Stay in a Choice Hotel this summer and get a $50 gift card

by Grant Martin on

Got plenty of business travel this summer? A family reunion that’s taking you across the country for two weeks in August? Have to book a hundred rooms for a graduation? This summer is great time to book hotel rooms among the Choice Hotels. They’re currently running a promotion where after three separate stays you’ll earn enough points to redeem a $50 cash card.

Choice Hotels are traditionally budget to moderate priced properties, so you don’t have to worry about breaking the bank when you reserve a room. Among the candidate properties are Comfort Inns, Comfort Suites, Cambria Suites, Sleep Inn, Qualty Inns, Clarions and those in the Ascend Collection, so you have plenty of flexibilty in your choices as well.

You can check out the properties and join Choice Priveleges, at choicehotels.com, where you’ll automatically start earning points towards your gift cards.

Budget Travel’s 39 affordable hotel chains

by Catherine Bodry on

Budget Travel has laid out 39 hotel chains to check out when planning your next trip. And before you start naming the most familiar — Motel 6, Days Inn, or Best Western, for example — note that these are international chains. The comprehensive list covers cheap digs in Europe, Africa, Asia and pretty much everywhere else. Nearly all are under $200 per night, and most are under $100.

Sweet spots include Ginger Bangalore, with eight locations in India. For $45 you get a well-equipped gym and flat-screen TV. Another find is Thailand’s Amari Hotels and Resorts — $62 per night for a place that calls itself a “Beach Resort and Spa.” Naturally, the more expensive rooms are in more expensive areas, like Europe, but the article names one hotel in Helsinki at $45 per night. That’s about what I’ve paid for a bunk bed in a crowded dorm before.

Curious about what else is available? Read the complete list here.