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Weekends At Some Ritz-Carltons Come With a Cash Bonus

From April first through the end of 2009, Ritz-Carlton hotels in many major cities are offering a bonus to guests who check in for the weekend.  Stay two nights and receive a $50 or $100 credit toward hotel services such as spa treatments and meals.  Stay three nights and that credit doubles to $100 or $200.

The difference in the amount of credit you receive is based on which hotel you select.  For example, the downtown Washington, DC, Ritz-Carltons (there are two of them) offer the $100 credit for a two night stay adn $200 for a three-night stay because their nightly rate is higher than the two Ritz-Carltons just outside of DC in suburban Virginia. The Pentagon City and Tyson's Corner hotels offer a $50 credit for two nights, $100 for three nights.

The deal grows more generous if you book a suite.

The Ritz-Carlton folks call this their Reconnect package, and you can book it on line.  Note that some overseas hotels, including Ritz-Carltons in Beijing, Singapore, Shanghai, and Doha are participating in this offer, as well. 

Minneapolis-St. Paul Offers Proof of the 'Southwest Effect'

As Southwest Airlines has grown from a regional, Texas and southwest-based airline into a national behemoth, airline analysts are well aware of something they call the "Southwest Effect." 

Which is to say, as Southwest has gradually and methodically begun new service in cities across the country, airfares in those cities fall dramatically with the arrival of the competition.

Earlier this month,Southwest began flying between Minneapolis-St. Paul airport (MSP) and Chicago's Midway airport.  It was Southwest's first foray into MSP, but you can be sure that the airline will begin linking MSP to cities other than Chicago over the next year.

So here's the Southwest Effect writ large: Before Southwest began service, it cost nearly $400 to fly between MSP and Chicago.  (It's a six-hour drive, by the way.)  Southwest announced a special $49-each way fare between the two cities if you booked 14 days in advance.  Northwest, the dominant airline at MSP which is slowly morphing into Delta Air Lines dropped its fares to match Southwest immediately.  And just this week, I received two e-mails from Delta offering double frequent flyer miles on top of the low fare.  (Taxes and fees actually raise the promotional fare to about $60 each way.)

I'm betting that when the promotional fares end, it'll cost about $200 or less to fly round-trip between the two destinations--on all airlines.  That's about 50% less than it did before this month. And that's the Southwest Effect.

What We Must Learn From the Death of Natasha Richardson

There are two things skiers, snowboarders, and bicyclists must take away from the tragic death of Natasha Richardson, who died yesterday of a traumatic brain injury (TBI) after falling on the snow on a beginner's slope at Canada's Mont Tremblant resort while taking a ski lesson.

1.  Wear a helmet.  Listen, perhaps like you, I used to think wearing a protective helmet while riding a bike or skiing was for nerds.  Then, last December, after not skiing for a few years, I spent a day on the slopes of Gstaad, Switzerland.  When I rented my skis, the guy fitting me for equipment said, "You ought to have a helmet."  "Naw," I said.  But on the slopes I noticed most skiers wore them; at lunch, I watched out the window from a mid-slope restaurant and counted helmets; about two-thirds of skiers wore them.  When I headed to Beaver Creek to ski in January, I bought one.

2. If you ever hit your head in a serious way, get it checked out immediately.  Richardson got up from her spill, declined help, and was in good spirits until an hour or so later when she began to have head pains.  The insidious thing about a TBI is that it can creep up on you.  And when you begin to feel it, your brain may he swollen too badly for assistance.  Seek medical help immediately if you hit your head hard.

The day after I bought my helmet in Colorado (and bought one for my girlfriend and her daughter), I was taking a lesson, and the instructor had the class going down a steep hill with moguls, a hill that was challenging to me.  I fell backwards once and smacked my helmeted head on something beneath the snow.  I remember thinking, "Boy, if I hadn't had this helmet on, that might have hurt." 

A helmet diffuses the impact of a fall and spreads the pressure of a smack over a much wider area.  The unexpected benefit for me as a skier was how warm it kept my head and face, as well. 

The death of a celebrity (left) while taking a beginner's ski lesson on a beginner's slope ought to convince us all that wearing a helmet is the first line of defense against something terrible.