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 If there's one thing that gets our attention quicker than a resort’s lure of "kids stay free,” it’s a discount of 50% or better. Dream Resorts, with 11 hotels in Mexico and the Dominican Republic, is extending a version of its Winter Escapes deal into the spring and early summer (and then rolling it out again in the fall). Kids 12 and under stay free and, thanks in part to a resort credit, the savings are advertised to be as much as 50% off regular rates.
The Dreams line of all-inclusive resorts look plenty family friendly, with a focus on activities and with rates that include all your basic meals and beverages, as well as admission to the kids’ club. We looked the closest at Baja-based Dreams Los Cabos, which boasts ocean views from every room and
offers three pools (one just for kids), golf, a spa and a roster of
activities that includes archery, beach
volleyball, movies on the beach, soccer, yoga, "monster" chess and
basketball, and even cooking and cocktail classes. Its complimentary Explorer Club is for kids ages 3 to 12. With a minimum
three-night stay, the Winter Escape package includes:
- lodging for two adults (normally starting at $481/night x 3 nights = $1,442 )
- kids 12 and under stay free (normally $73/child x 3 nights x 2 kids = $438)
- $200 in resort credit, which can be used on spa treatments, special dining, and wine
We test-booked a three-night
stay for a family of four in early June at the Dreams Los Cabos. If booked without the Winter Escape package, the stay would cost $1,880 for two adults and two children in a junior suite. For the same dates, we found a Winter Escape rate of $372 a night
for a family of four in a junior
suite, or 1,116 for the three-night stay—a hefty 40% savings.
 Then there's that $200 resort credit, which seems like such a great bonus until you try to use it. As it turns out, you can only cash it
in for situations where you’ll be spending a bundle, and rules abound.
For instance: You can use up to $100 worth of coupons at the spa, but
only if you buy three separate treatments (a 50-minute massage starts
at $125). Or you can use $60 in credit on “romantic dining” (a special
dinner for two on the beach, normally $250) and $40 for wine (though
you can only use it $10 at a time).
Deal or no deal? A great value, even if it doesn't quite live up to its promise of 50% savings. We hate that the $200 resort credit is a classic spend-to-save "gotcha." But even so, it’s
hard to complain about kids staying free at an all-inclusive.
The Kids Stay Free/Winter Escape deal is good for stays from May 1 through June 25 and again from August 28 through December 23. When booking online, look for the Winter Escape heading over rates, or mention the Kids Stay Free/Winter Escape deal when calling 866/237-3267.
 Looking for an easy trip to Mexico? Pueblo Bonito Oceanfront Resorts and Spas is offering a string of Spring Specials at all six of its Los Cabos or Mazatlan resorts—mostly "3rd night free" deals.
While some of the resorts are more grown-up-geared (or even adults-only), we were intrigued by the special offer promising up to 40% off at Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach, which seems to be the most kid-friendly of the bunch. The 324-room resort is cut into a hillside and offers three pools (including a kids’ pool with sandy-beach entry), a kids club, spa and beach access (though it's a non-swimming beach). The special offer includes:
- Airfare for four to Los Cabos on Alaska Airlines ($266/person if booked on Orbitz)
- Lodging for two adults and two kids under 12 in a junior suite (published rate is $260/night)
When we test-booked the special offer for a
three-night stay in April, departing from Southern California, the
package rate came to $1,951. But the Pueblo Bonito website didn't break down
prices for hotel and airfare, so it was impossible to know where—or if—there were savings. To get around that, we test-booked hotel-only rates for the same dates, and found a rate of $195—which is 25% off the published “rack rate” of $260. We can assume that the airfare portion of this package came to at least $300 per person.
Next, we shopped around independently to find the best prices for the air and hotel components, with mixed results. On Kayak.com, for example, we found a rate of $265 a night for the hotel ($5 more than the rack rate), or $957 for three nights after taxes and fees. Meanwhile, on Orbitz we
found four roundtrip tickets from San Diego on Alaska Airlines for $266
apiece, which came to $1,064. The total for this vacation when booked independently came to $2,021—$70 more than Pueblo Bonito’s special offer.
But keep in mind that if you paid the $260-a-night rack rate at
this hotel and booked your
airfare through Orbitz, you could get this three-night vacation for $2,104. So the air+hotel special offer saves you only $153, or a measly 7%.
The best deal of all came when we paired the hotel's room-only rate of $195 a night with airfare from Orbitz. With that combination, the vacation price came down to $1,649. That's more than $300 cheaper than the package rate!
Deal or no deal? Don't pack your sunscreen just yet. The package didn't come anywhere near a 40% savings in our test. This is a reminder to always do your own own test-booking on any package that includes airfare, just to make sure you're really getting the best deal from your home airport.
The spring specials are good through May 31. You can book online from either the specials page or the main reservations page on Pueblo Bonito's website. If booking by phone, call 888/205-3315 and ask for the Spring Specials for either air+hotel or hotel alone.
 This winter is turning out to be a great time for a weekend getaway, thanks to big sales at two of the largest hotel chains. Last week we posted about Hilton's mega January sale, which offers winter weekend savings of up to 33% across its chains.
Now Marriott has stepped up to the plate with a Global Rate Break promo that lets you save 20% on
weekend rates stay at many of its hotels—and claims to up the ante to a 40% discount at a few resorts. The deal applies to various Marriott, JW Marriott,
Renaissance, Courtyard, Fairfield, SpringHill, Residence Inn, and TownPlace
Suites hotels all over the world.
We checked rates at several properties and found that, indeed, the deal typically delivers a 20% price cut. At
Desert Springs,
the JW Marriott in the Palm Springs area with requisite pool, lawn games and kids club, we found rates of $327 a night for a room with two beds and a
balcony—down from the desert’s high season rate of $409. In Hawaii, the deal offered up the Kauai Marriott
for just $194 a night, down from $240.
But don’t get your hopes too high on the 40%-off lure that's said to be available at select resorts in the Caribbean, Latin America and
Hawaii. When we test-booked a stay at a handful of properties for a February weekend getaway, we couldn’t find any availability at the 40%-off rate. More commonly, we found that this deal led to a 20% discount.
The sale applies to weekend stays (Thursday to Sunday), and some hotels require a two-night minimum. You must book by
January 22 and complete your stay by March 21. Use promo code F5X when
booking online.
 For
families looking for a resort that delivers a relaxed yet active
vacation, Club Med delivers a lot: all-inclusive pricing,
good food, super kids' programming (including, at some properties, cooking classes and a
circus school with trapeze workshops), and an impressive array of
family activities. (See our reviews of Club Med's Sandpiper, Cancún Yucatán, and Ixtapa Pacific properties.)
Here's even more good news: Club Med has launched a "kids stay free"
deal that lets families save plenty of moolah. When you book a
seven-night stay at any of Club Med's five family villages, one child
15 and under can stay free for every paying adult. Depending on which
property you choose, this deal can shave anywhere from $2,800 to $5,700
off your bill! To take advantage of this offer, book by March 1 and travel before October 29. As always, there are some restrictions and blackout dates.
 If your idea of a great January sale is less about linens and
more about getting away and having someone else handle the bedding, there’s a hotel chain promotion you will want to know about. The Hilton Worldwide
January Sale offers savings on weekend getaways (Friday to Sunday nights) of up to 33% at participating properties in North, South, and Central America, as well as in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. The savings differ from
brand to brand, but you can expect 15% off at Embassy Suites; 20% off at Hilton Garden Inn,
Hampton Inn, and Homewood Suites; and 33% off at Hilton and Doubletree properties. The discount
is applied to the “best available rate” or "best available bed and breakfast rate," depending on the property.
This sale delivers tons of weekend destination options
for traveling families. Want a city break? Consider Hilton properties in San Diego (the Hilton San Diego Resort & Spa is just one mile
from SeaWorld), Boston’s
super-convenient Back Bay neighborhood, or the family-friendly Doubletree Guest Suites in Washington DC.
Hoping to escape the cold? At the Hilton Longboat Key Beachfront Resort, the January Sale offers nightly rates starting at $288 for a double room on February weekend. By comparison, the resort's best available bed-and-breakfast rate for that stay is $429 per night—which does indeed translate to 33% off your bill.
You must book before January 31, but you can travel anytime before December 26. As always, there are some blackout dates and other restrictions. The sale rates are
pre-payable and non-refundable, so you should be confident of your travel dates before booking.
 The only thing that tops a chain-wide sale? How about a chain of chains sale? Starwood Hotels and Resorts—which includes brands such as Westin, Sheraton, St. Regis and W hotels—is offering up to 50% off at hundreds of its resorts around the world. The rates are striking: sometimes as low as $79 or even $59 a night, depending on location. For banner US destinations, we typically found nightly rates of $99 and up. Sometimes the price breaks are kind of slim—like a $159 rate at the Walt Disney Swan in Orlando (a Westin), where regular rates can start as low as $189, so the deal works out to a 16% savings. But at other properties the savings can be whopping. Take the Sheraton Hotel Gunter in San Antonio, across the street from the famed Riverwalk, where the deal's $99 rate is a steal compared to the $265 we found for regular rates during the spring.
Compare prices and dates at various properties carefully. Plenty of hotels have blackout dates. At some hotels, this deal is only available through January 18, while other hotels are keeping it on the table for stays as late as April 25.
To get this deal, you must book by November 10. Use the promo code LTNOVN when booking online, or mention the deal when calling 888/625-5144. Rates are pre-paid and non-refundable.
 Little more than a decade ago, taking a Disney vacation meant heading to a theme park in Orlando, Anaheim or Paris. But nowadays, the company that Walt built can show you the world. You can sail with Disney Cruise Line to Alaska, the Bahamas, Europe or even the Panama Canal. Or take a VIP-style guided tour of the American Southwest, Europe, China, or Costa Rica with Adventures by Disney, all-inclusive vacations known for delivering one-of-a-kind experiences such as zipling through a Costa Rican jungle, pizza-making at a family-owned farm in Italy, or going backstage at Disney's The Lion King in London.
Right now, families have an exceptional opportunity to snag two premium Disney vacations for the price of one. Book a tour to one of Adventures by Disney's most
popular destinations and you'll receive a free three-night Disney Cruise to the Bahamas in an oceanview cabin. To take advantage of the offer, you need to book by January 15, 2010, and take your Adventures by Disney tour by October 2, 2010. You can take your cruise between January, 2010, and December 15, 2011.
More on Disney Cruise Line:
Disney 3-night Cruise to the Bahamas
 Looking
for a luxurious fall getaway at a bargain price? Here's a reminder that one of the most
stellar deals we've seen this year is still on the table. A few months ago, we told you about the One,Two,Three,Four promotion at the very swish Four Seasons Resort Punta Mita, located in a 26-acre private peninsula community less than an hour from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. For every four nights you stay, you'll receive a whopping $1,234 resort credit that can be applied toward any charge you incur, including your room—which you don't see very often with deals like this.
Nightly rates for a garden-view casita start at $545 for
stays through December 21. So while you'd normally pay at least $2,180 for a four-night stay in November, for example, you can apply the resort credit and chop your
pricetag down to just $946. Wow! It's like getting three nights free and it brings the per-night rate down to just $236.50. Looking
for a longer vacation? If you stay four more nights, you'll get another resort
credit—so your eight-night stay would cost under $1,900. The deal is valid every day of the week. The blackout dates are November 19 to 27.
 Waiting for a good deal on a family cruise? Consider Norwegian Cruise Line, whose NOW sale
runs through Friday, September 18. The sale offers ballpark savings of about 20% off regular rates on three- to 29-day sailings through April 30, 2010. Sample pricing includes:
- 7-day Hawaii interisland cruise on Pride of America, roundtrip from Honolulu, starting at $799 per person (regularly $999)
- 4-day Bahamas sailing on Norwegian Sky roundtrip from Miami from $159 (regularly $199)
- 7-day Bermuda sailing on Norwegian Dawn roundtrip from New York from $499 (regularly $579)
Those are decent savings, but the best—and most family-friendly— part of this sale kicks in when you bring not only the kids but grandparents or other friends or family members. The NOW sale offers discounts of as much as 60% for the third through eighth berths. For instance, Grandma can sail to the
Bahamas for $99 (down from an already great starting rate of $129), the Caribbean
from $129 (down from $319) or
Europe from $299 (down from $499).
The NOW sale also chops the required deposit in half and gives you up to $250 in onboard spending credit, which can be used for shore excursions, spa treatments, fitness
classes, or even gift-shop purchases or casino chips. The amount of your credit is based on the length of your
cruise and cabin category. (Reality check: With an inside stateroom on an itinerary
of five days or less, you might get only $15.)
Book online or call 866/234-7350 and use promo code PGNOW. The sale does not apply to one- or two-day sailings.
 If a Club Med vacation is high on your wish list, we've got some great news. The family-friendly chain has brought back its ever-popular 7-day Weekend deal and it's a doozy: You get seven-count-'em-seven all-inclusive nights for the price of three. Weeklong all-inclusive packages start at $799 per adult with a 50% discount for kids 2 to 15 years. You can choose between Club Med's six family villages, including three that
we've reviewed:
Club Med Sandpiper, in Port St. Lucie, Florida
Club Med Cancún Yucatán, in Cancún, Mexico
Club Med Ixtapa Pacific, on Mexico's Pacific coast
Known for their stunning beach locations, award-winning kids’ programs, and huge roster of active land and water diversions, Club Med resorts are a popular choice for families. Parents love the brand's all-inclusive pricing, which
bundles virtually all costs—lodging, meals, snacks, non-alcoholic
beverages, plus most activities—into a tidy rate with no surprises.
To take advantage of this deal, you need to book by October 31 but can travel anytime before April 30, 2010.
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