About half a year after offering its loyalty program members the chance to earn rewards by checking in on Foursquare, Starwood Hotels and Resorts has launched a similar program through
Chinese location-based clone site Jiepang.com.

Starwood's St. Regis Lhasa

By linking their Jiepang accounts to their Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) accounts, travelers can earn bonus points for check-ins at more than 200 hotels in the Asia-Pacific region. Every month, Jiepang’s SPG Mayor, the person with the most check-ins, will earn special program perks and a moment in the spotlight in the form of an interview running on the SPG Jiepang landing page.

Jiepang, founded in 2010, has 1.4 million users, making it much smaller than its U.S.-based counterpart, Foursquare (more than 10 million) or Chinese microblog service Weibo (over 300 million).

Starwood’s partnership with this year-old Chinese social media start-up accompanies big development moves in the country. About a dozen Sheratons opened in China in 2011, and Starwood hopes to operate 100 properties there by the end of 2012. The Sheraton brand should account for about half of those, and Starwood and other Western hotel companies are turning their development focus from China’s biggest coastal cities to second- and third-tier inland locations.

The move also follows a recent trend toward more careful consideration of Chinese travelers beyond the Asia-Pacific region. This summer, “Starwood Personalized Travel” and “Hilton Huanying” were launched to better cater to the needs of Chinese guests at select hotels within the Starwood and Hilton families. Mandarin-speaking staff, tea kettles in the rooms and congee at the breakfast buffet are some of the amenities, standard at mainland hotels, now increasingly available in places like New York, London and Mexico City.

Photo: Starwood, St. Regis Lhasa

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Traveling during December might be fun for the kids yet can get frazzling for parents. Most properties decorate to some degree and have holiday menus in their restaurants, but a few go above and beyond hauling out trees, snowflakes and tinsel to offer experiences that can add a little excitement and make holiday travel more enjoyable for everyone.

Gaylord Hotels is usually tops with its holiday offerings, and this year is no exception. The company has partnered with DreamWorks Animation to offer “Christmassy DreamWorks Experience” packages at all four of its properties, and its annual ICE! events—life-sized winter wonderlands hand-carved from two million pounds of ice at each Gaylord Hotel—will be themed this year to reflect two popular DreamWorks television specials: Shrek the Halls and Merry Madagascar.

In addition, Kung Fu Panda Awesome SNOW at the Gaylord Palms and Gaylord Texan bring white powder to warm climates, where kids can play in underground snow tunnels, tube down a 64-foot pagoda slide, and build snowmen and forts at the Palms, and soar through an eight-lane tubing hill at the Texan.

Packages start at $149 per person for one night, $199 per person for two nights and include admission to ICE! as well as various events, such as special dining experiences, character meet-and-greets, Puss In Boots screenings, a Shrektacular street party and scavenger hunts, depending on the specific offerings at each property. For more details, visit www.gaylordhotels.com.

Christmas at the Galt House in Louisville, Kentucky, this year includes an expanded KaLightoscope attraction, a new Christmas village with a Snow Fairy Castle, a new learning center, kid’s activities, an enhanced Mistletoe Marketplace and the annual Color’s of the Season’s dinner show with Santa. Packages start at $225 per night. Individual tickets also are available for the attractions and dinner show for non-guests of the hotel. Visit www.christmasatthegalthouse.com for more information.

Loews Hotels in Southern California will be offering holiday experiences that are geared more toward adults or older kids traveling this month. Guests at the Loews Coronado Bay in San Diego taking the “Buon Natale” gondola cruise will be serenaded by a Santa gondolier singing Christmas carols while plying the canals and waterways of the Coronado Cays, complete with hot cider (spiked or regular) and sugar cookies. Available December 16 to 23, $145 per one-hour cruise.

The “Not so Wintery Wonderland” reception held each night from December 14 to 25 in the Fireside lounge at the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel will include complimentary hot cider, holiday music, ornament decorating for kids, “Rudolph Roll” sushi demonstrations (we assume there will not be reindeer meat in the roll) and a special holiday menu.

Both hotels are offering “Home for the Holidays” promotions through January 8, 2012, with 20 percent off for stays of three or more nights. Rates start at $239 in Santa Monica and $127 in San Diego.

Photos: Gaylord Hotels, Galt House, Loews Hotels

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If it’s after Thanksgiving, then it’s time for the annual travel bloggers’ fundraiser Passports with Purpose, which kicked off today for its fourth year.

The goal for 2011 is to raise $80,000 during the next few weeks for construction and initial support of two libraries in Zambia through Room to Read, a nonprofit organization focused on literacy and gender equality in education. As Pam Mandel, one of the co-founders of Passports with Purpose, said, “We love reading. We love writing. We love libraries. We can totally get behind Room to Read.”

More than 100 travel bloggers from around the world are participating with donated prizes such as hotel stays, tours, travel gear, services, electronics and gift cards, each valued between $100 and $5,000.

For each $10 tax-deductible donation on the Passports with Purpose site, a person can enter to win a prize of their choice. Donations for multiple prizes and multiple $10 increments are acceptable, as are direct donations without entering for a prize. Bidding ends on Dec. 16, 2011, with a winner for each prize randomly selected on Dec. 23. All proceeds go directly to Room to Read.

Examples of some of the prizes include:

• Two-night stay at the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa, from No Vacation Required
• Three-night Marquis Los Cabos stay with one dinner for two, a bottle of Marquis wine and private shopping tour of Luxury Avenue with $1,000 peso gift card, from What a Trip (a blog by Uptake’s Lodging Blog editor Nancy D. Brown)
• 110,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points good for five nights at any Hyatt worldwide, from Loyalty Travel “Celebrity Chef Gourmet Cooking Experience” for two at the Freestyle Escape Outdoor Kitchen in Queensland, Australia, from Roaming Tales
• Kindle Fire, from Vacation Gals
• 15-day 1st class adult Eurail Global Flexi Pass, from BootsnAll

The travel bloggers will use their websites and social media outlets to promote the charity auction. The groundwork for establishing the two libraries already has begun. The libraries will be located next to the Masulwe Basic School and Chilileka Basic School. Hundreds of children will soon have access to a dedicated library staffed by a trained librarian and filled with colorful, age-appropriate books in their own language. Through Room to Read’s Challenge Grant model, the communities are co-investing by contributing to the libraries through volunteer labor and donated materials, resulting in the library’s long-term sustainability.

Passports with Purpose was started in 2008 by Mandel along with Debbie Dubrow, Michelle Duffy and Beth Whitman, the bloggers behind Nerd’s Eye View, Delicious Baby, WanderMom, and Wanderlust and Lipstick, respectively, in order to leverage the online travel-writing community to raise money and do long-lasting good for people and places around the world.

Each year the group chooses a partner organization, and so far, each year the initial goal set for the fundraiser has been surpassed. In prior years, Passports with Purpose donations have benefited Heifer International and helped build the Passports School with American Assistance for Cambodia and a village in Tamil Nadu, India, for 25 Dalit families with Land for Tillers’ Freedom.

Additional partners for Passports with Purpose 2011 include platinum sponsor Round the World with Us, a family of travelers committed to raising awareness of global issues and helping people better understand other cultures; silver sponsor Travellerspoint, a large travel community that claims to have members representing every country in the world; and bronze sponsor HomeAway, the large online marketplace for vacation rentals.

For more information or to donate, visit www.passportswithpurpose.org.

Photo: Passports with Purpose

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After several months of increasing speculation by investors, the parent company of American Airlines, AMR Corporation, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection today. It is the last of the major U.S. carriers to do so, and the only one that didn’t turn a profit in 2010.

Rising jet-fuel prices and labor costs, combined with increased competition due to mergers of other carriers—pushing the once largest domestic carrier to the No. 3 slot—are the main reasons behind the filing. According to the Wall Street Journal, AMR stock stopped trading early on Monday and closed at $1.62, down 54 percent over the past three months.

What does this mean for travelers with American Airlines tickets and miles?

In the short-term, not much. According to a statement released by the Fort Worth, Texas-based company, AMR has $4.1 billion in cash to ensure the uninterrupted supply of goods and services, and will be conducting business as usual. The airline expects to:

• Provide safe and reliable service;
• Fly normal schedules;
• Honor tickets and reservations, and make exchanges and refunds as usual;
• Fully maintain AAdvantage frequent-flyer and other customer-service programs, and ensure all AAdvantage miles and elite status earned by members remain secure and intact;
• Provide Admirals Club access and similar amenities to members and eligible customers;
• Remain an integral member of the oneworld alliance, of which American is a founding member; and
• Continue its codeshare partnerships.

That noted, airlines in bankruptcy protection typically do tend to reduce their schedules while they try to regain their financial bearings, which could have long-term affects for certain destinations.

One short-term advantage for travelers is that after a Chapter 11 filing, the airline often offers substantial sales in an attempt to maintain customers who might be leery about flying on a bankrupt carrier.

Also, members of American’s AAdvantage frequent-flyer program should keep their eyes peeled for special deals too, such as even more offers bonus-point earnings or reduced miles for redemption, as the airline will want to make sure it keeps its most loyal customers during the restructuring.

In a separate announcement, the AMR board of directors has appointed Thomas W. Horton chairman, CEO and president of American Airlines, succeeding Gerard Arpey, who has decided to retire.

Photo: American Airlines

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