Hotel occupancy rates in Seattle and around Washington state inched upward in July, a sign of a slightly improved economy. The flip side was higher room prices.
Smith Travel Research reports the average room rate for July in the Seattle area was $126.50, up 5.3 percent compared to July 2010. That doesn't appear to be deterring tourists, however.
If the city feels crowded this weekend, there's a reason. The online travel agency CheapOair reports Seattle is among the nation's top 10 destinations for Labor Day. Los Angeles is No. 1. New York City didn't make the cut.
Cyber travel
Anyone who's tried to plan a trip into Eastern Europe knows there's a dearth of up-to-date travel information. New hotels and restaurants are opening all the time, yet most guidebook authors do their research a year before the books are published, then update only every two or three years.
My favorite online resources for this part of the world are the In Your Pocket Guides and apps (www.inyourpocket.com). Now there's another. Argophilia (http://argophilia.com/Albania/) launched last month with an online guide to Albania, the first in a planned series of guides for 30 Eastern European destinations.
I would have loved to have had an online guide for Albania when I traveled there in 2010. The country is truly a hidden gem, filled with medieval towns, beautiful beaches and historical sites.
In the meantime, when it comes to printed guidebooks, the slim Bradt Guides (www.bradtguides.com) still top my list for info about foreign destinations most tourists know little about.
Closer to home, the Snohomish County Tourism Bureau has come up with four free, self-guided cyber tours for smartphones and tablets such as the iPad.
Use them on the ferry, in a hotel room or while standing in front of a historic theater or scenic trailhead. The tours cover Granite Falls, the Mountain Loop Highway, local aviation-related attractions and the Snohomish antique district. Details at www.snohomish.org.
Airline refund policies
Following up on an August column on airline refund policies when fares drop, I heard from Bruce and Olga Sutherland, who booked flights to Frankfurt from Seattle in August on Condor Air.
"We checked the airfare on tickets we booked for Europe in May," they wrote in an email. "Sure enough, the fares had dropped significantly, nearly $1,000 for the two of us. We called the airline immediately but were told they could do nothing, no voucher, no upgrade. 'Sorry!' What can you advise?"
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