TC was
delighted to come into possession recently of the
IVR Cheat Sheet, a delightful bit of business
placed on the Internet by Paul English, a fellow
who researched the telephone voice response menus
of dozens of big companies, including some airlines.
The cheat sheet
tells you how to short-circuit those tiresome interactive voice
response systems and get directly to a live operator.
For
Northwests toll-free line, for example, you press
the star key followed by two zeros after the initial greeting. At
US Airways, its the number 4, followed by a pause,
and the number 1.
The cheat sheet
contains the secret formula for dozens of merchants from
Amazon to Western Union. Download
your copy at http://paulenglish.com/ivr. But dont tell anyone --
lets keep this between us (and anybody else who heard about it on
the Today Show).
Hard on the
heels of Westins announcement that its hotels will be
smoke-free comes news that the new Ritz-Carlton Grand
Cayman will be the hotel companys first
puff-lessproperty.
Many rooms in Ritz
Carltons 59 remaining worldwide hotels and resorts are smoke-free,
but the company has no plans at this time to ban smoking in all the
rooms, TC learned.
Lesson learned:
Smoke em if you got em ... while you still can.
TCs barflys
shared some extra intelligence: The six-room
Sandcastle Hotel and the Soggy
Dollar on tiny Jost Van Dyke in the
British Virgin Islands -- both Caribbean legends -- have changed
hands, but the new owners plan no obvious changes.
Caribbean
vice report, Part 2: Although the exact recipe for the
famous Painkiller concoction at the Soggy Dollar
bar is a closely guarded secret, TC can vouch that strong
rum -- and lots of it -- is the first, last and, maybe,
only ingredient in the island drink.
The story
of Natalee Holloway, the Alabama teenager gone missing in
Aruba since May 30, has made it to the pages of Vanity
Fairs January issue, which TC figures will probably ramp
up interest and speculation in the case once again.
This time, though,
the Aruba tourism folks said they are grateful
that the article presents both sides of the story for a
change.
Look for
Pionair, a little-known air charter operator based in
Christchurch, New Zealand, to diversify with
launch of a self-drive tour program.
Rollout to U.S.
agents will begin early in the new year, and the product -- aimed
at the top end of the market -- will operate initially in New
Zealand. The company also has a Sydney office plus representation
in Beverly Hills, Calif., and Westport, Conn.