Black Friday Is Also the Best Time to Get a Travel Steal
If this year’s holiday to-do list leans more to ‘go places’ instead of ‘get things’ then you’re in luck.
Hotels and resorts, cruise lines, airlines and tour companies are all now regular and enthusiastic participants in the Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales tradition, offering discounts, perks, bonuses and some offbeat travel deals.
We’ve rounded up a sampling of some money-saving hotel offerings already on the calendar.
Keep in mind that some links may not be ‘hot’ until Black Friday or Cyber Monday, some deals require a phone call and/or a special code, and blackout dates and other restrictions often apply.
Check back here closer to the holiday; we’ll be adding great deals from airlines and others that pop up.
Major League Baseball’s 2017 opening day is 127 days from Cyber Monday, so for 127 minutes, starting at 1:27 p.m. on November 28, the Red Sox-crazy Hotel Commonwealth, near Boston’s Fenway Park, will offer rates of $127 for stays between November 28, 2016 and April 3, 2017 (Opening Day). To reserve: (617) 933-5000.
The Kimpton Taconic in Manchester, Vermont, will also have a very short-window Cyber Monday deal to celebrate its one-year anniversary. For 112 minutes and 8 seconds, between 11:28 a.m. until 1:20 p.m., on November 28, the hotel is offering a second night free to those who book one night at a special $201.50 rate for stays 11/29/16 through 4/30/17. Book online or call 866-518-8465.
In keeping with its Black Friday and Cyber Monday tradition, Hard Rock Hotel San Diego, near the Gaslamp Quarter, will once again be offering special rates starting as low as $99 per night, and adding a ‘sweepstakes’ twist: The first 10 guests to book using the Black Friday promo code (BF2016) will get the first night “zeroed out”: i.e. for free. When the four-day sale is over, the hotel will then randomly pick five guests for a complimentary upgrade to one of the property’s 17 extravagant (and pricey) Rock Star suites. Sale starts Friday November 25 at 12:01 a.m. Bookable dates: November 27, 2016 to January 4, 2017. More details here.
Spa and wellness aficionados should check out the dollar-stretching Cyber Monday voucher deal from Canyon Ranch in Lenox, Massachusetts, and Tucson, Arizona. For purchases of $500 to $2,000, guests will get a $75 voucher for every $500 purchased. For purchases of $2,500 or more, customers will receive a $100 voucher for every $500 purchased. Vouchers can be used towards a guest’s final bill from January 3 through December 23, 2017.
For those seeking to make an upscale Chicago stay a bit more swanky, The Langham will throw in complimentary Langham Club access for two (usually a $100 per person/day fee) for suite reservations made from Black Friday through Cyber Monday for stays December 1 through April 30, 2017. (Suite rates start at $895; Langham Club services include breakfast buffet, all-day refreshments, evening cocktails and canapés, personalized butler service, complimentary pressing of three garments, and more.) Use code: SUITECLUB.
Expedia will be posting a suitcase full of coupons and deals online and via its app for hotels, flights, cruises, rental cars and packages starting at 9 a.m. PST on Black Friday and again at 9 a.m. PST on Cyber Monday. Black Friday deals can be booked for November 25, 2016 through March 31, 2017; Cyber Monday deals for November 28-2016 to March 31, 2017.
Kimpton Hotels — including the new-this-year Kimpton Schofield in Cleveland and the Kimpton Gray in downtown Chicago — will be offering members of its free loyalty program (Kimpton Karma) up to 50 percent off best available rates and donating $5 per night to The Trevor Project on November 28 and November 29 (Cyber Monday and Giving Tuesday) for stays November 28, 2016 to February 28, 2017. Details here.
From Black Friday through Cyber Monday, Marriott will be offering its loyalty program members rates of up to 25 percent off at more than 2,100 of its hotels and resorts around the world for stays between December 9, 2016 and January 16, 2017. Book online or through a hotel with code “444”.
As you make travel plans and start shopping, don’t forget to check for deals that are sure to be offered by tour companies, cruise lines, airlines and cities.
Gate 1 Travel, for example, is holding its Black Friday sale November 23 to November 25, with discounts of up to $2,500 off a wide variety of luxury and small group travel packages, while Cathay Pacific’s always-popular Black Friday sale on flights to Asia is already up and running.
And if a trip to Orlando is in your future, VisitOrlando.com has a long list of Black Friday/Cyber Monday specials for attractions, accommodations, retail and restaurants.
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