Make reservations on the La Quinta website or call their reservations line at 1-800-531-5900 and use promotional code SWA50 for a 50% discount on La Quinta stays between now and March 31,2005. The discount comes from a card sent out by Southwest Airlines with the following terms and conditions: Offer is based upon availability and is valid on one paid stay only per customer. A stay is defined as one or more consecutive nights at the same property. Offer not valid with any other discount, promotion or with use of a free night certificate. With the discounted rate, Rapid Rewards members who are also La Quinta Returns members are able to receive 0.5 credits per qualifying stay. Not sure how they will limit anyone to one paid stay per customer, as the discount doesn’t say…
United isn’t the only one offering Washington, DC promos
Not to be left behind, Northwest is offering 2,500 bonus miles per roundtrip (earn up to 6 times) in and out of the three DC-area airports between June 15, 2004 and September 30, 2004. Registration is required.
Crusing around for good shopping deals
And found this laptop for $700 including shipping and this DVD player for only $28.
Free Pizza Hut Pizza
Sign up for the Upper Crust Club and receive a free personal pan pizza coupon.
Free $5 Gas Card from Choice Hotels
To the first 500 who sign up.
Free TV Guide Subscription
While it lasts… Several other magazines are also available free: Best Life Black Entrepreneur Golf World Field & Stream Ski magazine
What I Would Do If I Ran Independence Air’s Marketing
United is bringing out the big guns in DC in anticipation of Independence Air’s launch. They’re running huge promos like their Round-the-World promo and 15,000 bonus miles. They’re sending out e-mail hit pieces to their membership. And all Independence Air has done is complain to the government. I walk into bars and hear people talking about United’s round the world promo. It has an incredible aspirational value that gets average folks talking, and that’s without my being in the conversation at all. I wonder what Independence Air is paying to be the official airline of the Redskins. That’ll get some notice, but it’s pretty ephemeral. They need to offer a clear value proposition and hammer that value proposition home. Always low fares on brand new jets The most flights out of Dulles, taking you where…
Non-mileage earning credit cards
SmartMoney carries a piece on credit card rewards outside of the standard mileage-earning options. The best one in the article seems to be the no annual fee MBNA Fidelity Investment Rewards Card offers a 1.5% rebate (up to $1500 per year) deposited into any Fidelity brokerage account.
Hotel Amenities and Furnishings for Sale
Tyler Cowen writes that hotels have a fairly captive audience for consumer attention, and have found some success selling items in the room. This is certainly true, and if you recall fondly the amenities of your hotel room you can shop online to purchase the items from your room at a Westin or at a W hotel. Westin Hotels not only offers to sell you the bed from your room, but their signature “Heavenly Dog Bed” as well. There’s even a bridal registry. But the phenomenon of pricing items in a room also serves as a deterrent for guests to simply take the items. If the item is for sale, it isn’t meant to be free. And since hotels usually charge a premium over what a consumer might pay elsewhere, the threat of seeing the…
Decoding Priceline’s Rating System
Frommer’s points out that since Priceline has acquired Travelweb, the two sites will be integrating their hotel rating systems. It’s not completely there yet, but useful to determine possible hotels that would come up on a successful bid. Travelweb’s hotel star ratings will soon be the same as Priceline’s, with one important exception. Travelweb doesn’t use half-stars, so Priceline’s 2.5-star hotels will show up on Travelweb as 3-star hotels. Priceline and Travelweb are still working out some glitches in their system. For example, Travelweb rates the Four Points in New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood as a 3-star hotel, while Priceline calls it a 2-star. Priceline’s Brian Ek assured us that the ratings will soon be brought in line. “If there’s a discrepancy, I’d attribute it to updates not having completely worked their way through the…