You may have thought that discounts were tough to come by in a spot as popular as the Walt Disney World, but the Holiday Inn Main Gate East is offering Twitter and Facebook fans an exclusive offer of buy one night, get one night FREE.
The Holiday Inn Main Gate is located 3 miles from the main entrance to the Walt Disney World Theme Parks.  With it’s kids play FREE, stay FREE, and eat FREE, it’s a budget friendly family option in a frequently expensive vacation destination.  The hotel has newly renovated rooms that include kids suites featuring a bunk bed, …read more

First Choice, UK-based family travel experts, have incorporated FREE children’s “clubs” into two Premier Hotels.  The Clubs will launch later this fall, and are, in essence, childcare.  It’s hoped that this service will provide a quality experience for the small fry, giving parents a little personal break when they need it.
The first two properties to offer the service are the brand new African-themed Lopesan Baobab Resort (Melonaras, Gran Canaria) and the Blue Lagoon Resort (Kos, Greece).  First Choice expects to roll out the program at a number of their other resorts as well.
Here’s how the program will work:
The Clubs …read more

With temperatures well over 100 degrees, savvy Las Vegas hotel marketers are looking for ways to get people booking rooms.  Summertime is typically low season in Sin City.
Desert in the summertime?  Well, with so many special promotions to choose from, this may be the best time to get out of your kitchen and into the heat.

Planet Hollywood hopes to lure you with an offer of a free bottle of booze.  Offering a bottle for each night of your stay, this in-room bottle service promotion is aptly titled, Drinks Are on Us.
All you have to do to receive this special promotion …read more

The Oregon wine country is getting ready to open its first luxury resort, with The Allison Inn & Spa.  The 35-acre hillside location is in Newberg, about a 45 minute drive from downtown Portland.  The ground are full of flower and herb gardens, groves of trees, and a working Pinot Noir vineyard.  You can stroll the ground by way of connecting paths.
The resort will have 85 well appointed guest rooms and suites on four levels, and all rooms will feature either a private terrace or balcony. Other special room features include a window seat (I can see myself lounging there, …read more

If you’d like a taste of old-fashioned elegance, while still enjoying a modern resort, the Empress Hotel in Victoria, British Columbia may be just your cup of tea – in more ways than one.  The modern amenities include an 18-hole golf course, spa, rooms, day trips and tours, all balanced against the English charm of ivy-covered walls, an impressive English decor, and the traditional, and elegant, Afternoon Tea.
The Empress, now part of the Fairmont brand, opened in 1908, and although it has been through a variety of restorations, the original look remains.  It’s been a favorite of Hollywood, old and …read more

With a parade that evokes a big “aaaaaahhhhh” from guests, The Peabody Memphis capitalizes on its convenient downtown locations and its status as a popular attraction with The Peabody Ducks.  If you thought the lure here was the magnificent lobby or the plush rooms, you’d only be partially right.  The biggest attraction at this hotel is fowl – a flock of ducks that for over 75 years have called The Peabody home.
Every day at 11 am the ducks ride the elevator down from their comfy home on the rooftop, a specially built 288 square foot Royal Duck Palace featuring …read more

Do you forget things when you travel?  Are you constantly running back to your room to retrieve a left behind item?  Are you spending hours on the phone after a trip trying to locate something left in a hotel room?  Do you need to get credit cards reissued because you can’t find them and think they may have been lost or left behind?
At some point, it’s bound to happen to all of us, but implementing a few good habits can help keep your panic in check, and minimize the need for you to retrace steps to find out where …read more

Accordingly to Travel Weekly (the newspaper of the travel industry), occupancy rates at Mexico hotels dropped to 24% after the Swine Flu (officially called the H1N1 virus) outbreak.  That represents a drop in over 50% from the same week in 2008.
My experience in Cancun earlier in the week was consistent with these numbers, so it wouldn’t surprise me to see the occupancy rate plunge even lower.
High schools were reopening the day after I left, and the lower schools were scheduled to reopen next week.  The city seems to be getting a handle on things, and slowly starting to return …read more

When you’re staying at a hotel for a lengthy period of time, or when you expect to have numerous items charged to your room, it’s sometimes difficult to go through the print out at check out time and try to remember what all the charges were for.  It’s important to go through each hotel charge, because mistakes do happen (fraud, too).  But sometimes it’s hard to remember if you picked up that round of drinks of Tuesday night or if you had room service on Friday morning.
To make check out time a whole lot faster, when signing for restaurant, …read more

Ok, quick like a bunny…it’s time to think about yourself, noone else just vous. Time for a little feng shui of the mind, soul and body. Here is my list of spring things you need to do: (If there are things you’d rather see on the list, please feel free to add!)
Go shopping
Watch Food Network for 12 hours straight
You must get a manicure
You really must get a pedicure
Change your hairstyle or find a new salon
Endure/enjoy a department store make-over
Learn how to cook something you’ve never cooked before; better yet, start a cooking club
Buy a really expensive bottle of wine
Go to …read more