Bellagio Las Vegas | lakeview rooms worth it!

I attended my fifth TravelMart ten days ago in Las Vegas. The first four times, we stayed in a regular Deluxe Room at Bellagio Las Vegas ... a nice enough room at 510 square feet ... but not much of a view. Looking across Tropicana Avenue at Caesar's parking garage is not necessarily an inspiring experience.

This time we were given a Lakeview Deluxe room - and the experience was wonderful. The video above was taken from room 24642 in the Spa Tower and gives an idea of the Strip View we enjoyed. Every 30 minutes during the day, and every 15 minutes after 6 p.m., we were treated to the sight of Bellagio's famous water show - with the music playing on one of the channels of the TV in our room. Lakeview rooms sell for a premium over a standard Deluxe rooms, but the extra $50 per night is worth it, transforming a perfectly comfortable hotel room into a very special experience of the Strip at night.

Bellagio is one of over 850 Virtuoso hotels around the world. Book through a Virtuoso luxury travel consultant to receive a daily breakfast credit for two and an $85 lunch credit at Olives, along with a 10% discount from the published room rate of the day.


Bellagio Las Vegas (search here on Google)

copyright (c) 2010 by David Ourisman LLC. All rights reserved. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.
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Virtuoso TravelMart

I'm spending the week at TravelMart in Las Vegas. Virtuoso TravelMart is the annual trade show for Virtuoso travel consultants and suppliers. Held for the past ten years at the Bellagio, the major "business" of the trade show is connecting with Sales reps from hundreds of Virtuoso hotels, resorts, tour companies, onsites, and other suppliers.

I have 424 four-minute appointments spread out over four days, quite an exhausting way to spend Monday through Thursday. Travel consultants are seated at small tables in three large (and over air-conditioned) ballrooms, while the sales reps make the rounds. The YouTube video above is an excerpt from one such interview - we are learning about a new Private Grizzly Bear Viewing activity in British Columbia, Canada that has been developed by Entrée Destinations, a Virtuoso onsite for Canada.

TravelMart is an incredible source of information about the finest luxury travel experiences in the world but - more than that - of making the contacts who can help Virtuoso travel consultants get our clients upgraded and have their special requests accommodated.


Virtuoso TravelMart (search here on Google)

copyright (c) 2010 by David J. Ourisman. All rights reserved. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.
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sabre red workspace

Sabre is a GDS (global distribution system) used by travel consultants. For those interested in such technology, airlines, hotels, and car rental companies load their availability in Sabre and a number of other competing GDS's. Sabre uses an old-fashioned command-line interface which, for a Mac-user like me, is way behind the times. My suggestion for years running has been to create "Travelocity for Agents." Sabre owns Travelocity, so they do own the technology to create an entirely graphical interface.

So I was interested to hear about the new Sabre Red Workspace. Here's what their promotional team is saying:

The core of the Sabre Red travel solution is our powerful Sabre Red Workspace. It's not just another "desktop" as other companies are touting, but a customizable workspace that provides unprecedented flexibility to put everything users need right at their fingertips.

The Red Workspace is built on a technology platform that is among the most elite systems in the world. In fact, this future-ready open technology is the same used by NASA to command its missions to Mars. Superior speed, superior dependability, superior flexibility, superior ability to simplify complex operations. The only difference between them and you? The ultimate destination of the trips managed.

The Red Workspace will allow agents to utilize traditional GDS formats in a Classic View, or utilize a highly intuitive workflow in an all new Graphical View. Plus it's multi GDS capable - enabling simplified operations with standardized workflow across your locations.

Does Sabre Red live up to those high expectations? Well, not yet, anyway. The graphical interface is very limited, providing nothing not already found in MySabre. But, hopefully, that will soon come. In the meantime, I've provided a screen shot of the Sabre Red Workspace.


Sabre Red Workspace (search here on Google)

copyright (c) 2010 by David Ourisman LLC. All rights reserved. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.
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Bora Bora Nui | Bachelorette finale

I stayed at Bora Bora Nui Resort several years ago, and I actually watched a portion of last night's finale of ABC's The Bachelorette to catch some glimpses of the property. It was a fun homecoming!

A large resort with nearly a mile of beach, Bora Bora Nui is located in an isolated portion of the lagoon. With no other resorts in sight, you'll get a real sense of seclusion for a romantic holiday. Rooms are large and very attractive with some of the most comfortable beds I've ever slept in. Bathrooms are also grand in scale; there are two marble counters and sinks, and you can arrange to have the large soaking tub filled with rose petals to set the mood.

Overwater bungalows are the rooms of choice here. Walk down the steps outside the back door of your bungalow to your own private dock where you can put on your snorkeling equipment and slip into the wonderfully warm water. Bora Bora is a place to relax, swim among the colorful topical fish, or simply gaze out over the incredible aquamarine waters of the atoll. Ask about special Bachelorette packages that include breakfast for two every morning, an island gourmet picnic, and special round-trip boat transfers from the airport.


Bora Bora Nui (search here on Google)