Don’t pass through Singapore, stay for a bit

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Singapore doesn’t want you to pass through. Instead, they want you to stick around, even if only for a little while. With the “Fabulous Singapore Stopover Package,” you can take advantage of a variety of discounts. In fact, six hotels are dropping rates to $1 for the first night you stay. Some are even kicking in prepaid cell phone cards and food and beverage vouchers that can be redeemed at Changi Airport.

Since getting to and from the airport can be a drag when you stop briefly in a city, the program also lets you use the Singapore Airlines Hop-On bus as much as you want. It’ll take you to 20 of the city’s major attractions, including the Singapore Zoo, Jurong Bird Park and Sentosa Island – which are among the attractions that have lowered their prices for guests.

Is your assistant cashing in on your travel? (Assistants, read this.)

by Annie Scott on

Assistants spend a lot of time booking travel and accommodations for their bosses. What if there were a rewards program just for them? Oh, wait. There is.

If your assistant seems to by pushing Hyatts on you, they may be cashing in. And if you’re an assistant reading this? Dude, start pushing Hyatts on your boss. Why?

Hyatt has introduced the Gold Passport Planner Rewards program – which allows whoever’s planning a trip to a Hyatt to secure personal Hyatt Gold Passport “points,” especially if you’re booking corporate meetings. What does this mean for you? Possible. Free. Vacation.

Hyatt conducted a survey of over 1000 administrative professionals, and this is what they found:

  • 81 percent are responsible for planning meetings and events and on average they plan four off-site meetings per year
  • Meeting and event planning is an Administrative Professional’s second most time consuming office activity, accounting, on average, for 17 percent of their time (trailing only creating documents, which accounts for 26 percent of time)
  • 95 percent of Administrative Professionals believe that the budgets to support off-site meetings will shrink in the current economic climate, however, 85 percent still view meetings as valuable
  • To stretch smaller budgets, event and meeting planners are choosing locations that require less travel (82 percent) and are limiting food choices (65 percent)
  • 44 percent have been asked to do personal errands for their bosses – with the top indiscretions being keeping secrets (24 percent), covering for their bosses (20 percent) and making personal travel arrangements (16 percent)
  • 93 percent of Administrative Professionals expect to receive flowers, a card or a lunch out this year for Administrative Professionals Day, however, more than 60 percent wish to be recognized with dinner at a favorite restaurant, a visit to a spa, or an overnight stay with a significant other in an upscale hotel
  • 61 percent state that the title that best describe their role as an Administrative Professional is CEO – Chief Everywhere Officer

So why not cut these “CEOs” some slack?

Administrative professionals can receive one Hyatt Gold Passport point for every qualifying dollar spent at a Hyatt hotel on accommodations, meeting room rentals, and catering, up to 50,000 points per event. More details on Hyatt Gold Passport Planner Rewards are available at www.plannerrewards.hyatt.com.

And if you’re a boss, reading this? Stay at a Hyatt next time. Your assistant deserves it.

Make ski resort losses your gain this year

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Skiers are winners in the current recession. Lodges and resorts out west are offering generous deals to put you on their powder. So, if you have a bit of extra cash on hand and the urge to hit the slopes, there’s never been a better time to be alive.

In the Aspen/Snowmass area, you can get a free flight, a free night’s stay and a free lift ticket. Of course, there’s a catch. You’re total stay has to stretch to five-days/four-nights, and you need to pay for one of the two airline tickets – which have to be on Frontier Airlines.

Vail Resorts, with properties in Colorado and on the California/Nevada border, can get you three nights in a room and three days on the hills for the price of two at its Heavenly Resort or Lakeside Inn & Casino. RockResorts, which operates on the luxury end of the scale, is kicking in a free night, a bottle of wine and a $50 gift card for guests who stay at least two nights.

These types of deal are rare this time of year, when skiers normally flock to the slopes. But, times are tough. Visits to Vail Resorts are down 5.8 percent (through January 4, 2009), and revenue from lift tickets is down 7.5 percent. Bookings through the end of last year … down 14.8 percent. More and more reservations are hitting at the last minute. For the airlines and resorts, this is brutal, and they’re willing to go the extra mile, it seems, to get you to dig into your wallet.

[Via NY Times, where more deals are listed]

2009 the year of the bargain

by Tom Johansmeyer on

We’ve all seen the flurries of deals, either here on Gadling or in our inboxes. There’s no avoiding the fact that airlines and hotels are desperate to get you into seats and rooms this year, and they are ready to make it worth your while. Mid-town Manhattan hotels were offering deals for New Year’s Eve! That shows just how hard up the travel industry is. When you plan your trips this year, be prepared to benefit from the competition for access to your wallet. Understand, however, that deals come in different forms.

The first opportunity is obvious. Look for deep price cuts in an attempt to fill seats or rooms. Last week, for example, several domestic airlines offered fare sales within a few hours of each other, and the others rushed to get in line. JetBlue and AirTrain have one-way tickets to major cities selling at well under $100. Virgin America promoted a $139 transcontinental flight … which can actually be found for $109 on some days. Not to be outdone, the internationals are following. British Airways is now offering business class seats for as little as $2,000, and Open Skies can get you from New York to Amsterdam in premium economy for half that (round trip).

With the hotels, it gets a bit more complicated. Some of the best promotions won’t have big price drops, but they’ll deliver a hell of a lot more value.One of my sources tells me that the super-premium, absurdly luxurious hotels seem to be doing fine. If you don’t have a liquid net worth of above $50 million, this simply does not matter to you. So, don’t even think of living like last year’s hedge fund managers for pennies a night. It isn’t going to happen. Be realistic.

At the other end of the spectrum, bargain hotels are slashing rates and taking advantage of a larger audience, since people who would have spent more in the past are looking down market these days.

In the middle, keep an eye on the merely upscale. They are in a tough spot on room rates. These hotels are generally unwilling to cut their prices significantly, as it would impair their reputations and make it hard to push pricing back up later. But, they realize the conditions in which they have to operate. You can use this to stretch the value of your budget. Look for free nights, perks at the on-site spa (or slopes) or packages that include meals. There are deals to be found, and they can be substantial. You just have to accept that they won’t begin with a huge price cut.

Sometimes, the best deals aren’t the lowest-priced. If you can be flexible with the size of your budget, you may find yourself able to get a lot more for your money than if you spend less. When you think about the total cost of your trip (instead of looking at the room, flight, meals and activities separately), the inclusion of meals and spa treatments, for example, can actually lead to a total savings. Keep an open mind, and you’ll see that some once-in-a-lifetime opportunities could open up for you in this market.

Need more ideas? Check these out.

Rub the One You’re With deal from Kimpton

by Annie Scott on

Valentine’s Day is around the corner. If you have a Valentine in mind and you don’t plan ahead, not only will you miss the great deals, but you’re also kind of a jerk.

Kimpton is offering a seriously good getaway package at 29 of their hotels in the United States and Canada. The Rub the One You’re With package includes:

  • Deluxe overnight accommodations (parking included)
  • Welcome bottle of champagne
  • Private one-hour massage instruction class with a personal massage therapist
  • Take-home massage kit featuring Kerstin Florian organic lavender massage oil, lavender & lemon aromatherapy candle and aromatherapy bath salts

That’s right. Whoever you take with you will leave knowing how to massage you. Now that’s a gift that keeps on giving.

Reservations can be made at KimptonHotels.com by entering PRLX. Rates start at $249 and vary by city.