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E L L I O T T' S TRAVEL NOTES
Travel news, opinion and analysis

May 21, 2004

Hotel Robbers Pose as Employees
Police in Fairfax County are trying to find out who is robbing visitors at a local hotel. Authorities said there are several reports of the same type of robbery at the Holiday Inn Fair Oaks on Lee Jackson Memorial Highway in Fairfax. There have been at least 10 similar crimes since June 2003. Detectives said that in most cases, the robberies happened in the early morning hours, and most of the victims are Asian tourists visiting from another country. Officers said the robbers use some excuse to get into the victim's hotel room, usually claiming to be maintenance workers or hotel employees. Once inside, investigators said one robber will distract the guest while the others rummage through the room, taking cash, passports, jewelry and video cameras. NBC4 | Posted 6:30 a.m.
-- ICB: Hotel guests victims of 'opportunist' burglar
<-- Miami Herald: Robbers strike at Miami hotel

• Is it my imagination, or are reports of hotel burglaries on the rise? Unfortunately, this kind of thing happens, but there are precautions you can take. Send us your comments.

Students Lose Trips in Bankruptcy
They were supposed to spend a fun-filled week in Mexico, but the travel company went belly-up. Now, students from Madison Central High School and schools in three other states are out thousands of dollars. Seniors from Madison Central have booked trips to Cancun, Mexico, through Hotspots LLC for the past two years. This was to be the third. On April 26, the Madison-based travel company sent out a letter to students, who paid from $700 to $1,000 for the trip, saying, "We hope you're looking forward to Grad Trip 2004 as much as we are." That changed on Saturday when another letter arrived. This one read, "Hotspots regrets to inform you that we must cancel our 2004 travel program. This year we simply cannot meet our financial and safety responsibilities." Jackson Channel | Posted 6:45 a.m.
-- Sentinel: Tour operator 'ruins' honeymoon trip

CDC Introduces New Health Advisories
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today implemented a new system for providing travelers with guidance about potential health hazards and the steps they can take to protect themselves when traveling abroad. The new system makes it easier for the public to understand what their risks may be during an emerging public health crisis and what they can do to protect themselves. "As we learned during last year's SARS outbreak, infectious diseases can spread quickly as people travel around the globe," said CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding. "This new system allows us to provide travelers with very important, real-time information that will be easy for them to apply to protect their health." The new system is effective immediately and will replace the previous travel alerts and advisories. CDC | Posted 7 a.m.

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• And finally ... effective Monday, Travel Notes has a new address: 760 Sybilwood Circle, Winter Springs, FL 32708-3735. The new phone number is (407) 699-9529. Posted 7:10 a.m. | Send us your comments.

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