Where Not to Drive in the US: Car Rental Caveats and Other Travel Tips in Travel Intel

SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwired - Aug 18, 2014) -   The high cost of car travel may not be in gas alone. Renting a car can mean explosive daily rates in some cities while remaining quite reasonable in others. Oddly, the latest tallies from car rental rate watchdog site CheapCarRental.net puts calm and comely Portland, Oregon at the top of the high car rental rate list, followed by Anchorage, Alaska and Kailua, Hawaii. So where are the cheap streets when it comes to cost-friendly cities to rent a car? Travel-Intel at Tours.com has the list -- and distillations on credit card coverage when it comes to parsing those car insurance clauses. 

Travel-Intel, a weekly publication channel through Tours.com keeps tabs on news and travel industry developments, and this week also reports on the travel preferences of the "one percent." New data presented by Virtuoso, a network of luxury-focused travel consultants accounting for some $12 billion in annual sales, released numbers at their yearly conference in Las Vegas this month on what's driving affluent travelers. The results revealed a surprising surge of demand this year for traveling to destinations Down Under as well as in Central Europe, plus a trend toward what may be the next evolution in family travel: global citizenship.

The survey, published in Travel-Intel, notes other tendencies in the travel planning cycle, such as planning windows and destination preferences. Topping the Top Ten list for where wealthy travelers are traveling in 2014: Italy. But topping the Hot List for aspirational travel: New Zealand followed by Chile and Indonesia.

For those traveling to Thailand this year, Travel-Intel takes a look at The Siam in Bangkok. The city's popular boutique hotel is a stone's through from the royal palace on the Chao Praya River and offers an eye into Bangkok's ambient 20^th century history in room styles and hotel décor. The Siam is a part of the exclusive Kurtz-Ahlers Collection.

Meanwhile, Disney World in Orlando, FLA is getting a boost of luxury on its perimeters with the opening of the new Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World Resort. The resort has its own Explorer Island and keeps a Disney Concierge desk active to help guests navigate through their vacation. A "Third Night Free" grand opening promotion runs through mid-December.

Finally, Travel-Intel looks at trends in the airline and cruise industries with articles on Fiji Airways, which is boosting lift to the islands from the U.S., and what's cooking in the kitchens of major cruise lines as cruise industry put more and more focus on food choices at sea.

Travel-Intel reaches more than 130,000 sellers of travel weekly in the U.S. and Canada and is also posted online on Tours.com. It also partners with eGroup Communications to offer strategically targeted marketing services to keep travel agents and sellers of incentive and group travel up on an ever-changing world of products and destinations.

The publication reports from travel conferences and popular hotels, exotic resorts, cruise ships and travel destinations near and far with stories that feature the latest intel on travel. Current features and archives can be viewed at www.travel-intel.com.

"We try to keep a keen eye on what is trending in the travel industry so that suppliers in the industry can know what's coming and travelers can make up to date decisions," says Lark Gould, content director for Travel-Intel and Tours.com. "What is fascinating about covering travel is that it is always moving, always shifting. What made a trip great last year might be quite different this year."

As a veteran travel journalist who has been covering the travel industry for more than 20 years, Gould puts her incisive perspective into the weekly publication, with features and news updates, and also "packages" issues that detail great deals to be found at hotels and resort locations worldwide. Travel-Intel can be viewed as a stand-alone site on Tours.com. Gould publishes travel columns in Larkslist, genConnect and Barclay's Travel Community and Business Traveler USA.

About Tours.com: Tours.com Since 1995 - The Directory of Tours & Vacations Worldwide is the most comprehensive data base of tour and vacation providers searchable by company name, destination and/or activity. The Travel Resource section includes Passport & Visas, Travel Insurance, Accommodations ( B&B, Castles, Cottages, Villas and more, etc) Cruises, Barges, Boats, Yachts & Ferries, Rail & Railroad Vacations just to name a few, The Find a Travel Agent Specialist is a searchable directory allowing one to find a travel agents with in-depth knowledge in their chosen specialty.