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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday March 1, 2008 - 31 Different points of view T he mailbag is getting full, so it's time to respond to some of your insightful, and critical, letters. Dear Sam, I'm wondering if you can advise me. We've recently returned from an almost-allinclusive holiday in Mexico. The hotel (Las Brisas, Ixtapa) caters to both all inclusive and regular guests. Our package also included gratuities. The hotel is wonderful and has fine dining restaurants available every evening -- buffet is only offered for breakfast. Since there are both all inclusive and regular guests, a person has to sign a receipt whenever food/drink is ordered. There is a space on the receipt for a tip. We've been including a tip with most of our requests, but I'm wondering if this is correct. Any advice you can provide about the amount of tip, especially at the fine dining restaurants will be very much appreciated. To tip or not Dear Tip: That's an interesting question. There are tips built into the price you pay for the package, but most of us tip for excellent service, over and above. The bill you have to sign for is produced for both inclusive and non-inclusive guests. What I do is ignore that line, and give them a tip at the end of my stay. I see others who tip each time. Whatever makes you comfortable -- 15 per cent is the going rate. Dear Ms. Ion: I read your column quite regularly and like it. However some of your suggestions in your column in this weekend's paper left me shaking my head. If one has invited guests, relatives or friends, to come and see you, sending them listings of bed-and-breakfast locations to stay at seems quite an insult to me. I think if someone did that to me I would consider it not worth bothering the effort to visit that person. If you don't have a spare bedroom, then you offer your bedroom to your guest and set up a camp bed or blow-up mattress somewhere for drank all my beer, put their dirty shoes on the couch and let their kids and dog (who wasn't invited) do anything they wanted. I am going to treat myself to a day and go look at B&Bs in my city. I'm going to eat out and go sightseeing. What a good idea! Dear Sam: I was surprised that you would be so rude as to suggest that visitors go to a B&B. You didn't bring your daughter up very well either if she does the same. I believe in being a good hostess, so much so that people feel welcome and at home. With your attitude, I'm surprised anyone comes to see you. Disappointed in you. Dear Disappointed: Hmm, you must have nicer guests than some of mine. Readers have had mixed feelings about that column, and no hesitation in telling me about it. Dear Sam: What do you think about the travel reviews on the web? I was trying to find out about a resort, and started reading some of the comments. Some people liked the place, others hated it. Now I can't make up my mind. Confused Dear Confused: I do read them, particularly when I can't sleep. Usually I take an average of the responses. Some make the property sound so perfect, the owner's mother must have written it; others make the same place sound so dreadful, the letter has to have come from the competition across the street. If there are 25 reviews saying the food is dreadful, check the dates of the review. It could well be that the chef has been replaced. The industry does read the reviews, and tries to fix problems if they require fixing. Do bear in mind though some people wouldn't like anything about a property even if it was free. Spring is around the corner (we hope). It's time to get the family around the table and start thinking about summer vacation. There's not one province in this vast country that isn't worth a trip to. Keep that in mind when making your plans! yourselves. Now of course I am not suggesting you do this for two weeks or so, but surely one can put themselves out for a few days to accommodate friends, or especially relatives if they are taking this effort to visit you. Still enjoy your column. Good Hostess Dear Hostess: I left out the fact that sometimes you have people who invite themselves, in which case it is perfectly appropriate to suggest a B&B. I don't believe a host should have to give up their bed for guests, so a suggestion that the guests might be more comfortable in a B&B than on the bad pullout couch is a great way of dealing with the situation. Dear Sam: I've clipped your column on bad house guests and I intend to make copies and send them to people. We have had houseguests from Hell ever since we got married, and it is slowly destroying us. These relatives assume they are welcome any time, so they'll call and say, "We're arriving this weekend for a week." It means we have to change all our plans to fit in with theirs. They stay up much later than us, and then sleep in longer. I never thought of suggesting they stay somewhere else. Thanks. Grateful Dear Sam: My guests just left, and I'm never ever inviting them again. I don't even want them in the same city. I doubt that any B&B would have them for longer than an hour. They helped themselves to the contents of the refrigerator, BEAVER TRAILS TO THE UNITED KINGDOM: Bill Waddell and Annemarie Toth-Waddell took The Oakville Beaver on their tour of the Outer Hebrides that included a visit to the only airport in the United Kingdom, where flight schedules are subject to tides. Take along a copy of The Oakville Beaver on your next vacation and send it in for publication to Beaver Trails, Oakville Beaver, 467 Speers Rd., Oakville, ON, L6K 3S4 or e-mail to editor@oakvillebeaver.com. HOLIDAY HOUSE EUROPE Holiday House's 2008-2009 Europe brochure is here - complete with a new look, new additions and lots of old favourites. Featuring 92 pages of European product, the brochure offers even more choice - a total of 734 European cities in 23 countries - as well as the flexibility Holiday House is known for. New for 2008 is Greece on an FIT, per night basis, as well as cruises from Encore CruiseEscapes. Destinations featured include London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dublin, Belfast, Vienna, Amsterdam, Paris, Aix, Cannes, Juan les Pins, Marseille, Nice, Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich, Athens, Crete, Rhodes, Rome, Florence, Venice, Milan, Barcelona, Madrid, Lisbon, Algarve, Budapest, Prague, Warsaw, Krakow, and new this year, Dubai. Travellers booking five nights or more by 30APR08 for travel between 01APR and 31OCT08 in Belfast, Berlin, Brussels, Dublin, Edinburgh, Florence, Glasgow, London, Milan, Munich, Paris or Rome will receive a free city sightseeing "Hop-On-Hop Off" bus tour. And back again this year are Holiday House's popular air-inclusive packages to London and Paris and its "Go-As-You-Please" program that allows clients to enjoy the freedom and flexibility to stay where they like and when they like at a wide selection of inns, B&Bs and hotels. Rocky Mountaineer's Vacation Plus Travellers planning a trip with Rocky Mountaineer Vacations have a chance to enhance their vacation with Vacation Plus, a value-added offer available through 18APR08. Rocky Mountaineer is offering a $400 per couple credit to those booking a minimum six-night rail vacation through Canada's West and the Canadian Rockies for travel during the 2008 operating season. And, travellers receive an additional bonus of $200 per couple when booking a package tour featuring the Rocky Mountaineer Fraser Discovery Route. Vacation Plus applies to a wide selection of packages ranging from luxury holidays and adventurous vacations to independent rail and drive tours, including the seven-night, eight day Western Explorer package, which features the Rocky Mountaineer train journey between Vancouver and Jasper, Alberta. Travellers can use the credit towards extra hotel nights, car rentals, meals, airfare, additional packages and more. The credit can only be used towards the purchase of additional services and not upgrades. This offer is applicable to new bookings only and is not available in conjunction with any other promotion. www.rockymountaineer.com Visit McTavish At: www.mctavishtravel.com Voted Best Travel Agency Best Cruise Company Best Travel Agent Thanks Oakville! Hopedale Shopping Centre 1515 Rebecca Street, Oakville Relax... you're with us 221 Lakeshore Road E. (905) 827-1100 fax: (905) 827-4982 e-mail: travel@mctavish.com 905-337-2228 www.hookedoncruising.com To advertise in this section call 905-845-3824