If the whole trans-fat health issue has been of concern to you when feeding your family, you’ve probably been at least curious about the food service on your family vacations.  Today, Starwood Hotels and Resorts announced the company’s goal of eliminating all trans-fats by the end of 2007 from all food and beverage operations at properties in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean.  “Our goal is to deliver healthier, high-quality food selections by eliminating artificial trans-fats from our food and beverage operations,” said Paul Scott, Vice President, Food & Beverage, North America in a press release issued today.

The Starwood portfolio of brands includes W Hotels, Westin, Sheraton, Four Points by Sheraton, St. Regis, the Luxury Collection, and Le Meridien.

Trying to make last minute Memorial Day plans? Good – then it’s not just us. We kept thinking “Gee, we should do something for Memorial Day”, but somehow the thought never translated into action. Now here it is, just 3 weekends away – and we have no plans. Which is, to us, absolutely unacceptable. So, as usual, we started looking to see what could possibly still be out there for people like us, and here’s a sampling of what we found:

Hawaii
The LA Times recommends trips to Oahu for Angelenos: needless to say, the beach is always a big draw for children. The Sheraton Moana Surfrider and the Royal Hawaiian (also a Sheraton property) are offering reduced rates for Memorial Day weekend: $239 for a double that’s normally $380 at the Surfrider, and $269 for a double at the Royal Hawaiian, down from $445. The Keiki Aloha Program is available to guests of both hotels, where kids 5-12 are treated to a daily itinerary of fun. (While the Times recommends booking via Expedia to get deeper discounts for booking air and hotel together, we’ve found that this is not always the case. Do your homework to be sure of getting the best rates overall.)

Sheraton Moana Surfrider, copyright Starwood Hotels (more…)

All of a sudden, the daughter has developed a fascination with sea life. It’s not that she didn’t like the aquatic species before, but all of a sudden, there’s been increasing talk of whales, seahorses and the like, which often crescendos to pleas to go and see some soon.

Of course, given that we want to shut her up please her, we’ve been looking up cool aquarium trips where we could indulge our desire for luxury travel while visiting a fish or two. We posted one a while back from England, and also told you about the seahorse farm in Hawaii, but figured we could surely tackle this request in the continental U.S. Here are some hotel packages we’ve found (that as always, are in destinations and/or hotels where you’ll have a good time too).

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