F2
GOING OUR WAY
With everyone and everything included
by K.C. Summers
Let’s hear it for all-inclusives.
As any vacationer who has ever been nickel-and-dimed to death knows, there’s a lot to be said for paying one price upfront for lodg- ing, meals, snacks, drinks, tips, activities, sometimes even enter- tainment. It may not be cheap, but at least you know what you’re in for. That sounds good to the Zar- zaca family of Leonardtown, who want to get away and reconnect without having to worry too much about details. They’re flex- ible on location, as long as the re- sort offers plenty of activities. Here are a few ideas.
A Caribbean beach resort
All-inclusives abound in the is- lands, of course. Only one prob- lem: The Zarzacas want to travel in July or August, which is hurri- cane season. For peace of mind, stick to the so-called ABC islands — Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao — which are off the coast of Ven- ezuela, out of the hurricane zone. One option: Breezes Curacao (877-273-3937,
www.breezes.com), with a 1,500-foot sheltered beach, good for kayaking and beginner windsurfing. Other activities in- cluded in the price: a daily scuba class and shore dive, snorkeling, a rock-climbing wall, biking, beach volleyball, lessons in Pa- piamentu (the local language), trampoline and juggling clinics, trapeze lessons and nightly enter- tainment. There’s also a teen cen- ter. Dining options include all- day buffets and beach-side grills as well as two formal restaurants. Curacao, a Dutch territory, has a fascinating history and beauti- ful architecture in the capital, Willemstad (a World Heritage site). Cost: On Expedia, the rate for four people in a garden-view room for five nights in early Au- gust is $558 per night with the fifth night free, for a total of $2,230, including taxes. Round- trip air from Washington would
FAMILY PHOTO
Who: Susan and Joe Zarzaca, both 46, and their children, Justin, 20, and Samantha, 15, of Leonardtown Where: An all-inclusive resort with lots of activities Why: Family vacation When: July or August for five to seven days Budget: $3,000 to $4,000
“We enjoy the outdoors, whitewater rafting, hiking, biking and water sports, as well as some downtime to relax, shop and unwind. . . . We need and want to spend some quality time with each other.”
run about $440 each, or $1,761. Grand total: $3,991.
A dude ranch
Most Western dude ranches are out of your budget, but by concentrating on the eastern United States, you can save on both lodging and transportation. For example, at the Pisgah View Ranch, in the Blue Ridge Moun- tains of western North Carolina (866-252-8361,
www.
pisgahviewranch.net), lodging is in cottages and cabins, and the rate includes three “hearty ranch- style” meals a day, horseback rid- ing, swimming, tennis, fishing, hiking and nightly entertain- ment. BYO mountain bikes. Golf- ing, whitewater rafting and the gorgeous Biltmore Estate are nearby. Cost: Rates start at $149 per person per night; with taxes and
THE NAVIGATOR
Christopher Elliott
No, no, a thousand times no. But maybe . . .
f you’ve recently been the unlucky recipient of a rejection letter from your airline, hotel or car rental company, you’re in good company. The travel industry appears to be sending out more form letters than ever. I know, because my blog is
I
FROM OUT ‘N’ ABOUT TREEHOUSE TREESORT
At the Out ’n’ About Treehouse Treesort in Oregon, hiking, rope swinging, swimming and biking are included, as is breakfast.
hours. With a rental car (about $300), the grand total is $4,066.
⁄2
A family camp
If you liked camp as a kid, now you can have s’more — with the whole family. Some family camps are ridiculously expensive, but one relatively affordable option is Medomak, near Augusta, Maine (866-633-6625,
www.
medomakcamp.com). It offers ev- ery camp activity you can think of, including archery, canoeing, arts and crafts, sailing, drama, fishing and hiking. The cabins are appropriately spartan, but they do have real beds, bath- rooms with showers, rocking chairs and reading lights, with Adirondack chairs outside. Three meals a day, plus an afternoon snack, are included in the rate, including lobster dinners once a week. Meals are prepared from locally sourced ingredients and are served family-style in a farm- house dining room. Cost: A week in late July — blueberry season! — runs $1,030 per person, which comes to $4,120 (no fees or taxes). Save money by driving (11 hours from Washington), or fly Southwest to Manchester, N.H. (about $718 for four). Shuttle services are avail- able from the airport.
A spa
Not one of those prissy, laven- der-infused joints, but a coed place with lots of outdoor activ- ities and healthy food. It’s not easy to find an affordable all- inclusive spa, but the New Life Hiking Spa (866-298-5433, www.
newlifehikingspa.com) at the Inn of the Six Mountains in Killing- ton, Vt., comes close. You can spend your mornings hiking the Green Mountains, followed by af- ternoon yoga and small-group fit- ness classes. Or take a nap, tour the Vermont countryside, have a swim or get a massage. (One $75 massage for each person is in- cluded in the rate.) Meals are
TRAVEL
fees, that comes to $3,016 for four people for five nights. (Cheaper rates are available without horse- back riding.) Save money by driv- ing (about eight hours from Washington), or fly to Charlotte (about $750 for four) and drive
21
“low-calorie gourmet”: shrimp kebabs, oat-crusted chicken, grilled swordfish and the like. After dinner there are lectures and workshops on feng shui, lo- cal flora and fauna, cooking and more. Rooms have private baths, refrigerators, TV, DVD players, phones and computer ports. Cost: Rates start at $229 per person per night double for a four-night stay, but if you book by June 12, you get $12 per per- son off per night. Two rooms at that rate would come to $3,576, including taxes. To save money, consider driving (it’s nine hours from Washington) or fly South- west to Albany, N.Y. ($718 for four), and rent a car (about $250 on Hotwire) for the two-hour drive.
A treehouse resort
Okay, the Out ’n’ About Tree- house Treesort (541-592-2208,
www.treehouses.com) in southwest Oregon isn’t an all- inclusive, although a full break- fast is included in the rates. But I can’t resist listing it here be- cause, well, who wouldn’t want to sleep in a treehouse? The unique resort has 18 treehouses accessed via platforms, ladders and suspension bridges. Hiking, rope swinging, swimming and biking are included in the rate; other activities are a la carte, in- cluding horseback riding ($40 an hour), a zip line course ($45), rafting (outsourced; $89 per per- son for a full-day trip) and crafts courses (from $20). Treehouse amenities vary; the Forestree, for example, is 35 feet in the air, sleeps four and has a sink and a toilet. For meals, you can cook or barbecue on site, or check out the restaurants in Cave Junc- tion, a 10-minute drive away. Cost: Rates vary. The Fores- tree runs $220 per night for four, so five nights would be $1,111, in- cluding taxes. Airfare from Washington to Medford, Ore., about a 11
⁄2
-hour drive from the
resort, is about $2,150 for four. With a rental car (about $265 on Hotwire), the total comes to $3,526. Save money by cooking your own lunches and dinners.
Interested in having us help plan your trip? Go to www.washingtonpost.
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travel@washpost.com, call 202-334-7750 or write us: Washington Post Travel section, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071. • Manuscripts: Because of the volume of mail we receive, the Travel section cannot return or acknowledge unsolicited manuscripts, article proposals and photographs.
the travel industry equivalent of the “Wall of Shame” to which high school seniors pin their college rejection letters. Every day, travelers click on my site to admire the latest pre-written “no” from a company. There’s no shortage of material. “British Airways assures you of our best attention at all times,” concluded one recent missive, sent to reader Raymond Fink after he asked the carrier to honor an oral agreement to refund his ticket when his mother fell ill. Fink, who works for an insurance company in Jersey City, N.J., was sent the same form letter over and over, suggesting that the airline’s “best” attention may have a deficit. Increasingly, I’ve noticed that the boilerplate e-mails follow a formula: Turn down the customers, then tell them that they aren’t being turned down, but that it’s for their own good. Oh, and there’s some good news, at least for you English majors out there: The quality of the messages has improved markedly, as travel companies look for new ways to let their customers down. It has become something of an art form, in fact.
But take a closer look at these e-mails, and you’ll find clues as to how the travel industry feels about its customers and how you might ultimately get the service to which you’re entitled. Here, for example, is an e-mail Doris Honeycutt received after she said that her jewelry disappeared at a Days Inn property. “The Days Inn is committed to ensuring that good service and quality accommodations are provided by our licensees,” it read. “Each Days Inn facility is independently owned and operated by licensees. Your comments have made us aware of an instance when one of our licensees did not meet a valued customer’s expectations.” In other words, we’re not
rejecting your claim. Days Inn provides only the best service, and we aren’t denying you compensation. Our “licensee” is.
Some rejection letters go a
step further. Reader Jay Green recently lost 9,000 Hilton HHonors points because of inactivity on his account. He says the hotel chain never notified him that the points were about to expire. When he wrote asking to get the points reinstated, he received a response that said: “HHonors is a loyalty program recognizing those customers who frequently transact with the Hilton Worldwide Portfolio of Brands. To provide recurrent customers with the richest and most flexible program possible, we close inactive accounts.” Put differently, we’re saying
“no” to your request for your own good. (Hilton reinstated Green’s points after its rejection letter made its way to my site.)
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These messages have an almost poetic cadence that has to be admired. To tell someone “no” without telling them “no” and to turn the argument on its head, suggesting that you’re better off, or even responsible for this action — well, if that’s not art, then I don’t know what is.
The faceless men and women who write these letters should be acknowledged. Because even if you can’t see the art, you can always find an opening that might let you practice customer-service jujitsu of a sort. You can use the rejection letter to your advantage. Almost every letter leaves open the possibility of an appeal. Yes, even the ones that insist that the company will not respond to any further e-mails. The trick is to send your next
letter to someone higher up. Finding the right person isn’t difficult, even at a company that generally doesn’t like to talk to customers, such as an airline. An Internet search for the vice president of customer service normally turns up a name. All you need is the company’s preferred e-mail address format (often first initial, last name @
company.com) and you have a direct line to a higher authority. Then craft an appeal that
refers to the opening left by the form letter. For instance: Fink’s letter from British Airways ended with a promise to pay the “best attention at all times.” So that’s how you start your appeal. You say, “I’m relieved that your airline promises to pay the best of attention to my feedback at all times. I have some comments that I believe you will find helpful.” Here are a few more ideas from someone who’s read far too many rejection letters and rebuttals: Keep your appeal brief and polite. If you can’t get to the point by the second paragraph, don’t bother. And avoid threats such as “You’ll be hearing from my lawyer” or “I’ll never stay in your hotel again.” Remember, real people are reading your letter — at least for now — and they have feelings, too. Don’t think of a rejection
letter as a final answer, but as the next phase in a negotiation. It’s a phase the travel industry has long neglected with terse denials and undiplomatic language, but one that’s evolving into a creative-writing art form all its own. Enjoy the art, but don’t let it stop you from getting what you deserve.
Elliott is National Geographic Traveler magazine’s reader advocate. E-mail him at
celliott@ngs.org.
KLMNO
SUNDAY, MAY 30, 2010
Your shot to win our photo contest
We’re now accepting submissions for our 11th annual photo contest. As always, we want gritty as well as pretty. The topic of travel is broad, so have some fun with it: Experiment with lighting, angles, subjects and composition. Start shooting . . . and surprise us. One entry per person. Photo must have been taken in 2009-2010.
ALISA TIWARI
This shot from Alaska’s McKinley Explorer train was 2009’s winner.
LAST WEEK, OVER $299 WORTH OF COUPONS IN THE POST.
REDUCE YOUR PAPER TOWEL PRICES.
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Send e-mail entries to
travelphotos@washpost.com. Photos should be JPEG or TIFF attachments, between 1MB and 10MB in size. Include caption information and when the photo was taken, plus your name, address and phone number, and put the photo topic (e.g., “Scotland rainbow”) in the subject line. If sending by conventional mail, attach a sticker or notecard with your name, contact info and a detailed caption to the back of the photo (please do not send loose sheets of paper). Photos, which are nonreturnable, may be color or black-and-white, and in print form. Send prints to The Washington Post Travel Section Photo Contest, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071. Entries must be received by July 26. Photos become the property of
The Washington Post, which may edit, publish, distribute and republish them in any form. No purchase necessary. The winner, to be determined by the Travel staff and photography professionals, receives a digital camera. Post employees and their immediate families are not eligible. Please do not call to ask whether we have received your entry. The winning photos will be published Aug. 22.
S520 1x1A
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