Fiji, Western Samoa and Tonga.
The itinerary must include at least three stopovers and include at least one North Pacific/South Pacific crossover.
The cost depends on the mileage, class of travel, and itinerary.
One example is a 22,000-mile fare for travel in economy class from/to the West Coast of the United States at $2,688, plus taxes and fees. For business class, the price is $4,558; for first class, $6,500. If your itinerary goes beyond 22,000 miles, the fares climb. Trips from the United States must start and end in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Las Vegas, Honolulu or Vancouver, British Columbia. For details, visit www.staralliance.com or contact one of the member airlines.
New guide for thosewho need soothing
Travelers looking for getaways that soothe the soul have a new guide that seems perfect for troubled times -- "The Spiritual Traveler: Boston and New England: A Guide to Sacred Sites and Peaceful Places," by Jana Riess (Hidden Spring, 2002).
That New England is especially suited for such a guide becomes clear in the book's primer to the region's faith groups, from Shakers and Quakers to Wiccans.
Predictable sites such as the Christian Science Center in Boston are here, but most of the hundreds of descriptions will be new to most readers. Among them: Cathedral of the Pines in Rindge, N.H.; the National Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Mass.; Holy Redeemer Church in Bar Harbor, Maine (St. Katharine Drexel's summer parish); St. Edmund's Retreat on Enders Island, near Mystic, Conn.; and the First Baptist Church in Providence, R.I. -- which lays claim to being the first Baptist congregation in America, dating to 1638.
Many of these sacred sites have Web addresses as well as other contact information. Besides well-researched descriptions of such places, the book offers many sidebars that could pass as general sightseeing information with a peaceful twist, such as "covered bridges in the Bennington, Vt., area" and "Lighthouses of the North Shore" near Boston.
It's available in bookstores or through www.hiddenspringbooks.com on the Web.
New tourism projectspotlights Sea of Cortes
Let's have a show of hands, please: How many have ever cruised the Sea of Cortes? Not many Northeast hands go up. But Mexican tourist authorities are betting that the Sea of Cortes and the Mexican provinces south of San Diego will be the next hot spots for seagoing North Americans.
Fonatur, the national development fund for tourism projects, has launched Escalera Nautica or the Nautical Route Project, which will include a network of 24 marina stopovers, full-service airports and an overland route for transporting boats from the Pacific Coast to the Sea of Cortes.
The region, which covers Baja California and other Mexican states, ranks fourth in the world in biodiversity and was described as "the world's aquarium" by marine researcher Jacques Cousteau.
The object is to help the local economy by boosting tourism, said spokesman Bradley Gerber.
Mindful of the destructive power of overdevelopment, however, the project will emphasize environmental protection and preservation of the region's wildlife.
The local population will be "incorporated in the job market created by tourism," promises Fonatur's promotional brochure.
Arab Americans gatherto plan Mich. museum
DEARBORN, Michigan -- Arab Americans from around the country gathered recently in this Detroit suburb to plan for an $8 million museum of their history and culture.
The museum, first announced last year, is to be part of a $15 million Arab-American project being built in Dearborn. It is scheduled to open in 2004.
The museum "will enrich all of our lives," says Mona Khalidi of Chicago, president of the Arab American Action Network and one of about 30 people at the meeting.
"It's going to be a great achievement that will help Arab Americans uncover their identity and find a new voice."
The National Arab American Museum and Cultural Center is being built by the Dearborn-based Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services.
In addition to the museum and cultural center, the project is to include a Youth and Family Center and a Community Health Care and Research Center.
The Detroit area has an estimated 300,000 Arab Americans. They are concentrated mostly in Dearborn, which has an Arab-American population of about 20,000.
RV exhibit planssummer tour again
The "American Wanderlust" RVs and pop-up trailers will hit the road again next summer, traveling to museums around the country, after setting off an attendance explosion at the Shelburne Museum in Vermont.
The popular exhibit, "American Wanderlust: Taking to the Road in the 20th Century," finishes its Vermont run soon when the museum shuts its doors for the season. A star of the show was a psychedelic hippie bus converted from a 1949 school bus, museum spokesman Sam Ankerson says.
The show features 15 recreational vehicles from 1923 to the present, including early tent trailers, silvery Airstreams, the first luxury RVs and the ingenious devices used by Americans seeking to make their home on the highway.
The museum gift shop in Shelburne will remain open daily through Dec. 24. The museum reopens April 12.
The American Wanderlust exhibit's next stop is the Missouri Historical Society in St. Louis, opening June 13.
Combined dispatches