New member promo: Earn 5,000 points for joining IHG One Rewards

Two of the trendiest hotels in New Orleans are now affiliated with Hyatt, but World of Hyatt members will have to wait just a bit longer to fully enjoy loyalty perks.

Having a Priority Pass membership just got more valuable, as travelers can visit nearly a dozen more airport lounges in the U.S. before their next flight. “Escape Lounges has announced an extension of its partnership with Priority Pass, enabling Priority Pass members to access an additional 10 of its common-use airport lounges across the United States as well as the Escape Lounge at Syracuse Hancock International Airport,” the third-party lounge company shared on its website. Escape Lounges are primarily located in smaller to mid-sized airports, Priority Pass members can now enter with a confirmed airline ticket in any fare class at the following locations: 

Finnair is showing off its new Schengen Lounge at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport (HEL) that's slated to open on July 9. The lounge will primarily serve customers traveling on short-haul flights within Europe and passengers connecting in Helsinki from the U.S. and traveling onward to Finland's Lapland and the wider Nordic and Baltic regions.

Come July 1, U.S. hotels will need to comply with a California state law that requires upfront disclosure of the total cost — including all mandatory fees — of hotel rooms, among other travel services like short-term rentals and cruises.

All California hotels must disclose surprise junk fees starting July 1 thanks to two new state laws, including one specifically targeting hotel resorts and cleaning fees.

Earlier this month, Choice Privileges hiked the award cost of Preferred Hotels & Resorts stays to up to 87,000 points per night. At the time, I celebrated that award nights at Choice Hotels properties still cost between 6,000 and 35,000 points in most parts of the world (except the Asia-Pacific region, where award nights cost up to 75,000 points).

Scoring cheap deals on flights is one of the biggest thrills in travel, and one deal alert company is helping make that even easier with a sale offering half-off its service.

Last May, Samir Bhavnani, a 47-year-old tech executive from San Diego, was planning a trip to Palm Springs, Calif., where he planned to propose to his girlfriend. He found the perfect spot on Vrbo: It offered a “spa in a grotto,” a slide and a swim-up bar and had plenty of five-star reviews.

Two people were injured on board an Air New Zealand flight when it encountered severe turbulence, according to local media reports.

In 2000, Starbucks and Marriott signed a long-term licensing agreement to open Starbucks locations in select hotels across the U.S. and Canada. Now, the two brands are launching a new partnership that will let travelers earn more Starbucks Stars and Marriott Bonvoy points.

“When they first go to museums, the first two things people want to know is, where’s the gift shop and where’s the bathroom?” said the writer and illustrator Bob Eckstein, 61, whose new book, “Footnotes From the Most Fascinating Museums,” is an illustrated field guide to North America’s cultural and historical repositories.

Ezra Gershanok and Jacob Halbert had made almost nothing in sales for their apartment subleasing startup until this spring.