Preview The First Two Weeks Of Daily Getaways (Vacations For Real People)

Daily Getaways are back from the US Travel Association and get under way next week.  I’ll be covering them in more detail, but since the first two weeks of deals came out yesterday I figured I’d write up something quick so you’d know what was coming.

If you’re new to Daily Getaways, think of this as “Vacations For Real People” (or vacations for normal people).  It’s no secret that I love showing my family the world.  I took my wife and daughter to Paris a few years ago for Valentine’s Day on a long weekend, but we’re just as likely to pile into the car and drive up to HersheyPark.  We prefer to travel to places like Italy and Greece to explore the culture, but those trips aren’t accessible to everyone.

Even though I preach the strategy of earning miles to just about everyone I meet (sorry, for those of you tired of hearing me babble on), most folks aren’t trying to fly First Class in an apartment to the Middle East.  Or pop over to Sydney for a long weekend.  We decided to head down to the Fort Myers area in Florida this year for spring break and were surprised to find at least a dozen of our friends from Virginia had chosen the same destination as us.

Some drove, some flew, none of them stayed at a St. Regis, Ritz or Four Seasons.  For that group, which are the normal folks, Daily Getaways can represent a significant value.  Not all deals will, but there are still plenty of savings to be had.  As I mentioned, more detail to come, but here’s a quick breakdown of the first two weeks:

Week 1

Week 1 has one of my favorite Daily Getaways, discounted Busch Gardens tickets.  We’ve taken advantage of this deal numerous times and saved almost 50% off the cost of a single day ticket.

The first deal up is Choice Privileges points for sale.  That’s the theme of the week with IHG Rewards and Best Western Rewards points for sale later in the week.  All have properties in typical family destinations like Florida, California and the Caribbean.  If I was looking to target one deal, I’d probably focus on IHG because of the size of their network and the recent efforts to upgrade the Holiday Inn properties.

The Vegas packages are more specific (and nowhere near as family-oriented), but a couple could be decent values.  In the past few years, the Vegas deals have generally gotten less lucrative, requiring you to use most of what’s offered in the package to make it worth your while.

Week 2

The Wyndham deal is very intriguing to me for both families who are looking for an easy spring break trip and those looking to travel abroad.  Wyndham made a change to their program last year where all reward nights are one price.  You’re essentially buying a night at any Wyndham Rewards property worldwide for $150, subject to availability.  While there’s over 1,000 of these available, I would expect them to go quickly.

While I’m not a fan of the Universal packages, there’s value if you willing to commit the cash.  Not for the faint of heart.  The Expedia deal was new for last year and represents a really good savings on a hotel stay if you’re sure you can book through Expedia.  I don’t put a lot of value in their Gold status, but a 35% discount on a hotel stay is the real deal.

Omni has some interesting properties, like The Homestead and Mount Washington.  For all the rest, I’d be sure you knew exactly when you were redeeming and what the average rates were, as some of these don’t represent huge savings and obviously lock you in to a specific list of hotels.

As far as the Caesars packages go, if you’re a fan of Nobu I think that’s a pretty good deal.  The rest vary depending on what your specific interests are.

I’ll be trying to post daily updates as we move through Daily Getaways.  The biggest thing to keep in mind is that if you really like a deal, be ready to buy a few minutes before 1pm EST.  There’s no benefit to paying with American Express like in year’s past, so any credit card will do.  And, you can use two machines/browsers to try to secure two packages quickly if that’s your goal.

Happy Hunting!

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