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ARAB TIMES, FRIDAY-SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8-9, 2017 21 Melchiorri offers advice for getting good hotel deals Why ‘Hotel Impossible’ star likes a good roadside motel By Beth J. Harpaz Y ou’d think a guy like Anthony Melchiorri, host of Travel Chan- nel’s “Hotel Impossible,” would settle for nothing less than luxury hotels when he travels. But Melchiorri, entering his seventh season as the fixer of failing ho- tels, says he’d just as soon stay in a roadside motel if it’s got good reviews online. “Those are mom and pops that are working their butts off,” Melchiorri said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. “They live in the back of the hotel, they get up in the morning, they put out fresh flowers, they make you breakfast ... I can’t wait to meet that owner. I can’t wait to have their breakfast. I can’t wait to sleep in that bed.” Melchiorri, who’s got a new show called “Extreme Hotels” in the pipe- line, also offered advice for getting good hotel deals and reflected on growing up poor. Here are excerpts from the interview, which aired Wednesday on the AP Travel podcast “Get Outta Here!” Growing up poor “I actually grew up really poor. My dad died when I was 2 years old. My mom struggled to make a living. ... We were on welfare, had the block of cheese. She couldn’t afford col- lege. So I went into the military and got my college degree and got some hotel experience. It was the best way to grow up because you understand the struggles so when you do have some easier times, you still work like you’re getting a block of cheese on Thursday.” Career path “I started my career at the Embassy Suites in Times Square. Then I was fortunate enough to work at the Plaza Hotel. At that time the current presi- dent (Trump) owned the hotel and it was in bankruptcy. We were brought in to help come off that, went to work at the Algonquin Hotel, the Lucerne Hotel and turned those hotels around with some of the greatest teams ever. ... Even before I was on television, I was always the guy they called in when things couldn’t be fixed.” “People say, what’s your secret. It’s that I can identify talent. ... A kid that worked for me at the Plaza, who worked for seven years at McDon- ald’s, and no one would give him a shot as a bellman. Patrice. He was the best bellman I ever had in my career. The ability to recognize talent has been my key.” Booking “When you go online you have to be aware that all the ads on the side of the websites and all the ads on top, those are usually third parties. Say you put in the Algonquin New York. The Algonquin New York comes up but it says underneath the URL, Hotels.com. You have to be really savvy about making sure you find the website of the hotel. That sometimes could take you to the second or third or fourth page. ... You book with a third party, it’s really difficult to get your money back. The hotel’s hands are tied.” “The hotel is guaranteed to have the lowest rate. Expedia is not allowed to have a lower rate than the hotel. When you go to the more opaque websites like Priceline and those, sometimes you can get a better deal. I hate to even say that. Those rates are hidden and sometimes the hotel will drop their rate last-minute, ridiculously low, just to fill up the rooms, but it’s always better to go to the hotels.” Call the hotel “I’m so frustrated with visitors that are afraid to call the hotel. The hospitality field by definition, that’s what we do. We’re hospitable. We want to talk to our guests. ... Make a personal connection. ... That gives that person at the hotel ownership of your reservation. ... It costs a lot to get you to my hotel. Once you get there, I want to keep you as my guest.” “Ask for anything you want. You want flowers. You want an upgrade. You want to be by the pool. You want to be upstairs, downstairs, ask for everything. There are limits of what we can do. But it’s not whether we say no or yes. It’s how we say no. If we say no, that’s just a bad answer. If we say, ‘Unfortunately the upgrade is not available today, it’s available to- morrow if you want to change rooms,’ which most people don’t want to, at least you’re giving them an option. No one likes the word no. People do like explanations. If you’re explaining things to people, 99.9 percent of the time, people are understanding.” How to complain “There’s three stages of complaint: polite complaint; direct aggressive complaint; third, go to the internet and blow the damn hotel up on the internet and tell them how bad they are. I am a very big proponent of giving hotels two chances to fix their problems. If they don’t, I am a huge proponent of going online and telling everybody in the world the hotel’s problems. ... The training priorities, the passion has to be to take care of every single problem.” Bedbugs “I got my badge of honor in Europe a couple weeks ago. I finally got bit by bedbugs.” (AP) This April 5, 2016 photo shows An- thony Melchiorri, the star of Travel Channel’s ‘Hotel Impossible,’ at the Big Bear Motel in Cody, Wyoming. (AP) Travel Turn over a new leaf Chase that autumn foliage on foot By William J. Kole H ere’s a novel way to enjoy au- tumn in New England: While the trees are dropping their leaves, you can be shedding some pounds. Activate the “Health” app on your iPhone (it’s standard and has a simple red heart icon); don a light jacket; unleash your inner multitasker; and you’re good to go. Powered by the same GPS technology your phone’s map uses to give you directions, the app will tell you not only how many miles or kilometers you’ve covered but exactly how many steps you took. If you’re a fitness geek, Fitbit, Garmin and other trackers can give you more data than you can shake a poplar branch at, including how many calories you’ve burned. If you’re a beginner looking to start a fitness rou- tine, no sweat. Autumn is the perfect season to get outdoors: crisp and cool, with none of the strength-sapping humidity that can discourage even well-trained athletes. Scenic trails abound across the re- gion, and they offer some of the most drop-dead-gorgeous places to view fo- liage off the beaten path while getting in your run or walk. Plus, these places are far less crowded in the fall and are at their most beautiful. Win-win. A guide to some of the more resplendent: Connecticut: Bull’s Bridge River Walk, Kent Route: Don’t go chasing water- falls? Good luck with that if you find yourself hiking this stunning path, which overlaps part of the Appalachian Trail in the Litchfield Hills overlooking the Housatonic River. It’s replete with views of cascading falls and gorges, and the covered bridge built in 1842 provides an iconic backdrop for foliage photography. You’ll find the entrance to the scenic loop off Route 7 between the bridge and the first parking area. Fun fact: George Washington is said to have had a riding accident nearby in 1781. Steps: 8,448 Distance: 4 miles, easy/moderate Maine: Jordan Pond Shore Trail, Cadillac Mountain, Acadia National Park Route: Picture a narrow boardwalk hewn from logs, encircling a pinch-me- perfect pond mirroring birch, aspen and oak — all blazing with peak autumn glory. That’s the trail around idyllic Jordan Pond , formed by glaciers in the shadow of Acadia National Park’s Cadillac Mountain, not far from Bar Harbor and its playful puffins. Part of the trail is over graded gravel; about 4,000 feet of it follows bouncy log bridges. It’s mostly flat and affords spectacular foliage-flecked views of the surrounding peaks. Après-hike, indulge in tea and popovers at the historic Jordan Pond House . Steps: 6,970 Distance: 3.3 miles, easy Massachusetts: Cliff Pond Trail, Nickerson State Park, Brewster Route: One of Cape Cod’s best-kept secrets isn’t its beaches — it’s the peninsula’s often-overlooked autumn vistas. The foliage itself isn’t always five-star, but it’s framed by shimmering saltwater ponds and marshes, fieldstone bridges, and acres of crimson cranber- ries awaiting harvest. You’ll find all that and more on a leisurely hike around Cliff Pond , the largest of four ponds contained within Nickerson State Park. The end of Flax Pond Road inside the park is a good place to start. If you’re feeling a little more ambitious, the 22- mile Cape Cod Rail Trail can carry you as far as the spirit moves you. Steps: 6,336 Distance: 3 miles, easy New Hampshire: Boulder Loop Trail, Kancamagus Highway, Conway Route: Honestly, you don’t even have to leave your car to have a reli- gious experience along the serpentine Kancamagus as it winds and twists through the White Mountain National Forest, but you’ll be glad you did. There are numerous pullouts for trail heads, but some are steep and rugged. One that’s not is the Boulder Loop , on the east side of the highway just off Dugway Road. It’ll take you to several rock ledges with leaf-peeping potential that will more than reward any extra huffing and puffing. The roughly circular loop passes numerous gigantic boulders, and an added attrac- tion is the Albany covered bridge. Steps: 7,392 Distance: 3.5 miles, moderate Rhode Island: Colt State Park, Bristol Route: On one side, the salt and spray of Narragansett Bay; on the other, undulating footpaths, stone walls and some of the finest flora the Ocean State has to offer. All this is yours within Colt State Park , 464 acres open year-round on a windswept outcropping named Poppasquash Neck in tribute to its Native American roots. The East Bay bikeway connects Colt to other state parks stretching from East Providence to Barrington. Consider a side trip to nearby Blithewold Mansion , whose 33 acres of manicured gardens are well worth wandering. Steps: 8,236 Distance: 3.9 miles, easy Vermont: Island Line Rail Trail, Burlington Route: This just might be the hippest, most happening hike in New England. Once known as the Burlington Bikeway, the Island Line Rail Trail skirts the waterfront of Burlington, a vibrant and trendy college town. A promenade here provides sensational views of Lake Champlain and New York’s Adirondack Mountains. The trail runs 14 miles from Burlington to Colchester; it starts at Oakledge Park on Flynn Street, and a good place to turn around is 2.1 miles later at the Union Station trailhead on King Street. Steps: 8,870 Distance: 4.2 miles, easy. (AP) Clockwise from top: A man cycles along the Island Line Rail Trail in Burlington, Vermont; A crimson field of blueberry bushes tinged by autumn stretches to the horizon near Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park in Maine; Bar Harbor, Maine is seen through a rusting boat cleat attached to a dock; Peak colors are seen along the Kan- camagus Highway in Albany, New Hampshire. (AP)

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ARAB TIMES, FRIDAY-SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8-9, 2017

21

Melchiorri offers advice for getting good hotel deals

Why ‘Hotel Impossible’ star likes a good roadside motelBy Beth J. Harpaz

You’d think a guy like Anthony Melchiorri, host of Travel Chan-

nel’s “Hotel Impossible,” would settle for nothing less than luxury hotels when he travels.

But Melchiorri, entering his seventh season as the fi xer of failing ho-tels, says he’d just as soon stay in a roadside motel if it’s got good reviews online.

“Those are mom and pops that are working their butts off,” Melchiorri said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. “They live in the back of the hotel, they get up in the morning, they put out fresh fl owers, they make you breakfast ... I can’t wait to meet that owner. I can’t wait to have their breakfast. I can’t wait to sleep in that bed.”

Melchiorri, who’s got a new show called “Extreme Hotels” in the pipe-line, also offered advice for getting good hotel deals and refl ected on growing up poor. Here are excerpts from the interview, which aired Wednesday on the AP Travel podcast

“Get Outta Here!”Growing up poor“I actually grew up really poor. My

dad died when I was 2 years old. My mom struggled to make a living. ... We were on welfare, had the block of cheese. She couldn’t afford col-lege. So I went into the military and got my college degree and got some hotel experience. It was the best way to grow up because you understand the struggles so when you do have some easier times, you still work like you’re getting a block of cheese on Thursday.”

Career path“I started my career at the Embassy

Suites in Times Square. Then I was fortunate enough to work at the Plaza Hotel. At that time the current presi-dent (Trump) owned the hotel and it was in bankruptcy. We were brought in to help come off that, went to work at the Algonquin Hotel, the Lucerne Hotel and turned those hotels around with some of the greatest teams ever. ... Even before I was on television, I was always the guy they called in

when things couldn’t be fi xed.”“People say, what’s your secret.

It’s that I can identify talent. ... A kid that worked for me at the Plaza, who worked for seven years at McDon-ald’s, and no one would give him a shot as a bellman. Patrice. He was the best bellman I ever had in my career. The ability to recognize talent has been my key.”

Booking“When you go online you have to

be aware that all the ads on the side of the websites and all the ads on top, those are usually third parties. Say you put in the Algonquin New York. The Algonquin New York comes up but it says underneath the URL, Hotels.com. You have to be really savvy about making sure you fi nd the website of the hotel. That sometimes could take you to the second or third or fourth page. ... You book with a third party, it’s really diffi cult to get your money back. The hotel’s hands are tied.”

“The hotel is guaranteed to have the lowest rate. Expedia is not allowed to

have a lower rate than the hotel. When you go to the more opaque websites like Priceline and those, sometimes you can get a better deal. I hate to even say that. Those rates are hidden and sometimes the hotel will drop their rate last-minute, ridiculously low, just to fi ll up the rooms, but it’s always better to go to the hotels.”

Call the hotel“I’m so frustrated with visitors

that are afraid to call the hotel. The hospitality field by definition, that’s what we do. We’re hospitable. We want to talk to our guests. ... Make a personal connection. ... That gives that person at the hotel ownership of your reservation. ... It costs a lot to get you to my hotel. Once you get there, I want to keep you as my guest.”

“Ask for anything you want. You want fl owers. You want an upgrade. You want to be by the pool. You want to be upstairs, downstairs, ask for everything. There are limits of what we can do. But it’s not whether we say no or yes. It’s how we say no. If

we say no, that’s just a bad answer. If we say, ‘Unfortunately the upgrade is not available today, it’s available to-morrow if you want to change rooms,’ which most people don’t want to, at least you’re giving them an option. No one likes the word no. People do like explanations. If you’re explaining things to people, 99.9 percent of the time, people are understanding.”

How to complain“There’s three stages of complaint:

polite complaint; direct aggressive complaint; third, go to the internet and blow the damn hotel up on the internet and tell them how bad they are. I am a very big proponent of giving hotels two chances to fi x their problems. If they don’t, I am a huge proponent of going online and telling everybody in the world the hotel’s problems. ... The training priorities, the passion has to be to take care of every single problem.”

Bedbugs“I got my badge of honor in Europe

a couple weeks ago. I fi nally got bit by bedbugs.” (AP)

This April 5, 2016 photo shows An-thony Melchiorri, the star of Travel Channel’s ‘Hotel Impossible,’ at the Big Bear Motel in Cody, Wyoming.

(AP)

Travel

Turn over a new leaf

Chase that autumn foliage on footBy William J. Kole

Here’s a novel way to enjoy au-tumn in New England: While the

trees are dropping their leaves, you can be shedding some pounds.

Activate the “Health” app on your iPhone (it’s standard and has a simple red heart icon); don a light jacket; unleash your inner multitasker; and you’re good to go. Powered by the same GPS technology your phone’s map uses to give you directions, the app will tell you not only how many miles or kilometers you’ve covered but exactly how many steps you took.

If you’re a fi tness geek, Fitbit, Garmin and other trackers can give you more data than you can shake a poplar branch at, including how many calories you’ve burned. If you’re a beginner looking to start a fi tness rou-tine, no sweat. Autumn is the perfect season to get outdoors: crisp and cool, with none of the strength-sapping humidity that can discourage even well-trained athletes.

Scenic trails abound across the re-gion, and they offer some of the most drop-dead-gorgeous places to view fo-liage off the beaten path while getting in your run or walk. Plus, these places are far less crowded in the fall and are at their most beautiful. Win-win.

A guide to some of the more resplendent:

Connecticut: Bull’s Bridge River Walk, Kent

Route: Don’t go chasing water-falls? Good luck with that if you fi nd yourself hiking this stunning path, which overlaps part of the Appalachian Trail in the Litchfi eld Hills overlooking the Housatonic River. It’s replete with views of cascading falls and gorges, and the covered bridge built in 1842 provides an iconic backdrop for foliage photography. You’ll fi nd the entrance to the scenic loop off Route 7 between the bridge and the fi rst parking area. Fun fact: George Washington is said to have had a riding accident nearby in 1781.

Steps: 8,448Distance: 4 miles, easy/moderateMaine: Jordan Pond Shore

Trail, Cadillac Mountain, Acadia National Park

Route: Picture a narrow boardwalk hewn from logs, encircling a pinch-me-perfect pond mirroring birch, aspen and oak — all blazing with peak autumn glory. That’s the trail around idyllic Jordan Pond , formed by glaciers in the shadow of Acadia National Park’s Cadillac Mountain, not far from Bar

Harbor and its playful puffi ns. Part of the trail is over graded gravel; about 4,000 feet of it follows bouncy log bridges. It’s mostly fl at and affords spectacular foliage-fl ecked views of the surrounding peaks. Après-hike, indulge in tea and popovers at the historic Jordan Pond House .

Steps: 6,970Distance: 3.3 miles, easyMassachusetts: Cliff Pond

Trail, Nickerson State Park, Brewster

Route: One of Cape Cod’s best-kept secrets isn’t its beaches — it’s the peninsula’s often-overlooked autumn vistas. The foliage itself isn’t always fi ve-star, but it’s framed by shimmering saltwater ponds and marshes, fi eldstone bridges, and acres of crimson cranber-ries awaiting harvest. You’ll fi nd all that and more on a leisurely hike around Cliff Pond , the largest of four ponds contained within Nickerson State Park. The end of Flax Pond Road inside the park is a good place to start. If you’re feeling a little more ambitious, the 22-mile Cape Cod Rail Trail can carry you as far as the spirit moves you.

Steps: 6,336

Distance: 3 miles, easyNew Hampshire: Boulder Loop

Trail, Kancamagus Highway, Conway

Route: Honestly, you don’t even have to leave your car to have a reli-gious experience along the serpentine Kancamagus as it winds and twists through the White Mountain National Forest, but you’ll be glad you did. There are numerous pullouts for trail heads, but some are steep and rugged. One that’s not is the Boulder Loop , on the east side of the highway just off Dugway Road. It’ll take you to several rock ledges with leaf-peeping potential that will more than reward any extra huffi ng and puffi ng. The roughly circular loop passes numerous gigantic boulders, and an added attrac-tion is the Albany covered bridge.

Steps: 7,392Distance: 3.5 miles, moderateRhode Island: Colt State Park,

BristolRoute: On one side, the salt and

spray of Narragansett Bay; on the other, undulating footpaths, stone walls and some of the fi nest fl ora the Ocean State has to offer. All this is yours within Colt

State Park , 464 acres open year-round on a windswept outcropping named Poppasquash Neck in tribute to its Native American roots. The East Bay bikeway connects Colt to other state parks stretching from East Providence to Barrington. Consider a side trip to nearby Blithewold Mansion , whose 33 acres of manicured gardens are well worth wandering.

Steps: 8,236Distance: 3.9 miles, easyVermont: Island Line Rail Trail,

BurlingtonRoute: This just might be the

hippest, most happening hike in New England. Once known as the Burlington Bikeway, the Island Line Rail Trail skirts the waterfront of Burlington, a vibrant and trendy college town. A promenade here provides sensational views of Lake Champlain and New York’s Adirondack Mountains. The trail runs 14 miles from Burlington to Colchester; it starts at Oakledge Park on Flynn Street, and a good place to turn around is 2.1 miles later at the Union Station trailhead on King Street.

Steps: 8,870Distance: 4.2 miles, easy. (AP)

Clockwise from top: A man cycles along the Island Line Rail Trail in Burlington, Vermont; A crimson fi eld of blueberry bushes tinged by autumn stretches to the horizon near Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park in Maine; Bar Harbor, Maine is seen through a rusting boat cleat attached to a dock; Peak colors are seen along the Kan-camagus Highway in Albany, New Hampshire. (AP)