Daily Getaways: Luxury Hotels Through Preferred Hotel Group for $150 or Less!

It's Daily Getaways season once again, and over the next few weeks you have the chance to purchase hotel points at a discount from almost every major hotel loyalty program in America.  Each day, a different hotel chain is featured and a limited number of points are sold at a discount.

Of particular interest to me are the Choice Hotels redemptions, where you can purchase 40,000 Choice Privileges points for $166 (or $149.40 when you pay with an American Express card).

40,000 Choice Privileges points can get you a lot of free nights at ho-hum Sleep Inns or Comfort Inns around the world and can be a tremendous bargain, but 40,000 points can also get you a luxury hotel from Preferred Hotels group through Choice Hotels' partnerships.

It works like this:

• Purchase 40,000 points (or other denominations) from Daily Getaways on June 27.  These sales go fast, so don't delay.
• To see a list of luxury hotels at the 30k or 40k level, go to http://www.phgoffers.com/program2.aspx?id=717
• To book, call Choice Hotels.

To give you an idea of the savings achieved, here's Kayak's pricing for the Travaasa in Austin, a fantastic destination spa resort:

As you can see, the Daily Getaways deal will save you $217 plus taxes (over 60%) on the price of a room at the Travaasa.

There are lots of other great hotels for 30k-40k points, so be sure to look around and figure out if this offer makes sense for you.

Free LMTClub Membership - Get it Now!

LMTClub is currently offering free memberships using promotion code "4JULYFREE".

I love LMTClub because they often have excellent deals on expensive hotels -- as much as 60-70% off list price.  LMTClub is an online hotel booking site run by Travel Holdings, Inc.  They also own other entities such as lastminutetravel.com, Tourico Holidays, and Travel Global systems.  Their various entities typically share inventory, and -- despite websites that don't look particularly professional -- they seem to have pretty strong buying power worldwide.

Many points junkies recognize lastminutetravel.com as a player in the opaque hotel booking business.  Like Priceline and Hotwire, lastminutetravel.com allows you to book hotels at significant discounts, but they don't tell you the name of the hotel until after you've made the purchase.

LMTClub essentially provides the same inventory as lastminutetravel.com but the hotels aren't opaque.  In other words, you get a great deal and you know exactly what you're going to get.  And, typically, you can change/cancel without a fee and accrue points on your stay if it's allowed by the hotel chain.

Here's an example.  We're currently planning a trip to Vancouver next February, and we'd love to stay at the Hyatt downtown.  Here are Kayak's results:

Kayak's Prices

Now, here's what I can get from LMTClub on the same dates:

LMTClub's Prices

How about a trip to Chicago?  Let's stay at the Hard Rock hotel on August 31.  Here's Kayak:

Kayak's Prices

And LMTClub:

LMTClub's Prices

These prices are pretty consistent with what you'll find in almost any big city.

Moral of the story -- sign up.  There's no reason not to.  And be sure to check out LMTClub before you book your next hotel at retail price.

Note: I am not affiliated with LMTClub in any way (other than as a member).