Want a Valentine’s Day getaway, but have a pint-sized “third wheel” in tow? While three (or four or five) may be a crowd at most hotels around Valentine's Day, the Hilton Garden Inn Carlsbad Beach is offering a package that makes an all-family Valentine’s Day seem like a great idea.

The 161-room hotel on the north side of San Diego is across the street from a public beach, has a pool, and is just a short shuttle ride from Legoland. Its Romance Package—which includes niceties such as an early check-in, sparkling wine or cider in your room and a late checkout on request—also packs some surprisingly kid-friendly value. It includes free breakfast for everyone (worth about $50) and a dinner option: steak or salmon, the trimmings and chocolate-covered-berries for $36 per adult, plus a free dinner for kids 12 or under, featuring kid-friendly cuisine with sundaes for dessert.

Package rates are advertised starting at $193 a night, but when we checked the weekend before Valentine’s, we found a double room for $183 a night. Regular rates start at $159 for the same night, so unless you skip breakfast, you will definitely save at least $25 with the romance package—a decent (if not spectacular) 12%. Even so, the deal is a nice value for this time of year, when Legoland crowds are at their thinnest (the San Diego Zoo and Sea World are about 30 minutes away, too).

Since Valentine’s Day falls on a school night this year, the deal also offers a lot of flexibility: the Valentine's menu offer is available through February and March, and the Romance package is good through August. You can book the offer through the specials page or mention the Romance package when calling 760/476-0800.

The holiday decorations may have come down at Disneyland, but the magic of 2012 has only just begun. It is officially low season at the Happiest Place on Earth, when you’ll find thinner crowds and the opportunity to actually trim your costs. 

The three hotels at Disneyland are offering a winter sale that cuts up to 35% off  stays for most nights during Janurary and February. At Paradise Pier, you can save 35% on stays of 3 or more nights, and 30% on stays of 1 to 2 nights. At the recently renovated Disneyland Hotel, and the arts-and-crafts-style Grand Californian Hotel, the three-night savings go up to 30%, while 1- or 2-night stays get you 20% off.

The only catch?  "Most nights” means weeknights, not weekends, and the discounted rates run higher during the winter-break week following Presidents Day. But the prices are still pretty tempting: At Paradise Pier, they start at a very reasonable $156 a night (then $189 a night during Presidents week); at the Disneyland Hotel, rates starts at $225 a night ($289 during Presidents week); and at the Grand Californian, rates start at $267 ($345 during Presidents week).

For contrast, we tested regular weekend rates at the Disneyland Hotel, and found a whopping $620 a night—more than twice as much as the weeknight deal. That’s a great excuse to come here with preschoolers during the week, or even let your school-age kids play hookey.

A bonus: when you book the winter deal, even for weekend stays, you get two Fastpasses for each person in your party. Even during “low season” at Disneyland, there will still be lines.)  Come during the week and you can also take advantage of the early-entry “Magic Mornings” on Tuesdays or Thursdays.

The winter deal with Fastpasses is good for stays through February 29. You must book your stay by February 18. There’s a limit of two rooms per reservation and five people maximum per room. You don’t need a code to book the deal online, and you can also call reservations at 714/520-5045.

Not many San Diego hotels can lure travelers with the promise of playing in the snow, but the Hilton Garden Inn, north of the city in Carlsbad, is doing just that. With its Let It Snow package, the 161-room hotel, across the street from a state beach, bundles a hotel stay with two tickets to Legoland, just a few minutes away. Along with the theme park’s special holiday shows and almost nightly tree-lightings, there will be a snowman-building area, with real snow, through New Year’s. During the holiday season, the Hilton is also offering beach-winter perks, such as warm cider and cookies in the lobby and movies on the oceanfront lawn. The hotel also has a pool as well as an outdoor fireplace.

But does this snow really pack? The package rate starts at $244 a night and includes:

• one night lodging (regular rates start at $149)
• breakfast for one adult and one child (worth about $25)
  
• one adult's and one child's admission to Legoland (worth $134)
• free shuttle to and from Legoland (always free)
• free kids meals at lunch and dinner with adult meal purchases (worth about $20/day for two kids)
• plush toy and mittems for the kids
  

If you booked all the one-night components on your own, your total would come to $328—so this package delivers savings of about 25%.  Normally these kinds of deals have a slight sting: you get your one-time park tickets bundled in for a great deal on the first night, but if you stay two or three nights paying that same package rate, your savings melt like, well, snow in San Diego.

But Hilton is being more than fair: you can snap up additional nights for as little as $139 a night—as good or better than the regular rate. While you get only a pair of Legoland tickets, you can buy additional park tickets at a 10% discount ($61/adult and $55/child) and those tickets include free breakfast back at the hotel.

Deal or no deal? Let's hear it for snow days!

The package is good through January 2, 2012. You can book it online through the specials page, or clicking the Let It Snow box when you book. Or, mention the deal when calling 760/476-0800. One important note for scheduling: this time of year, Legoland is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, with the exception of Thanksgiving week, Christmas week and New Year’s week.

Want to kick off the holiday season in style? From now until January 8, the Beverly Hills Conference & Visitors Bureau is offering And to All a Free Night, a holiday promo promising up to 33% in savings.  Book a two- or three-night package at one of 10 participating hotels (some hotels require a total of four nights), and you get one free night, discounts at area restaurants and shops, as well as possible extras such as restaurant or spa credits,  personal shopper services or free transportation. Around town during Deecember, families can enjoy activities such as snow falls, horse drawn carriages, and Santa meet-and-greets.

While some of the hotels in the deal are very high-end, such as The Peninsula and the Montage Beverly Hills,  (rates start at $665 and $695 a night respectively), there are some more modest price points. For example, at the famed Beverly Hilton—home to the largest heated pool in Bev Hills—rates start at $285 a night. After the fourth free night is factored in, the average per-night rate drops to $214.

And here’s an added incentive to act fast: the first 200 guests to book the offer will receive a sparkly Helix Pendant by Swarovski Elements, inspired by the holiday crystal display decorating Rodeo Drive for the season. To book the offer, use the Beverly Hills specials page, and click on the particpating hotel, then click on the More Information button. Or mention the deal when calling individual hotels.

A hot deal at a ski resort always sounds great, until you get to the fine print and discover the blackout dates coincide with the only dates that families can travel: the holidays. That's why we thought Christmas had come early when we saw the Holidays on Us offer at RockResorts' properties in Beaver Creek, Colorado, and Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Book a three-night-or longer stay by end of October,  and you can get one free night during anyof the following US holiday breaks: Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Day, Valentine's Day, President's Day and Easter Sunday. They'll even let you count one night each week during the peak Spring Break period—from March 10 through April 3, 2012—as a holiday.

The offers vary only slightly between the two locations. At Snake River Lodge in Jackson Hole—a ski-in/ski-out property that  also has an indoor heated pool, a spa and a fitness center—the offer promises rates starting at  $131 a night. When we checked Thanskgiving weekend dates, we found special rates starting at $150 a night from Friday though Monday morning, down from the usual $225 a night, for a clean 33% savings (you can’t book Thanksgiving Day itself at Snake Creek—good news for your mother-in-law). The offer at Snake River ups the ante with a daily free breakfast for each person, as well as a one-time $50 resort gift card.

At Beaver Creek, we found special hotel rates  that started at $150, and a two-bedroom condo for $196 a night in a new property, Chapel Square. (The special rate is supposed to start at $117 in Beaver Creek, but we didn’t see anything that low.) You have a selection of hotel and condo options, including units with family-friendly full kitchens and laundry.

Best of all at both locations: you don’t have to stay during a holiday to get the same deal. The 33% savings is also available with the resorts’ Early Bird Savings package. You even get the same $50 gift card and free breakfast at Snake River, and that deal doesn’t require a three-day minimum .

To take advantage of either offer, you must book by October 31. The holiday deal is good for travel between November 25 and April 8, 2012. A minimum three-night stay is required; when you book online, the free night is calculated into the displayed nightly rate. Or, mention the deal when calling Snake River at 866/614-7625 (ROCK), or Beaver Creek at 800/696-3681. Rates do not include daily resort fees (e.g.,$25/day at Snake River).

If you’re hankering to ski, you still have to wait at least another month or so. But if you want a mountain getaway with great prices and no need for gear—it’s a great time to shop around. The Sky Lodge in Park City, for instance, has a Fall Buy One Get One special offer if you book by October 15.  Indeed, when we checked October dates, we found a two-room suite with a kitchen, two baths, fireplace and a deck with hot tub for $150 a night, down from the usual $300—a straightforward 50% discount. (Some suites even have their own pool tables, a nice extra for families.)

Offering one-, two-, and three-bedroom suites, the boutique-style lodge has been on Condé Nast Traveler’s Hot List and—as an enticement to grown-ups—USA Today’s list of “Top 10 Rooftop Bars,” with its great views of the Wasatch Mountains. This time of year, grown-ups and their kids have easy access to biking and hiking trails, and the knockout fall foliage (the whole state of Utah is expecting deeper-than-usual colors this autumn). You're also right in the heart of Old Town Park City, with its shops, restaurants and general goings-on such as fall's weekly open mics with live music.

If you push your getaway to late November, prices rise a bit—the two-bedroom suites we saw were going for about $220—but you’ll likely also get some snow, if you’re ready to hit the slopes.

To take advantage of this special offer, you must book by October 15, and travel between October 3 and December 15. Enter dates and prices will automatically reflect the savings. Or mention the offer when calling 888/876-2525.

As summer turns to fall, the desert starts to heat up, in its way. Temperatures start sliding out of the triple-digit zone, and prices start creeping back up.

That's why we were tempted by a new deal in Arizona that’s packed with a lot of low-season-style value. At Tucson’s JW Marriott Starr Pass, the Family Fling & Swing promotion runs through the end of the year and includes a long list of freebies. The 575-room resort has plenty of family-magnet features: four  pools, a lazy river and water slide, an Arnold Palmer-designed golf course, a spa and even Nickelodeon character breakfasts on many weekends throughout the year. Starting at $149 a night, the package includes:

• lodging for a family of four
• $50/night resort credit
• Unlimited rounds of golf for a family of four (worth at least $100/day)
• Free meals for kids 12 and under, with a paying adult (worth $30/kid x 2 = $60/day)
• Free appetizer or dessert at the two main restaurants (worth about $10/day)
• Free high-speed Internet (worth $13/day)
• Free self-parking (worth $10/day)
• 10% off retail purchases

Deal or no deal? This is a hot one—but even hotter if you go soon. When we checked dates from August through October, we found package rates ranging from $179 a night in August to $349 a night in October. The package rates hovered between $10 and $50 above the regular rate. Even if the price difference is enough to eat up that daily $50 in resort credit, there is still almost $100 a day of freebies that you’ll definitely use—a 31% savings right there—including $23 worth of annoying hotel fees that are just nice to avoid. And if your family likes to golf, you're getting nearly $200 of extra value of day—a more than 50% value. (The only hitches: you can’t get early-morning tee times with the offer, and kids would get to golf free anyway at the resort, as long as you teed off after 3pm.)

One more reason to travel sooner rather than later? The lazy river and waterslides will close for the winter on November 27.

The offer is good through December 30. When booking online, enter dates and then look for the Family Fling and Swing rate under the packages tab. Or, mention the deal when calling 888/236 2427.

Not ready to say goodbye to summer yet? Then plan a getaway to San Diego, where often the highest temps of the year—and the lightest crowds—kick in during September and last well into October. After Labor Day, prices start to dip nicely, too.

From September through December, the Hyatt Regency Mission Bay Spa and Marina is offering an “Endless Summer” welcome credit that piles on more resort credits the longer you stay: Stay two nights and you get $75; visit three nights, and you earn $125; four nights, and you snag $150.  You can use the credits at the on-site restaurants—an easy way to absorb food costs—or at the all-organic Blue Marble Spa.

There’s certainly enough for the kids and spouse to do while you sneak away to the spa. The 430-room hotel has three pools with waterslides and water sports on the adjacent bay. It’s a short walk (or free shuttle ride) to Mission Beach, which has a sand beach, a boardwalk and an old-style amusement park called Belmont Park, which stays open pretty much year round. Plus, the resort is right next door to SeaWorld—whose crowds, come September, will have much slimmed down.

Note that the Endless Summer offer comes with one big hitch: a non-refundable, advance-purchase requirement. When we checked three-night stays in September, we found regular weekend rates starting at $244 a night in a room with two queen beds and a deluxe view. Meanwhile, the Endless Summer rate is $254—$10 more than the regular rate, but $42 higher than the advance-purchase rate of $212 a night. 

Deal or no deal? Come for the sun—but not necessarily this deal. When you do the math, you discover that what you get in resort credits is pretty much a wash with the $40 difference between the Endless Summer rate vs. advance-purchase rate. So if you’re willing to pre-pay anyway, you may as well just book the advance-purchase rate and not be tied to eating on-site.

The Endless Summer offer is based on availability and is good for stays through December 30. You must book by December 28. When booking online, use the promo code WELCRE, or mention the deal when calling 619/224-1234.

Looking for one more oceanside getaway this summer? In sunny Orange County—half way between LA and San Diego—you can find some good season-end deals, even if you're not living in the Real Housewives’ income bracket. At the Laguna Cliffs Resort & Spa—a Marriott in the beach town of Dana Point—you can get a third night free if you go by August 31.

The 378-room resort set on bluffs—and whose peaked red roofs conjure thoughts of the famous Hotel Del Coronado just down the road in San Diego—has two pools, a hot tub and a kids splash zone, as well as a newly opened kids' club. For grown-ups, there’s an on-site spa offering orange-essence-themed treatments.

When we checked August dates online, we found a regular starting rate of $229 for a room with two double beds, which averages out to about $150 night—a  great deal. Even without the free night, this resort is an excellent value for this neck of the woods, where big-name hotels routinely top $300 or even $500 a night. Granted, you don't have walk-up beach access here—actually, few hotels do—and the closest state beach is just down the street. You’re also walking distance to restaurants and the boardwalk along the yacht-packed Dana Point pier. One beef we have: the resort has a $29-a-day valet parking fee, and no self-park option.

This special offer is good through August 31, and can be used for both weekend and weeknight stays. You do have to prepay one night’s worth of lodging, and you’ll lose that prepayment if you have to cancel before arrival.  The deal is not featured on the hotel web site, but you can book it online using promotion code BGS. Or, mention the offer when calling 949/661-5000.

San Diego is known for its not-so-urban attractions—its famous zoo, theme parks and the beach—but staying downtown can give you good access to all of them (especially the Zoo and Balboa Park’s musuems). The bonus? San Diego's downtown hotels tend to offer very competitive rates compared to many of the city’s outlying areas.

A great example is the Manchester Grand Hyatt, the city's tallest hotel at 40 stories high, which offers great bay views. The hotel has a pool, firepits, tennis and a spa, and is walking distance from the city’s lively Gaslamp Quarter,  the New Children's Museum, Petco Park (home of the Padres) and city trolleys that can take you to Old Town. For the rest of this year, the hotel is offering  a Stay More Save More promotion: Stay three nights and save 30% off your rate. Added perks: Kids 12 and under eat breakfast free at the hotel’s Lael’s restaurant, and dogs stay free. 

When we checked some August dates, we found a very reasonable rate of $139 a night for a room with two doubles, down from the regular rate of $199 a night, which translates to a tidy 30% savings. More good news: You can upgrade to a view room for just $25 more a night. On summer evenings, that view may include the nightly fireworks over SeaWorld.

The promo will run through December 31 with, as always, some blackout dates. Three nights is both the minimum and maximum stay for the promo, and you must pre-pay this non-refundable rate. When booking online, use promo code SUN, or ask for it when calling 800/492-8804.