Vail: Eight free ways to rock snowless slopes

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Your skis are jammed in the closet, and you’re more concerned about traffic en route to the beach than you are about getting out to the Rockies. Well, it’s time to change your thinking. Dash off to Colorado this summer, and you can escape the heat and find some exciting ways to recharge away from home. Oh, and you won’t have to pull out your wallet when you get there.

Check out these free ways to have a blast in Vail this summer without dropping a dime:

1. Music: Enjoy the Hot Summer Nights Tuesday Free Concert series

2. More Music: Tuesday isn’t enough? Get greedy and hang out until Thurday for jazz concerts outside the Arrabelle at Vail Square. If you can’t get enough jazz, linger at the Vail Farmer’s Market on Sunday, too.

3. Ride: Stick your kids on a gondola. It won’t cost you a thing, and you can get them out of your hair for a bit.

4. Play: Try your hand at horseshoes or bocce (among others) at Adventure Ridge.5. Hike: Walk the trails of Vail Mountain with a guide.

6. Serve and volley: Are you into tennis? Pick up a match at the Golden Peak Tennis Courts.

7. Learn: Take advantage of free admission to the Colorado Ski Museum.

8. Park: Yeah, it doesn’t sound like much, but anyone who lives in a city, especially, will appreciate this one. Vail Village and Lionshead offer free parking all summer long.

And if this isn’t enough for you, there are some deals to be had. Both the Arrabelle at Vail Square and The Lodge at Vail are kicking in solid discounts, with rates at the former starting at $199 a night and the latter at $149 a night.

Hotel room upgrades on the cheap with “Nor1” online service

by Scott Carmichael on

During one of my summer Mattress Runs, the hotel booking process offered something any frequent guest loves to see – the option to request a paid upgrade. Since I had never seen this offered at this particular chain, I decided to dig a little deeper into the feature. As it turns out, there is a third party company behind the service called Nor1.

Nor1 lets hotels generate extra revenue by upselling unused rooms to existing guest reservations – the process is extremely simple and takes place during the reservation. For a fee starting under $10, hotels can “upsell” guests a larger room, suite, balcony or other upgrade. In my case, I was offered an upgrade from a standard room to an executive king room for just $9 – well within the amount I’d be willing to pay.

Since the hotel assigns upgrades themselves, you don’t know whether you actually get the upgrade until you arrive, but you also won’t be charged unless you are actually upgraded.

Sadly, as with many technologies, this service looked better online than it did in reality. Upon arrival at my Hyatt, nobody had any idea what I was talking about, and claimed they had never heard of the service. I’ll put it down to “growing pains”, and hope that Nor1 starts offering these paid upgrade options at more hotel chains (along with some training for the front desk staff).

According to their site, Nor1 currently offers upgrades with Kimpton, Country Inns and Suites, Hilton and several other hotel chains. Their technology isn’t even limited to hotels – the system is able to do upsells on rental cars, airlines and cruise lines.

Social media addicts get hotel points when they jones for recognition

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Does check-in mean more to you than a pretty girl at the front desk, fumbling with your credit card and a humble request for an upgrade? If this expression instead reminds you that you’ve been the uncontested mayor of your tiny cubicle for the past seven and a half months – and you like to travel – Topguest.com has you in mind. This new social media service seeks to score hotel points for you based on foursquare, Gowalla, Loopt and a handful of other networks.

So far, Standard Hotels is previewing Topguest. According to CNET:

Right now, there are two rewards in place: check in to all four Standard hotels in the course of a week (which involves being in New York, Los Angeles, and Miami) and earn a complimentary week’s stay at any one of them), or check in to Standard establishments ten times and receive a 25 percent reservation discount.

Okay, so the perks are a little thin right now. But, if Standard can wrangle the addicts, look for the other hotels to get on board.

Save half at Le Domaine de Lonvilliers this summer

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Dash off to St. Martin for a few days this summer, and you won’t be disappointed. You can pick up four nights at Le Domaine de Lonvillies for a mere $210 – the normal price is cut in half. As long as you head down there before August 31, 2010, you’ll pick up breakfast every day, free wi-fi and dinner every night a La Table du Marche.

And make no mistake: dinner is the interesting part. Le Domaine de Lonvilliers features the creations of Christophe Leroy, who has demonstrated his culinary prowess in St. Tropez and Marrakech. Dine (and relax) while surrounded by Creole buildings and 150 acres of bliss.

What is a Mattress Run, and how can it get you free hotel nights?

by Scott Carmichael on

In the world of frequent travel, the mattress run is to hotels as the mileage run is for air travel – a trip with the sole purpose of getting hotel points or taking advantage of a promotion.

With a mattress run, you book a cheap hotel night, and in return you’ll earn something far more valuable. This summer, I’m taking advantage of a promotion by Hyatt, where I’ll earn one free night for every two nights I stay at their properties.

This may not appear to be a very efficient way to use my time, but the rewards are very much worth it – I can stay 2 nights at a local Hyatt hotel for around $60/night, and in return I’ll earn a free night at any property. Take for example the Park Hyatt in Chicago – as one of the most luxurious properties in the Hyatt chain, this hotel usually goes for around $450 a night during the summer months.

So – for an investment of just $120, I get two nights at a nice Hyatt property and one free night at a really nice one. Best of all, most promotions like this don’t have any limits – so I can earn quite a few free nights with a fairly minimal investment. Of course, my daughter thinks the promotion is really nice, because once a week she gets to go to a hotel and play in the pool.Many hotel chains have their own promotions once or more a year – so pay close attention to those emails they send you. You’ll need to sign up for their frequent guest program, but that won’t cost you a penny.

Some of the more popular promotions this summer season:

  • Hyatt – The Big Welcome Back (stay 2, get 1. Promotion lasts till June 30, free nights must be redeemed by August 31)
  • Hilton – Fast Ways to Free Stays (stay 4, get 1. Promotion lasts till June 30, Free nights must be redeemed within 1 year.
  • Marriott – Marriot Rewards Global Promotion (stay 3, get 1 + $50 off Hertz rental. Promotion lasts till August 31, free nights must be redeemed by December 31)
  • Starwood – SPG Free Weekends (stay 3, get 1 free weekend stay. Promotion lasts till July 31, free nights must be redeemed by December 19)

There are some disadvantages to these promotions – the most important one being a lack of availability when you want it. Award stays may not always have blackout dates, but there are only a limited number of award rooms available on each day, so you may need to settle for dates you didn’t originally want.

Also, hotels usually count two nights as one stay, so to get 2 stays, you’ll actually need two different hotels – which means packing and unpacking twice.