June 7, 2007 WWPR 1490am-- Sarasota, FL

June 8, 2007 Frommers

May 2007 Outside Magazine




• *If you heard about us somewhere else or have the link to the story please email Johnny Jet media and let us know where!

• Enjoyed reading of your trials and tribulations while in London. To me it is the most expensive city around, and I will probably never ever return there. It's just too damned expensive. Luckily we were able to get a hotel room via the internet prior to our trip, but I recall some places were between 200-300 pounds per night. I think we finally found a place for about 80 pounds. This was just a couple of years ago. Had we waited until arriving, I'm sure we would have been in the same boat that you were in, paying through the nose. We had the same thing in Amsterdam last year. Booked a place for three nights. Discovered we had to add one night. Had to pay almost double for the extra night. What a rip! Hey let's face it. visiting Europe is just plain costly, and I have no desire to hurry back. Enjoy your articles. Marvin Lerner - St. Louis, MO



• Good as always, thank you. Scott P – Seattle, WA



• I very much enjoyed this installment. I like to find out about 'rip offs' or similar types of travel stuff. This way, I can be prepared and have a Plan B. Laura L - Tucson, AZ



• I felt your outrage at the ripoff at the English hotel. And I am very supportive of your letter in response to their superficial explanation to you. I hope they smarten up. What an insult to customers some of those explanatory letters are! Lorraine W – Toronto



• Thank you for the warning about the BHRC. Don I - Riverside, CA



• I just read your trip journal about getting suckered by British Hotel Reservation Centre on your London layover. I'm always leery of such places at the airport and I have never found such a place to be a good deal. One more tip to give your readers might be to call Sheraton in the US. It can be expensive, but I've had good results with a local calling card and a pay phone. You could have done this in Cyprus while you were waiting around. I keep the numbers in my PDA and use them when I am in unfamiliar territory or can't get web access. I know you were in a weak moment…and we all have those. But I always set a threshold for hotel prices (as well as other travel arrangements). If I'm over that threshold, I make phone calls. Again, even back to the hotel numbers that I know in the US. It’s nice to have familiarity when surrounded by some of the unfamiliarity’s of travel. Enjoyed the article. CG -



• I have been watching and reading you site a lot and I must admit that I am a devoted fun. Your site is funny and contemporary and always a pleasure to read you traveling adventures. One thing that you last wrote about Cyprus though I believe that you got wrong. "I heard from a Greek Cypriot that there was a lot of Turkish propaganda and to be careful ... but the only propaganda I found was on the Greek side " and the only reason for that to occur was that you didn/t go deep enough to the "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus". There you will see the real propaganda. The only reason I' m mentioning this to you is that I am a journalist too and travel to Cyprus many times in both sides. I did my research, took my pictures and talked to locals because I am highly interested in that small wonderful island called Cyprus. My outcome was that Greek-Cypriots are very hard working people (its not a coincidence that since 1974 lost about 75% of their economy but today they have one of the highest quality of life in the EU) and honest when the "TRNC" is still pretending to be the victim even 32 years after. Keep the good work. Audrey I - NYC



• Just picked up last weeks expose of BHRC, a warning to all visitors to London, they have somehow become the major and in many cases, the only reservation centre at every major London rail station, including Paddington where the Heathrow Express arrives and Victoria, the arrival point of the Gatwick Express. I suspect the staff can charge whatever price they think they can get away with and split the difference with their employer! Another tip, most hotels at Heathrow are situated on the Bath Road and all local buses going to Heathrow Central bus station are free. It does mean getting yourself and bags across the road but at £4 per person each way the Hotel Hoppa's must be the most expensive bus ride anywhere. The staff at the bus station, located between terminals 1, 2 and 3 are always happy to advise the best bus to catch, usually never more than 5 or 10 minutes to wait at any time of the day, and the saving makes the usually inflated hotel room prices seem slightly less horrific. Keep up the good work. Alan Bowen - Harrow, England



• As always, it was a pleasure to have you as a guest on Tilley & The Travel Maven Talk Travel yesterday. Our audience truly appreciate you comments and views and as you know, some thousands have become subscribers to your newsletter. Even when you are out of 'phone range, they are all able to keep up with the latest Travel News on www.JohnnyJet.com. I was looking forward to using our 15 minute segment yesterday to chat about your most recent travels, but was pulled up short when I learned of your most unfortunate experience with the British Hotel Reservation Center at London Heathrow Airport. I apologize for Randy ( www.askthetravelmaven.com ) and I occupying the full segment to find out all about your unfortunate experience with these "RIP-OFF MERCHANTS!!" It is especially important for our audience to be as well educated as possible to avoid any potential rip-offs and/or scams, so we make no apology for occupying you valuable air time with us by focusing in on a service that managed to get the better of such a seasoned traveler as yourself! You and I have both used a similar service at Sydney's Mascot International Airport. That service is exemplary as is the one in Melbourne' Tullamarine international Airport in Australia. Our audience are very wealthy, mostly retired and travel 4 to 5 times per year. Many of them choose F.I.T. but a number of them to travel independently and those are the members of our audience susceptible to being taken advantage of by such unscrupulous operators as British Hotel Reservation Center. Following the show, I fielded a number of calls asking for the details of these charlatans. I know your web site has already been inundated with e-mails from similarly concerned subscribers. Please let me know the journals, newspapers, radio and T.V programs on which you will be mentioning this so we can link them to our websites,and to those of the radio station and other show hosts on 1490WWPR. For my part, I have already sent an e-mail blast to all of my travel industry contacts and to the P.R agencies with whom we work on a regular basis. I know you will receive a number of requests for interviews about this as a result, but, like you, I believe it is important to not only share the good news, but also to warn the Traveling Public about the possible pitfalls as well Once again, thankyou sincerely for bringing this problem forward to warn all and sundry about the financial risk involved when placing one's trust in the unscrupulous hands of the British Hotel Reservation Center! Sincerely, Marcus Tilley - Host & Producer - Tilley & The Travel Maven Talk Travel -1490 WWPR am - St Petersburg. FL.


FEEDBACK FOR GEORGETTE

• I think it was an awesome article. Just enough to wet my whistle and to make me want to see all that I have missed. Great job.!!! Francis J. DiScala Jr. - South Norwalk, CT




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