Supplier Issues

(Dive Travel Business News - November 7, 2010) -- A British reputation management company, KwikChex, is gathering unhappy hotel owners and travel providers in a group to fight TripAdvisor: It's threatening to file class action suits in Britain and the United States for defamation and libel unless TripAdvisor changes its policies about posting user-generated hotel reviews.

The KwikChex group wants TripAdvisor to remove reviews that aren't verified but make serious charges such as crime, injury or illness. It wants other unverified insulting reviews taken down.  As part of its anti TripAdvisor strategy, KwikChex might also attempt to identify individual negative posters and go after them legally.

The advent of online reader review databases has been a positive development: Most anonymous reviews like those found on TripAdvisor can be honest, accurate and insightful. These reviews can help travelers and reward the best travel providers. Reviews can also pressure hotels to improve their service quality and property offerings so everyone wins.  read more »

(Dive Travel Business News - July 14, 2010) -- A U.S. House of Representatives hearing hosted by the US Transportation and Infrastructure's Subcommittee on Aviation will be held today that focuses on the proliferation and disclosure of ancillary airline fees.  The hearing comes about four weeks before the close of a public comment period on a related set of rules proposed by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Among other things, the proposed DOT rules would require carriers to provide GDSs with information about bag fees and optional services fees. Proposed rules also include details on tarmac delay regulations and data, disclosure of customer service plans, consumer problem rectification, oversales and advertising "full" fares.

"The proliferation of ancillary fees over a relatively short period of time has raised concerns over the costs and transparency of such fees," according to the subcommittee. "Often, consumers are not entirely aware of the range of fees that they may encounter in the ticket booking process, at check-in and at the gate." read more »

(Dive Travel Business News - June 14, 2010) -- In an effort to overcome the skittishness of travelers unwilling to commit to a beach vacation in Florida due to looming the BP oil spill that threatens Florida beaches, Orbitz is offering full refunds on hotel stays at participating properties.

Travelers who make a hotel booking (not an air/hotel package) at a participating Florida hotel via Orbitz for travel now through July 31, will be covered under the Orbitz "Open Beach Guarantee". This guarantee provides for a full hotel refund if a government agency closes a beach within 20 miles of the property or declares it dangerous.

Orbitz said in a press release that it is hoping to extend the guarantee to other Gulf Coast beach destinations. View terms of the Open Beach promo here on the Orbitz website. The list of participating properties includes many in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Daytona Beach and other areas that so far have not been linked to the spill.

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(Dive Travel Business News - June 4, 2010) -- The April 20, 2010 explosion and oil spill on the British Petroleum Oil Drill Platform Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico has caused concern for the diving industry, specifically in regions around the Gulf.

The extent of the environmental damage is not yet known, but in anticipation of damage occurring to the coastal areas and the potential for extensive economic damages concerning the diving industry, the Diving Equipment & Marketing Association (DEMA) has put together an Oil Spill Assistance Planner to help dive businesses impacted by the spill to connect to contacts that can assist them. The Oil Spill Assistance Planner is available by clicking here. read more »

(Dive Travel Business News - May 31, 2010) -- Nekton Diving Cruises ceased operations May 17, 2010. The Florida-based dive tour company operated two ultra-stable SWATH twin-hull dive boats designed for people prone to sea sickness.

The Nekton Pilot and the Nekton Rorqual, both designed to accommodate more than 30 scuba divers, offered one-week itineraries to the Bahamas and Belize.  According to the owners, the vessels proved too costly to run as reservations declined in a down economy. read more »

(Dive Travel Business News - April 23, 2010) -- A November 2009 DTBN article, "Unlicensed Tour Operators Thrive on the Internet" discussed a trend in travel where the internet is now being used to persuate to buy from illegal agents by offering ridiculously cheap rates and empty promises. Now tourists to Malaysia are being advised not to buy tours from unlicensed operator or so-call "free lance agents" to avoid being conned.

Chairman of the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Matta) KL Tan reminded travelers that only bona fide tour operators licensed by the Tourism Ministry and registered with Matta are allowed to provide tour excursion packages read more »

(Dive Travel Business News - November 17, 2008) - Travel Mole.com - Tourism Concern has slammed CNBC International Property Awards for awarding what they call a “socially and environmentally destructive tourism development” two prestigious prizes. 

Says Tourism Concern: “Bimini Bay Resort, Bahamas, is threatening the livelihoods of local communities and has had a devastating impact on the island’s fragile marine ecosystem. The resort restricts people’s access to their land and marine resources. Coastal land has been carved up, the seafloor dredged and lagoons filled with silt to make way for luxury condominiums, a casino and ‘mega-yacht’ marina. The siltation of important breeding grounds has caused fish and conch numbers, which are harvested by local fishermen, to plummet.”  read more »

(Travelweekly.com - Oct 16, 2009) - The Honolulu City Council committee on Executive Matters and Legal Affairs has voted to defer action on legislation that would ban shark tour operations on Oahu, likely killing the proposal. 

Introduced last summer by Councilman Charles Djou, Bill 67 at the request of the Hawaii Kai Neighborhood Board. Many in the East Oahu community were upset about a plan to start shark tours in Maunalua Bay. The proposed legislation would make it illegal to maintain an office, collect money, market or conduct any other activity related to a shark tour on Oahu, penalizing violators with up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

If passed, the measure would affect two businesses that currently operate out of the Haleiwa Small Boat Harbor. North Shore Shark Adventures and Hawaii Shark Encounters who take visitors beyond that three-mile limit to view sharks. The two companies oppose the measure, saying their tours pose little danger to humans and little disturbance to sharks. A recent University of Hawaii study also concluded that shark tours have no significant impact on public safety because of the remote sites. read more »

(Wednesday November 12, 2008 - CNN) -- A federal task force approved voluntary guidelines Wednesday for airlines and airports dealing with passengers stranded for hours on the tarmac but produced no fixed limit on how long they can be delayed before being allowed to leave planes.

Passengers who had hoped for stronger protections were left empty-handed by the guidelines.

"You have to admit that the game is still heavily weighted to business as usual," Kate Hanni, a passenger rights advocate, told her fellow task force members before voting against adoption of the report.

Passenger rights advocates said the report of the tarmac task force, as it is informally known, reflected demands by airline members that they have the flexibility to design their own response plans and not be pinned to a time limit for holding passengers on tarmacs.

Task force member Daniel Rutenberg of the International Airline Passengers Association also expressed disappointment at the lack of "time-specific triggers" for allowing passengers to return to gates and appealed to Transportation Secretary Mary Peters to address the issue. read more »

(April 14, 2008 - Modern Agent) -–Windjammer Barefoot Cruises, which hasn’t operated a ship since last August, has apparently closed its Miami offices. The troubled company, which let lapse its Florida license to sell travel in November, was unsuccessful in its attempts to renew that registration, said Terence McElroy, spokesman for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. “Because of their financial difficulties, we insisted they post a $50,000 bond, which they didn’t have to do before,” McElroy said. “They were unable or unwilling to post the bond, so we rejected their request to renew the license. At that point, they were no longer licensed to sell travel in Florida.” read more »