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Hold the recession, Vegas is having a New Year's bash
 While excess may seem retro as we prepare to ring in 2009, New Year’s Eve is still the biggest party night of the year and if any place is still going to go big, it’s Las Vegas. The “entertainment capital of the world” will not disappoint this year as up to 300,000 people are expected to watch the annual midnight fireworks display, transforming the Strip into a giant block party. More than 30,000 effects will be triggered from eight different locations. At the five-block Fremont Street Experience some of the world’s best tribute bands will offer flattery in the form of imitations of U2, The Rolling Stones, Queen, Aerosmith and more. For dining pleasure, Joël Robuchon, holder of three coveted Michelin stars, will offer a black truffle-themed eight course meal for US$600 per person. Dinner in the Sky is making its Las Vegas debut on December 31 as 22 guests will be seated around a table mounted on a platform, then lifted 180 feet into the sky via crane. They will then enjoy cocktails and canapés, while enjoying an aerial view of Sin City.
Photo Credit: Effinity Stock Photography
Hotel chain targets children, hopes adults will follow
 There’s a lot of creative marketing going on at hotel chains these days as hoteliers scramble to fill rooms in a soft market. Hyatt resorts in North America have decided that the best way to a guest’s heart is through their children, so they are offering everything from s’mores to storytellers and an on-site Kids Concierge. The concierge job description is all about enhancing the travel experience for parents with small children and babies. The concierge will arrange for cribs, strollers, high chairs, babysitters and other needs. They will share information about family-friendly services and activities available at the resort and destination, plan birthday parties, provide kid-friendly guestroom amenities, as well as recommend the best stroller routes on and near the resort. Hyatt has also teamed up with online retailer Babies Travel Lite, which will deliver essential baby items directly to Hyatt properties so guests don’t have to travel with them or buy them after arriving. Participating Hyatt resorts are located in popular destinations including Orlando, Aruba, Key West, Scottsdale, Hawaii and more.
Photo Credit: vuk8691
Designers tell hoteliers to get stuffed
 If you’re checking into a hotel these days you might as well plan on a pillow fight. Veritable dozens of the puffy things, in assorted ‘designer’ colours and fabrics, sporting tassels and buttons and ribbons and bows and holding no potential use whatsoever as anything other than a dubiously aesthetic object, cover hotel beds from here to Timbuktu. Case in point: A recent trip found this TakeOffeh correspondent in a luxurious Caribbean resort room, seriously under the weather and only seeking the comfort of a bed. Upon entering the hotel room, there did seem to be one, quite large really, but rendered invisible by no less than 10 stuffed fabric bombs, some the size of small inflatable boats, others clearly patterned to be some Paris Hilton plaything. It was all your suffering correspondent could do to corral them into the sitting room where a thin couch was already subsuming under the weight of yet four more decorator donuts. One room, 14 pillows. And it’s not just the fancy places cranking up the cushion quotient. Economy hotels are using colourful cubes to mask Spartan reality while boutique properties arrange them in some cosmic Zen-inspired configuration, with a polished stone as an accent. Ah, for the good ol’ days when a traveller could easily find a bed to lay a weary head…
By Bruce Parkinson
Photo Credit: Charles Schug
For airlines, shorter routes mean a smaller footprint
 Yesterday, Emirates Airline — in what the airline is calling the world’s longest green journey — used its 16-hour inaugural flight from Dubai to San Francisco to demonstrate multiple fuel and emission-saving measures. In advance, Emirates worked with governments in Dubai, Canada, the United States, Russia, and Iceland to plot what is believed to be the most environmentally sophisticated route possible with estimated savings of 2,000 gallons of fuel and 30,000 pounds of carbon emissions. Other ‘green’ measures included sophisticated air traffic control procedures that allowed the plane to reach its cruise altitude unimpeded. Additionally, the flight used the most efficient route over Russian and Canadian airspace while employing real-time weather and wind data to allow the flight crew to modify their flight path on route. Since the traditional air routes across northern Europe are west to east, Emirates worked closely with Russian authorities to optimize north-south routings. The trend-setting flight crossed near the North Pole, helping to open the ‘Polar Routes’ air space corridor.
By Bruce Parkinson
Photo Credit: Denis Klimov
Medical tourism driven by high prices, waiting times
.jpg) Whether they’re looking for something lifted or lengthened, reshaped or replaced, thousands of people are crossing borders and cultures for the purposes of medical treatment, ranging from the cosmetic to the critical. More than 50 countries now list medical tourism as an industry and we live in one of them. Despite our public healthcare system, medical tourism is a growing industry here and Canada is ?noted for offering costs 30 to 60% lower than the U.S. In fact, U.S. healthcare costs are considered a significant contributor to international medical tourism, currently estimated as a $40-billion industry. Americans, many of whom don’t have medical insurance, can save up to 85% by seeking treatment abroad. Some of the bigger players in the medical tourism industry may be a little surprising. Cuba has been welcoming visitors seeking medical treatment for 40 years, and the combination of highly rated doctors, low prices and sunny beaches on which to recover, is a winner. In South America, Colombia is known for cosmetic surgery while Mexico does a big trade in dentistry, with prices one-fifth of those in the U.S. new sentence? India lures people seeking heart surgery and hip operations, and again, price is a major factor. For Canadians, the lack of waiting time in international destinations is the primary attraction.
Photo Credit: Nick Free
Now's the time to buy
 Looking to buy a used jetliner? Now is a very good time. As airlines around the world strip back capacity, the used-plane market is flooded with older, less fuel-efficient birds. Three U.S. air carriers alone – American, United and Continental – will have over $2-billion worth of airplanes sitting on the tarmac or mothballed in the desert next year. Emerging markets like Russia are the usual targets for sales of older planes, but their economies are tied up in the global economic crisis, too. There’s a problem at the other manufacturer’s end of the equation as well. A recent article suggests that Boeing and Airbus may end up with as many as 200 new planes without buyers next year because airlines simply won’t have the credit to pay for them. It looks like business will be good at the airplane graveyards in the deserts of California and Arizona where the dry air enables planes to be stored for decades and then either flown again or stripped for parts. By the way, if you’re in the market, we can hook you up with a sweet little 1982 Boeing 747-200 for just US$8.5-million – plus, it has only logged 14,000 landings.
Photo Credit: Daniel Breckwoldt
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