Sure, every hotel has a promotion or package offer ongoing at any given time. Usually, they’re all pretty tame, like free upgrades, late checkouts, an extra night’s stay free, a gas card or complimentary attraction tickets and discounts.

But there are some hotels that apply a whole lot of creativity and imagination for their promo offers. A few samples:

Casa Velas, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

Casa Velas, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico: On top of the usual promotions, the Casa Velas resort also has a divorcee package. That’s not all that unusual in itself, but what’s in the package is indeed unique.

The package includes a farewell cocktail party for the wedding ring – and the hotel will arrange a coffin for the ring.

The package is meant for upto five people – as in divorcee and friends, and accommodation is in the hotel’s Presidential Suite with a full bar in the living area which will be ‘refilled’ every day. The divorcee stays free.

There’ll be an in-suite welcome dinner, and a VIP night out on the town to get the divorcee back in the game, so to speak. Also included are shopping tours, a jewelry consultation to redesign your ex-engagement ring, one spa treatment per person per stay, VIP transportation service from the hotel to the airport and a lot of other good things.

JDV Hotels, SoCal: Five JDV hotels in Southern California will give you a free upgrade, if you’re the first one that day willing to sing for it – in the hotel’s lobby.

Starwood Hotels: Starwood has brought back its ‘Pay Your Birth Year’ promotion. The hotel sets the first night’s rate, but the rates for the second and third night will depend on your age. If you were born in 1950, you’d be paying $50 per night for the second and third nights.

Yuma Hotels, AZ: Yuma is the sunniest city in the US. If it happens to be a rare cloudy day, participating hotels will allow guests to dine free at participating restaurants or provide free admission to participating attractions.

Here’s the full list of all the participating businesses in Yuma – includes 6 hotels, 8 restaurants, one newspaper, a state park, a couple of golf courses and a few other sundry businesses.

Photos – LHW

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In these stressful times, sometimes you just want to switch off the phone, ignore the TV, and go somewhere no one can find you for a week or two to recoup from the daily grind. This kind of escape requires a place that’s off the beaten track yet has amenities enough to relax in comfort. Costa del Sol Bungalows is just such a place.

Costa del Sol Bungalos entrance and thatched-roof restaurant

This unique resort is in Punta Allen, a small settlement located at the tip of a painfully narrow peninsula that juts south into the Caribbean from Tulum, Mexico. The road begins well enough in Tulum, but after passing through the northern reaches of the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve it becomes a sand track riddled with potholes literally large enough to swallow a car. Although only a 30 mile drive, the trip can take up to three hours, especially if there have been recent heavy rains. For the first 20 or so miles there is no sign of civilization but as land’s end nears, mansions begin to appear in the dense jungle that separates the road from a crystal clear turquoise Caribbean Sea. A few miles further, scattered casitas appear, until the village finally comes into sight at the tip of the peninsula.

Just a half mile before town, Costa del Sol Bungalows beckons. At the entrance is an open air restaurant where the proprietors cook up whatever fresh catch has been delivered to their door that day. After meals, guests are encouraged to retire to one of the many hammocks, conveniently strung between trees just steps from the dining tables. If complete relaxation isn’t possible, the area offers some of the best saltwater flats fishing in the world, as well as excellent diving and snorkeling.

Beach and hammock at Costa del Sol Bungalos - nothing but relaxation

The resort has only four casitas, simple but exceedingly clean rooms with 24-hour hot water that are well separated for privacy. Punta Allen is still so remote that electricity is only available until 9 p.m. each day and it doesn’t come back on until 6 or 7 a.m., forcing even the most intrepid corporate types to slow down and remember how to enjoy life. It takes a little effort to get to Costa del Sol, but when guests see the pristine white beach and immaculately kept grounds, taste the made-from-scratch meals, and experience the warmth of the host family, there is never any doubt that it was worth the effort. Departing guests grin as they negotiate the tortured road back to civilization, knowing it guarantees that Costa del Sol Bungalos will remain a secret just a little bit longer.

Photo Credit: Barbara Weibel
Article by Barbara Weibel of Cultural Travel with Hole In The Donut

Posada los Mapaches’ location on the main four-lane highway about two miles north of the town of Tulum, Mexico is ideal for visitors who wish to explore the Tulum Mayan ruins, as it is located across the road from the main entrance. But after a day devoted to this only known Mayan settlement built on the coast, the hostel makes it simple to expand explorations to the town and surrounding area, as every guest is provided with a bicycle and a map showing worthwhile local attractions and how to find them.

Every bed comes with a bike

Owners Chelo, Joaquín, and Daniel, a mother and sons team, move heaven and earth to make sure their guests have a wonderful stay. Each morning starts with a two course breakfast: first, a plate of prettily cut up and arranged fruit arrives, followed by a second prepared dish that differs each day and never ceases to amaze with its creativity. The coffee, brewed from a special out-of-this-world gourmet grind from home-grown Mexican beans, is plentiful and delicious. After breakfast, the sons often sit Read More »

I’d heard about a lake in Mexico that sounded like something out of a book of fairy tales. They called it Lago de Siete Colores – Lake of Seven Colors in English – and everyone who’d ever seen it raved about the rainbow colors that shimmered on the surface of this second largest lake in Mexico. There wasn’t a lot to be found on the Internet about the lake; located in the far southern part of the Yucatan, it was visited by only the most intrepid travelers. But since I’d rented a car for the week, I took a chance and drove the four hours from Playa del Carmen, armed with a list of the few budget accommodations I’d identified.

Standard room at Hotelito la Ceiba

I rolled into town in mid-afternoon, took one look at the gorgeous water and knew I had to stick around for a couple of days. The cheap digs – the only true hostel in town – sent me running for the car. The inside was a furnace without even a fan to cool the dorms, beds were little more than plywood planks, and the place was far from clean. I checked out a couple of other hotels but they were too expensive for my beer budget. Just as I was about to give up I spotted a sign for Hotelito La Ceiba and decided to make one last stop. Thank goodness I did! Read More »