LATEST HOT TRENDS

As the seconds tick down to 2010, I've been thinking about how I can maximize my hotel experience more in the coming year. I plan to be on the road quite a bit, and so I've decided to tailor my resolutions to fit my new lifestyle. In addition to banning all minibar usage (step away from the 2 a.m. Pringles!), I would like to be more strategic about racking up my loyalty points.

But those resolutions both seem like child's play, so I decided to seek out advice from my favorite road warrior, also known as my Dad (or James Timothy Clark). He spent more than 75% of his time on the road last year, racking up passport stamps from Saudi Arabia, UAE, China, Japan, Thailand, Germany, Austria, Spain, France, England, Ireland, The Netherlands, Norway and Canada (phew!). What are his 2010 resolutions?

1. I've always relied on online booking, but in 2010, I plan to be more aggressive about contacting hotels directly to negotiate lower rates.

2. I'm a Marriott guy, so I'm excited about the increasing number of computer-to-TV hookups in their hotels. I plan to bring more DVDs along with me on the road to avoid being overcharged by hotel on-demand movie systems.

3. I'm going to try to only select hotels where my loyalty points allow me lounge access. You can save tons of money on meals by grabbing breakfast and after-work snacks there. (It seems like he's caught on to the trend we wrote about yesterday)

4. I'm going to take my daughter on a luxurious around-the-world trip to 5-star hotels and give her an unlimited shopping budget.