Virgin America began selling tickets for new Seattle service on Dec. 12. Flights from San Francisco takeoff on March 18 and flights from Los Angeles start departing on April 8. Fares begin at $189 roundtrip before taxes. (We've blogged about this new airline before, of course. And apparently so has everyone else.)

TripAdvisor gets a fresh look. A simplified home page makes it easier to find the hotel reviews and other travel info you want. Read what editor Erik Torkells had to say when he took an advance peek at the re-design.

New York is expanding its hotel discounts. As noted in a previous blog post, the city has launched a NYC Sunday Stays promotion at many hotels, offering discounted Sunday night room rates of 20 to 30 percent off standard rates available on the hotel websites. Since September, more hotels have joined the promotion. These include the Hilton New York, The New York Helmsley Hotel, New York LaGuardia Airport Marriott, New York Marriott Marquis, Renaissance New York Hotel Times Square, The Ritz-Carlton New York Battery Park, and The Ritz-Carlton New York Central Park.