Travel site arranges hotel room-sharing

Travel site arranges hotel room-sharing

Short-term rental sites such as Airbnb can save you a few bucks on your lodging costs, but now a Seattle marketing producer has created an online company that may cut your hotel bills in half.

The catch? You have to share your hotel room with a stranger.

Bryon Shannon, who founded the Winston Club late last year, said he created the website so travelers who are visiting the same town can split the cost of a hotel room.

Joining the club is free, and you get to accept or reject the roommate that the club chooses for you, based on biographical information provided by club members.

Winston Club makes its money by collecting a share of the room charge just as other hotel booking sites do. So far, the club has agreements to operate in hotels in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Seattle and Portland, Ore.

Shannon declined to say how many travelers have used the Winston Club so far.

JetBlue plans cabin remodel

There is good news and bad news in JetBlue Airways’ plan to launch the first major cabin remodel since the airline flew its first planes 16 years ago.

As part of the cabin overhaul, the New York-based carrier is replacing its old seat-back entertainment with 10-inch, high-definition touch screens that are nearly double the size of the existing screens. The entertainment systems will have access to more than 100 DirectTV channels and a library of more than 300 on-demand movies, most of which will be free.

The bad news is that you will get smaller lavatories and slightly less legroom in the coach section.

As part of the overhaul, JetBlue will increase the seat capacity on its fleet of 130 A320 jets from 150 seats to 162 seats. JetBlue’s fleet of 15 A321 jets, which hold 190 seats, will be reconfigured to hold 200 seats.

To squeeze in the extra seats, JetBlue will rearrange and shrink the size of the galleys and bathrooms. The carrier also will shrink the distance between the back of your seat and the back of the seat in front of you from about 34 inches to 32 inches.

Geography quiz

Q. Which state would you visit to see Promontory Summit?

A. Utah. The Golden Spike National Historic Site marks the location where the first transcontinental railroad was completed.

Combined dispatches