Choice Hotels: Free night after 2 stays

Choice Hotels is offering 8,000 points after 2 stays.  There are several hotels which can be had for 8000 points or less per night.  The definition of a "stay" depends on the type of hotel you are staying at.  For Econo Lodge, Rodeway Inn, Suburan Extended Stay and MainStay Suites a "stay" is 2 nights, for all other brands a stay is 1 night.  This could be a very good promotion if you have some upcoming stays planned as domestic choice hotels are generally very budget friendly.  With your 8000 points you can be well on your way to staying at a hotel like this.  Choice's European options (especially Clarion Collection) are very nice.

Details of the promotion can be found here: http://www.choicehotels.com/earnafreenight

Here is a list of Choice Hotels which can be redeemed for 8,000points or less per night

Fine Print:

• Register before your first trip at ChoiceHotels.com to earn unlimited free nights

• Book at ChoiceHotels.com or 800.4CHOICE, and after your second qualifying trip with arrival between February 27 and May 14, 2014, you’ll receive enough Choice Privileges® points to redeem for a FREE night at over 1,500 hotels; corporate travelers can book through a travel agent or corporate booking system

• Elite Diamond and Platinum members will receive 250 Choice Privileges bonus points with every qualifying trip if they book on ChoiceHotels.com; these members can also book directly with a hotel but will not earn the 250 bonus points

• Trips at Econo Lodge®, Rodeway Inn®, Suburban Extended Stay Hotel®, or MainStay Suites® hotels must be a minimum of two consecutive nights

• Remember to make sure your preference is set to earn Choice Privileges points in your Choice Privileges account

Rick Steves' Europe Through the Back Door on Sale

Amazon.com currently has the Kindle version of Rick Steves' guidebook Europe Through the Back Door on sale for $1.99, a savings of over 92% off.  This is a great resource for anyone who likes to get off the beaten path when traveling around Europe.  I am a huge fan of Rick Steves and his travel shows on PBS were one of the reasons I first became interested in traveling. 

You can buy it here: amazon.com link

 

Upcoming Hotel Reviews

I have been doing quite a bit of traveling lately (thus the reason for sparse posts).  I have quite a few hotel reviews in the works including:

Park Hyatt Milano, Italy

Grand Hyatt, New York

Clarion Collection Hotel Griso, Lake Como Italy

Hotel Monaco Philadelphia

Lorien Hotel and Spa, Alexandria VA

Andaz Maui

Courtyard Kauai at Coconut Beach

Crowne Plaza LAX

Sheraton Edison Hotel, NJ

Sheraton Fuerteventura Resort, Canary Islands

SPG Hot Escapes

SPG Has been offering "Hot Escape" rates on their hotels for a little while now and I just realized that I have yet to post about them.  Essentially, every Wednesday Starwood will publish a list of hotels around the world offering discounts ranging from 20-50% off.  Rates are valid for stays over the next 6 weeks.  SPG members get an additional 5% off.  The full list of hotels can be found here: http://www.spghotescapes.com/all



Hyatt.com Elite Rate: Save 20%

Hyatt recently introduced an added benefit for gold passport platinum and diamond members.  This rate is easy assessable simply by logging onto your account and making a booking.  If the elite rate is available for those dates it will show up as shown below.  Platinum status is obtainable after 5 stays/15 nights or by simply by signing up for the Chase Hyatt credit card.

Travelpony.com: Save 85$ on hotel bookings

Travelpony.com is a new hotel booking site along the lines of Orbitz, Expedia, etc.  I stumbled upon this site because I was in need of a hotel in New York City for a few days before my upcoming trip to Milan.  Having checked all the usual outlets and still unsatisfied with the price, I decided to give travelpony.com a try.  For my specific dates the prices were very comparable if not better than those I found elsewhere.  Whats even better is that there are currently 2 discounts with travel pony that are ongoing simultaneously which allowed me to get an amazing deal:

First, new members receive 35$ in credit just for signing up using this link here

Second, there is currently a promotion which allows you to get 50$ off a booking of $200 or more; simply enter KATE50 or PROWINNER at checkout.

By combining these two deals, I was able to book the Grand Hyatt New York for 115$ a night all taxes included.  For comparison, the same room booked on Hyatt.com is $210

The only caveat that i have found with the site is that the cities are somewhat limited at this point, but they are apparently expanding quickly.

Great deal alert: LAX to Santiago, Chile for under $300

Title pretty much says it all.  Round trip flights from Los Angeles to Santiago Chile for $285 round trip on Avianca Airlines.  Dates are pretty wide open in March and possibly other months.