Roundup: Sarah Palin's hotel alias? STA Travel finds students still traveling for 2009 spring break; in-hotel iPhone app coming?

Good morning, travelers! We’re curious: Did you start your Monday morning commute with drive-through voting in Orange County?

Hotel gossip | Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin stayed at Manhattan’s Omni Berkshire Place in New York when she came to town for her “Saturday Night Live” appearance. The Top of the Ticket blog shows an “SNL” video clip (which also features Tina Fey as Palin, above) and asks you to guess what name Palin registered under at the hotel. (TMZ tipped them off.)

Travel tech | As if you needed another reason to buy an iPhone –- a better experience for hotel guests might be one. CNET’s Crave blog reports that the Malibu Beach Inn is offering guests the chance to use an iPhone  or iTouch to order food and drinks, get concierge service, order a wake-up call or spa service. Like Crave, I couldn’t find the app “Hotel Evolution” by Runtriz. Still, this is something to keep an eye on as hotels try to keep up with times. Read: “Plenty of iPods at the iHotel California.”

From the Twittersphere | STA Travel conducted a survey and found that 78 percent of student travelers are planning on taking a spring-break trip in 2009 despite the downturn in the economy. Where do they want to go? Mexico (55 percent wanted Cancun, Cabo and Acapulco were at 16 percent each), the Caribbean (44 percent wanted the Bahamas, 23 percent for Dominican Republic and 22 percent for Jamaica), and in the U.S., South Padre Island and Panama City got the popular vote. But they want to spend only $500 to $1,000 for their trips. @statravelers

– Jen Leo, Los Angeles Times Travel & Deal blogger

[Photo: Dana Edelson / Associated Press]

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 21, 2008 at 8:55 am by Jen Leo and is filed under Celebrity, Good Morning, News, Tips & Advice, Spring, Travel Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.