I just saw these Digital Luggage Scales at the mall, and they’re the new must-have travel gadget. With the way airlines are increasing their luggage fees, you’ll no long be able to sweet-talk your way out of those fees! And if this luggage scale keeps you from paying the fees one time, it’s worth the cost!

Digital Compact Luggage Scale

A new AP article just came out listing the top travel destinations in 2010, with what I think are a few surprises. Here are the picks.

Lonely Planet’s top picks: U.S., Canada, South Africa, Mexico, Thailand, Cuba, Italy, Philippines, Brazil, Costa Rica.

Concierge.com’s “2010 It List”: Marrakesh, Kyrgyzstan, Vancouver, Burma, Venice, Antarctica, Cuba, Sri Lanka, Colombia, South Africa.

Frommer’s top (dozen) destinations of 2010: Santiago de Cuba, Cuba; Florida Panhandle Beaches; Hawaii (the Big Island); Salta Province, Argentina; Mexico City, Mexico; Melbourne, Australia; Hanoi, Vietnam; Kerala, India; Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; Tunisia; Copenhagen, Denmark; Isles of Scilly, England. Frommer’s reader favorite destination for 2010, based on a contest: Paris.

My opinion? I like Lonely Planets choices. South Africa will be a prime location with the upcoming World Cup, and the opening up of Cuba will drastically increase travel there (no more routing through Canada!) I’m not sure about the Philippines, though.

Concierge’s choices are head scratchers, but I guess that’s what you get with them. Kyrgyzstan? Burma? Antarctica? Cuba? I guess maybe those will be top destinations for Concierge’s readers, but they won’t be options for anyone at my income level, that’s for sure!

Frommer’s choices are nice. Tunisia is wonderful, and Vietnam is a great place to visit – and cheap, too!

We’ll be releasing our list of the Top Budget Travel Destinations in 2010 in the first week of January – be sure to stay tuned!

Want to spend New Year’s Eve in Las Vegas? Everyone should at some point – it’s the party capital of the world, after all! Unfortunately, it can cost an arm and a leg to stay in Vegas on New Year’s Eve, and the tickets to the big parties aren’t cheap, either. Luckily, there occasionally some package deals that might help you save some money. The first one I’ve found so far this year is for Luxor Las Vegas.

The Luxor New Year’s Eve Party Package includes tickets to the Luxor New Year’s Eve Celebration (along with an open bar and free food), plus other special offers. To stay from Dec. 30th to Jan. 3rd costs $1,125. Four nights including an all you can eat and drink New Year’s Eve Party for a little over $1,000 seems like a decent price.

The Monte Carlo New Year’s Eve Package deal just came through. Here are the particulars: 2 nights, all you can drink at their New Year’s Eve party, $25 spa credit, and free party favors. All that for $279 per person. That’s a pretty good deal.

If I find more, I’ll definitely post them on the blog. Keep checking back!

On November 17, J.D. Power and Associates released their 2009 Rental Car Satisfaction Survey. This is their 14th year of the survey. For the study they measured costs and fees, the pick-up process, the rental car, the return process, the reservation process, and the shuttle bus/van.

So what were the results of the survey? Overall satisfaction is roughly the same as last year, after two years of big declines. Enterprise was the big winner, scoring tops in all six categories and winning the top award for the sixth straight year. They were followed by National and Hertz, respectively. The lowest scoring car rental companies was Payless and Dollar, followed by Budget and Thrifty.

Interpretation of the surveys suggests that having a single problem has a notable effect on overall satisfaction. The study also suggests that having a “highly satisfying” car rental has a strong positive effect on customer loyalty levels. Which makes sense.

In the end, I’m not sure how much surveys like this matter. Hopefully the rental car companies will work harder in the future and treat each renter as more than just a number. I’ve never had a terrible rental experience, and the small issues I’ve had have always been dealt with promptly – for every rental car company. I currently have no loyalties toward any particular company – do you?

2009 Rental Car Satisfaction Survey