I’m writing in response to the situation posed in the January ’07 issue, page 115, in which a hotel guest reported a malfunctioning television and mini-bar to the desk and nothing was done. ITN asked what steps should have been taken.

A 4-star hotel worthy of the rating should have been both able and eager to remedy the situation or, at the very least, offer a substantial room discount. The writer did not say if the occurrence was over a weekend, but, even then, true 4-star hotels...

Siem Reap is the town nearest to Angkor Wat, Cambodia, and on my visit to the famous temple, Jan. 11-14, 2007, I stayed in one of the town’s smaller hotels (about 30 rooms). The room had an in-room electronic safe into which I put some U.S. dollars, my passport and a few travelers’ checks.

I didn’t give it a second thought, having used these safes countless times over decades with no problems. I always assumed that a “safe-deposit box” was exactly what the words imply.

When I...

My wife, Paula, and I visited Japan for the first time in October ’06. Wanting to travel independently (as usual) but being a bit intimidated by the language barrier, we compromised by using a series of four all-day guided tours to cover much of our sightseeing.

After extensive research, we booked all of our tours with JTB Sunrise Tours (2-3-11 Higashishinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 140-8604, Japan; phone +81 3 5796 5454 or visit www.jtbgmt.com/sunrisetour), which offers a huge variety...