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Millennial Travel Madness By Declan McCullagh January 5, 1999 If you're planning a blowout New Year's Eve bash, be warned: Prices are going up. One night at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas will cost you a cool $2,000 -- and that's not counting the four-night minimum stay. Carnival and Royal Carribean cruise lines are offering only pricey week-long trips, not their usual shorter excursions. Hotels have begun to announce millennium rates and begin taking reservations for the new year, the Los Angeles Times reported on January 3. Airlines, which usually accept reservations 11 months in advance, expect to have their phones ringing off the hook a few weeks from now. But will buyers bite? "The weeks to come will be crucial for consumers because billions of dollars in millennial travel inventory will be placed on the market for the first time. If consumers don't bite, rates will fall. And many industry veterans expect just that to happen," the Times said. In other words, prices could fall after the initial spike in demand. One likely possibility is that hoteliers could boost prices so far into the stratosphere that they scare off customers and have to drop them much further to compensate. (Some hotels are even telling would-be patrons they're sold out, even though they're not.) For now, the best advice is the usual advice: Wait and see.
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