Travelocity offers car rental guarantee

The top online booking service, Travelocity, says it now guarantees that the final rental rates for cars booked through its site will be within 1 percent of the quoted rate, excluding extras such as refueling, insurance and damage waivers.

Travelocity said all the agencies whose cars it offers, including Hertz, Avis, National and other well-known rental companies, have agreed to certify the quoted rate information under a program dubbed Total Pricing for Cars.

The new policy reflects one of the quirks of the car rental business: Rental rates have long been notorious for the surcharges assessed by local and state governments and for other hefty fees related to airport concessions. Such add-ons can amount to 25 percent or more of the total cost.

Consumer Reports gives tipping guide

Consumer Reports’ Web site, ConsumerReports.org, has posted a free section on tipping at hotels. Suggested guidelines: bellhop, $1 per bag, more if bags are heavy; chambermaid, $2 per person, per night, in upscale hotel, otherwise $1 per person, per night; concierge, $2 to $10 depending on the service (10 percent of the cost of scarce theater tickets); doorman, $1 for taxi or $2 to $3 if it’s raining or difficult to find a taxi; parking valet, $1 to $2; porter, $2 to $3 for room deliveries; and room service, if service charge isn’t included, 15 percent or a minimum of $2 per delivery.

St. Louis stages large Lewis and Clark exhibit

The Missouri History Museum says it will showcase the nation’s most comprehensive bicentennial exhibit of the Lewis and Clark expedition, thanks to a $2.5 million gift from St. Louis-based technology company Emerson to help fund it.

The exhibit and related events will commemorate the historic 1804 Corps of Discovery journey by William Clark and Meriwether Lewis to explore and map newly acquired U.S. territory and to chart a transcontinental water route.

The $6.3 million exhibit will run from January to September 2004 at the Missouri History Museum in St. Louis.