Jetsettersblog

Isleta Casino and Resort in New Mexico

Isleta Pueblo, NM – The expanded Isleta Casino and Resort Hotel and Convention Center is slated to open July 1, 2008. The new resort hotel will have luxurious guest rooms and suites in close proximity to the new convention facilities. The property is just south of Albuquerque near I-25.

Brand-new accommodations

The new Isleta Casino and Resort Hotel and Convention Center will include over 200 guest rooms and suites that are as unique as they are luxurious. Each spacious room is designed with our unique Southwestern culture in mind—original artwork from Isleta Pueblo artisans is displayed in each room and throughout the resort. Guests will also enjoy personal touches such as luxury linens, iPod docking stations and flat-screen TVs. Several rooms feature private balconies where guests can enjoy the sunrise over the nearby Manzano Mountains or beautiful sunsets over the Rio Grande.

Make it a meeting they’ll remember

Business can be a pleasure. The Isleta Casino and Resort has everything planners need to make their next meeting or special event a success—top-notch facilities, a knowledgeable banquet staff, excellent catering options, state-of -the-art audio/visual equipment and, of course, the beauty of New Mexico as a backdrop.

Fun, games and a whole lot more

The casino action is always hot at Isleta! The beautiful casino features more than 1,600 slot machines, including old favorites and plenty of new ones. Looking for table games? We’ve got them! You’ll find traditional ones like roulette, craps and blackjack, plus the new Vegas-type games like Fortune Pai Gow and 3 Card & Let it Ride Poker. Or, try your hand at the nation’s hottest game, Texas Hold’Em, in our newly expanded poker room.

Guests can take a break from the casino action at the new Spa at Isleta—a full-service spa featuring melt-your-cares-away massages, facials, the latest hydration therapies and more.

Then, when the sun goes down, there’s even more entertainment. Live music will rock New Mexico’s hottest new nightclub, 505 Fusion, and national touring acts will regularly take the stage at the 2,500 seat indoor Casino Showroom.

Families will find everything they’re looking for at the new Isleta Fun Connection. It features 24 bowling lanes, laser tag, an arcade, pro-style billiard tables and a snack bar.

And when you want to enjoy the great outdoors, tee off at one of New Mexico’s most stunning courses—the Isleta Eagle Golf Course. The challenging 27-hole course winds around three lakes and offers breathtaking views of the Rio Grande Valley. Plus, golfers can find everything they need at the new clubhouse, from clothes to private lessons.

You can also catch some fun, and some fish, at Isleta Lakes. The regularly stocked lakes and picnic areas were recently renovated with the addition of a new RV park that caters to the travelers on nearby Interstate 25.

Dining choices from elegant to easy

Prime cut steaks, Asian cuisine, seafood, and an amazing buffet…whatever you’re hungry for, you’ll find outstanding culinary choices at Isleta. So come hungry, and leave room for dessert.

Visit www.isleta-casino.com for details and specials on room rates.

Oklahoma State Parks, Resorts and Golf Courses

Oklahoma is blessed with one of the finest state park systems in the United States. Our 50 state parks, including six resort parks with comfortable lodge rooms, 15 state parks with cabins, and 10 outstanding golf courses, offer a multitude of outdoor and indoor activities.

These 50 natural jewels are as diverse as Oklahoma itself. The golden sand dunes of Little Sahara State Park in Waynoka draw dune buggy riders from all across the country.

Beavers Bend Resort Park, in southeast Oklahoma, is set on the shore of crystal-clear Broken Bow Lake and beside the cold, rippling waters of the Lower Mountain Fork River. In northeast Oklahoma, Keystone State Park offers the convenience and excitement of nearby Tulsa and the get-away-from-it-all atmosphere of a cozy cabin in the woods.

Black Mesa State Park, in the Panhandle of northwest Oklahoma, offers camping in a setting straight from the Old West near Oklahoma’s highest point. In southwest Oklahoma, Fort Cobb State Park, with its lakeside campsites and outstanding golf course, is a favorite of RV campers. Greenleaf, Tenkiller, Lake Eufaula and Arrowhead State Parks bring visitors to three popular lakes in eastern Oklahoma.

Oklahoma’s resort parks - Beavers Bend, Lake Murray, Robbers Cave, Roman Nose and Sequoyah/Western Hills ¬ feature lodge rooms and cabins, as well as both RV and tent camping. All but Robbers Cave have golf courses. You can also go hiking, biking, horseback riding, boating, fishing, take part in nature programs or just relax and listen to your stress melt away.

Oklahoma’s state-owned and operated golf courses offer exciting, challenging play in some of the most beautiful settings imaginable. Drive the canyon rims of Roman Nose, play among the towering pines of Cedar Creek Golf Course at Beavers Bend, or putt in the shadow of the enormous Pensacola Dam at Grand Cherokee on Grand Lake. Lake Murray and Lake Texoma Golf Courses are venerable institutions in southern Oklahoma and North Texas. Sequoyah Golf Course, just 90 minutes from Tulsa, follows the shoreline of beautiful Fort Gibson Lake.

With welcoming facilities to accommodate vacations, picnics, family reunions and business conferences, Oklahoma State Parks, Resorts and Golf Courses provide an ideal location for an unforgettable experience.

Weber Grill Polls Americans Plan Staycations

Forty percent of Americans taking “staycations” this summer say they will grill outdoors more as part of their staycation plans, according to the latest Weber GrillWatch Pulse.

As a result, 46 percent of them say they will spend more money on grilling this year. In fact, among grill owners planning staycations, a whopping 80 percent plan to grill weekly, including 41 percent who plan to grill at least several times each week. While the term “staycation” is relatively new, 15 percent of respondents recognized it as “a vacation that people spend at or near home, instead of a traditional vacation away from home.”

Once having the term explained to them, more than half (51 percent) of the respondents said they plan to take one or more staycations this summer-including 24 percent who are changing their traditional summer vacations to include a staycation this year. Staycations appear to be more popular among grill owners: 54 percent plan to take a staycation this summer vs. 43 percent of non-owners. Among all Americans taking staycations this summer, many are seemingly interested in expanding their outdoor grilling repertoire and improving their outdoor rooms as they spend more leisure time at home.

Dollar Car rental Mobile Service

Dollar Rent A Car has unveiled a new mobile service that allows travelers to make a reservation with www.dollar.com by using a cell phone or other Web-enabled mobile device. The new mobile site retains virtually all of the features and functionality of the www.dollar.com desktop website. Users of mobile devices will be automatically redirected to the mobile site when they visit www.dollar.com  Travelers can make reservations, cancel or modify existing reservations, see all car types or only those desired and other functions.

Santa Fe’s Eldorado Discount for Opera

The Eldorado Hotel & Spa in Santa Fe, N.M., is offering a 15 percent discount on guest room reservations when travelers present tickets upon arrival to any of The Santa Fe Opera’s performances until Aug. 31.

Nightly room rates start at $269. In addition, The Old House Restaurant is offering a pre-theatre, prix fixe menu.

Priced at $38 per person, the early offering is available based on the evening’s opera schedule from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Reservations are required. Additional opera-related services at the hotel include a dedicated opera concierge to provide summer schedules, answer opera-related inquiries and assist in obtaining tickets, and, for an additional fee, shuttle service to and from the performances.

The Santa Fe Opera’s 2008 summer schedule includes Verdi’s “Falstaff,” Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro,” Benjamin Britten’s “Billy Budd,” Handel’s “Radamisto” and the American premiere of Kaija Saariaho’s “Adriana Mater.”

Call 800-955-4455 or visit www.eldordadohotel.com

Phoenix’s Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Pays Luggage Fees

In the wake of new airline fees for checking luggage and other previously free services, the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort & Spa in Phoenix is offering a Love Your Luggage package. Resort guests who show proof of a luggage charge will be reimbursed $25 per person, up to $50 per guestroom. Nightly room rates for the package starting at $169 through Dec. 31.

Call 602-225-0100 or visit www.wildhorsepassresort.com  promotional code LUGGAGE.

Sun Country Airlines Launches Cashless Cabin

Sun Country Airlines has introduced its cashless cabin project in which Visa and MasterCard will be accepted as payment for items available for sale onboard flights.

Visa and MasterCard will be accepted for payment for all the items Sun Country passengers can purchase in-flight, including snacks, sandwiches, candy, premium beverages, space-available first-class upgrades, headphones and pillow/blanket sets.

It is anticipated that the new payment process will allow flight attendants to more efficiently serve passengers in-flight. Payments will typically be posted to the consumer’s credit card within 24 hours of the transaction. “As a Minnesota airline, we consider customer service one of our top priorities,” said Stan Gadek, CEO of Sun Country. “The launch of this program shows Sun Country’s commitment to service and the measures being taken to consistently deliver value to our passengers.”

For more information, visit www.suncountry.com

Honor Flights WWII Tours

Since the World War II Memorial was erected on Washington DC’s national mall four years ago, few of the thousands flocking to the site daily are surviving servicemen.

Volunteer-staffed and donation-funded Honor Flights provide free travel and guardianship for World War II veterans to visit the monument that memorializes their service.

“In 10 years as an ExpressJet pilot, flying the Honor Flight was the most rewarding day of my career. As an air force veteran, I felt great pride being part of a day to honor those who gave so much,” said ExpressJet’s Honor Flight pilot Jeff Rupp.

ExpressJet Airlines’ charter service will fly the Northwestern Ohio Honor Flight hub’s second Honor Flight in late June, after flying 29 veterans from Toledo on April 30 for the inaugural flight.

Dee Pakulski, whose father was a WWII veteran, founded the Northwestern Ohio hub of this program after serving as an Honor Flight guardian for a terminally-ill World War II veteran through the Michigan hub of the program.

“Each day, we lose more of our greatest generation of Americans,” Pakulski said. “Many of these brave Americans returned from service after victory unnoticed. Many of them hear words of thanks and appreciation for the first time when they visit the Memorial.”

According to the honor flight website, each day, 1200 World War II veterans die. Through the program’s TLC or “their last chance” initiative priority is given to terminally-ill veterans.

“Safety is our top priority,” Pakulski said. “These veterans are in their ’80s and ’90s and require wheelchairs, oxygen, and they need special travel accommodations.”

ExpressJet’s chartered service provided flexibility, allowing the group to give the veterans an unforgettable day to experience the capitol of the nation they fought to defend.

Each Honor Flight hub pays for the veterans’ travel through the group’s fundraising and sponsorship efforts.

Since starting in 2005, the Honor Flight network has expanded to 30 states. A local core of volunteers raises funds and plans trips for area veterans out of each Honor Flight hub. Each veteran is paired with a volunteer guardian. Though trips for veterans are free, guardians pay for their own travel.

As awareness for the program has grown, many hubs have seen waiting lists of veterans grow into the hundreds.

“We go to bed every night knowing that as we are raising funds and planning for the next Honor Flight, some of the veterans may not be here tomorrow. We definitely want to provide as many trips to as many veterans as we can,” continued Pukulski.

She advises anyone interested in helping to donate funds to their local hub, serve as a volunteer fundraiser or guardian, or set up a local Honor Flight hub in their area, to contact the national honor flight organization at www.honorflight.org

ExpressJet Honor Flights memorial North America veterans WWII

bmi Holds Fall Sale to Scotland, Brussels

For a limited time bmi is offering fares as low as $562 roundtrip to Edinburgh, Glasgow and Brussels via London from a number of U.S. gateway cities — Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington Dulles through July 3, 2008 for travel from Sept. 3, 2008 through March 25, 2009.

These sale fares are nonrefundable, require a seven day-advance purchase and minimum three-day stay or Saturday overnight. A stopover in London in either direction is allowed. Changes are allowed for a $150 fee plus any difference in the fare level. Children’s fares are available at a reduced rate.

The fares are based on required roundtrip purchase. Tickets must be purchased within 72 hours of making a reservation. bmi code share flights to and from US to London Heathrow are operated by United Airlines.

For more information, visit www.flybmi.com

Luxury Retreats are gay friendly

Luxury Retreats, a leader in the luxury villa rental industry, recently announced the creation of a website dedicated to private rental homes in gay- and lesbian-friendly travel destinations.

Out Villas (www.outvillas.com) by Luxury Retreats consolidates vacation rentals in all the world’s best gay-friendly locations, from the Caribbean to Europe.

“Short-term villa rentals are a great option for gay and lesbian travelers because they’re very private and appeal to discriminating tastes,” said Ben Tuff, Luxury Retreats’ director of marketing. “We’re happy to cater directly to this savvy group of travelers.”

Almost 800 villas are featured on Out Villas, spread across 10 major regions including Greece, Mexico, Spain, France and the Caribbean. Out Villas does the work for potential travelers by focusing solely on those destinations where attitudes are tolerant and accepting of the gay and lesbian community.

“We would never send our guests anywhere that they can’t enjoy a completely carefree vacation,” said Tuff, “so Out Villas is a place to start without those concerns.”

For easy browsing, the website breaks down villas by region and then sub-regions, such as individual Caribbean islands. Each villa featured has its own page with detailed information about bedroom layouts, pricing, staffing, plus many large photos to help travelers make informed choices. Villas are available in wide price points.

All guests of Out Villas by Luxury Retreats receive complimentary guest services from villa provisioning - have your favorite bottle of wine there when you arrive - to car rentals, restaurant reservations, activities and tours.