Articles in Checking In
Coronavirus Morning News Brief – Oct. 13: 17 Florida Sheriff’s Office Employees Defrauded Covid Relief Plans, RSV and Flu Cases Rise as Covid Wave Peaks
Good morning. This is Jonathan Spira reporting. Here now the news of the pandemic from across the globe on the 1,311th day of the pandemic.
OP-ED ON FRIDAY
You’ve Been Warned: Today is Friday the 13th
A quick glance at the calendar reveals that today is Friday the 13th.
It falls in the already spooky month of October, which ends with Halloween, and we won’t see another Friday the 13th until September 2024.
Some numbers …
Big Apple Visitors Scramble for Hotel Rooms as New York City Enforces New Airbnb Rules and Hotels Rates Climb
The month of September brought new challenges for people traveling to New York as the city’s new restrictions on Airbnb listings went into effect just at a time when tourism is beginning to rise.
The pandemic hit the Big Apple’s lodging market harder than any other in the United States. Dozens of hotels shuttered their doors permanently, pulling thousands of rooms off the market.
Five factors are driving room rates to or …
1983 Honeymoon Room Voucher from Radisson Muehlebach Is Put to Good Use 40 Years Later
A couple that got married in June 1983 and spent their one-night honeymoon at the Muehlebach Radisson in Kansas City returned to the property this month after coming across a gift voucher, “The Muehlebach Lifetime Honeymoon Certificate,” they received as part of the honeymoon package.
Printed on a red and white background of wine and roses, the voucher “…certifies that anytime you stay at the Radisson Muehlebach during your anniversary month, …
My 2023 Mattress Run: How I Retained Hilton Honors Gold Elite Status With 2 Stays
While in pre-pandemic days I did my share of mileage runs to maintain top-level status with either American Airlines or Delta (depending on the time period), I never engaged in a mattress run, that is until now.
For the uninitiated, a mileage or mattress run is what frequent travelers can do if they are short on status miles, points, nights, or stays, for the purpose of maintaining or increasing their elite …
Coronavirus Morning News Brief – April 1: New XBB.1.16 Variant ‘One to Watch,’ Over 50% of Parents Lied About Child’s Covid Status
Good morning. This is Jonathan Spira reporting. Here now the news of the pandemic from across the globe on the 1,116th day of the pandemic and April Fools’ Day.
Nothing would please me more than to announce that the pandemic is over, but I’d have to follow it up with the exclamation “April Fools!” and say “never mind, it’s still ongoing.”
Indeed, I further wish the following were also a trick, but …
New York City’s Hotel Pennsylvania – Once the World’s Largest – Now Under Demolition; Fate of Famous Phone Number Remains Unknown
Big band fans take note! The Hotel Pennsylvania – which, when it opened in 1919, was the largest hotel in the world with 2,200 rooms and continued to be the fourth largest hotel in New York City until it closed temporarily amidst the coronavirus-pandemic induced decline in visitors to the Big Apple – has been largely reduced to rubble.
Indeed, as of the start of March, the Pennsylvania has been deconstructed …
Review: Schloß Elmau, The Bavarian Castle Hotel and Spa Hosting the G-7
It was only seven years ago that President Obama, German Chancellor Merkel, and other Group of Seven leaders gathered at a summit in the Bavarian Alps to discuss affairs of state that included sanctions against Russia.
While the roster of leaders may have changed, the topic of Russian sanctions remains on the agenda, and that country’s invasion of Ukraine will also be a topic of much conversation.
Nestled at the foot of …
