Hilarious Victorian tips for travelers

While blind-booking site Hotwire doesn't reveal a hotel's name until you book it, detailed information provided on the site about the property gives you a fair picture. You can use these details about a hotel's star rating, amenities, and location to reveal the hotel's name, with the help of independent websites like Bid Goggles, Hotwire Revealed, Bidding for Travel, and Better Bidding. GET EXPERT TRAVEL TIPS AND DEALS WITH OUR FREE E-NEWSLETTERS! My fave tool is Bid Goggles (bidgoggles.com), a pet project by some travelers and computer programmers. After you've targeted a promising deal on Hotwire, copy the mystery hotel's amenities, star rating, and neighborhood into the Bid Goggles tool (open in a separate browser tab or window). The site matches the Hotwire description with the description of similar hotels that other travelers have visited. For example, I recently helped a family member book a room in Pittsburgh for a wedding. I fired up Hotwire and quickly locked in on a "four-star, downtown Pittsburgh area hotel" with a $131 a nightly rate. Hotwire listed this hotel's amenities as including a fitness center, a business center, high-speed Internet access, and spa services. I went to Bid Goggles and punched in these details about the property. The site predicted that the hotel would be either the Renaissance Hotel or the Omni William Penn Hotel. I went ahead with the booking and lo and behold it was the Omni William Penn. Hotwire Revealed is another site that works similarly and successfully. Both sites are far, far from perfect, though. Nobody has a magic decoder ring that can reveal every one of Hotwire's listings perfectly every time. But the sites provide close-enough guesses. In the above example, Bid Goggles had predicted the Omni William Penn and the Renaissance Hotel. I looked at the websites of those hotels and was pleased with how they looked and their general location that I felt confident that even if I didn't get either of those hotels I would get a hotel that was fairly similar. The process boosted my confidence that I was doing right by my relatives when planning their trip. The information about successful Hotwire bookings is more comprehensive and more frequently updated at the Bidding For Travel forums and, to a lesser extent, at Better Bidding. But there's a trade-off: Those forums require more patience to use than the other sites. Have you had some big hotel wins on Hotwire? How do you know when the price is right? Share your tips in the comments. We can't all travel as much as we'd like to, especially during these uncertain times. But if we pool our knowledge together, we can help each other save big bucks and travel better.

Airlines are soon supposed to list all of their fees on a single web page, linked from their home page. But some carriers are trying to get the new regulations postponed or dropped. Though key components to the Department of Transportation's new "Enhancing Airline Passenger Protections" regulations will be in effect next month (August 23, to be exact), no airlines are yet fully in compliance. Among other requirements, it will be mandated that airlines present all optional fees -- checked and carry-on baggage, extra legroom, Wi-Fi, seat selection, and so on -- so that a passenger can look them over on a single web page. It will also be mandated that this page be linked to from the airline's home page, that this info must be referenced when the airline gives a fare quote, and that baggage fees must be listed on e-ticket confirmations. This all seems reasonable enough. But many airlines say the regulations ask too much of them. The Los Angeles Times reports that Spirit Airlines, the domestic carrier with most notorious (and extensive) list of fees, is leading an effort to challenge the regulations in the U.S. District Court of Appeals. As things now stand, getting precise, comprehensive info about an airline's fees is a rarity at the carriers' websites. Delta is one of the few carriers to lists its fees on one page, but that page is hard to find from the home page, requiring three clicks. Spirit Airlines, meanwhile, doles out info about fees in piecemeal, often vague fashion, so that the cost one finds in a fare search often isn't in the same ballpark as the ultimate cost paid by the traveler. Hopefully, come August 23, even Spirit Airlines will clue would-be passengers in on what their entire flight will cost -- annoying baggage fees, seat selection charges, boarding pass fees, and all. Or is that too much to ask for? MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL Airlines hike fees for baggage Hidden airline fees to become a thing of the past? What is the strangest travel fee you've encountered?

There has got to a better way to move people through airport security, according to the U.S. Travel Association, a travel and tourism advocacy organization. In light of the Transportation Security Administration's proposed "trusted traveler" program that would offer expedited screening at major U.S. airports for those willing to undergo a background check and pay an annual enrollment fee of between $100 and $150. if (WIDGETBOX) WIDGETBOX.renderWidget('496c9d92-9146-460b-8e28-06fc9e9a2598');Get the Poll Creator Pro widget and many other great free widgets at Widgetbox! Not seeing a widget? (More info)In a recent survey of more than 1,000 adults commissioned by the U.S. Travel Association, 45 percent of all travelers were either very or somewhat likely to enroll. But, 61 percent of frequent leisure travelers were either very or somewhat likely to enroll, and 75 percent of frequent business travelers were either very or somewhat likely to enroll. Travelers would take two to three more trips per year if the hassle involved in flying could be reduced without compromising security, according to a TSA study. "Travelers deserve a trusted traveler program that provides predictable wait times at airports and a screening process that recognizes their low-risk nature," said Roger Dow, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, which has been advocating that the TSA go forward with the trusted traveler program. "We now know that frequent travelers are willing to pay for a better security experience." The TSA officially recognized the need for change in a report released in March, which acknowledged that "each day in the United States, roughly two million air travelers are advised to arrive upwards of two hours before a flight in order to be processed through a one-size-fits-all security screening system." The TSA noted that while there have been no successful terrorist attacks on an American aircraft since Sept. 11, 2001, the current security screening system is not the most cost effective or efficient system the U.S. is capable of carrying out. "The country that put a man on the moon, invented the Internet and creates daily innovations in manufacturing can and must do better," the TSA stated. What about you? Would you pay to be able to zip through security? Would you take more flights if you could? Let us know by voting in our poll or by commenting below. More from Budget Travel: 7 Surprising Items That Set Off Airport Security Horror stories from airport security abroad 7 Surprising Items That Set Off Airport Security

It seems a bit unfair that some of the most alluring beach destinations throughout the Caribbean and Mexico are tormented by the annual threat of hurricane season. But it's a fact of life for the destinations and the bathing suit-clad travelers heading there, so better to be prepared than to be caught, literally, in the eye of the storm. According to the National Hurricane Center, hurricane season runs from June through November. In fact, "the first named storm of the season hit Mexico's East Coast this morning," noted Travel Weekly's Caribbean Editor Gay Myers. Tropical Storm Arlene hit near Veracruz, which is not a tourist area, "but it doesn't bode well," said Myers. "It's predicted to be an active season." So if you've booked, or plan on booking, a vacation to hurricane-prone destinations, there are some precautions you should take that could salvage your trip in the event of a storm. First, double-check the cancellation and refund policies of the airlines, hotels and car rental companies you are booking for your trip. "If you're traveling to a hurricane zone during storm season, you'll want to make sure your travel insurance policy covers you for delayed flights, trip interruptions due to severe weather and trip cancellations due to a hurricane threatening or destroying your destination," advised Brenda O'Neale of Homstead, Pa.-based Global Travel International, who specializes in the Caribbean and Mexico. If the hurricane happens before your trip, you'll want to make sure that your travel insurance plan includes trip cancellation for hurricanes and natural disasters and that it will refund you any pre-paid non-refundable trip expenses if you have to cancel before your scheduled departure due to a hurricane, explained O'Neale. Read the fine print. The policy has to be purchased pre-hurricane in order to cover for the hurricane. "My advice for travelers in hurricane season is to purchase cancel for any reason insurance," said Ellen Paderson of Boston-based Smiles and Miles Travel. "This way if they see on the weather that there may be a hurricane at the time they are traveling, they may want to cancel or postpone their travels for another time." As for whether and what to pack in an emergency kit, the advice varies. O'Neale said that if you feel obliged to pack a kit, it should include cash, a radio and batteries, a flashlight (with more batteries), non-perishable food and water for three days, rain gear, insect repellant and sunscreen, and your prescription medications. Myers however feels that packing flashlights, batteries and ponchos "doesn't make a lot of sense and takes up space in carry-ons." More from Budget Travel: Five Questions to Ask Before You Go New boarding procedures lead to chaos in the cabin Why cruise ships almost never stay in port overnight