Barnett on Business Travel from Creators Syndicate

Virgin America's first class is luxurious for a low fare for 04/21/2008

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

It was a first in 40-plus years of flying. A Virgin America flight attendant unplugged my laptop power cord, wrapped it up, lifted my "rolling office" luggage from the overhead bin, and stowed the cord and computer inside.

She was about to heft the bag back up into the bin when I finally came to my senses, jumped and did the heavy lifting. I was stunned. Usually, it's the same ...

Updated: Mon Apr 21, 2008

Businesswomen traveling solo will sit, drink and eat at the bar for 05/05/2008

Mon, 05 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Decades after women were banned from barrooms, or had their own door at the saloon and were separated from male imbibers, thirst parlors in the civilized world are passionately courting females to take their place at the bar.

There are still exceptions. Northern Rwanda officials chase women out of bars at 5 p.m. - ironically, the cocktail hour - to "reduce marital problems including ...

Updated: Mon May 05, 2008

Fairmont manager pumps new life into San Francisco flagship hotel for 05/19/2008

Mon, 19 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The San Francisco Fairmont's new general manager is an old style hotelier with an up-to-the-nanosecond mind-set on how to treat travelers. Give them everything they want even if they have to pay for it, and emblaze your brand of hospitality in their brain so they never forget you.

"Businesspeople want recognition, speed, flexibility, security, choice, comfort food, generous beverage ...

Updated: Mon May 19, 2008

Driskill hotel bartender doubles as hot drummer in Austin's music clubs for 06/02/2008

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Austin, Texas, is better known for music than martinis; however, David Highfill, mixologist at the Driskill Hotel, has a foot in both worlds and loves it. He's been stirring and pouring for 26 years at this historic hotel's popular pentagon-shaped bar during the days, and at night he morphs into drummer "Dave The Rave" and grabs gigs at the Continental Club and the Saxon Pub.

M ...

Updated: Mon Jun 02, 2008

Paris hotel keeps low profile, low prices for 06/13/2008

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Who says Paris hotels are outrageously, insanely overpriced thanks to the muscle-bound euro versus the flyweight U.S. dollar? Just because the meticulously renovated five-star Hotel Meurice can command $1,200 plus per night for a basic room and another $50 for breakfast does not mean you can't find a reasonably priced bunkhouse for a business trip.

Good news if you have to meet a new customer ...

Updated: Fri Jun 13, 2008

Paris hotel keeps low profile, low prices for 06/16/2008

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Good news if you have to meet a new cus ...

Updated: Mon Jun 16, 2008

Historic hotels can be built on facts or folklore for 06/30/2008

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Are you heading to San Antonio for business or pleasure?

Skip the same old hotel marquees - Hilton, Hyatt, Hampton, Marriott - and check into the 177-room Emily Morgan Hotel and savor a little risque history and folklore.

The location's great for American history buffs, just 14 steps from the Alamo. But the hotel's back-story is the attention grabber. We're told Emily Morgan was a ...

Updated: Mon Jun 30, 2008

Cleveland's Booming With Great Business Bars for 07/05/2008

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Maybe a dozen years ago or more, business was transacted and deals were sealed in Cleveland hotel bars like the Stouffers. Downtown was somewhat comatose and all the "action" was in saloons down by the Flats near the Cuyahoga River. But they were mostly populated by wild childs drinking shots of whiskey with a beer chaser or Jell-O shooters.

Hardly, venues for business travele ...

Updated: Sat Jul 05, 2008

Traveling Today Without the Hassle for 07/21/2008

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Despite the new fees and fares, rules and rip-offs being piled on travelers today, you can still survive a business trip — or a vacation — without tearing out your hair.

On a recent journey to Spokane, Wash., I didn't have to worry about getting trapped in morning rush-hour traffic or pay $25 a day for airport parking. Nor did I shell out $25 to check my garment bag for the f ...

Updated: Mon Jul 21, 2008

Richmond's Jefferson Hotel Bar An Oasis For Thirsty Travelers for 07/28/2008

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

I've long held that history flows better in the barroom than in the classroom. So pull up a leather stool here in TJ's Lounge and let me tell you why we devotees of the civilized cocktail today owe Thomas Jefferson a major debt of gratitude.

In the late 18 th century, frontier farmers were transforming their amber waves of grain and harvested fruits into whiskies and brandies. Treasury S ...

Updated: Mon Jul 28, 2008

Davenport Hotel Offers Old-Fashioned Charm for 08/11/2008

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Most gilded, gracious, grand dame hotels strike me as catering to visiting rulers of Third World countries, dowagers hoping to marry off their pedigree granddaughters or to meeting-planners praying to fill up the ballrooms with conferees.

But the 94-year-old Davenport Hotel (www.davenporthotel.com), occupying a full block of downtown Spokane, Wash., courts the city's social lions, visiti ...

Updated: Mon Aug 11, 2008

Attorney Makes Case for Decline in U.S. Airlines for 08/25/2008

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Lawyers are never miserly with their opinions and John Jardine is proof positive about that when you ask for his stand on the current state of business travel.

A partner with an international law firm, Jardine (not his real because he requested anonymity) flies between 50,000 and 100,000 miles a year, mostly within the United States and he's thrilled not to be a million miler. "Busi ...

Updated: Mon Aug 25, 2008

Airline Travel's Heyday a Fading Memory for 09/08/2008

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Lifelong New Yorker Bob Meltzer spent 52 years in the toy industry and all of them on airplanes, hopping around the U.S. and flying overseas. Starting on the DC-3 he always flew first class and has fond memories of the lush life on airlines that are mostly dead and buried today.

American Airlines treated Meltzer like a crown prince for his loyalty more than 40 years ago. "In 1966, i ...

Updated: Mon Sep 08, 2008

San Francisco's New Long Bar Short On Welcoming Spirit for 09/22/2008

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The first long bar I ever bellied up to was, arguably, the original Long Bar inside the old colonial-era Raffles Hotel in Singapore, birthplace of the cloyingly sweet Singapore Sling. No one seems to know how long the Long Bar really is but other legends abound such as iconic celebrities of the day like Charlie Chaplin and Jean Harlow.

One has it that Singapore's last remaining tiger was ...

Updated: Mon Sep 22, 2008

Finding the Right Luggage Worth the Effort for 09/29/2008

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

New airline restrictions on carry-on luggage and fees slapped on checked bags haven't sent baggage designers back to the drawing board — yet.

Steve Geller is the general manager of Airline International Luggage Inc., a 30-year-old El Paso, Texas, retailer and repair shop for a half-dozen airlines. Among the recent innovations he's seen are a computer bag by Paragon that folds open ...

Updated: Mon Sep 29, 2008

Round Trip On Northwest: No-Frills, No Problems for 10/13/2008

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Northwest Airlines' reputation for passenger service has taken such a fierce pounding over the years that I was reluctant to buy a round-trip ticket from San Francisco to Madison, Wis., even though I snared a good fare. I'm glad I did.

The one-stop flight was uneventful. Just plain, no-frills air travel that arrived on time, and we didn't sit on the tarmac or at the gate. Yet buying the ...

Updated: Mon Oct 13, 2008

Coco Pazzo is a Chicago Thirst Parlor With a Tuscan Twist for 10/27/2008

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Chicagoans love their after-work libations almost as much as their sports teams. But if you're a visitor being hosted by a local, try this quiz that would probably stump even the late broadcast voice of the Cubbies, Harry Carey.

Who invented the bar? Give up? Then pay up with a tall, cool one.

Barmakers Wallace & Hinz tell us the Western saloon era was born around 1849 and a b ...

Updated: Mon Oct 27, 2008

Software Chief Travels More In Hard Times for 11/10/2008

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

The stock market has collapsed and businesses are ratcheting back all costs. Yet the president of a Los Angeles software company, who's on a plane three weeks a month, isn't cutting back on his travel. He's flying more.

Michael Macho (pronounced mah-ko), who heads Mobile BIS, is like a fire horse. He can get a call at 6 p.m. from the chief executive of a prospective customer in Toronto a ...

Updated: Mon Nov 10, 2008