Daily Travel Deal – Las Vegas MGM Grand getting close to paying you to stay

by Scott Carmichael on

This was bound to happen sooner or later – Hotels in Las Vegas are so desperate happy to have you come and stay with them, that the deals are better than ever.

Short of being comped, this deal at the MGM Grand is one of the hottest out there at the moment.

Starting at $48, you get a night at the hotel, $35 in dining and activity credits, a 2 for 1 spa pass, 2 VIP passes to Studio 54 or Tabú and $25 in free slot play.

If a standard room isn’t good enough, you can drop an extra $25 for a bungalow suite, or $30 for a celebrity spa suite (700 sq ft).

Seriously, this is indeed getting close to having the hotel pay you to come and stay with them. Of course, the hotel would prefer if you left them some extra cash on the gaming tables or at one of their other amenities

The fine print is simple – you can stay at this promotional rate between April 22nd 2009 and December 29th 2009, but you need to book before April 30th 2009. The $48 rate is only available on certain dates, but a quick peek at the availability calendar shows that most of the summer months have that rate. Some dates are very high, but on average, it won’t be hard to snag yourself a really good deal.

Still trying to plan your summer vacation? Check out these hot international travel deals!

Jaunted founders launch Vegaschatter.com

by Grant Martin on

Our friends over at Jaunted and Hotelchatter are up to no good again, this morning kicking off Vegaschatter.com, a sister blog that will cover all things Vegas.

Why Las Vegas? According to one Mr. Mark Johnson, the founder of SFO Media, “Las Vegas has always been one of the world’s most popular travel destinations, and for years the city was in dire need of a daily travel web publication that would cover Vegas the same way HotelChatter covers hotels and Jaunted covers travel — from a visitors perspective.”

This means you can expect the same witty delivery, quality content and high volume of posts as you get from the other sites, particularly since Juliana Shallcross , managing editor of [editor of?] Jaunted and Hotelchatter will be in charge.

And what of starting a Las Vegas blog in the midst of a deep recession that seems to be hitting the City of Sin the hardest? Will the investment now grow as the city rebuilds? Is Vegaschatter as doomed as the flailing Nevada economy? Tune into Vegaschatter.com for the details.

Juliana, Mark: best of luck.

Chattanooga, Portsmouth among top art destinations in the U.S.

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Who thought that Tennessee and New Hampshire would be some of the top towns in the country for art lovers. AmericanStyle magazine just issued the results of its twelfth annual arts destinations poll. Some spots are predictable. Others, like Chattanooga, will just blow your mind.

This is the first year Chattanooga made the list, shooting all the way up to second in the mid-sized city category. If you’ve been there, some of the surprise wears off. I hit Chattanooga back in 1999, and it was turning into a pretty cool small city. The past decade, obviously, has treated the city well. More shocking is the top mid-sized city: Buffalo, NY.

At the top of the small city list, Santa Fe is an utterly predictable #1 – like New York in the big city category. Portsmouth, NH, toward the bottom of the small city list, is a sentimental favorite. I had my first real job in Portsmouth and drank away many a Friday and Saturday (and Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday) night on its sidewalks.

See the full lists after the jump.Big Cities (population of 500,000 or more)

  1. New York, NY
  2. Chicago, IL
  3. Washington, DC
  4. San Francisco, CA
  5. Albuquerque, NM
  6. Boston, MA
  7. Seattle, WA
  8. Atlanta, GA
  9. Philadelphia, PA
  10. Los Angeles, CA
  11. Portland, OR
  12. Baltimore, MD
  13. Denver, CO
  14. Phoenix, AZ
  15. Austin, TX
  16. Charlotte, NC
  17. Columbus, OH
  18. Nashville, TN
  19. San Diego, CA
  20. Tucson, AZ
  21. San Antonio, TX
  22. Las Vegas, NV
  23. Milwaukee, WI
  24. Dallas, TX
  25. Houston, TX

Mid-Sized Cities (population of 100,000 to 499,000)

  1. Buffalo, NY
  2. Chattanooga, TN
  3. Pittsburgh, PA
  4. Scottsdale, AZ
  5. New Orleans, LA
  6. Charleston, SC
  7. Savannah, GA
  8. Cleveland, OH
  9. Ann Arbor, MI
  10. Minneapolis, MN
  11. Alexandria, VA
  12. Miami, FL
  13. Tacoma, WA
  14. St. Louis, MO
  15. Athens, GA
  16. Kansas City, MO
  17. Colorado Springs, MO
  18. Providence, RI
  19. Salt Lake City, UT
  20. Honolulu, HI
  21. Rochester, NY
  22. St. Petersburg, FL
  23. Cincinnati, OH
  24. Raleigh, NC
  25. Tampa, FL

Small Cities (population of below 100,000)

  1. Santa Fe, NM
  2. Asheville, NC
  3. Sedona, AZ
  4. Taos, NM
  5. Saugatuck, MI
  6. Key West, FL
  7. Berkeley Springs, WV
  8. Boulder, CO
  9. Carmel, CA
  10. Corning, NY
  11. Sarasota, FL
  12. Beaufort, SC
  13. Chapel Hill, NC
  14. Burlington, VT
  15. Annapolis, MD
  16. Aspen, CO
  17. Laguna Beach, CA
  18. Northampton, MA
  19. Eureka Springs, AR
  20. Brattleboro, VT
  21. New Hope, PA
  22. Naples, FL
  23. Cumberland, MD
  24. Berea, KY
  25. Portsmouth, NH

Momentum around meeting cancellations

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Meetings and conventions aren’t just falling … they’re actively being canceled. While it’s easy to write this off as the erosion of a wasteful corporate perk, it translates to genuine financial crisis for the travel industry.

Over the past six months, 402 conventions and meetings have been canceled in Las Vegas alone. According to the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority, this translates into a loss of $166 million for the city … and that doesn’t include lost gambling revenue. It’s no wonder that the city has to be inches from paying guests to visit.

Cancellations at Orlando haven’t been as bad, but the problem is merely one of degree. This year, the city has sustained an economic impact of $26 million from the canceling of 114 meetings scheduled for 2009. Because of all this, 146,000 rooms are expected to be vacant this year … rooms that were supposed to be occupied.

It’s been tough in other cities, too.

All in, this has translated to more than $1 billion of lost revenue in the first two months of the year from meeting cancellations, according to the U.S. Travel Association. The number is even worse when you factor in spending on rental cars, catering and local attractions.

So, for anyone who doubted the potential for more than 200,000 jobs to be lost in the travel industry this year … just do the damned math.

Daily Travel Deal: $31 Vegas Strip Hotels

by Grant Martin on

One of the few great advantages of a smaller tourism market this year is that markets that rely heavily on vacationers are slashing prices. Many hotels and casinos in Vegas are hurting for business, which means that when you and I show up on the strip we can reap the profits.

The Excalibur in Las Vegas is a prime example. Prices for this three star property just dipped to as low as $31/night, some of the lowest prices that we’ve ever seen on Gadling. $31 isn’t for a crummy motel five miles off the strip either — The Excalibur is attached to the MGM Grand and nestled among all of the Vegas greats.

Find out more about the deal at Hotels.com, where you can also check out photos and take a virtual tour of the property.

Swing back to AOL’s discount travel for more fancy deals including the Hot 5.

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