Tripadvisor

The U.S. Department of Transportation issued its first fine Friday, against the online ticket agent TripAdvisor, for violating a new airfare advertising rule that took effect in January. The federal agency fined TripAdvisor $80,000 for prominently advertising on its website airfares that did not include taxes and fees. The violations took place from March to June, according to the Department of Transportation. The new regulation requires ticket agents and airlines to display the fares that include taxes and fees more prominently than the base fares.

SAN FRANCISCO - Judging from recent reviews on Yelp, the Center for Counseling, Recovery & Growth was the place to go to turn your life around. The Torrance center racked up 14 coveted five-star ratings on the popular review site for its "warm and friendly therapists" and "beautiful offices. " Many of the testimonials made similar points, sometimes in nearly identical language. That was no coincidence. Acting on a tip, Yelp uncovered what it dubbed a "review-swapping ring" composed of members of a South Bay business networking group.

Can TripAdvisor's latest Facebook app take on Yelp and its food reviews? I'm still waiting for dessert. Name: Local Picks Facebook App, apps.facebook.com/localpicks What it does : Aggregates advice about more than 850,000 restaurants in 200 countries. Find out which restaurants and food trucks your Facebook friends approve of. What's hot: Of course I want to know which restaurants my friends think are cool. But because many of them are not yet participating, I think the tool to make your own list of restaurants is the most handy.

Crowd-sourced travel world to L.A. : Love your sunny disposition, flawless beaches, cool night life and amusement parks galore, but not that much. Los Angeles wound up at No. 6 for U.S. and No. 21 for the world in destinations TripAdvisor travelers love the best. New York City , San Francisco , Chicago , Las Vegas and Honolulu outclassed L.A. as Nos. 1 through 5, respectively, for the U.S. list. The City of Angels does, however, rank above New Orleans, Seattle, San Diego and Orlando, Fla., which rounds out the top 10. On the Travelers' Choice world destinations, London takes the top spot followed by New York City; Rome; Paris; San Francisco; Marrakech, Morocco; Istanbul ; Barcelona; Siem Reap, Cambodia; and Berlin.

Costumed runners will splash and crawl through two dozen mud and water obstacles at the Temecula Mud Run April 21. The inaugural event will be at Galway Downs, a 260-acre equestrian events center just east of Temecula off of Highway 79S. Entry fees are $60 for adults and $20 for kids ages 5 - 17. For more information or to sign up, click here . . . . Mountain High Resort in Wrightwood reopens Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to...

For fliers on the go - seats, flights and real-time alerts Name: SeatGuru by TripAdvisor Available for: iPhone, iPod touch, iPad What it does: Provides more than 700 color-coded seat maps for nearly 100 airlines. You can get seat advice and recommendations (yes, some seats have drawbacks), search and book flights, and check your flight status with real-time alerts from FlightAware. Cost: Free What's hot: By using the app while I was in the air, I was able to find the terminal and gate of my connecting flight.

Florida still dominates the list of top 10 beaches in the U.S., but at least the Golden State is now represented on the list. The second annual ranking of the U.S. and world's best beaches, based on reviews by travelers in the travel website TripAdvisor , named St. Pete Beach in Florida as the country's top beach, with Providenciales in Turks and Caicos as the world's top choice. In the TripAdvisor list last year, Florida beaches held six of the top 10 positions, with no mention of any California beaches.

TripAdvisor's 2012 Travelers' Choice awards chose the 5-year-old Grand Del Mar in northern San Diego as the best U.S. luxury hotel and the second-best U.S. hotel too. Among hotels in the U.S., Southern California properties were scant in the top 25 best and luxury categories but did well among trendiest and relaxation/spa hotels. Best hotel in the world went to the Phoenix Resort in San Pedro, Belize , and the best U.S. hotel  was the Elysian Hotel in Chicago.

I just read Mark Vanhoenacker's article “A Rest for Restless Spirits” [Jan. 8] about the Mojave National Preserve and must object to the characterization that allowing hunting is “inferior.” Hunting is not at all an inferior use of public land and has a long tradition in the U.S. and California. Long before MNP came into existence, hunters were, and still are, one of the larger user groups of the MNP. The L.A. Times has a long antihunting bias, somewhat surprising considering the history of its publishers.

Nowhere is the Internet's democratic nature clearer than in the user-generated reviews on such websites as Yelp and TripAdvisor. All it takes to weigh in on a restaurant, hotel, spa, bar, bowling alley - anything, really - is a user name and password. Although they're a boon for consumers sharing unfiltered ideas and opinions, there are obvious hazards: What can be trusted? How do you know a hotel owner hasn't put family members or friends up to clogging sites with positive reviews of his property and negative reviews of his competition?