There’s trouble brewing in paradise this weekend. It’s all that Karma, or is it Carmageddon? The Sepulveda pass section of the 405 Freeway is being closed for 53 hours, choking off traffic in Los Angeles.

From 7 pm Friday to 5 am Monday, half a million vehicles that use the gridlocked pass will have to find another way in or out (Jetblue is offering $4 flights…). The city is advising people to stay put, or as Tom Hanks puts it – “Grid-lock-apalooza! STAY HOME. Eat & shop local!”

Fairmont Miramar Hotel, Santa Monica

For those who would rather escape the gridlock, a number of hotels from Santa Monica and Los Angeles to Newport Beach and Las Vegas are offering Carmageddon 405 escape hotel deals.

Fairmont Miramar Hotel, Santa Monica: The $405 ‘Live Like a Local’ package offers a ’405 free weekend’ with deluxe accommodations, overnight parking and poolside relaxation at the hotel’s Beach Club.  Valid for the month of July 2011.

Fairmont Newport Beach: The Fairmont’s ‘Escape the LA Gridlock’ package includes overnight accommodations, 40% off on a 60-minute massage or facial treatments at the hotel spa, 2 cocktails, complimentary valet parking and a late 4 pm checkout. Valid July 15-17, with rates from $139.

Hard Rock Hotel, Las Vegas: The aptly priced $405 Carmageddon package includes 2 or 3 nights in the hotel’s casino tower, a complimentary cabana and VIP access to Vanity Nighclub. Package valid July 15-17. For more details or booking, call 800-343-4346 and use promo code ‘HCARMA.’

Hotel Palomar Los Angeles: Their Carmageddon weekend package includes complimentary parking, $40.05 dining credit and $4.05 specialty cocktails. Just call (800) 472-8556 and ask for the Carmageddon package.

Mammoth Mountain: Their $405 package includes a 3 night stay in your choice of lodging from the available options, which are the The Mammoth Mountain Inn, Tamarack Lodge & Resort, Juniper Springs Resort and The Village Lodge. The package is valid July 13 – 17, 2011 and you can add additional nights for $135/night, if you want.

Sheraton LAX: Plan a relaxing weekend with a stay at Sheraton Gateway Los Angeles Hotel and enjoy rates starting from $99. Valid July 15-17, 2011. For more details or booking, call (866) 716-8134 and use promo code ‘CARMAGDN.’

Newport Beach alone has six hotels (including the Fairmont and the Island Hotel) offering Carmageddon deals and packages. There are even more Los Angeles hotels, restaurants, bars and shopping centers offering all kinds of deals that are mapped out here.

Photo – Fairmont Hotels & Resorts

Related posts:
When the Pacific Coast Isn’t Far Enough: Catalina Island Getaway
Grab the Kids and Head For the Hills in Los Angeles
A Dream Come True: Fairmont Miramar Hotel and Bungalows in Santa Monica, CA

If you haven’t made plans for the Memorial Day Weekend, now would be a good time to start thinking about it. You have more of both motive and means this year, considering that Osama is no longer with us and neither is the recession.

Graves at Arlington, Memorial Day

Here’s a few places where you can get some pretty sweet Memorial Day Weekend hotel deals.

Orlando – The Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek is offering Memorial Day Weekend rates starting at $159 per night and the Waldorf Astoria has a $199 per night package.

The kicker is that for every two nights booked with either of them, you will receive a free Walt Disney World one-day one-park ticket.

The AAA four diamond Hilton Orlando has a $139 Memorial Day Weekend package for its facebook fans. The “Making Memories on Memorial Day” package includes deluxe accommodations as well as breakfast and dinner for two daily.

Guests who mention they are Facebook fans at check-in will receive extras like a s’mores kit for use at the outside fire pits, free in-room movie with a bucket of popcorn and liter of soda or a drink voucher for use at a hotel bar.

Las Vegas – Start here, and you’ll find some great Sin City hotel deals for between May 27-30, starting from $24.50. If you’re not in the mood to scrape the bottom of the barrel, there are nice (and new) hotels offering rates well below $100 for the dates in question, including Caesars Palace, Stratosphere, Rumor and Circus Circus.

New York – The Mandarin Oriental New York has an “Extra Fun Day Away” package with a complimentary night after a two-night stay this Memorial Day weekend.

Note that New York also has a well attended Fleet Week (May 25 – June 1) to contend with, and discounted hotel rooms will be hard to come by. But you can save a lot of big bucks here on NYC hotel deals for the Memorial Day Weekend.

Also, the Omni Berkshire Place in New York has a Memorial Day package with 30% off on regular rates. Actually, Omni Hotels & Resorts is offering 30% off on all their hotels and resorts. Well, not exactly… it’s 10 percent off on a one night stay, 20 percent off on a two night stay and 30 percent off on a three night stay.

Travel Ticker – Oahu hotels near Waikiki Beach from $65; Vegas hotels on the strip from $55. Cancun hotels are on offer from $119; Seattle from $129 and Los Angeles from $139.

Expedia – Memorial Day special rates, with Vegas starting from $45 and Orlando from $25. Even if you want to splurge on a better hotel in Orlando, that won’t cost you more than $120 or so.

Hotels.com – 30% off Memorial Day sale, with New York hotels from $132, Chicago starting from $65 and San Antonio from $71.

Photo – public domain (source)

Related posts:-
Summer Deals from Luxury Hotels
The Love Festival Rolls Into Vegas Memorial Day
Memorial Day Parades in the United States

Like all the gazillions of daily deals weren’t enough, now we have a HealDeal to contend with. That’s what HealLA calls them, and these are deals offered to people who donate small amounts to charity.

For example, let’s say you give $10 to the LA Mission to help the homeless in Los Angeles via the HealLA website. In return, hotel company Joie de Vivre will either pledge $20 towards a stay at any one of their Southern California hotels or $15 towards a meal at one of four Joie de Vivre restaurants.

HealDeal from JDV Hotels and HealLA

JDV is a San Francisco based company, and they have over 30 hotels in California. Most of their hotels are in Northern California, but they do have a few select hotels in Los Angeles and Orange County.

These SoCal hotels where the vouchers can be redeemed include:-

1. Hotel Erwin in Venice, CA

2. Hotel Angeleno in Los Angeles, CA

3. Pacific Edge Hotel in Laguna Beach, CA

4. Shorebreak Hotel in Huntington Beach, CA

Participating restaurants are West in Los Angeles, Zimzala in Huntington Beach, Hash in Venice Beach and High in Venice Beach.

You can complete your HealDeal transaction here – http://healla.myshopify.com/collections/healdeals.

All the money raised from this particular HealDeal will go toward providing healthy and comforting meals for the homeless and impoverished people who visit the refuge that the Los Angeles Mission provides.

HealLA’s tag-line says “Do Good Things & Get Good Stuff.” But the offer expires on May 25, 2011 so you better hurry up, do your good thing and get the good stuff from JDV before it runs out.

Photo – HealLA

Related posts:-
JDV Hotels Wants to Plant a Tree For Your Love
Joie de Vivre’s Eco-Romance Package
Hyatt Regency Dallas Shelters Homeless on Christmas Eve

As part of the Shades of Summer promotion, Westmont Hospitality Group hotels across Canada are offering 50% off the room rate for the 2nd night. If you’re looking for decent hotels in Canada for a summer trip on a budget, it probably won’t get a lot better than this.

Shades of Summer

The list of participating hotels in Alberta, Toronto, Quebec, Nova Scotia and Ontario include Radisson and Staybridge Suites properties, and many Hiltons, Holiday Inns and Best Westerns.

At most of these properties, you’ll be getting more value than just a room, with daily complimentary breakfast for two, free high speed internet, free parking and full use of facilities including swimming pool, business and fitness centers and guest laundry facilities.

For example, consider the rates in London, Ontario. Both Radisson and Staybridge Suites there are offering daily rates from $129, so with the second day at $65, you get an average daily rate of $97.

In Toronto, there are two Holiday Inn Express hotels offering daily rates from $119. With the second day’s rate at $60, you’d end up paying an average $89 per night. With a free breakfast and parking thrown in, that makes it a pretty good deal.

The deal is valid for stays between May 14 and Sept 12, 2010. More details here – www.gotucovered.ca/

Related posts:-
SummerzCool, But the Dealz R Hot
Summer Vacation in Montréal