THE PALM BEACH POST • SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2005 7H

BED, BREAKFAST & BEYOND Granada Inn

There’s no place like a B&B close to home
By MARY THURWACHTER
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
FORT LAUDERDALE — As gas
prices continue to soar, we’re al-
ways on the lookout for not-too-
far-from-home getaways. We
found a little gem in the Granada
Inn, just steps from the beach and
a short drive from Fort Lauder-
dale’s downtown.
The 12-room bed-and-break-
fast, behind the giant, 457-room
Sheraton Yankee Trader, offers
guests a more intimate setting,
European continental breakfast by
the pool, immaculate accommoda-
tions and a friendly greeting from
the inn’s mascot, a collie mix
named Tilly.
Tilly has exceptionally good
manners and invites other well-
behaved dogs to join their masters
for a vacation at the Granada.
Four-legged guests are not al-
lowed on the furniture or beds,
and shouldn’t be left alone in the
rooms if they bark and disturb
other guests.
This pet-friendly inn welcomes
kids, too, which makes it a great
find for families looking for a be-
achside retreat. The larger suites
include kitchens, so you can save
on meals.
Then again, if you prefer going
out to eat after a day at the beach
and a swim in the cool oval pool
(with sea horses painted on the
bottom), there are plenty of op-
tions. Among them is Shula’s
steakhouse with an ocean view
(next-door at the Yankee Trader).
Guests can also walk a few
blocks and catch the water taxi,
which ferries folks up and down
the Intracoastal to restaurants and
marinas. You can ride all day for
$5, a great deal.
My husband and I checked in-
to an upstairs suite (bedroom,
bathroom, kitchen, dining/living
room and its own private en-
trance) at the Granada with a
lengthy “to-do” list, which includ-
ed shopping on Las Olas Boule-
vard (Fort Lauderdale’s version of
Palm Beach’s Worth Avenue), a
visit to the city’s Museum of Art, a
sightseeing trip on the Jungle
Cruise, lunch at Houston’s (one of
our favorite restaurants) and a few
hours of sunbathing at the beach.
Intermittent rains and a minor
mishap at a home furnishings
store in Miami earlier that day (a
dining-room chair fell and painful-
ly bruised my big toe!) conspired
to considerably shorten the list.
We had lunch at Houston’s (1451
N. Federal Highway, north of Sun-
rise) and got to the beach but
didn’t do much shore strolling.
My husband checked out the gal-
leries and antiques shops on Las
Olas as I caught up on some read-
ing while sipping Diet Coke at Big
City Tavern.
We hung around the Granada
more than we planned to, which
turned out to be fine, because we
got a chance to get to know owner
John Rockell and spend more time
with the lovely Tilly. John, his
wife, Kira (who had jury duty
when we visited), and Tilly moved
to Fort Lauderdale from London
about two years ago to run the inn
and to be closer to Kira’s dad.
The Granada Inn’s oval pool is surrounded by lounge chairs for guests to relax in.
Previously, John was a marine
engineer and Kira worked as a
Ba Lauderdale
journalist. (I guess Tilly was just a
The INNside Scoop
Granada Inn
3011 Granada St.
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304
Phone: (866) 463-4900
www.granadainn.net
Getting there: Take Interstate 95 south
to Sunrise Boulevard. Exit Sunrise Bou-
levard and head east for approximately
4.5 miles to A1A (at the ocean). Turn
right on A1A and continue 1 mile. Take
a right onto Granada Street. The inn is
a half-block on the right (north) side of
the road.
Accommodations: Twelve luxury guest
rooms (rooms, junior suites or suites),
each distinctly decorated. Each room
has its own entrance facing the swim-
ming pool or tucked around an alcove;
plus bath, cable TV, stereo/CD player
Photos by MARY THURWACHTER and refrigerator. Florida plantation-style
furniture, fine linens and European
soap and bath amenities. Each has a
stereo system, cable television, refriger-
Continental ator, air conditioning and telephone
breakfast is voice mail. European continental break-
served fast is served by the pool. Free parking.
overlooking Close to beach. (Well-behaved) kids
the pool at and dogs OK.
the Grana- Summer rates: Standard rooms are
da Inn. Or $80, junior suites are $90-$100, and
guests can suites are $110.
bring it to Summer specials: (Valid through to
their room. Sept. 30) Stay three consecutive nights
(This is the and get a 50 percent discount on the
dining room fourth night. Stay six consecutive nights
set in our or longer, receive the seventh night
free. Also, a weekend champagne spe-
room.)
cial gives guests a junior suite for two
nights with a bottle of complimentary
chilled champagne and a box of choco-
Fort lates in your room. Advance booking
A1A
ys required.
ho

Atlantic Blvd.
pet before achieving her mascot re Year place was built: 1958
Birch Rd.
Dr
status at the B&B). . Owners: Kira and John Rockell
Take a walk The Rockells have done a Granada Trivia: Known as ‘The Venice of Ameri-
along the splendid job with the Granada. Inn ca’ and ‘The Yachting Capital of the
beach, or The rooms are nicely decorated Granada St. World,’ Fort Lauderdale has 300 miles
catch a wa- and as clean as any we’ve visited.
Intracoastal

Seville St. of navigable waterways, making it a

Waterway

ter taxi And the location is perfect, if you, boater’s paradise.

down the
Atlantic Ocean

like us, want to vacation near the

d.

Breakfast: Muffins, cereal, fruit, coffee,

Blv

Intracoast- beach. In fact, now that Hurricane orange juice and milk served by the
eze

al for a fun Katrina has passed (with no dam- pool.

bre

day in Fort age to the B&B, by the way) and 0 1/

4
Sea

Lauder- my toe has healed, we’re hoping Diversions: Ride the water taxi. For
MILE
dale. to return soon to complete that more information, visit
Cortez St.
“to-do” list. www.watertaxi.com or call (954) 467-
MARK HEMPHILL/Staff Artist 6677. Or, take a sightseeing trip on the
Jungle Queen. Rates start at $13.95 for
A mary_thurwachter@pbpost.com adults. For more information, call
(954)-462-5596 or see
Bed, Breakfast & Beyond getaways are reviewed anonymously by Mary Thur- www.junglequeen.com.
wachter, Palm Beach Post staff writer and all expenses are paid for by The Post.

Rescheduled flight problems?

Ask to talk to a supervisor
Question: I booked a flight
through Expedia.com sever-
al months ago. But yester-
day, just four days before my
trip, the online travel agency
contacted me and told me
my flight had been resched-
uled.
It was a significant
change. I had to leave four
hours sooner than I anticipat-
ed, and I was rebooked on a
totally different airline. Expe-
dia issued me new tickets
and a new confirmation num-
ber, but I had to drive to the
airport to pick up the tickets
in person.
When I presented the e-
mail with instructions from
Expedia, the airline ticket
agent said she would be glad
to rebook me — for a $50
per-ticket fee. I was also
asked to pay the difference in
Christopher Elliott
Travel Troubleshooter
appreciated. — Tracey Crock-
ett, Williamsburg, Va.
Answer: This shouldn’t
have happened to you.
One of the big reasons
you work with an online trav-
el agency like Expedia is that
it can stand behind the prod-
ucts it sells you, just like a
human travel agent. But for
the many times that Expedia
meets its customer-service
obligations, there is also a
time or two when a case
slips through the cracks. I’m
sorry it had to be you.
change, it should have han-
dled a ticket exchange quick-
ly, without requiring you to
drive anywhere, and most
importantly, without making
you pay anything extra. It
shouldn’t have forced you to
speak with three phone rep-
resentatives, each of whom
told you a different story.
The next time this hap-
pens to you — and honestly,
Tracey, I hope there isn’t a
next time — don’t let the
agency off the hook so easi-
ly. When you’re being given
three different stories, you
have to deduce that at least
two of them are untrue. You
have to escalate your call to a
supervisor who can see the
big picture and get you the
results you are entitled to.
If you find you’re being
stonewalled, then politely —
361734EX

fare between the earlier but firmly — ask to speak

flight and the new flight.
But I did not request a
change. I did not even want a
change.
I have talked to three dif-
ferent people at Expedia. The
first woman tried to help me
for about five minutes and
then told me she thought I
had the wrong number. The
second guy told me to han-
dle it myself with the new air-
line. The third guy was very
nice. He told me not to worry
about it; he was sure it would
be resolved in plenty of time.
To add insult to injury, I
was later called and told that
my return flight was now
changed and I would have a
three-hour layover. At this
point, I don’t know what to
do. Any help would be most
Expedia, like many other
online agencies, sometimes
handles airline tickets differ-
ently from a personal travel
agent. It buys large numbers
of tickets in bulk and then
resells them to the public at
a markup. As I review the de-
tails of your case, it looks as
if when your first airline can-
celed its flight, Expedia went
into its inventory of available
tickets and selected a new
itinerary on a different air-
line.
So far, so good. Just one
problem: The new airline
never got the memo. So it
wanted to charge you for a
change.
Here’s what should have
happened. When Expedia
learned of your schedule
with a supervisor. If you’re
told that there is no supervi-
sor available or that the per-
son you’re speaking with has
no supervisor, then politely
thank the representative,
hang up and call back.
After I contacted Expe-
dia, it fixed your schedule,
apologized to you and issued
you a $100 credit.
Christopher Elliott is National
Geographic Traveler maga-
zine’s ombudsman. E-mail him
at celliott@ngs.org, or write to
him at National Geographic
Traveler, 1145 17th St. N.W.,
Washington, D.C. 20036. You
can read every Travel Trouble-
shooter column going back to
1999 at http://www.elliott.org/
ask/

Gamble on Nevada’s backcountry

The Associated Press
Visitors heading to Neva-
da may have gambling, par-
tying and perhaps golfing or
a side trip to the Hoover
Dam on their itineraries. But
how about wilderness hikes,
canyon climbs and whitewa-
ter rafting?
The September issue
says fall is the ideal time to
head for the sandstone crags
of Red Rock Canyon, 22
miles west of Las Vegas,
where the American Alpine
Institute offers instruction in
climbing (www.aai.cc or 360-
671-1505).
man Cave, and three alpine
lakes near 13,063-foot Mount
Wheeler.
The magazine describes
the South Fork of the Owy-
hee and Jarbidge River as of-
fering two of the most re-
mote wilderness whitewater
trips found anywhere in the
361774EX

Outside magazine is rec- Or head to Nevada’s only country.

ommending Nevada’s back- national park, Great Basin, River Odysseys West
country as a good destina- where you’ll find ancient (800-451-6034 or www.
tion for these and other ad- bristlecone pine trees, the rowadventures.com) can set
ventures. limestone stalactites of Leh- up your trip there.