Delayed and canceled flights are proving to be a boon for airport hotels. This from the New York Times:

Airport hotels are enjoying a renaissance of sorts as business travelers, frustrated by mounting delays and canceled flights, are leaving the terminal in search of the wider array of amenities available nearby.”

Stranded travelers are leaving crowded terminals for the relative peace and quiet of nearby hotels:

Especially when you’re traveling with clients, when there are no seats in the terminal and you can’t talk privately, taking them out of that environment allows you to take the negative situation of being stuck and turn it into a positive.”

Positive indeed. Dan McGowan, general manager of the Fairmont Vancouver Airport Hotel says that revenue generated by daytime room occupancies has increased by 5 percent in the past year.

I had never had a reason or urge to visit Bali, but recently fate and circumstance allowed me to do just that. A package deal from EVA Airlines (Taiwan’s safest airline) made this part of Indonesia impossible to resist. Roundtrip airfares during Bali’s dry season, which runs from May til September, can be had for about $2,800 from Los Angeles (though fares drop as the rainy season approaches). The five hour flight from Taipei to Bali’s Denpasar Airport was efficient and non-eventful. Upon arrival, we lined up to purchase our landing visas. (Note carefully your length of stay, or else you will be fined when you try to depart!). Once outside, we were greeted by mild temperatures, low humidity, and our driver, who took us to the Patra Bali.

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