The airport will still sell water in sustainably packaged alternatives, including recyclable aluminum or glass bottle containers. The ban applies to water sold at all restaurants, concessions, lounges, and vending machines but will not prohibit passengers from bringing their own plastic bottles into the airport. (Remember, the bottle must be empty to bring it through security.) 

Only non-carbonated, unflavored, or electrolyte-enhanced water is subject to the new policy—sparkling water, juices, sodas, and other beverages may still be sold in plastic bottles. 

“The climate crisis is a great challenge facing our city, and phasing out single-use plastic water bottles at Los Angeles World Airports facilities is an important step to reducing our environmental footprint and protecting the health and livelihood of all Angelenos,” said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass in a statement.

Los Angeles isn’t the first airport to ban plastic water bottles—San Francisco Airport no longer allows sales of any beverages (including soda, teas, and juices) in plastic or aseptic paper packaging.
No matter where you’re flying, packing a refillable water bottle is a smart way to save money. Check out our list of the best filtered water bottles for your next trip.

The post LAX Just Banned This Common Travel Necessity appeared first on SmarterTravel.

“Hotel hiring continues to increase, and leisure and hospitality is the ‘rock star’ among industries reported in monthly U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics employment figures,” said Andrea Stokes, hospitality practice lead at J.D. Power. “This boost in hotel staffing is showing up in the form of high customer satisfaction scores. Staff service is now the highest-scoring factor in this study across all hotel segments from economy to luxury, underscoring the critical role that frontline staff play in defining the guest experience.”

The survey evaluated 102 hotel brands on six factors: communications and connectivity; food and beverage; guest room; hotel facility; staff service; and value for price.

Factors like hotel staff and value for the price paid were among the most important elements of a good stay for guests. Another unexpected key aspect of a hotel stay? The lobby. A good experience starts when a guest walks into a hotel, setting the tone for the stay. According to J.D. Power, luxury hotel guests prefer a hotel that is “modern and unique.” For upscale or upscale extended hotel stay hotels, guests want a lobby that is “welcoming and inviting.”

The Best Hotel Brands for Every Travel Type

Luxury: Waldorf Astoria
Upper Upscale: Hard Rock Hotels and Margaritaville Hotels & Resorts (tied)
Upscale: Cambria Hotels & Suites
Upscale Extended Stay: Hyatt House
Upper Midscale: Trademark Collection by Wyndham
Upper Midscale/Midscale Extended Stay: Home2 Suites by Hilton
Midscale: Tru by Hilton
Economy: Americas Best Value Inn and Microtel by Wyndham (tie)
Economy Extended Stay: WoodSpring Suites

Despite the high demand for summer travel, you can still expect great service at hotels this year. “Only a small portion of guests (14 percent) indicate they experienced a problem with the hotel during the stay,” Stokes tells SmarterTravel. “This tells us that, despite continued high consumer demand for hotel lodging, hotels are keeping up with that demand while providing a satisfying guest experience.”

The post The 9 Best Hotel Brands 2023 appeared first on SmarterTravel.

Make this dream a reality by entering our sweepstakes, where you could win a vacation at The Landings Resort and Spa, one of St. Lucia’s best luxury villa-suites resorts, with impressive all-inclusive option.

Need more inspiration to enter? Read our review of The Landings here.

What’s Included

The winner of this giveaway will receive: 

• A three-night stay for two adults at The Landings Resort and Spa in a One Bedroom Marina View Suite (with your own private plunge pool!)
• All-inclusive meal package
• Beach ambassador service
• Access to daily on-resort activities
• Unlimited watersports
• Two spa treatments for two (one per guest)
• Round-trip airport transfer in St. Lucia

Note that airfare is not included in this prize.

How to Enter

Entering the sweepstakes is easy! Simply subscribe to newsletters from SmarterTravel and Oyster here. Our newsletters are a mix of travel inspiration, packing tips, and breaking travel news, designed to help you plan (and dream) for your next vacation.

Don’t worry, if you’re already a subscriber, you just have to verify your email address (and you won’t be signed up twice). 

Want to increase your chances of winning? Get bonus entries by following SmarterTravel on Twitter, retweeting our giveaway announcement, and visiting SmarterTravel and SmarterTravel Hotels on Instagram via the links on the giveaway page.

Entries must be completed before the giveaway ends at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on July 27th. Winners will be notified via email by 8 p.m. Eastern Time July 31st.

Didn’t win? Click here to find great rates at The Landings on SmarterTravel Hotels. 

Book Now

The post Win an All-Inclusive Saint Lucia Stay appeared first on SmarterTravel.

Prime Day, Amazon’s biggest sale of the year will run July 11th through July 12th for 2023. To help you make the most of this mega savings event, I’ve put together a few tips and tricks to help you get the best deals.

If you’re not already a Prime member, now is a great time to sign up. If you haven’t been a Prime member in a while, you can sign up for a free 30-day trial and cancel after Amazon Prime Day with no charge.

Now you’re ready to shop. Here are a few Amazon Prime Day secrets to consider:

1. Download the app to see the “sneak peek deals” and add your must-haves to your list to get notified when they go on sale during Prime Day. (Here’s how to do it.)
2. Monitor Amazon’s deals page for the latest discounts.
3. Enter the daily giveaways leading up to Prime Day through the Amazon app.
4. Shop early deals from small businesses leading up to Prime Day.
5. Clip digital coupons to save even more on purchases.
6. Split the cost of a Prime membership by adding multiple people to your “Amazon household,” which allows you to share the benefits of your membership.
7. Check out new Just for Prime deals that are exclusively available to Prime members.
8. Easily find the best Prime Day deals by asking Alexa, “Alexa, what are my deals”?
9. Amazon Prime users can get one year of free delivery with GrubHub
10. Prime Members can earn a $15 Amazon Credit when uploading their first photo to the Amazon Photos app.

Some of the links featured in this story are affiliate links, and SmarterTravel may collect a commission (at no cost to you) if you shop through them.

The post 10 Amazon Prime Day 2023 Secrets That Will Save You Even More Money appeared first on SmarterTravel.

To help travelers pass through airport security quickly and smoothly, the TSA has offered these seven summer travel tips. 

Double-Check Your PreCheck

Didn’t get the TSA PreCheck symbol on your boarding pass even though you’re a member? It’s likely that you didn’t add your Known Traveler Number to your reservation. Before checking in, make sure this information is correctly added to your profile so that you actually get PreCheck on your ticket. 

Empty Out Your Bag Before Packing

Maybe the last time used your backpack was for a camping trip, and there’s a knife stashed in a pocket that you forgot about—the TSA checkpoint is not the time to discover that. Make sure your luggage is empty before you start packing it, so you don’t accidentally bring any prohibited items to the airport. 

The TSA is especially concerned about people packing weapons, warning travelers, “If passengers bring a firearm to the security checkpoint, they will face significant penalties to include federal penalties and additional screening.”

Allow Extra Time

Airports are going to be really busy this summer, so you may have to wait in longer lines than you’re used to. Factor this in when you’re planning how long it will take you to return a rental car, find parking, check your bags, and get through security. 

To save time during screening, the TSA recommends taking items out of your pockets and putting them in your carry-on bag rather than in bins.

Be Ready for New Technology

You may see new technology at checkpoints in airports this summer, including new CT baggage scanners. “The opening to the X-ray tunnel on a CT unit is slightly smaller than on a traditional X-ray unit,” says the TSA.  “TSA advises travelers not to force larger items into the tunnel, but to ask a TSA officer for assistance.” 

Remain Calm

Crowds and delayed flights might test your patience this summer but don’t take it out on airport employees, TSA agents, or flight attendants. The TSA reminds passengers that “Assaulting a TSA officer is a federal offense and will result in penalties and/or arrest.” 

Check Your Identification

Although you still won’t need a REAL ID license until 2025, you should still double-check your passport or driver’s license well before you travel to make sure that it hasn’t expired. Don’t forget that many international destinations require your passport to be valid for at least six months after your trip. 

Know How to Reach the TSA

Not sure what you can bring on a plane, or what security procedures will be like? Ask the TSA before you go. You can contact the TSA through a variety of methods:

• Social media: Message @AskTSA on Facebook or Twitter
• Text 272872 (AskTSA)
• Call the TSA Contact Center at (866) 289-9673
• Passengers requesting special assistance/accommodations can call TSA Cares at (855) 787-2227

Live assistance is available on social media from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. ET and phone lines are staffed weekdays from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. ET and from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET on weekends and holidays.

The post 7 Summer Travel Tips From the TSA appeared first on SmarterTravel.

New numbers from the Consumer Price Index by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) show just how much prices have risen recently. Here’s what you can expect, along with tips for saving money.

Airfare

According to the BLS, airfares in April 2023 were an average of 9.6 percent higher than they were pre-pandemic in April 2019.

How to Save: Consider taking a road trip this summer instead. Data shows that gas prices have dropped 12.2 percent year-over-year, and rental car prices have also decreased by 11.2 percent.

Hotels/Vacation Rentals

The BLS measures inflation across a variety of accommodation options for travelers, including hotels, resorts, and vacation rentals. All of these overnight accommodation types are compiled into a category called “lodging away from home.”

Room rates for lodging away from home have risen 3.3 percent over the last year, and 23.6 percent over the last two years.

How to Save: Booked a refundable reservation? Keep an eye on rates at your hotel to see if prices drop before your arrival. If they do, you can rebook at a cheaper rate for no additional cost. 

Don’t forget to search for a hotel on SmarterTravel Hotels, where we offer big discounts on properties all over the world.

Dining Out

Eating away from home, whether it’s in a fast food cafe or a fine dining restaurant, now costs 8.6 percent more than it did one year ago.

How to Save: Try not to eat every single meal out when you’re on vacation. Booking a vacation rental or hotel room with a kitchenette can make it easy to prepare a quick and inexpensive breakfast. Or, try hitting the local grocery store and picking up ingredients for a picnic in a scenic spot for a cheap (and memorable) lunch or dinner.

The post New Data Shows Travelers Are In For An Expensive Summer appeared first on SmarterTravel.

What is Juice-Jacking?

“Juice jacking,” as the travel scam is called, targets desperate travelers in need of a charge. Daniel Smith, a security researcher at Radware explains how this works. “Attackers can use fake charging stations to trick unsuspecting users into plugging in their device. Once the device is plugged in the user’s data and photos could be downloaded or malware can be written onto the device.”

Hackers can download anything that is on your phone, since the charging port is doubling as a data port. We’re talking passwords, emails, photos, messages, and even banking and other personal information via apps.

There have been several campaigns to increase public awareness about the scam since 2011, when the term juice-jacking was first coined by investigative journalist Brian Krebs. This past April, the FBI Denver official Twitter account tweeted a warning stating that “bad actors have figured out ways to use public USB ports to introduce malware and monitoring software onto devices” and that travelers should avoid using unknown charging cables and plugging directly into public USB ports. 

Sounds scary right? While it never hurts to be protective of your personal data while traveling, how worried should you really be about juice jacking at the airport?

How Common is Juice-Jacking?

With all the official warnings cropping up over the past decade, it’s easy to assume that hackers are draining your data every time you enter the terminal. However, it seems that anxious travelers can breathe a small sigh of relief. 

“There are no documented cases of juice jacking ever taking place in the wild,” says Dan Gooden, Senior Security Editor at Ars Technica, “Left out of the advisories is that modern iPhones and Android devices require users to click through an explicit warning before they can exchange files with a device connected by standard cables.”

Even though the likelihood of becoming a victim of juice-jacking is low, there are easy ways to eliminate the risk altogether.

How to Prevent Juice-Jacking

If you find yourself always on low battery and relying on public charging stations, there are products out there that will protect your phone data while charging in public spots.Consider purchasing a super tiny data blocker, which is a “USB defender” that protects any data from being stolen off of your phone.

Avoid public charging stations altogether by investing in your own personal portable battery pack. You won’t need to fight for space at the charging station or hunt down an errant outlet in the terminal. You can also charge your phone on the plane, bus, train, car, or while walking around outside where outlets are not readily available. 

Best Portable Cell Phone Chargers

The best portable battery packs are lightweight, hold at least one to two full smartphone charges before needing a recharge, and are TSA-compliant (operating below 100 watt hours or 27,000mAh).

Biolite PD Charge 20

The Biolite Charge 20 PD is the smallest model from the Biolite Charge series. It charges via USB–C (in/out port), features two USB-A charge-out ports, and will charge a standard smartphone 1.5 times. 

iWalk Small Portable Charger

This ultra-small portable charger is perfect for iPhone users with limited luggage space. It fits easily inside a pocket or small purse and is compatible with iPhone model 6s through 14 Pro Max.

Anker Portable Charger

Despite its small size, the Anker Portable Charger packs a powerful punch, charging a smartphone up to 2.5 times (make and model dependent) before needing to be recharged.

Carol McPherson contributed to this story.

All of the products featured in this story were hand-selected by our travel editors. Some of the links featured in this story are affiliate links, and SmarterTravel may collect a commission (at no cost to you) if you shop through them.

The post How Worried Should You Be About This Travel Scam? appeared first on SmarterTravel.

A number of major airlines including United Airlines, Southwest Airlines, and American Airlines, could be facing potential pilot strikes this summer.

How likely are these strikes to happen, and what happens if your flight is canceled because of one? Here’s what the pilot strikes could mean for travelers. 

What Airlines Could Be Impacted?

Pilot groups for several major airlines have indicated that strikes are on the table. Pilots at Canadian airline WestJet pilots issued a 72-hour pre-strike notice on May 15 and the carrier has already announced that it will be canceling flights due to the potential strike.

In the United States, pilots at both Southwest Airlines and American Airlines have voted to authorize strikes. Although United Airlines pilots haven’t officially voted on a strike, they have been picketing at airports to demand new contracts over the last few months. 

Why Are Pilots Considering Striking?

Pilots are seeking better pay, more vacation time, and a better work-life balance. In a statement issued by United pilots, the pilots called attention to the age of their contact with the airline, saying, “United Pilots are operating under a contract with quality-of-work-life rules that we have not updated for more than 10 years.”

Earlier this year, Delta pilots successfully negotiated for significant pay increases along with more vacation and better benefits. Pilots at other major airlines are hoping to see similar changes. 

“United pilots will always be there for our customers,” said Captain Garth Thompson, United Airline Pilots Association (ALPA) Master Executive Council chair. “Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about management, who seems to think that a last-minute cancelation of a United pilot’s scheduled day off, or abrupt trip reassignments that extend into planned days off is acceptable for a United pilot’s family.” 

In addition to raises and benefits, pilots at Southwest are looking to address operational issues that have caused major cancelations and delays over the last few years. “Our pilots are tired of apologizing to our passengers on behalf of a company that refuses to place its priorities on its internal and external customers,” said Southwest Airlines Pilots Association Casey Murray. 

What Happens if Your Flight Is Cancelled Due to a Pilot Strike?

Your rights are the same no matter if your flight was cancelled due to a pilot strike or bad weather. The airline should rebook you, free of charge. Unfortunately, if there is an ongoing pilot strike, finding a new flight to change to could be very difficult, as airlines will have a lot of stranded passengers to accommodate.

If you choose not to rebook and instead cancel your trip, you are entitled to receive a full cash refund (not a voucher). 

Many airlines also offer other benefits to stranded passengers, including hotel rooms and meals. Check what’s covered by your carrier at the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Airline Cancelation and Delay Dashboard. 

Will Travel Insurance Cover a Pilot Strike?

Most standard travel insurance policies will provide coverage for all prepaid and non-refundable trip expenses if a flight is significantly delayed or canceled due to a pilot strike. 

Steven Benna, Marketing Manager, Squaremouth, tells SmarterTravel “A strike can no longer be covered by travel insurance once it is considered a known event. However, the timing for when a strike is considered known can vary between plans.”

According to Benna, “Some providers consider a strike to be a known event once a formal announcement has been made. However, some providers consider it a known event as soon as the strike has been authorized.”

This means, depending on which policy you buy, a flight on Southwest Airlines or American Airlines might not be covered as their pilots have already voted to authorize strikes.

How Likely Is a Pilot Strike?

In the United States, airline workers must follow rules around striking laid out in the Railway Labor Act (RLA). Pilots won’t legally be able to strike unless federal mediators decide that negotiations between the pilots and the airlines are fruitless. Even then, the government could still block a strike from happening. 

It’s far more likely that the airlines will be able to reach an agreement with the pilots rather than resorting to strikes this summer—however, the possibility is not off the table.

The post Could Pilot Strikes Ruin Your Summer Travel Plans? appeared first on SmarterTravel.

Thinking about booking? Better act fast, as the sale ends in the early morning of May 20.

Destinations on Sale

Deals will be available in 50 popular summer destinations worldwide, including:

• Santorini, Greece: $100 off flights
• Venice, Italy: $100 off flights
• Milan, Italy: $75 off flights
• Maldives: $100 off flights
• Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam: $100 off flights
• Rome, Italy: $60 off flights
• Lisbon, Portugal: $75 off flights
• Tokyo, Japan: $60 off flights
• London, UK: $50 off flights

How to Book

The sale runs May 17 through May 20 at 3 am EST. You’ll only be able to get the discounted prices by booking directly in Hopper’s app. 

Are There Any Restrictions?

No blackout dates or restrictions apply to this sale.

How Can I Save on the Rest of My Trip?

Need a cheap hotel to go with your flight? You can find amazing discounts on hotels all over the world (without waiting for a sale) at SmarterTravel Hotels.

Book Now

The post Flash Sale Alert! Save up to $100 on Summer Flights to Europe & Other Hot Destinations appeared first on SmarterTravel.

Google just unveiled Immersive View for routes, a new feature within Maps that will help you plan ahead and know exactly what to expect on your trip. 

Immersive View utilizes Street View and aerial images to create a “multidimensional experience” where you can preview important aspects of your route, including bike lanes, sidewalks, intersections, and parking.

Use the time slider to see how weather and air quality will change along the route depending on the time of day, helping you decide if it’s better to walk or drive. Immersive View will use AI and historical driving data to show how traffic is expected to look along your route, so you’ll know how much congestion to expect along the way. 

“Imagine if you could see your whole trip in advance,” said Google CEO Sundar Pichai. “With Immersive View for Routes, now you can, whether you’re walking, cycling, or driving.”

Google will launch Immersive View in 15 cities to start: Amsterdam, Berlin, Dublin, Florence, Las Vegas, London, Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Paris, Seattle, San Francisco, San Jose, Tokyo, and Venice.

Expect to see Immersive View within Google Maps in a few months. The new technology will focus on driving, cycling, and walking, and will not work for public transportation (yet). 

The post This New Google Maps Feature Could Be a Game-Changer for Travel appeared first on SmarterTravel.