Lodging

No, that’s not a headline misprint. Due to the economy and normally sluggish summer occupancy rates in Las Vegas, the Excalibur Resort has rolled out special rates as low as $26 a night for select dates.

Excalibur Resort Las Vegas During the Day

I tried several dates and didn’t find the $26 rates, but there were plenty of dates ranging from $29 to $35 for Sunday through Thursday stays through the fall, which is still phenomenal for a resort that usually charges twice that.

Even better, I spotted several weekends with Friday and Saturday night stays in the $61 to $80 a night range. Normally, it’s near impossible to find any place on the main area of The Strip for under $150 a night.

This promotion includes stays through February 28, 2010, but must be booked by May 13, 2009.

In addition to these great rates on rooms, the Excalibur is currently offering several wallet-friendly meal deals property-wide:

• Pick up a quick hot dog and glass of draft beer for only $2.50 at the Sherwood and Sports Book bars with your Players Club Card
• Eat all day long at the Roundtable Buffet for only $25 a person
• Enjoy a $20 meal deal at the Italian restaurant Regale, including unlimited salad and bread sticks
• Treat yourself to a three-course dinner special at The Steakhouse at Camelot for only $25. This includes an endless Caesar salad bowl, choice of entree (list includes an 8oz center cut New York strip steak, country-baked meatloaf and deep-dish chicken pot pie) and a triple chocolate mousse dessert.

The Excalibur Resort is one of many properties owned by MGM Mirage in Las Vegas and it enjoys a prime location on the south end of The Strip, at the corner of Las Vegas Blvd and Tropicana Blvd. It is connected by pedestrian walkways to the MGM Grand, New York-New York and Tropicana resorts. It is also connected by a free tram to the Luxor and Mandalay Bay.

The property is themed as a medieval castle and the resort is considered one of the more family-friendly in Las Vegas, with activities like the SpongeBob SquarePants 4-D simulator ride, a game arcade and the Tournament of Kings dinner show.

Of course, it also caters to adults, with a casino, nightly comedy from Louie Anderson and Defending the Caveman one-man show, and the erotic male dance revue show Thunder From Down Under (my pick for the best male revue in Vegas). Be sure to also check out Dick’s Last Resort for late-night shenanigans and drinks.

To book the room-only deal, use code XGLT, or visit the specials page for other great deals and packages.

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Excalibur Resort
3850 Las Vegas Blvd South
Las Vegas NV 89109
1 (877) 750-5464

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Posted by Nancy D. Brown of What a Trip

Park Royal photo by Nancy D. Brown

If you like scuba diving or snorkeling, you’ll love Cozumel, Mexico’s Park Royal, an all inclusive resort located in Quintana Roo (QR) on the eastern side of the Yucatan Peninsula. The property has a small, private beach that offers instant access to tropical fish. Of course, if you prefer kicking back at the swimming pool and sipping cocktails while applying sunblock, that’s fine, too. In fact, you’ll have three swimming pools to choose from during your stay.  My personal favorite, the infinity pool with an ocean view, complete with swim up bar. For those of legal drinking age, the rum punch is excellent.

Dining and Drinking Options

The hotel offers three restaurant dining options, in addition to the Bikini and Blue Marlin snack bars. Kids and adults will appreciate the casual grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, nachos and pizza slices available poolside. Open for dinner only, El Mexicano and El Italiano restaurants require booking reservations in advance from 3-7 p.m. the day prior, while the Veranda Buffet Restaurant is available on a walk-in basis.  Families traveling with children under the age of twelve should keep in mind that El Italiano restaurant is adult-only.

Room with a View

Room 1903 Park Royal, Cozumel

Each room has a private balcony with ocean or ocean and garden/pool views; while suites come with spacious terraces. My room, #1903, offered an ocean and garden pool view and rented for $169 per person during my stay. As is also common in European hotels, I liked that the room keys controlled the light settings. Meant as an energy-saving device, the lights will automatically shut down when the card key is removed from the entrance wall mount. Another environmentally-friendly feature, the air-conditioning turns off when  the sliding glass doors are open to the balcony.

Park Royal Cozumel is a member of Royal Holiday Destinations. The property is located 10 minutes from Cozumel International Airport and close to the capital town of San Miguel de Cozumel.

Park Royal Cozumel 52 (987) 872-0700

Playa Paraiso Km. 3.5 Costera Sur

Cozumel, Quintana Roo 77600, Mexico

As a travel writer, I feel so lucky to live in Colorado. After all, it’s so easy to write about my own backyard, given the number of phenomenal outdoor adventures and world-class attractions available here — from the Rocky Mountains to the eastern plains to the Mile-High City. For out-of-state visitors, as well as Colorado residents who enjoy exploring their own state like I do, the Colorado Tourism Office has launched a new section of its website dedicated to “Hot Deals and Discounted Travel.”

Play in the Rocky Mountains for cheap with the Colorado Tourism Office's "Hot Deals" listings.

Here, you’ll find value-packed pricing on accommodations, attractions, shopping, dining, recreation and special annual events. All of the listings are beautifully organized by category so you can see what the deal is at a glance. Click on links to learn more, such as the promotional booking code to get the “buy two nights, get one free” types of deals.

Here are just a few hotel deals I found on the site:

• Stay at Denver area hotels for just $52.80 the second night. (This deal extends even to my neck of the woods in the mountains, at the Hotel Colorado in Glenwood Springs.)
• Every third night is free at Steamboat Springs ResortQuest vacation rentals, plus “Steamboat bucks” to spend just like cash at area restaurants, shops, bars and Steamboat Springs activities.
• Stay & Play Golf Packages in Grand Junction start at just $140 a night and include tee times at local golf courses.

For more great info on visiting Colorado, I recommend ordering the free Colorado Official State Vacation Guide, which is chock full of so much information about staying and playing throughout the state. (Check out the feature about camping in Rocky Mountain National Park, written by yours truly!) If you can’t wait to receive the magazine-like guide in your mailbox, you can also read it online.

Photo by Kara Williams.

Lush grass at Zephyr Cove

The crystal blue water of Lake Tahoe is mesmerizing. And if you drive just four miles past the craziness of Stateline, you’ll have a resort that offers a nice alternative to South Lake Tahoe’s typical accommodations.

Zephyr Cove Resort has cabins that range from studios and cottages to two-story chalets that are set up to sleep ten people. Many of them have beautiful lake views.

Zephyr Cove is four miles north of Stateline on Highway 50. The resort sits on the shore of North America’s largest alpine lake in the middle of a pine-scented forest.

The resort also has an award-winning RV Park and Campground across the street from the resort and marina. It’s situated on a hill with beautiful views of the lake from your campsite.

Grab your friends for a game of volleyball

The marina rents powerboats to pedal boats, or if you have your own boat you can rent a buoy and enjoy all of the amenities that are offered at the marina. The mile-long sandy beach has volleyball nets, beach chairs and umbrellas for rent, easy entry into the lake for a refreshing swim, and the Sunset Bar and Grille for food and libations.

You might want to try some parasailing for an exhilarating experience. Soar peacefully with spectacular views of the mountains surrounding the clear blue lake.

The stark beauty of Lake Tahoe

This is truly a nature lover’s paradise. The next time you think about Lake Tahoe think past Stateline and enjoy a full service resort in a quiet cove. Zephyr Cove Resort has a quiet beauty that is unsurpassed.

Photos by Betsy Husband

Zephyr Cove Resort
760 US Highway 50
Zephyr Cove, NV 89448
800-23-TAHOE

Besides having a love for travel, I’m a huge sci-fi geek. So when I discovered the Chula Vista Resort in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, has a themed suite called, “Outer Space,” I had to book a night in it.

Chula Vista Outer Space Suite Bedroom and Jacuzzi

According to the website, the room had a king bed, plus a set of bunk beds, so I invited two friends for an impromptu geek girls’ weekend.

Driving out to Chula Vista on River Road, we didn’t expect it to be so far away from the core of the town. In fact, we were about to admit we were lost when we happened to see it in the distance. For those looking for privacy, you’ll definitely find it out here.

We checked in and commented how the lobby creeped us out a bit with all the mounted animal heads. The staff were very friendly, though, and check-in took less than five minutes.

When we got to the suite, we were a bit puzzled with the layout. The king bed was in a separate bedroom area, but there was no door for privacy. The bunk beds, comprised of a full bed bottom and twin bed top, were actually in the living room, next to the couch – almost as an afterthought. Was this suite meant for a family? If so, why the romantic “Moon Crater” whirlpool surrounded by mirrors that took up a good third of the suite?

Overall, not quite what we were expecting. In fact, the only thing that was really sci-fi about the suite was a Saturn wall mural behind the king bed, some space-themed wallpaper in the bathroom, a few wall hangings of spaceships and a lot of blue track lighting.

Bunk Beds in Living Room of Outer Space Suite

We agreed the effect was borderline kitsch-meets-cheesy. Not necessarily bad, but it’s definitely one of those things where it would have been better had the resort fully committed to a space theme and not just gone halfway.

We did enjoy our stay at the resort. The room was on the ground floor, with patio doors that opened up to a lovely view of the wooded area behind the resort. A short walk took us to the Wisconsin River that winds alongside of the resort. It was still too chilly for the outdoor water park to be open, but upon further exploration, we found the indoor waterpark, Lost Rios, was full of families enjoying themselves.

There were several dining options at the resort, from the Kaminski Bros. Chophouse to the Market Fresh Buffet, though we either ate in town or snacked using the mini-bar set-up of microwave and fridge in our suite.

Outer Space Suite Bathroom at Chula Vista

This resort would be perfect for those who want to be within a 10-minute drive of the touristy area of Wisconsin Dells, but still have privacy and be surrounded by the natural beauty of the area. And for those not into the themed suites (which included pirates and the wild west), the resort also has more traditional-style rooms and suites.

Be sure to check the Chula Vista site for online only specials, like the current All-Inclusive Package that offers 2 nights in a Jr or theme suite with meals and waterpark passes included for as low as $149 a night.

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Chula Vista Resort
4031 River Rd
Wisconsin Dells, WI 53965
(866) 382-4852

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From Nancy D. Brown of What a Trip

Phoenix Grand Hotel Lobby

It was almost eighty degrees in Salem, Oregon on a Tuesday afternoon in April. What’s that about? I was actually grateful that the Phoenix Grand Hotel offered air conditioning during my recent stay. I was speaking on the “Meet the Bloggers” panel at the Oregon Governors Conference on Tourism, taking place at the adjoining Salem Conference Center. By the way, the quality of the food served during our conference was quite good; especially for a large conference venue.

Phoenix Grand Suite photo by Nancy D. Brown

As a guest of Travel Oregon, I stayed in room 433, a spacious suite located next to the elevators. This was an excellent location, considering I was constantly using the elevator to go from my room to the Salem Conference Center. Sadly, I never made it to the indoor swimming pool, but I did take advantage of the complimentary wi-fi and the business center to print my airline boarding pass. While pets are not allowed at the hotel, families traveling with small children will appreciate the use of hotel-supplied pack-n-plays. The hotel also scores points for offering shuttle service from the Amtrak train station, located less than a mile from the hotel. FYI, the hotel also offers a Willamette University friends and family discount.

Budget-minded travelers will appreciate the free expanded-continental breakfast included in the price and free underground hotel parking. I also liked the fact that the hotel held my luggage after the 11 a.m. check-out time so that I could wrap up the conference.

Phoenix Grand Hotel 1 (503) 540-7800

201 Liberty Street, Salem, Oregon 97301

AAA Discounts offered. No pets allowed.

See and be seen at the Redwood Room at the Clift Hotel.

Celebrities love a dark, styly hotel. That’s why, when anyone who’s anyone arrives in San Francisco, it’s a good bet that before long they’ll turn up at the Clift.

There’s good reason for this. The Clift has hipster-celeb cred. There is no sign — you (or rather, your driver) just need to know. It’s on the edge of the theater district in the dodgy Tenderloin area. (Hipsters love marginal neighborhoods.) The furnishings in the lobby and throughout the hotel were designed by Philippe Starck.

It also has a landmark San Francisco bar, the Redwood Room and well-known  Asia de Cuba restaurant. The dark, glamorous Redwood Room has an ever-changing display of digital art displayed on plasma screens around the room.

And did I mention it’s dark? Even the elevators feel like being inside of a trendy nightclub.

I’ve only been to there a handful of times, but enough to sit in on an interview with Parker Posey, assist on a photo shoot with Lily Tomlin, and see Lucinda Williams and her band knock back a few in the bar.

Philippe Starck-designed furnishings at the Clift Hotel in San Francisco.

The rooms are bright and comfortable though. With lots of mirrors, goose down comforters and Frette linens. There are 373 rooms in 17 floors. Prices range from $180 to $800 and they offer special deals and upgrades on the website.

Oh, and it’s located at 495 Geary at Taylor. Just tell the driver.

Photos courtesy of Flickr.

Spacious sites with plenty of shade at Trinity Lake KOA

Year after year families have created temporary summer homes at Wyntoon Resort on Trinity Lake. Some people still call it Wyntoon, even though it’s officially now Trinity Lake KOA.

The campground offers tent and RV sites as well as one and two-bedroom cabins.

KOA is honoring history by allowing families to retain their favorite campsites year after year. Some of the campsites have been passed down from grandparents, to parents, to children. And the people with the most seniority get to have theirs from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

We’re not so lucky. We’ve only been camping there for 20 years, so we can’t move in until mid-July every summer. The people who camp in our spot in early July have been there longer.

Wakeboarding on Trinity Lake

Camping offers an affordable and truly relaxing vacation, with time to reconnect with each other after a busy winter. Families play on the water all day, then come back to camp at the end of the day exhausted. After a good dinner followed by charades or a game of cards everyone’s ready to fall into bed. Frequently the hardest decision is what time to get on the water the next morning. Shall we sleep in, or get up early to take advantage of a perfectly glassy lake?

Teach young children to swim while camping

The pool at the campground is a nice alternative for those without access to boats, and a safe place to teach children to swim. And if you don’t feel like cooking dinner, the Mini Kat serves the best hamburgers and milkshakes in Trinity County. It’s often a favorite spot for an ice cream sundae after dinner.

Children will enjoy the playground and miniture golf

Take a budget-friendly vacation this summer to Trinity Lake KOA. It will be one of those vacations the kids will talk about for years.

Photos by Betsy Husband

Trinity Lake KOA
60260 Highway 3
Trinity Center, CA 96091
530-266-3337

We arrived late on a Thursday night and decided that watching “30 Rock” was exactly what we needed after the seven-hour drive to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. After watching Liz in her slanket, we started to get ready for bed. I went to wash my face and that’s when I noticed that the trash can was full. I looked at the towel rack, then the bed that confirmed the same thing: Housekeeping had failed to stop by our condo prior to our check in.

We scrouged around the place, finding enough clean sheets and pillowcases to spend the night. In the morning, we called Sea Turtle Getaways, the vacation agency that rented us the place. They apologized then promised to clean the place while we went to the beach.

One good thing about the condo was that it was a five-minute walk to the beach. Hilton Head Island’s beach is hard-packed, great for bike riding and jogging.

After our strolling and sunning, we returned to find a clean apartment. Such a relief.

That night, my aunt went to apply her night cream only to find it missing. And my father’s night bite guard retainer went missing. As did a bottle of wine and other assorted sundries.

We never got to the bottom of the missing items despite several phone calls. I can say this: We were lucky to find a condo on Hilton Head Island that week. I’ve been visiting this island since I was six. It’s manicured grounds and bike paths have always been abuzz with tourists as soon as the weather turns warm.

The location was great. Sea Pines is a wonderful community for families. Renting a bike is essential to get the most out of the area. Harbor Town, a fifteen-minute walk from the condo, is such an adorable, picturesque spot. Just by the lighthouse, kayak rentals are available.

However, the next time we visit, we will not be booking through Sea Turtle Getaways. The condo may have an ideal location, but it’s hard to get comfortable in a bed with dirty sheets.

Photos by Brooke Morton.

The SF Marriott resembles a jukebox.

OK, I know, the Marriott — huge, worldwide chain. Not my usual quirky, historic, boutiquey, or offbeat lodging post. But, this Marriott is cool.

Let’s start with the architecture. If you’ve ever seen the San Francisco skyline, you may have wondered about the funky, 39-story green-tinted glass behemoth that looms South of Market, near the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Locals despised it when it first went up, and many still do.

It has a stepped silhouette reminiscent of a Mayan pyramid rising to an enormous fan window on the top that looks like a massive Deco-style jukebox, thus the nickname.

The entire 39th floor encompasses The View Lounge, which offers staggering, if vertigo-inducing panoramic views of San Francisco, the bay, and beyond. It’s worth the price of an (overpriced) cocktail just to sit back in the piano bar and savor one of the city’s best public vantage points.

In headier times, when most everyone still had jobs, my husband used to celebrate his birthday at the top every year. We summoned a big crew of friends to take over one of the sections of the lounge, getting there early enough to watch the sunset and the city lights come up. It was a spectacular show that reminded us why we live in such a beautiful place.

The expansive lobby at the SF Marriott.

The 1,500 rooms of the San Francisco Marriott are situated in a hip, burgeoning area, that was untill recently on the edge of sketchville, but is now a prime location.

SFMOMA is one block to the east, Westfield shopping centre (Nordstroms, Bloomies and hundreds of other shops and restaurants), is a block to the west. The lovely Yerba Buena gardens with a center for the arts performance space and gallery, Zeum (a children’s interactive museum/art space), a rooftop playground, skating rink, and carousel are just across the street.

There are currently seven different special Marriott promotional packages being offered — from weekend getaways to shopping and city attraction specials, starting from $159.

It might be a corporate chain, but you know the level of quality you’re getting with the brand, and there are few views to match anywhere in the city.

Photos courtesy of the Marriott