Travel Costs in the Spotlight: A Look at Pricey Travel Medicine Clinics, Plus Why Prices are Rising for Hotels, Air Travel, and Rental Cars

Foreign.

Welcome to the Fromer Travel Show.

I'm your host, Pauline Fromer.

When you go to places that require special vaccines or pills, like malaria pills, who should you consult?

Where is the best place to get the information to keep you safe?

Our guest is one of our favorites.

She is Andrea Sachs from the Washington Post, and she wrote a terrific article recently about the pros and the very big minuses of specialized travel clinics.

Hey, Andrea, thank you so much for appearing on the Fromer Travel Show.

Oh, I love being on your show.

Thank you for having me on.

Okay, so you start out with a whopping bill.

This woman went to a travel clinic before a trip to Japan.

And how much did she pay and why did it cost that much?

It was actually to India.

To India, you're right.

Yeah.

But that's okay because every country, if you look at the cdc, which still is a pretty good source for travel information, global travel information, it has a long list of things that you should get in terms of vaccines, medications.

And she went to a travel clinic.

I was floored by what she paid.

It could have been worse.

So she paid $2,700.

Wow.

Her vaccination.

She didn't even get her medications there.

She got it through a pharmacy.

Good Lord.

Yes.

Was she going down into a volcano in India or she just was taking a regular trip there?

Yes, she is going to mainstay.

And that's such a great question because your itinerary really matters when you decide where to go and what kind of vaccines to get.

And she was doing, like the standard tour.

She is doing some volunteering.

She is going to be around elephants and dogs and cats.

But she already had a rap vaccine because she had been bitten in the Caribbean.

And so she was actually covered for rabies, which is very expensive.

It was just the usual battery of vaccines.

It was typhoid and malaria pills, but there were so many.

And she is newer.

I mean, she had a little bit of information, but she kind of said yes to a lot.

But she did say no because she did get the price down to 2,700.

But now, upon reflection, after we talk, she's like, I could have said no to a lot more.

So was the price based on the inoculation she got or was it also for the consultation?

How do you figure that out?

The consultation for her, she.

She got a discount by doing all her paperwork online.

I know it's very much.

Well, she went with a chain, so it's very formulaic.

And so she went, she went online, she did her paperwork.

She was able to knock it down to $99 from about $124.

Every little bit matters.

And then each vaccine costs a lot because as we know healthcare is expensive and some of them required two shots.

So she would have to get.

She paid double.

It wasn't like buy one, get one free.

You have to pay for each one.

Japanese and I could never say it.

Cephalitis.

Yes.

That one cost her over $1,000 for both shots.

Wow.

And that was interesting.

You kind of unpacked whether or not she needed Japanese encephalitis shots.

What were the issues in relation to that particular dise?

It is not very common where she was going.

Majority of people are asymptomatic.

Small percentage of people might have neurological issues and you cannot recover from that.

And that's what she focused on and that's what she decided to go ahead with it.

So even though most people who get Japanese encephalitis are asymptomatic and doesn't change their lives at all, she got freaked out by the small percentage.

Well, I can't blame her for that, I guess.

But one of the reasons why these vaccines were so high and this is a problem in all healthcare.

And just as a side note, I went to my veterinarian, my new veterinarian or my former veterinarian I should say.

Cause my vet retired.

I went to a new place and I walked out of what seemed like a routine exam for my 15 year old cat.

They took a couple of tests, but $840, oh my God.

And that's higher than any doctor charges me.

And it's because this veterinarian had been bought by one of these big doctor for hire chains.

And you say in the article that this health clinic was it called Passport Health, was that she went to hundreds.

Of them all around.

They double the cost of the vaccines, right?

They can.

Yes.

I try to do a little bit of comparison and see I am totally spoiled because I am with an HMO and they have a travel clinic.

I paid 20, I'm also going to India and I paid $25 for all my shots and $10 for my malaria.

And I just want you should looks like this.

But I know a lot is coming out of my paycheck.

So sure I delude myself but.

But yes, you have to be so discerning and that you have to see your itinerary, whether it really is a risk, your health condition, whether you're strong, a lot of insect Repellent is amazing.

Like insect repellent can cover a lot of the mosquito borne illnesses, not all of them, but.

So what she should have done is she should have done her research.

Maybe not gone to one of these big chains since they're ratcheting up prices.

But if, then where does she go?

You should always start with your primary and just go through it because a lot of them you can knock off and it's probably covered by insurance or your plan, the preventative vaccine.

So your flu.

But sometimes clinics will have hepatitis.

So just ask your primary, your primary care physician.

Yeah, yeah.

And then ask your primary care physician for recommendations.

Where do they take their family, where do they trust?

Where do they believe that you're not getting an upsell or hard sell?

And then you just have to shop around.

It's a little bit of a headache.

But if you look at the list first, whether it's CDC or World Health Organization and just kind of know what you're going into, what the risks are, and then just have that long conversation and don't do it before, like during the consultation you're going to pay.

But if a place is really good, you should be able to call and just say these are my feelings, like what are you charging?

You know, what's your customary advice for these kinds of trips and these kind of activities?

And if they give you the minute to talk, then that's is reassuring.

And if they're like, well, you need to come in and talk to a nurse and pay $100, you just move on.

Yeah.

Do, do a lot of these clinics post what they're charging per shot online?

They do, they do.

I laugh because that's.

I looked online and I, I don't know, maybe just my background, I am partial to universities and hospitals, but it's ridiculous because those are for profit as well.

And I was like, oh, they have great prices.

And then the prices that I looked for University of Maryland were outdated and were hundreds more.

Wow.

Like for Japanese encephalitis, encephalitis, it was 700 for one and passport health actually was cheaper.

Huh.

So you can't necessarily rely on the fact that it's a university affiliated hospital to save money.

And you can't, it sounds like you can't rely on what they have online because they may not have updated it.

No, you have to call and this even said it was as recent as, I don't know, like April or May.

And I was like, well that's pretty safe.

But no, it was.

All the prices were Off.

Even the consultation fee was off.

So is it that prices have gone up a lot recently since they've gone up for everything else in our lives?

Yes, that's what they were telling me.

Yeah.

And they have to pass it on to the patient.

Yeah.

So I did look into Canada.

Canada, you know, it's a nice drive and you don't need any vaccines to go across the border.

It is cheaper, it's open to everybody.

It's a public clinic.

You know, it's a chain as well.

But you could just go and save a lot, a lot of money and get a nice trip.

Wow.

So go to Canada before you go to India.

That's the.

Give yourself that time for the important vaccine stuff to kick in, you know, don't do.

Some people were saying, we'll do it on the way.

You know, your connection.

Don't do that.

You know, if you're connecting through London, that might not be enough time for it to actually activate, but.

Wow.

Yeah, you could.

Canada's a nice, you know, fall trip.

Oh, boy.

You know.

Yeah.

I feel like I have to talk to my younger daughter.

She's about to go to Ghana for three months and, you know, she's a doctor in training, so you'd think she'd think of these things.

But she's also a 22 year old, so who knows?

Exactly.

Yeah.

So I'm gonna talk to her about all this.

Well, yeah, it's a wonderful article as always.

Thank you so much, Andrea, for appearing on the Fromer Travel Show.

Thank you so much for having me.

We are going to be talking about prices rising in many sectors of travel.

I'm saying that based on a really smart, in depth article by my next guest on fromers.com she is Tamara Hinson.

She wrote a, a fascinating piece about why prices are going up in travel and there's a myriad of reasons which we'll unpack and I'm going to try and come up with some ways that you can still save money even with these headwinds in travel.

So that's the goal for this interview.

We'll see how it goes.

Thank you so much for appearing once again on the Fromer Travel Show.

Great to speak with you.

Hi.

So you, you kind of break down how prices are going up in each sector.

You start with hotels.

Yes.

Why?

Why are hotels getting more expensive?

A lot of experts are telling me it's still connected with that kind of pent up demand for travel.

Post Covid people are kind of still feeling that.

So people are still traveling a Lot in.

A lot of people are traveling more than they used to and they're going to destinations which might be bucket list destinations.

These places haven't necessarily caught up with the pace of hotel construction that's required.

So that's definitely one of the big reasons.

And that applies to Europe.

It applies especially to certain places in African countries as Morocco is seeing that to a certain extent.

Places where there's more flight connections.

Rabat and Casablanca.

It's kind of a similar thing.

Just to restate what you said.

So we.

There weren't enough hotels built basically for this ongoing surge of travel.

And this is particularly true in the destinations that have a lot of direct flights coming to them because they're being.

Yes, that's correct.

Yeah.

So could we say maybe going to the secondary cities?

You will find.

Yes, a lot of secondary cities are kind of taking advantage about that.

Tourist boards are advertising lower hotel routes.

And Japan has got especially good with this, trying to get people to visit secondary cities.

And certainly the prices are a lot lower.

For example, I know in Tokyo that prices, hotel rates have just gone up and up.

But now I can go outside Tokyo and I can go to a city not everyone knows of and I can get a perfectly nice room for about £35.

So, yeah, anywhere.

There are a lot of places where Morocco has several new flight routes coming in which is going to make it a lot more accessible.

Rabat and Casablanca too.

And you know, prices are kind of going up there now because it's not so much because of a supply issues.

It's a lot to do with the fact that hoteliers know they can do it because there's limited choice right now.

Oh, yes, that's interesting.

And in terms of hotel prices going up because hoteliers know that they can do it.

Yeah.

A lot of that confidence is being sparked by AI and their ability to know what the hotelier will pay or what the hotel guest will pay.

You had a fascinating statistic on an AI company that has been working with a certain hotel group.

And because of them looking at what they think the customers will pay, how much more is this hotel group making than they did before they started using these AI tools?

The stats are staggering.

The stat that I was going for is there's a company called Atomize which worked with a hotel group and they found that in the 18 months that they've been working with that hotel group, the revenues for that hotel group went up 38% over the space of 18 months.

And we've seen that with airfares as well.

There are companies now that do profiles of different cities and what the people in that city pay for cars and pay for rent and pay for food.

And then they sell this data to people who are selling travel products online.

And those folks can then tailor their offer to what they think they know you will pay.

Yes, absolutely.

So my big advice in that case with AI is maybe what you do is you hide your identity.

When you're searching for hotels, you use a virtual private network and you fool them.

Yeah, I mean, that's one thing I hear time and time again.

Using a VPN can make a huge difference.

And it's interesting actually, because I have noticed that I will.

I mean, even when I was booking a flight to Germany the other day, booking from Stansted in London to Hamburg, the flight was really, really expensive.

And so when I tried booking it from, I think I used a VPN as if basically wasn't sure where I was.

It was a lot cheaper.

So.

Absolutely.

Like using a VPN will help me is a good idea.

Yeah, yeah.

Well, let's jump to flights.

This is, this is going to be a trickier one because flights are going up.

For what reason?

What's the main reason prices are going up?

Okay, there's one thing.

Most, almost all airport airlines will be part of the scheme.

And it basically requires airlines and 126 member states to offset growth of CO2 emissions.

And some airlines have already kind of started trying to absorb that cost by increasing their airfares in advance.

There's only a few, Left hander is one, but they refer to it as various things.

Left hand refers to, I believe as an environmental cost surcharge.

So there's that there is the cost of fuel which is going up and.

That has to do partially with the war in Ukraine.

Yeah, that costs of fuel have gone up significantly and fuel costs always bump up airfares.

Yeah, I mean especially, I think we're definitely feeling it in Europe more.

When I go to Japan now, for example, it's kind of interlinked, but the route is now quite different.

There is more areas you have to avoid and I think the flight time for me has normally gone up about two hours.

So you have to avoid large parts of Russia and various other places that you didn't have to avoid before.

And for the first time, actually when flying back from Japan, I flew back the other way over Greenland.

And I think that's because they're Trying to, you know, mitigate those extra fuel costs.

Huh.

So yeah, so planes are having to fly different routes, longer routes to avoid the conflict zone over Russia and Ukraine.

Interesting.

Okay, so we have fuel costs, we have potentially longer flights to avoid certain areas.

And the costs at airports, so before you get on the plane, that's going to be higher.

Right.

Why are those costs higher?

One of the reasons is, which also applies to airfares, there are more people traveling.

It relates to that pent up demand.

So to a certain extent it's because they can, which, you know, the same way they can charge more during holidays and which isn't fair.

But with airports it is more still tied into more people traveling, but it's to do with the need to build and expand airports.

And, and, and that costs a lot of, and that kind of makes everything about an airport more expensive.

I think it's only in the past few years really that you now have to pay, I think at most UK airports to drop people off.

We didn't really have that until relatively recently.

So you have that fee, you have parking lots raising their prices, you have the dam restaurants at the airports who I guess are being hit up by the airport themselves with higher fees, passing that along to the customers.

And also, you know, food prices have gone up.

We all know that.

I see it just costs going up across the board in airports because yeah, the rent they're having to pay, the leases they're having to pay is going up.

And I mean it's kind of good that airports are being expanded, but it's at such a rapid rate and doing that is very, very expensive as well.

Right.

So what can you do?

We said we wouldn't give just the problems, we'd give some of the solutions, I guess.

Yeah, some of, some of the solutions.

Is have take an Uber to the airport instead of, you know, driving yourself so you don't have to park.

Bring your own lunch.

Don't eat the airport food.

Yes, yeah, bring your own food.

And if you do, I mean I personally find in the UK that Uber has just almost become unaffordable now.

Especially, especially to the, to the airport.

But as a result, you know, we now always compare and we've got Bolt now in the UK for example.

I know in America I think you have a lot more ride share.

But we only have Uber but, and Bolt now and Bolt is often.

So if I go to Heathrow it cost me about like normally 70 pounds of Uber, but Bolt will be 50 pounds.

So again, just going with a smaller guy, you can do that comparison shop.

Or maybe become such a good friend that your friends will offer to drop you off at the airport so you don't have to use these services.

Yes, that definitely helps.

Crazy.

Crazy.

All right, so those are the costs for sleeping, for flying, driving costs are also going up if you rent a car.

Yes, this was fascinating.

So why are rental car costs going up?

The main reason with that, which is a strange one, is the fact that a lot of.

A lot of fleets are.

A lot of rental companies are electrifying their fleets.

And so, I mean, the good news is that that's going to be kind of a temporary thing.

But the, the downside is, is that that whole process is quite expensive.

Huh.

Just, you know, the whole process of getting electric cars and adding them.

That.

Yeah, that's costing a lot.

And one of the places I spoke to was someone at Cox Automotive, which is huge.

And that's a lot.

So in the long term, it's going to be a good thing both for the environment and for costs.

But in the meantime, that is going to cost more and it's going to be a cost that they want to.

They have to pass on.

Yeah.

As well.

Here we go with AI again.

We know that Hertz and some other rental companies are now using AI to examine the cars when they've been returned to see if they've been damaged or in any way.

And some of these.

Some of these dings are things that you won't even see with the human eye.

So the amount of.

Of crap people are getting fees for is rising.

Yeah.

So, I mean, with things like that, I would.

Yeah, it's.

It's a hard one because like you say, some of the.

The damage is just is.

Is so hard to see with the naked eye.

But I think there's more reason.

Ever take, you know, kind of take good photographs of your car inside and out before.

Before you drive it away and.

Yeah, just take it and if there's any dings on it, go and get someone, an employee to kind of sign it off and just that they've seen that ding if it wasn't on the initial.

Yeah.

On the initial risk of possible damage.

Or take a photograph of it with a timestamp on your phone, just so it's clear those are some things you can do.

Final ways that prices are going to be going up is tourist taxes and entry fees.

Yeah.

Unpack that for us.

I mean again, sorry to sound like a ST record.

It relates to, you know, this pent up demand for travel.

More people going to key hotspots.

Again, Japan is somewhere that is quite trying to deal with that by increasing prices of certain attractions and it's gonna.

Japan is going to be increasing its tourist tax paid by visitors.

At the moment I think it's only like $6.70 but very soon it's going to be going up to $33 which is a big leak.

Yeah, that's a big jump.

Yeah, it's a huge one.

And then at certain attractions, Himeji Castle, which is, you know, one of the most popular castles in Japan.

They are hiking the price for non Japanese uk.

In the uk, Wales, Liverpool, Manchester and Glasgow and quite a few other cities are almost certainly going to introduce a tourist tax in the near future called the ats.

So the ats, what is that?

That is going to be required by all travelers aged between 18 and 70 from 60 non EU countries coming into the EU.

So that's going to affect a huge number of people.

And that will be introduced next year and it will be $23.

It's going to be a three year authorization.

So I guess similar to the Esther that we get.

And it is going to include multiple short term stays.

So it's not just a one off one which is a good thing in, in the Schengen area.

Is it E I T A S.

E T I A S. Ah, okay, yeah.

E T I A S. I got the number, I got the letters in the wrong order.

ES and so that is a new fee that will, will apply to Americans going to Europe, to South Americans going to Europe.

Yes.

Yeah, it's from 16 non EU countries basically.

So yes, it's, that's going to affect a lot of people.

Yeah.

In Paris you've got the Louvre, which is ironic given it's in the news right now.

It's going to increase its, its admission fee from 30, $35.

And most a lot of attractions elsewhere in France and Paris are expected to be the same.

Versailles, Opera, Garnier, kind of, they're doing it as well.

So a lot of it is to do with over tourism and the way that has impacted people that live in that area and kind of trying to show there is a benefit here if you live locally, if you live next to Louvre and it's really crowded and you're constantly having to deal with big crowds of tourists or issues that might arise from that over tourism, there is a benefit for Them because in theory, that extra money that's generated will benefit them in some ways.

Few tourist boards or cities are going into specifics, but that's the way they're marketing it.

Interesting.

Interesting.

I don't know how you get around that.

I mean, I guess, well, forewarned is forearmed, at least this way, now that we know that these entry fees are going up, that there will be tourist taxes, we either choose destinations which have lower fees and no tourist taxes, or we swallow it and, you know, do a picnic for lunch and skip breakfast.

And it's a tricky.

I mean, one thing that I'm seeing more in Europe and in the uk, which I always saw a lot of in America and Canada, which I think is great, there would be certain days when all museums are free.

I think writing about San Antonio, it's got first Thursdays of every month when a lot of the attractions are free.

And I'm seeing that more in European cities.

So it's always worth researching.

That is the one day a week or.

Or is it the first Friday of every month where museums are open their doors for free?

Sure.

Yeah.

So that kind of planning in advance and doing a bit of research and I do also find, again, talking just about Europe, we have some tourist passes which are really good.

Some of them, I mean, some of them aren't great, but a lot are.

Amsterdam and Paris do have good passes.

Right.

That cover everything.

And I would say the ones, the.

Ones for London are garbage because you can get into most of the places, most of the museums in London for free.

And.

And the past seems just there.

So you can go to the torture Museum and who the hell, you know, it's to steer you to places that you wouldn't go otherwise.

So always look very carefully.

Yeah.

It's so important to do your research.

Yeah.

Because you need to.

The ones I really like are kind of places where you can kind of bundle your attractions and, you know, you can.

I think Prague does that, where you can kind of just tailor, make it a little bit because, yeah, like you say, otherwise you might end up paying and you're not actually going to benefit if.

If it doesn't help you with the attractions you know, you've got in mind specifically.

Yeah, absolutely.

All right.

Well, it's a wonderful article.

As I was saying, it was.

It's on fromers.com go.

And thank you so much for appearing on the Fromer Travel Show.

Thank you very much.

I thank you so much for listening.

We've reached the end of another Fromer Travel Show.

If you enjoy the show, I hope you'll give us a good rating wherever you stream your podcasts.

I hope you'll Visit us@fromers.com and I hope you will continue traveling, because there is nothing as mind expanding and soul satisfying as that activity.

That's it.

To those who are traveling, I'm jealous.

And may I offer you a hearty bon voyage.

Sour candy on the table?

Lazy afternoons in your sweatpants Watching cable?

Well it feels so far away?

All the channels seem the same?

Trying to remember all the songs we like to play?

Cause those lazy afternoons come so frequently these days it's been so long and I cannot help but wonder Are you ever coming home?

I like you with your sour candy in the boothouse on the lake?

Oh but I hate, I hate, I hate, I hate, I hate, I hate.