Smart Consumer Archives - Christopher Elliott

Warning! These holiday travel mistakes could kill you

November 18, 2020November 13, 2020

Travel could kill you. Literally.

With new COVID-19 cases shattering records, many health experts are warning against all nonessential travel. But if you go — and I’m not saying you should — there are other errors you have to avoid. Because these holiday travel mistakes could kill you.

“Coronavirus is ruthless,” says Mahmood Khan, a professor at Virginia Tech, who directs the business school’s program in hospitality and tourism management. “Every trip that can be avoided will save suffering or even death.”

That’s worth repeating. Taking a trip might be your worst holiday travel mistake. If you can avoid traveling, do it.
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Here are the 21 best places to travel in 2021

November 11, 2020November 8, 2020

So where are you headed in 2021? If you need a few expert ideas on the best places to travel next year, here’s a guide that’ll help.

Ovation Travel Group’s agents have compiled an exclusive list of the top leisure destinations based on advance sales and client aspirations. (Seems like 2020 was a lost year for travel.) If anything, the pandemic has made Ovation’s customers more ambitious than ever. Of the top 21 destinations for 2021, only seven are in the U.S.
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These are the safest hotels during the COVID-19 crisis

November 4, 2020November 6, 2020

If you’re thinking of traveling during the second wave of the coronavirus outbreak, you might be wondering: Is there a list of the safest hotels during the COVID-19 crisis?

There is. The Safe Travel Barometer, a startup that ranks travel companies based on their cleaning and sanitation practices, shared the list exclusively with me. It’s a handy guide for anyone interested in staying somewhere that takes safety seriously.
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This is what the travel industry is doing for the election

October 28, 2020November 6, 2020

What’s the travel industry doing for the election? For business battered by the pandemic and left without government aid, you’d be surprised.

They’re supporting the election in big and small ways.

“Our goal is to try and make the process a bit easier,” says Sarosh Mistry, chair of Sodexo North America, a food service company. “We’re doing it in the ways that we know how and encourage everyone to do their part and make their voices heard in this election.”
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Expert tips for navigating travel quarantines and travel bans

October 14, 2020November 6, 2020

If you think navigating the travel quarantines in the United States is difficult, try Europe. That’s what Adam Cole had to do when his daughter started college in London recently.

“We traveled at the height of the pandemic,” says Cole, who runs an arts academy in Atlanta. “That meant she and I quarantined for two weeks before moving her into her dorm in London.”

But getting to England from the United States wasn’t easy.
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