In February, the phrase “pitchers and catchers report” signals the start of Spring Training. That’s great news for baseball fans and for hotels in those areas.

According to Jill Skeen, director of sales and marketing at the Hilton Suites Phoenix, “The month of March is historically the busiest month for our hotel, in large part from Spring Training and Spring Fever. Everyone from the cold destinations is looking for an opportunity to warm up after a long winter season.”

Five years ago, I did just that. A few friends and I left the frozen tundra of Chicago and headed for the sunny environs of Mesa to see our beloved Cubs get ready for the season. Of course, five years ago, times were a bit different.

With baseball tickets becoming hot commodities and the economy changing, the demographics of the crowds changed a bit, too. Spring Training isn’t just for the “spring break” crowd.

Top-quality hotels, such as the Hilton, have addressed the situation. Skeen said, “We believe in general that the Spring Training crowd is looking for overall value in a convenient location when they are making their hotel selections. We specifically built our package with this philosophy in mind.” The Hilton package includes an upgrade to a two-room suite, the exclusive Hilton Sunrise breakfast buffet for two each morning and a special “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”-themed welcome basket and complimentary self parking.

I applaud that type of added value, especially considering the shift to a more affluent crowd. I know a couple of people who are headed for Spring Training next week as part of work conferences, and they have both chosen higher quality for their stay, as have their co-workers, because of added-value packages.

As I discussed in last week’s blog, quality is needed in these tough times. There are enough hotels everywhere that I do not have to give a second chance to a bad one. It is important for each hotel to grab the customer and keep the customer.

Considering everything, I wondered how things were this year in the Arizona Spring Training area. Skeen answered that by stating, “We are feeling a significant push in our leisure transient occupancy March 2010 versus March 2009.” Hopefully, the Cubs will also experience that feeling.

– John Wroblewski, distribution specialist

On Wednesday night, five of my friends and I trekked into Philadelphia for Shecky’s Girls’ Night Out. The event, held at the Crystal Tea Room in the Wanamaker Building, is a shopper’s dream. Booths of jewelry, shoes, clothing, accessories and more offer savings of up to 80 percent for attendees. Shecky’s, however, is well known for its goody bags. A $25 ticket guarantees admission, free cocktails (provided by a variety of sponsors) and a goody bag. Our red, reusable goody bags were stuffed to the brim with a variety of beauty products. Some of the notables: Softlips chapstick, Neutrogena make-up, Dial’s newest body washes, hair accessories. I literally could not stop talking about all the freebies.

We had a blast, perusing the wares and sipping on interesting drinks, including Michelob pomegranate-raspberry beer, Midori margaritas and X-Rated Fusion liquor with lemonade. Of course, we also shopped. I came home with two necklaces and a pair of Emilio Pucci sunglasses. It was too hard to resist the great deals. If you love to shop, I highly recommend a visit to Shecky’s Girls’ Night Out. Similar events are held in Dallas, New York, Boston, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco and Atlanta.

And, speaking of shopping . . . Monday is the kick-off of our annual charity auction! It’s important to help today’s youth, which is why we have partnered with the Mentor Foundation this year. As our charity, 100 percent of the proceeds from this year’s auction will benefit the organization, dedicated to keeping children off drugs and promoting general well-being.

What is up for grabs this year? Business-class tickets from American Airlines, SWISS, Lufthansa, British Airways, Asiana, Emirates, OpenSkies and more. Hotel stays all around the world, including Asia and Europe. Vacation packages to London (one of my personal faves) and Orlando. And that is only a sampling! For all the information, visit the website. Bidding begins Monday and ends May 1. Good luck!

– Kimberly Krol, eFlyer editor, circulation and public relations executive

I penned my letter from the publisher recently and took a bullish stance on the future of travel based on the return of the Emirates A380 to New York and OpenSkies‘ new service between Washington, D.C., and Paris.

Add to that the recent announcement that American Airlines will be increasing international flights from New York. This spring, AA will add three new destinations from JFK, including San Jose, Costa Rica; Madrid, Spain; and Manchester, England. The new flights to San Jose will begin April 6, while service to Madrid starts May 1, and flights to Manchester will begin May 13.

Jim Carter, American’s vice president in New York City, rightly stated: “New Yorkers are international travelers.” He is absolutely correct. Add the feeder markets around New York, which can stretch as far south as Philadelphia, and there is a huge potential market for AA.

Hopefully, this is another sign that travel will continue to pull the country, and the world, out of the global recession.

– Fran Gallagher, publisher and CEO

On a recent trip to New York City, my husband and I took the train from New Haven’s Union Station. On our way out of Grand Central Station, we passed a bakery, and the aroma of fresh-baked bread stopped me in my tracks. “On the way back,” my husband promised. “We’ll get bread to bring home.” He was right. We were headed to the Andaz Wall Street for the GT Tested Awards and a two-night stay. What was I going to do with a bag full of bread?

The hotel was fabulous, the event even more so. And, true to his word, on our return trip, my husband steered us straight to Grand Central Market, a long arcade of food stalls on the ground floor of the terminal, with access to the street at one end. Featuring everything from Greenwich Produce to Penzeys Spices, from Murray’s Cheese to Pescatore Seafood, it is a foodie’s paradise. But it was bread I was after, and bread I found at Zaro’s Bread Basket. There was such a large selection, I couldn’t make up my mind; and with our luggage getting in everyone’s way, I had to decide fast. We ended up with a bag full of ciabatta and other crusty creations to take home and a couple of focaccio loaves, loaded with delicious toppings, for the train.

It’s hard to get a good loaf of bread in our part of Connecticut. There are few bakeries to begin with, even fewer that bake their own bread, and fewer still that bake really good, crusty bread.

My passion for bread goes way back. In the 1980s, after a week in Paris with a friend, dining on fresh baguette morning, noon and night, I bemoaned the dismal lack of good bread at home. Enduring one too many complaints about “this doughy American stuff,” my husband had had enough: “Then learn to make your own!” And so I did, and I’ve been baking baguettes ever since.

Some of the finest souvenirs I have brought home from my travels are not the usual tchotchkes. Sure, I’ve carted my share of china cups and coffee mugs, original watercolors by local artists and Gustav Klimt prints from Vienna. I’ve stuffed my suitcase with fine woolens from Ireland and Iceland, and lugged back a huge pottery half-moon from the Caribbean. Each year my Christmas tree is adorned with ornaments from around the world — Delftware from Dutch St. Maarten, bright red wooden lobsters from Maine, Bermudian bobbies, Tyrolean jumping jacks. I even schlepped a cuckoo clock halfway through Europe on a backpacking trip when I was 20. And some items have inspired whole collections, as with our Wayang Golek (Java puppets), which we accumulated over many years of traveling through the Caribbean.

But fabric fades. China chips and cracks. It is the more intangible things that stay with me. Like learning to bake baguette, I seem to collect new abilities wherever I go, new traditions to incorporate into my life that remind me of where I’ve been.

In Germany, one taste of Schwarzwalder-Kirsch-Torte (Black Forest cake) and I had to possess its lush chocolate-and-cream secrets. I found a recipe and practiced making it — even impressing my father-in-law with a torte for his birthday one year.

Other locations have led to other additions to my culinary repertoire: Johnny cakes and plantains as they are served in the lolos of Grand Case, St. Martin; Irish scones, brown bread and potato soup; dim sum inspired by a trip to San Francisco’s Chinatown.

But musical fare can have the same effect as food. On a visit to Doolin, the traditional music capital of Ireland, I was so taken by the local music that I needed to possess it myself and bought two tin whistles — I have learned three songs in three years — and if I had room in my suitcase would have lugged home enough instruments for a whole band: bodhran drums, bones, spoons and maybe even uilleann pipes. On one trip to the Caribbean, I was convinced I could be a steel drum player; luckily, there were no drums for purchase on the island.

I suppose it’s my passion for a place, for its people, that inspires this sort of madness in me, this need to replicate what I have found and instill it into my daily life. Perhaps it is a way of keeping the memories alive. I am loath to leave some places and head home to my ordinary life.

What I have yet to figure out, though, is how to carry home more esoteric things, like an entire way of life. How, for instance, to institute the Spanish siesta into my afternoon? How to take a two-hour lunch and still get work done? How to stay as relaxed as I am on the beach in the Caribbean, as enthused as I am in a Parisian art museum, as connected to people as I am when encountering another culture?

Ah, but that’s exactly what vacations are for.

– Jan Hecht, associate editor

When I’m on the road, I typically get my news from the local newspaper hanging on my hotel room doorknob in the morning. Whether it is USA Today, The South China Morning Post or The Gulf Times, I enjoy reading different points of view on the same stories from around the world. I also like to watch hotel cable, mostly because I don’t have cable at home, but also because it allows me to watch different news sources from around the world. I prefer CNN in Europe to the CNN that is broadcast in the U.S. I also enjoy the BBC and Al Jazeera International.

It seems that more and more people are getting their news from TV and the Internet, rather than from print sources. I still believe the newspaper is the best source for world news, followed by the Internet. The TV remains most popular, but, in my opinion, offers the least amount of meat when it comes to real issues. I have always been disappointed by the local news at home, but then again, I have always had more of an international curiosity so maybe my disappointment is natural.

On the road, do you find yourself more tuned into different news sources? Or do you ensure you get your local daily news source?

–  Alex Young, vice president and associate publisher