Hotel News

For $95,000, you can rent this entire downtown Dallas hotel all for yourself

You suppose it comes with free valet?

Photo courtesy of Fairmont

A downtown Dallas hotel is offering an opportunity which maybe five people can afford: The option to rent out the entire hotel for one night.

The hotel is the Fairmont Dallas, and they're offering the facility as a potential Valentine's Day gift for the princely sum of $95,000. For when the box of chocolates, dozen roses, satin nightgown, and socially-distanced dinner aren't enough.

This offer is obviously available to only one person or party.

That $95,000 would get you full access to the meeting spaces, ballrooms, and rooftop terrace.

It also comes with food, wine, and service, including the opportunity to sit at head table of the Venetian Room with a view of the Dallas skyline, all while being waited on "hand and foot" by the Fairmont Dallas team.

If it's a little too much like The Shining, the renter can invite friends. Meeting spaces at the Fairmont Dallas were renovated at the end of 2019 and reflect the elegance of classic hospitality with a Texan flair.

Called the Hotel Takeover Package, it includes:

263 guest rooms including 43 suites and the recently renovated Presidential Suite
70,000 square feet of meeting space, able to accommodate up to 800 guests
The Regency Ballroom, the largest ballroom on site, spanning 18,000 square feet of meeting space
The Venetian Room, which has hosted the likes of Ella Fitzgerald and Sonny & Cher, located on the first floor of the hotel with room for 200 including a dance floor
13 meeting rooms on the second floor

Guests are also eligible to access a healthcare amenity through a partnership with Accor/AXA Medical Solutions, where you're connected with a AXA-certified healthcare provider via telehealth during your stay. Sounds fun.

To reserve this package, contact the Fairmont Dallas at 214-720-2020 or rfp-dal@fairmont.com.

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Holiday News

American Airlines expects record-setting travel on Thanksgiving 2024

Photo courtesy of American Airlines

American Airlines ready for takeoff.

The holidays are looming and American Airlines is ramping up. Over the upcoming Thanksgiving weekend, the Fort Worth-based airline expects to process nearly 8.3 million customers across more than 77,000 flights.

According to a statement from American's COO David Seymour, the airline is having a good fall season and canceled fewer flights than its peers during October.

“Thanks to the hard work of our 130,000 team members, we canceled fewer flights than any of our major competitors this October and beat our own records for on-time departures and arrivals,” Seymour says.

That's surely good news. One hates to rain on their parade, but in June 2024, the only flight I booked this year, my flight was canceled less than 24 hours before take-off. I had made hotel reservations, scheduled a pet sitter, planned events, and arranged for a friend to pick me up at the destination airport. One employee speculated that it may have been "insufficient crew." Their only solution offered was: Feel free to reschedule your flight.

Thanksgiving facts and figures
The travel window runs from November 21 to December 3, and the airline expects to carry more than 500,000 more customers than it did last year.

The most-traveled day will be Sunday, December 1. The second most-traveled day will be Monday, December 2.

The peak of peak: 1,035 mainline and regional aircraft will be enroute at 10:45 am on Sunday, December 1 — the highest number of flights handled at any given time during American’s travel period.

The airline expects to serve more than 6.8 million Biscoff cookies on board from November 21 to December 3.

Travel tips
Download the American Airlines app and check in for your flight, noting added any bags to your trip. This will save you time at the airport.

If traveling internationally, download the Mobile Passport Control app, which can speed up your entry into the U.S. Global Entry members can download the Global Entry app, which allows you to submit your entry and go straight to the officer.

Upon arrival at the airport lobby, scan your mobile boarding pass to print bag tags quickly at a kiosk. If you’re not checking bags, go straight to TSA security with your mobile boarding pass.

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