Today’s Wall Street Journal has an article (”Delta Launches Online Boarding Pass Ads“) featuring a new attempt by Delta Airlines to raise revenues via advertising that will appear on your online boarding passes for your target destination. So, for instance, if you’re flying to Vegas, the ads will be for Vegas restaurants, hotels, and attractions. Interesting idea. I have to say, I’d much rather see the airlines go in this direction than nickel-and-dime passengers with baggage fees and making us pay to use the toilet. Thumbs up, Delta.

Well, one good thing has come out of the gas crisis. Savvy hotels are trying to beef up their room occupancy by providing guests with free gas cards as incentive for staying with them. If you’re traveling in the near future (and driving), it’s worth it to consider staying at a hotel that offers an incentive like that. Vegas.com, Expedia.com, and Hotels.com are all offering gas cards for bookings (under certain criteria). Choice Hotels is offering them for anyone who books three separate reservations within their chain of hotels. You can also get a gas card by staying at the Sheraton Gateway San Francisco Airport Hotel and the Courtyard Miami Downtown. Marriott is offering $25 for gas at 36 hotels in the Washington, DC area, and a $20 gas card at 11 hotels in New England.  See the website of the hotel or booking agency in question for details about what you need to do to earn that gas card. And keep your eyes peeled for more of these deals, because it’s the hottest travel promotion going right now and lots of businesses are jumping on the bandwagon.

The US Tour Operators Association just released results of its survey on single and solo travel. According to them, more than 60% of USTOA tour operators offer room sharing for solo travelers, and solo travelers often make up to 20-40% of a given tour departure. Now if only more hotels and cruise ships would take us into account and create rooms designed specifically for singles at a singles price, that would be revolutionary. You can read more of their results here.

Forbes just released their list of the 25 Most Influential Women in Travel (I missed making it onto the list by that much–heh). According to Forbes, “Women are the prime movers in American travel, driving 70 percent of all leisure travel spending and 80 percent of corporate travel bookings, profoundly impacting where the entire country goes for both business and pleasure. (And don’t forget, women count for some 40 percent of the nation’s business travelers.)” Cool. See who the 25 most important movers and shakers in the travel world are here.

My favorite travel personality, Samantha Brown of the Travel Channel, made the list under “Trendsetters and Innovators”. Woo! Check out Samantha’s blog.