Travel briefs: Bhutan expands tourism options

Some airlines and hotels are offering promotions that allow you to earn bonus miles and free nights. American and US Airways are celebrating their merger by offering a 50 percent frequent-flier bonus for flying on each other's airline. If you fly on American, you can earn a 50 percent bonus in your US Airways Dividend Miles account and if you fly on US Airways, you can earn a 50 percent bonus in your AAdvantage account. Both offers are valid for travel through March 2. You must register for these offers before travel.

McClatchy News Service

Carnival Cruise Lines is following the game plan that theme parks have mastered, enlisting big-name musical acts to drum up business. The Carnival Live Concert Series was announced last month, with acts such as Jennifer Hudson, Jewel, Daughtry, Kansas, Lady Antebellum and Chicago set to perform on various cruises in 2014. Hudson, who got her show business start performing aboard Disney Cruise Line and is the godmother to the Disney Dream, will be back to her seafaring ways performing aboard the Carnival Ecstasy and Carnival Breeze for two dates in June.

Mcclatchy news service

Destinations

Although the government tightly controls tourism, Bhutan is now offering a lengthening menu of adventures, often collaborations with U.S. outfitters, as well as lodging and transportation options. The rafting specialist O.A.R.S. will introduce 13-day river trips in Bhutan on Class III white-water rivers that flow out of the Himalayas. Trips take place in November and February 2015, priced from $6,165 per person. A Wyoming-based mountain guide has teamed with a local tour operator to create the Bhutan Himalayan Experience, offering three hiking trips this year (from $4,800 per person). The 12-room Gangtey Goenpa Lodge, which opened in November, will be the first to offer hot-air ballooning in the country beginning next September (rooms from $600). Flights into Bhutan are restricted to two airlines, Drukair and Tashi Air, also known as Bhutan Airways. New York Times

Deal of the week

Washington post

Travel trend

Oh, no — you lost your hotel room key. That might not be a problem in the future. Starwood Hotels & Resorts, the hotel giant whose brands include Sheraton, Westin, W and Aloft, is testing new technology that lets guests check in and open their rooms with a smartphone. Starwood is testing the technology at two Aloft hotels, and plans to expand to its W hotels next. Other companies such as Marriott International already allow guests to use smartphones to book rooms and check in but still require a worker at the front desk to hand guests a key. But the trend toward mobile check-in is on the decline, said Bruce Baltin, of PKF Consulting, because for many things, guests still want to talk to someone face to face.