When Vrbo Hosts Charge Junk Fees

When Daniel Materna and his wife booked a recent trip from Chicago to Los Angeles, they carefully selected their flights. The couple was keen to fly on a United Airlines 787 Dreamliner, specifically, to enjoy the lie-flat Polaris seats in the business-class cabin.

A class-action lawsuit against Accor, the Paris-based hotel giant, accuses it of having not disclosed so-called junk fees.

Japan has a reputation as an etiquette-bound place that can be intimidating for first-time visitors. Don’t buy it. The traditions here are no more formal or constricting than in many other destinations around the world. Moreover, most locals are more than willing to help out or give foreign travelers a pass for any perceived faux pas.

U.S. federal employees should rent electric vehicles and opt for rail trips when feasible on government travel to sharply reduce emissions, the White House said on Thursday.

Adam Kidan was aboard his Gulfstream private jet in 2021, headed from Los Angeles to the East Coast, when the pilot told him they needed to land in Las Vegas due to a maintenance issue. It took four days, dozens of phone calls and a couple of favors before he could find somebody to come fix his airplane. An entrepreneur who built his fortune helping others find workforce solutions, from warehouses to light manufacturing, he saw an opportunity. Beyond the manufacturers of private jets, he says there were no national networks of repair shops that could come out and fix your airplane if you have an AOG, industry speak for aircraft on the ground away from its base, or what we call a mechanical.

There’s no place quite like Sweden, whether you travel there for Stockholm or all of the gorgeous places outside of Stockholm). It can, however, be pricey. For those in the market for a new car, you can get that plus a free trip to Sweden when you purchase a Volvo. The car brand has a new buying option called the Overseas Delivery Tourist Program, where you can visit Sweden as a perk of buying one of the vehicles. All you have to do is buy a car and pick it up in Gothenburg.

In this series, Lonely Planet's team of writers and editors answers your travel problems and provides tips and hacks to help you plan a hassle-free trip. This week, John Walton, Lonely Planet’s resident aviation journalist and airline nerd, answers a question about scoring a good seat on a plane.

Jordan is a small country packed with wonderful attractions and experiences but don't let its compact size fool you – covering the major sites in one trip is no easy task.

Vrbo reversed its longstanding guest-refund policy for the wildfires in Maui – for the first time, guests would be entitled to full refunds. But that won’t be the case with Hurricane/Tropical Storm Hilary, which this week ripped through Baja California, Mexico, and then turned to Southern California and elsewhere in the U.S. Southwest.

Few issues are as divisive among short-term rental hosts, property managers, online travel agencies and guests as refund policies following hurricanes, wildfires, and pandemics. The issue will only get more heated as the earth does likewise.

Happy hump day, folks – let’s get into it. I was reading this latest report from Skift’s director of research Wouter Geerts: Airbnb vs Vrbo in 20 Charts, and here are a few stats I find interesting.

The first snows have fallen on the sharp ridge below the 700-metre summit of Víkartindur. Walking the village path towards Saksun, we looked across to the ridge of peaks that run along the spine of the neighbouring island of Eysturoy. The jagged landscape was bathed in golden winter light and in the distance the Atlantic was a giant silvered mirror.