Pod Insights The Clark Howard Podcast 03.20.26 Clark Answers His Critics on Clark Stinks / Airfare Booking Strategy About this episode Friday - Clark Stinks day! Christa shares Clark Stinks posts with Clark. Submit yours at Clark.com/ClarkStinks. Also today - Is booking travel a smart idea right now? Airfares are surging with the price of jet fuel since hostilities began. Clark shares smart strategies to help you book for less. Clark Stinks: Segments 1 & 2 Flight Booking Strategy: Segment 3 Ask Clark: Segment 4 Mentioned on the show: How To Find Tuition-Free Colleges: Schools That Offer Free Tuition Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card: 6 Things To Know How To Get a Gym Membership for Practically Free - Clark Howard How To Find the Best Deal on Cheap Internet Service in 4 Steps Fixed Wireless Internet: Using Your Cellular Service Provider for Home Internet The American Community Survey: Is It Legitimate and Do You Have To Answer? 4 Ways To Fight Sky-High Airfares This Summer How the Iran war is disrupting air travel -- and advice if you're planning a trip Travelers stranded by war learn insurance won't cover flight cancellations Travel Insurance: What You Need To Know Before You Buy Cancel for Any Reason Trip Insurance: Should You Buy It? Warning: Do NOT Trust Hotel Brand Names - Clark Howard BBB-File a Complaint How to avoid scams while applying for ESTA Get an electronic travel authorisation (ETA) to visit the UK Clark.com resources: Episode transcripts Community. Clark.com / Ask Clark Clark.com daily money newsletter Consumer Action Center Free Helpline: 636-492-5275 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcript 0:00 Speaker 00 At Edward Jones, we believe rich is about taking care of what gives your life meaning. That's why your financial advisor personalizes your plan to help you preserve your progress and create something that lasts. Let's find your rich. Edward Jones. Member SIPC.
0:15 Speaker 01 UKG is the workforce operating platform with unified HR, payroll, and workforce management, built to solve the unique challenges of frontline work. Powered by People First AI and decades of labor data, UKG turns workforce intelligence into real-time decisions around staffing, pay, compliance, and productivity, enabling every worker to confidently take action as work happens. Because when work works, everything works. Learn more at ukg.com/work. UKG, HR, Pay, and Workforce Management.
0:50 Speaker 02 It's my pleasure to welcome you to The Clark Howard Show. You know, our mission is to serve you with advice and information that empowers you so you make better financial decisions in your life. And I hope that your week has been great so far that you're ready for a wonderful weekend this weekend. But before I get the weekend going, I'm so glad that I get taken back to school and our weekly segment of Clark Stinks. Now, on a more serious note, I've been getting a lot of questions about the economic effects of the war in Iran. Specifically, what do you do about booking travel over the next many months,
1:35 Speaker 02 and particularly for summer? I'm going to give you my best ideas later in today's podcast and YouTube show. But without further ado, it is time for Clark Stinks.
1:48 Speaker 03 I should have never encouraged you to speak.
1:50 Speaker 04 You must think I'm pretty stupid. You should be ashamed of yourself. Well, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm wrong.
1:56 Speaker 02 You're right, pal.
2:00 Speaker 02 What you got, Jason?
2:01 Speaker 05 All right, I've got Stephanie in Wisconsin writing in with this one. Clark, you don't stink, but I think you need to reconsider your stance on Whole Foods. My family of three just returned from a cruise out of Miami. We stayed in Miami two nights before we sailed to experience the city. While there, we planned to walk to Whole Foods for some groceries, and it was the closest market and saved an Uber cost. I was prepared for sticker shop after all you refer to it as whole paycheck. Clark, did you know you can get an entire freshly baked for you delicious cheese pizza there for $12? My husband washed it down with a sparkling water for 89 cents. My son and I wanted a soda, though, and we really broke the bank. We went to Walgreens for two for $6 bottles of Coca-Cola.
2:45 Speaker 05 All in all, our dinner and drinks cost our family of three less than $20 in downtown Miami. The lesson for me, don't count Whole Foods out for prepared foods while traveling. I don't want to cook every meal while on vacation. Thanks to you and your team for your wisdom and guidance.
3:01 Speaker 02 Stephanie, okay, you pointed out something that we talked about one of our show meetings was how the grocery store industry has become a viable option for MRE, meals ready to eat, in direct competition, in indirect competition with restaurants, quick serve, and fast food, often with potentially better quality ingredients and better prices than you get from the restaurant industry, even from whole paycheck.
3:34 Speaker 05 Okay, Kendall in South Carolina says Clark was mostly on the mark talking about college cost. Searching for the lowest cost provider may not always actually be the lowest net cost. Some expensive colleges and universities have huge endowments and provide significant scholarships to many, even most of their students. I went to a small, expensive, private college while my sisters attended a state university that's considered to be low cost. When I was attending, 94% of the students received scholarship funds from the endowments. The lowest amount was 10% to 15% of the total room and board cost and went up to 100%. The scholarship was the same whether or not the students stayed in the dorms. Students attending private institutions are eligible for certain federal and in some states,
4:18 Speaker 05 state and local funds, which are not loans. As a result, my total cost was significantly less than 50% of what just one of my sisters paid. Parents and students should look first for the best institutions to reach your goal, and then narrow it down based on cost. If I had limited myself, I would not have even considered my college. Thanks for all you do to educate us and to help us spend less and save more.
4:41 Speaker 02 Thank you very much for that. And as an annex to that, we have a link on Clark.com where you can see colleges where you may be able to get tuition for free. And there are almost 1,000 colleges that are on that list. That's right, almost 1,000?
5:01 Speaker 05 All right, for Rose, I believe is how you said it, in Nevada, says Clark said to get a Venture Capital Card, which is best for travel. So I got one. My wife and I went to the lounge in Las Vegas. They let me in, but now they want $45 for my wife to go in as well. So I just tore up my card. Please check into this and inform your customers of their new policy. I listen to your podcast all the time. Thank you for your wisdom and teaching us how to save.
5:27 Speaker 02 Yeah, thank you for bringing this up. We talked about this late fall that the Capital One Venture X, starting, I think it was February 1, went to a thing where additional cardholders have to pay an add-on fee of, I think it's 125 a year, for them to have lounge access with or without you. But if they come in with you, you have to pay a junk fee, a big junk fee.
5:56 Speaker 05 Forty-five at this point.
5:56 Speaker 02 For them to enter the lounge with you. So the idea of it is it's kind of like the ski passes where they charge a fortune for every day of skiing to try to get you to buy the ski pass. If you're going to enter three or more times a year, it's best to pay the annual add-on fee for your loved one to be able to come and go as they. They please with or without you into the various lounges you can get into with the Capital One card. American Express has done this with their Platinum Card. It's 195 a year, I think.
6:33 Speaker 05 And I think the fee for someone to get in individually is like 50 with that one. So if it's
6:37 Speaker 02 Wow, wow. Those lounges aren't worth 50 bucks.
6:41 Speaker 05 No, seriously. Stinky in Georgia says, I was cleaning my litter boxes while listening to your podcast and the odor was overwhelming. I realized it wasn't the litter boxes, it was you. You were answering a question by somebody trying to get out of a three-year commitment to a gym membership and said there weren't really options. Come on, dude. What's the title of this podcast? I encourage the family to go in smelling so bad that they could get kicked out and their membership is revoked. Nothing on the credit would easily get them out of the payments. They should even wear Clark Stinks t-shirts.
7:14 Speaker 02 Do you know about this?
7:16 Speaker 05 No, what?
7:17 Speaker 02 Okay, this is actually a strategy that I have never mentioned, but now it's out on the table, that people will purposely go into a gym looking disheveled and dirty and stuff, and that the gym doesn't want them there.
7:35 Speaker 05 I feel like I always look disheveled and dirty at the gym. Isn't that the point?
7:39 Speaker 02 Like, no, I mean, I mean, like,
7:41 Speaker 05 Okay.
7:41 Speaker 02 Filthy, dirty, like you've been rolling in the dirt and smelly and stuff. It is a strategy I've seen. I've never, I've never said it, but that's specifically what Stinky was referring to is that you make yourself someone who the gym would rather not have there. So worried that they will not be able to retain or attract members.
8:03 Speaker 05 Other people who don't want to smell you. Okay. Chris in New York says, you don't stink, in my opinion. I noticed you're not using your headset anymore on your podcast. I just wanted to let you know that it's a good look for you and that you're coming through loud and clear. Thanks for being you and for sharing your knowledge with us all. And someone else wrote in and said, let Clark be Clark. Let him wear his headset.
8:25 Speaker 02 Oh, man, we've had so much discussion behind the scenes about this because I like to move a lot. And if you have a stationary mic like this, if you move around way over here, suddenly you're not hearing me. And I tend to crouch into the mic. So I prefer what's known as a sportscaster kind of headset. But Krista has-
8:48 Speaker 05 No, don't you dare. I just said to you before we start today, if you want to go back to the headset, let's do it.
8:54 Speaker 02 You did. You did. You did.
8:56 Speaker 05 I just wanted you to try it.
8:57 Speaker 02 But you wanted me to try it.
8:58 Speaker 05 Yeah.
8:58 Speaker 02 And I'm trying it. And as with anything in life, you adjust. And people like me not wearing the sportscaster headset. So-
9:09 Speaker 05 We'll see. I think the most important thing is that you're comfortable. Nobody really, you know what I mean? In the end, who cares? So-
9:15 Speaker 02 No, the only thing that matters are our listeners and viewers.
9:18 Speaker 05 Okay. Sam, well, they care about you. Okay, I'm not going to keep going on. Sam in Georgia says, Hey, Clark, you don't think that much, just a little. But for a few years ago, you were saying we'd all have super affordable, high-speed internet because increased competition was coming. You cited Google Fiber as an example, yet Google Fiber still hasn't made it to my large suburban area, and I'm stuck with AT&T. What happened to the high-speed internet market's affordable prices and what gives?
9:44 Speaker 02 So actually, it's there. And you got to look. And as an example, you said AT&T. AT&T, obviously, is a very expensive AT&T fiber, very expensive home internet. You do have the option now, though, of seeing if T-Mobile home internet is available where you are. If you're not a T-Mobile cellphone subscriber, look at Mint Mobile, which is actually owned by T-Mobile.
10:12 Speaker 05 M-I-N-T.
10:13 Speaker 02 M-I-N-T for home internet. And these are wireless solutions instead of wired. Verizon has a wireless version. And these tend to price depending on what else you do or don't do with a company, from 35 to about 50 a month. That will not be blazing fast- Like you probably have from AT&T, but let me tell you a thing about AT&T Comcast Charter. And they call it Xfinity. And what is Charter called theirs? Spectrum. So with any of these, if you find a deal from one of the cheaper internet service providers and you call up,
10:55 Speaker 02 the retention specialist suddenly is going to have at the other companies magically some kind of plan they can offer you typically starting as low as 30 or 35 a month. So you don't leave. So you're not a sitting duck as long as you have some other options, particularly the wireless internet options.
11:18 Speaker 05 I did, I was going to switch to Google Fiber and AT&T gave me a great deal and they've been really good with the customer service with me. So I stuck with it.
11:26 Speaker 02 So what are you paying a month now?
11:28 Speaker 05 I've got the highest speed and I pay 68 a month, but then they also gave me like a $200 gift card. So, which I used. Okay. Sydney in Michigan says, Clark, you stink as bad as spoiled milk. My dad makes me listen to you every day on the way to school and I'm so tired of hearing about Roth IRAs and retirement funds. It just all blurs together and makes me fall asleep. I yawn every single time it turns on and end up falling asleep.
11:53 Speaker 02 So Sydney, you're missing the real advantage I'm giving you in your life. You didn't get enough sleep the night before and I'm getting you some nap time as I bore you no end talking about all these crazy things. But let me tell you, when you have your first job and you are the one who opens that Roth IRA, you are going to be so happy later that I bored you so much that you fell asleep.
12:23 Speaker 05 Scott in Florida says, your advice about mortgages being due upon death was putrid. Mortgages aren't due upon death if a family member inherits a home and chooses to live in it and maintain payments. This protection was codified in federal law by the Garn St. Germain Depository Institutions Act of 1982. That said, it may still be a good idea to sell if the family member is going to have difficulty making payments, keeping up with repairs and taxes, et cetera. Do you remember this question?
12:50 Speaker 02 I faintly do.
12:51 Speaker 05 Yeah, it was a brother, there were two brothers in Colorado.
12:55 Speaker 02 Trying to figure out what to do with the family home.
12:57 Speaker 05 One of the brothers wanted to live there.
12:58 Speaker 02 And that because it was an inheritance, it's not subject to due on sale clause.
13:04 Speaker 05 Yep.
13:04 Speaker 02 Thank you for that.
13:05 Speaker 05 Cassidy in Oregon says, unfortunately, you stink when it comes to your response to a recent question about the American Community Survey. The caller was concerned about providing data, and while I appreciate that you encouraged them to participate, the suggestion of providing fake answers, like being married more times than Elizabeth Taylor, to questions they were uncomfortable with was very stinky. Garbage in, garbage out. If the data provided isn't accurate, the results of the survey will not be accurate. No response is better than submitting fake data. If someone has concerns about how the data is used or why the question is being asked, census.gov has a great information about their confidentiality policies, what the published data looks like, and how answers are used for local, state, and federal planning.
13:46 Speaker 05 As an employee of a federal statistical agency, I hear concerns about privacy and dislike of government regularly, and I understand it. But the only way lawmakers will have the data they need to make decisions is if the public response to surveys put up by the Census, BLS, and the BEA, among others. Our statistics are already being attacked by politicians in the media. Please don't make it worse by encouraging people to submit fake data.
14:11 Speaker 02 Thank you. And that was probably immaturity on my part, the response that I gave to that. So I think you provide what you're willing to provide, and not anymore.
14:22 Speaker 05 Carl in Alaska says, your discussion of credit card safety when traveling gave off a bit of an odor, or maybe it's me. You said to keep your credit cards in your phone's wallet in case you lost your physical wallet, meaning your phone's online wallet, your Apple Pay or your Google Wallet, in case you lost your physical wallet. But wouldn't you need to cancel the cards that were in the lost wallet? Is there something I'm missing? Can banks cancel the physical card and leave the electronic version still working? Or is it recommended to have at least one card in your phone's wallet that you physically leave at home, thus giving you an option in case of emergency?
14:54 Speaker 02 Which is actually what I do. I have cards in my Google Wallet that I don't physically carry, so that if my actual wallet is stolen, I still have cards. If my phone is stolen, I still have cards. And by the way, I want to give an update. This is a perfect opportunity for me to give an update. I was just in Europe again, weeks ago. I was in Portugal. And Portugal is a country that I said in answer to a question from someone just a couple of months ago, that you still are going to need cash regularly. And that information now turns out to be old.
15:38 Speaker 02 I never had to go to an ATM. I never had to use cash, except for tips that I had Euro coins, you know, two Euro coins I could use for tips. And I was able to use tap to pay 100% of the time without any trouble. So the cashless kind of thing is so advanced that even Portugal, which had been the last country in the EU really, to not be able to use credit regularly, or debit cards, or whatever. Even in Portugal now, I was able to use them everywhere.
16:15 Speaker 05 Fantastic.
16:16 Speaker 02 It was weird to never, a single time, have to pull out my wallet to use cash. Amazing. Coming up ahead.
16:26 Speaker 05 Speaking of travel.
16:27 Speaker 02 Speaking of travel. What do you do right now? Airfares have gone up like a rocket over the last many weeks. What's your play? What's your strategy for late spring and into summer? I'm going to give you my best guesses. And these are guesses, because this is a moving target, what you should be doing straight ahead.
16:51 Speaker 00 At Edward Jones, we believe rich is more than caring about the latest and greatest. It's also taking care of what gives your life meaning. That's why your dedicated financial advisor meets you where you are, with personalized financial strategies that help protect what matters, so you can preserve your progress while creating a path forward. The key to being rich is knowing what counts. Let's find your rich together. Edward Jones. Member SIPC.
17:20 Speaker 01 UKG is the workforce operating platform with unified HR, payroll, and workforce management. Built to solve the unique challenges of frontline work. Powered by People First AI and decades of labor data, UKG turns workforce intelligence into real-time decisions around staffing, pay, compliance, and productivity, enabling every worker to confidently take action as work happens. Because when work works, everything works. Learn more at ukg.com/work. UKG, HR, Pay, and Workforce Management.
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18:37 Speaker 06 Let us help you build a more secure future by...
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19:35 Speaker 02 So airfares have been really high lately because travel bookings have been record high levels for pretty much across the full fare airline landscape. The people having more difficulty have been the discount airlines, the deep discount airlines, the brutal experience of flying Frontier. Airfares already were on a higher trajectory. And then the issues in the Middle East, the problems getting oil out of the Middle East has led to a real fear on the part of the airlines. Because fuel, depending on the airline, best of circumstances, is about 25% of their
20:19 Speaker 02 costs. And of the fuel increases that have occurred since the war in Iran began, jet fuel has had pretty much the highest increases of any. So the airlines are like between a rock and a hard place. Because they got to worry, if they raise fares too much, they kill off demand. But if they don't raise fares, they can't cover their costs. So the airlines choose always as a first step in a run-up in the wholesale price of jet fuel to retail out higher ticket prices to consumers, which is just what's happening right now.
20:59 Speaker 02 Most recent estimate I saw is that airfares are up 16% from the beginning of hostilities in Iran. That is right at the time of year in March, when people so heavily book summertime travel. So if summertime travel had been booked earlier, which is normally not what I would recommend, you would have missed these increases. But they're here now. So I have some specific strategies for you.
21:30 Speaker 02 About how to go about buying. Number one, if you are someone with one of those airline credit cards or a general purpose travel card and you've got a lot of points sitting there, this is one of those times, those points that you've been hoarding should be used to book travel. Most programs, you are able to book travel and then do a redeposit later and get full credit back, no cost using points. So you can hedge your bet at basically no real risk by using accumulated point totals to book a trip. And then later, if you don't do it, redeposit.
22:15 Speaker 02 Now, I just did this, I have cards that I can transfer points to so many different airlines. And I was booking a trip to New York and on American, I was able to book a coach ticket for 9,000 points, which is not a lot. The actual airfare was several hundred dollars, but it was only 9,000 points. So I did that. And again, if that trip doesn't materialize, it's planned, but if, you know, plans change, it's a free redeposit. And that's a key point is that airlines, you look at how many points they require for different trips and it's just all over the board.
22:59 Speaker 02 So you never want to be married to one particular airline in its program. Number two, if you're not somebody who's hoarding points, you don't have points, that kind of thing, and you got to buy a ticket, I'm going to recommend a couple of strategies. One, do a multi-airline fare search for wherever it is you're going and use something like Google Flights or Hop or something like that and see what's available in different airlines. And on Google Flights, it's really easy now to exclude basic. Do not book basic fares now. Because if things improve, fuel prices go down.
23:42 Speaker 02 Airfares normalize, you don't want to be in a position with a basic ticket that you're stuck and you want a multi-airline search because just because the fare to a particular destination on a particular day could be so much higher on one airline, it may be lower on another. And so you want to take advantage of the opportunity that's available and who is actually offering the best deal for when you're going. All right. So you book a regular economy ticket. It's not refundable, right? But it becomes like a gift certificate if later cheaper fare comes along, like maybe it's not on that airline, it's on somebody else. So as long as you can use that money in a year, you've
24:27 Speaker 02 got that money to use at a later date on that airline. Or let's say the cheaper fare is on the airline you originally booked. You have a partial credit that you're then able to use later. Also, when you're looking at days of the week, cheapest days to fly are Tuesday and Wednesday in most cases, and Saturdays after 2:00 PM. Those are the softest demand days in travel. As an example, that American Airlines thing that I was telling you I booked for 9,000 points. It was 9,000 points on a Tuesday. On the Monday, the cheapest
25:06 Speaker 02 flight was 27,000 points. So the advantage of using the calendar as my friend is overwhelming. And then you've got all these airports that people don't know are out there, like one of the fastest growing airports in the country, Concord, North Carolina. You're saying, where's that? It is the second unknown airport for the Charlotte metro area. And three different discounters fly to Concord. It fares that are usually a third to a fourth what airfares
25:45 Speaker 02 are in and out of Charlotte. And this kind of pattern happens all over America with deep discounters like Breeze, or Allegiant, or Avelo, or whoever, flying out of these small, generally unknown airports in a wide metro area.
26:08 Speaker 02 It fares a fraction of the cost of what they are to the known airport. Just another tool that might get you a better deal at a time that deals are harder to find. Krista?
26:23 Speaker 05 Okay, Kenneth in Florida sent this one in. My question about current military operations in the Middle East is this. I have a cruise in late July, starting in Rome and ending in Istanbul. My main worry is my flight home from Istanbul. If the cruise gets rerouted from its final destination, which is where my flight home is from. What would happen then? I'm wondering how all that works. Would trip insurance cover something like that due to military operations? And what kind of insurance should I get if I can even find coverage? Please help with some advice. I'd really appreciate it and I love your smell even when you stink.
26:58 Speaker 02 That's kind, Kenneth. Okay, so travel insurance policies do not cover war, period. There's no help for you with a normal trip insurance policy. If the cruise line says, you know what? It's too hot to handle going to Istanbul. We're going to end the cruise in Athens, Greece, let's say, or something like that. That's the kind of thing that could happen. And so there you are with a ticket out of Istanbul. So the good news with airline tickets is that if your return changes, airlines are usually pretty accommodating and often with no change fee.
27:39 Speaker 02 If the fare is higher out of wherever the cruise reroutes to, you might suffer some expense with that. But you also have something else. Depending on the credit card you choose to buy your airline ticket with, you may have some dislocation assistance with flights included with it. It won't be a lot. Most often it'll be something like 500 bucks, something like that. But that may be able to help you with it. But it is a risk ongoing with just about any cruise. My wife and I were booked on a cruise a few years ago that was going- Knowing that the return was out of Cairo and because of stuff in the Middle East,
28:23 Speaker 02 the cruise ship didn't go. First, it eliminated the stops in the Nile and then it was completely rerouted to just be basically a GN and Mediterranean cruise. So we rebooked for a different cruise, different date. And fortunately, I was booked on airline tickets using points and I just redeposited the points. So that was the least harmful situation I could have had.
28:50 Speaker 05 Glenis in Texas says, Clark, we had a trip planned to Cancun last week, but decided to move the trip due to the violence in Mexico. We decided the day after the shelter in place order was issued by the US government, but then was lifted before my friend, who had the reservation, actually canceled in the system. Airbnb corporate is deferring to the host's cancellation policy and the host is not willing to refund us for the stay. We didn't feel like it was the safe move. Do we have any options to get our money back? Please help.
29:19 Speaker 02 Glenis, I am so sorry. And this is a constant argument Krista and I have about Airbnb because Airbnb hosts often have extremely consumer unfriendly cancellation policies. And it's part of using the Airbnb platform. And you've got to know, when you look at a host listing, you've got to pay close attention to what that cancellation policy is. I saw one recently for Hawaii that became non-refundable four months out from arrival. Four months. I mean,
29:56 Speaker 05 That's crazy.
29:58 Speaker 02 ridiculous. Obviously, I didn't book it. So unless the individual property owner is willing to do an accommodation with you, maybe a credit towards a future stay at their place, I hate to tell you, I don't have an answer for you. And it's one of the things I don't like about Airbnb is how often Airbnb is like, well, that's just too bad. You know, the policy was there.
30:29 Speaker 02 They just tell you to go get lost and I don't like it.
30:33 Speaker 05 Market Florida says, "My wife and I had a recent stay at a hotel in Key Largo, Florida. We had a late check-in and headed out to dinner. When I returned to the room, I noticed blood on the side of the comforter on the bed. I took pictures and the timestamp shows that it was around 9:00 PM. I was tired and wanted to get into bed. When I pulled back the comforter and the sheet, I noticed additional bloodstains. Fortunately, our room had two queen beds. I was not going to sleep in a bed with bloodstains on it, so my wife and I shared the other queen bed. In the morning, we inspected the contaminated bed further, and when I pulled back the sheets, I discovered the bed skirt was also heavily stained in multiple areas. What happened in that room?
31:10 Speaker 02 No kidding.
31:10 Speaker 05 I went to the front desk and requested an immediate room change. However, I was told they needed approval first. The front desk staff asked me to wait in the lobby so I could speak with the manager, and I was also asked to email photos of the bloodstained bedding, which I did. After waiting, I was approached not by the general manager, but by the housekeeping manager. She asked to see the photos and immediately stated, "This is fresh blood. This is not old blood. This just happened."
31:35 Speaker 02 I didn't know she worked in a medical lab.
31:38 Speaker 05 She's a forensic, yeah. I asked her what she meant by that, and she replied that the photos showed the blood that had just occurred. I asked if she was accusing me of lying or falsifying the situation, and when I asked her again if she was accusing me of being dishonest, she said, "You take it however you want and read into what I'm saying." At no point did she express concern for the sanitation or safety issue. Instead, she focused on questioning my integrity. And then said I should probably check out of the hotel, to which she replied, "Yes, I agree," and walked away. I twice asked what her full name was, but she didn't turn around. All the chain would offer me was a refund of my points. I've reached out to the customer care of the corporation, and they stated the case is closed and they won't offer any additional compensation.
32:19 Speaker 05 Given this matter involves blood contamination and accusation of falsified evidence, I would expect this to be treated as a serious health, safety, and corporate integrity concern. I've specifically requested contact from someone in the corporate office's executive office, yet I've received no personal outreach or phone contact from anyone at the corporate level. What should I do next, and what do you think that this company should compensate me with?
32:45 Speaker 02 Okay, first I gotta go back a step. One thing for the future, as tired as you were at nine that night, I would have gone straight back down to the lobby right then. That's the most important thing. When you have a problem with a travel supplier, you deal with it right then. And by staying in the room overnight and then going to deal with it the next day, you saw how dismissive they were of you and uncaring. And the hotel chain itself, I mean, the CEO of this hotel chain says what he wants on his tombstone is how many more rooms he's added to the chain.
33:30 Speaker 02 And I'm paraphrasing. Rather than worrying about customer service or anything like this. This is a big problem in the hotel business because the hotels make their money from room nights that they get royalties from. They don't own the hotels. It's just they're flagged. That's what it's called when their name's on it. So what do you do now? Because you obviously had enough points that you were some level of status in their program and they still blew you off. I mean, if you did anything else, you gotta be very specific what you want. File a complaint with the Better Business Bureau because big companies like these hotel chains actually do worry about their reputation
34:14 Speaker 02 with fellow business people. And a BBB.org complaint may get you more response than you've gotten so far. But be very specific what you want now.
34:27 Speaker 05 I would also post a review on Google and on TripAdvisor of what happened.
34:32 Speaker 02 Which TripAdvisor may or may not post it. But Google will almost certainly post that review. That may get an additional response from the owner of the hotel. Remember, the owner of the location is probably some form of private equity owner or something like that. And they're a little removed from things. But when you file a complaint, Like that that could keep other people from wanting to book. That may get you a response that you've not gotten so far. I like that suggestion.
35:07 Speaker 05 All right, we'll squeeze in one quick one. Sean in Connecticut, we use Visible Cellular for our cell carrier and we have the Visible Plus plan. They offer what they call a global pass for international travel. Most of our trip is already covered by this plan because we get one day of coverage per month of service, up to 12 days. Is there a way to check the reliability of the service in the UK? Or would you suggest an eSIM for that?
35:28 Speaker 02 I have not heard a single complaint from someone using the Visible Global Pass. So, odds are, everything's going to be just great. But if not, you can buy a data-only SIM in London, so dirt cheap to cover the two weeks you're going to be in Great Britain for like, maybe 15 pounds, something like that. You'll have plenty of data to use. So, the eSIM can be something you don't need to buy, but know that it's so readily available on the various shopping streets, the high streets, in any British city.
36:08 Speaker 02 And particularly, there's so many people from across Europe who work, even after Brexit, who work in Great Britain, that there are sellers of these data-only SIMs available. It's very competitive all over the place. So, I hope you have an absolutely great, great trip. And speaking of the UK, you're going to have to have the UK ETA that allows the Electronic Travel Authority. You've got to buy it in advance. But know that almost every site you look for, for it, is fake. You want to make sure you're at the UK government site, and that's the only place you buy your
36:51 Speaker 02 ETA for travel in Great Britain. Well, have an absolutely fantastic weekend. It's been great having you here today. Know that all weekend long, we're at your service at Clark.com and ClarkDeals.com, answering your Questions and giving you information, you're like, I didn't know that. Let me tell you, you'll learn a lot. It's going to fatten your wallet and help you avoid getting ripped off. Because that's what we're about. You learning ways to save more, spend less, and don't ever, ever, not ever, let somebody rip you off.
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