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 Dreaming of sun on your shoulders and sand between your toes? One lucky family will win a 3-night getaway at TradeWinds Island Grand Resort on the barrier island of St. Pete Beach in Tampa Bay, Florida. With 360 days of sunshine a year, warm Gulf breezes, and award-winning
beaches, you are virtually guaranteed idyllic conditions no matter when you visit. The prize
includes accommodations in a tropical-view suite, $100 in resort credit to spend on activities, and one
breakfast for the whole family at Bermudas Restaurant.
 Set on 20 lushly landscaped acres along
a spectacular seven-mile stretch of beach, the resort offers a wide array of fun
activities for the whole family. Take your pick of five heated pools,
explore the grounds by paddleboat along a meandering river, or head to the
white-sand beach for water sports and a ride down a giant inflatable
waterslide. You can play tennis, have a round of mini golf, take in a
dive-in movie, or simply kick back in a cabana or hammock and sip your
umbrella drink. Then let the kids play at the supervised KONK Club while you
enjoy a massage or a romantic dinner.
For a chance to win a beach escape at TradeWinds Island Grand Resort for your
family, just fill out the form on the giveaway page. You can enter once a day through March 16, 2010. Good luck!
 Need a
rental car for Presidents' Day weekend—or any other weekend through May? Enterprise Rent-A-Car is running a 50%-Off Special for weekend rentals through May 21. The deal applies to three- to five-day rentals and on cars ranging from economy to full size—though alas, no super-kid-friendly SUVs or minivans. The only real drawback we see is that the deal doesn’t apply to any airport locations.
When we checked in San Diego, the deal was available at most area locations, including tourist-friendly Old Town. And it's hard to argue with the savings. For the upcoming Presidents' Day weekend, a full-size car was going for a regular rate of $43 a day at one of San Diego’s downtown
locations,
but only $20 a day in Old Town, a short trolley ride away.
To book the deal, start on the specials page, punch in your city and dates, and look for the
orange “special” button next to participating locations. The discount is good
through May 21, and doesn’t apply to charges such as taxes or the damage
waiver.
 Old Man Winter? Brrrring it, baby! Our latest giveaway is all about embracing the chilly season and all the fun that comes with it. One lucky family will win an all-inclusive three-night stay at Skytop Lodge in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains, an historic and grand resort that's been welcoming families since 1928. The prize includes deluxe accommodations, three meals a day, plus as
much winter wonderland as your family can handle—unlimited downhill skiing,
snowboarding, ice skating, sledding, snowshoeing, tobogganing, and a
dogsledding excursion for the whole family! Rental equipment for each
activity is also included.
 Named one of the “Best Resorts for Family Reunions” by TravelandLeisure.com, Skytop Lodge is a destination resort offering something for every member of the family.
For a chance to win a winter escape at Skytop Lodge for your
family, just fill out the form on the giveaway page. You can enter once a day through February 15, 2010. Good luck!
 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.
 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.
 We know how much our readers love our fabulous giveaways, and our latest prize is a doozy. One lucky family will win a four-night stay at the one and only Nickelodeon Suites Resort in Orlando, Florida (see our review), where families are guaranteed the slime of their lives.
The Nick Hotel
features two water parks with heated pools, 13 slides and flumes,
interactive water towers, poolside games and activities, private
cabanas, and daily poolside shows featuring Nick’s famous green slime. Guests can experience the high energy of nightly shows in
the million-dollar Studio Nick, get a temporary tattoo at the Kid’s
Spa, catch a film at the 4-D Experience theater, play video games in
the arcade, enjoy arts and crafts in the Nick Workshop, and attend
themed parties. The resort also features The Mall, with its two
restaurants, food court, convenience store and souvenir shop. Kids can
meet favorite Nickelodeon characters like SpongeBob SquarePants and
Dora the Explorer at the daily character breakfast in Nicktoons Café.
For a chance to win a getaway at the Nick Hotel for your
family, just fill out the form on the giveaway page. You can enter once a day through
January 11, 2010. Good luck!
 We’re thrilled to join forces again with other travel bloggers in the second annual Passports with Purpose fundraiser, an online raffle to raise funds for charitable organizations around the world. This year, 100% of the proceeds will help support American
Assistance for Cambodia (AAfC), an independent, nonprofit organization
dedicated to improving opportunities for the youth and rural poor in Cambodia. With your help, we can meet our $13,000 goal and build a school for underprivileged kids!
Here’s how it works: Each participating blogger is providing a different raffle prize. To see all the offerings, head to the Passports with Purpose web site. Make a $10 donation, and you'll be entered into a raffle for the prize of your choice. Donate $20 and you'll get two chances to win. The raffle takes place on December 21. Winners will be notified via e-mail on
January 5, 2010.
 This year, WeJustGotBack.com is offering a $100 gift certificate to Tots on-the-Go, an online shop stocked with all kinds of products
to make your your load lighter and your travels with babies, toddlers, and pre-schoolers a whole lot easier. If you’ve got little kids,
you know how much schlepping and lugging and lifting it takes to get from point A to point B. Trust us: Picking the right equipment will make your travels ten times easier. The $100 gift certificate can be used toward any of the company's products and services (but can only be shipped to U.S. addresses). Here are a few of our favorites:
 The FlyeBaby is a portable,
hammock-style, fabric seat that creates a comfortable, secure place to put your
baby at home, on an airplane, at a restaurant, at the beach or pool. In other words, you'll use it over and over on your getaways. Best of all, it folds up and easily fits in a
diaper bag.
 The CARES aviation safety
harness is a bestseller at Tots on-the-Go. Instead of hauling a bulky car seat on the plane, pack this one-pound, belt-and-buckle
device. It provides kids who weigh between 22 and 44 pounds the same level of safety as a car seat, and it's certified by the FAA. Just fasten it to the airplane seat belt and you're good to go.
 The Líllébaby EveryWear is a lightweight, comfortable child carrier that offers fantastic flexibility in how you carry your child: front outward facing, front inward
facing, hip, or back. The best part? You can use it for a few years, since it accommodates kids from newborn to toddler.
Instead of lugging your bulky baby gear your next trip, consider
renting from Tots on-the-Go’s Tots Travel Rentals. The company will ship whatever you need—including crib, stroller, car seat, or high chair—nationwide to your
destination, or deliver to select areas on the East coast, including vacation
spots Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head.
We urge you to check out all the great raffle prizes at Passports with Purpose, be generous, and good luck!
 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.
 Want to get closer to family during the holidays, without being stacked like logs in the guest room? Homewood Suites, a division of Hilton, is offering a Homewood
for the Holidays deal that slices 15% off weekend rates from November 1 through January 30, 2010. In these days of deep discounts,
15% might not usually get our attention, but Homewood is also sweetening the pot with a giveaway: weekend guests are automatically entered for a chance to win a $1,000 Visa gift card.
Homewood offers a lot for families to love. With 280 locations across the US, there’s a good chance of finding one near
your in-laws. Plus, these suites come
equipped with full kitchen, complimentary breakfasts, separate sleeping areas
and on-site perks such as pools, grills, laundry rooms, and recreational options such as half basketball courts.
The chain even offers free grocery delivery.
The discount is applied to the Best Available Rate and requires a two-night minimum between
Thursday and Sunday. Check the "Homewood for the Holidays" box on the reservations
web page or call 800/225-5466 and ask for the deal.
More on holiday travel:
No-Stress Thanksgiving Getaways
Holiday Travel with Kids
Family Getaways for Christmas
 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
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