New York luxury hotel deals

Nowhere is the effect of the economic downturn more dramatic than in New York City, ground zero of the collapse of the credit bubble. With properties struggling to fill rooms, even luxury hotels are offering free nights and room upgrades to attract business and leisure travelers.

Here are some notable New York luxury hotel deals. Note that they are subject to availability. Most of these values are good through March 31, 2009.

Four Seasons New York — third night free

Peninsula New York — third night free (pictured above)

Gramercy Park Hotel — third night free for Deluxe, Loft, and Suite categories along with all the Virtuoso amenities including a 10% discount off the best available rate. Good until March 31, 2009; book by Dec. 30th.

The St. Regis New York — second night for $4. Book one night in a 1 BR Madison, St. Regis, Fifth Avenue, or Grand Suite at Rack rate; pay just $4 for the second night (the price of a room at the St. Regis in 1904).

W New York Union Square — third night free (Thursday - Sunday travel)


These values are typically available with the Virtuoso amenities, including complimentary daily breakfasts for two. Consult with your Virtuoso travel advisor for complete details and to take advantage of these unprecedented values at New York luxury hotels.

New York luxury hotel deals (search here on Google)


copyright (c) 2008 by David J. Ourisman. All rights reserved. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.
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travel research: a pain in the neck?

If you're reading this blog, you know what I'm talking about. Researching travel possibilities on the internet is a pain in the neck. Literally.

Some of us become unaware of the passing of time on the internet. Surfing to the travel sites we've bookmarked, entering trip data into multiple booking engines, taking notes, comparing prices, searching google for better deals, reading hotel reviews, posting questions on forums... it's a time consuming process. Before you know it, hours have passed. Everyone else in the house has long since gone to bed. And you'll have to watch your favorite shows later on TiVo, alone.

If this describes you ... and you've been suffering from headaches, backaches, shoulder aches, and wrist pain ... your physical pain probably is the result of RSI (repetitive stress injury) due to the hours you spend in front of your computer. Travel research on the internet can be a pain in the neck. Literally.


There's a simple solution (besides getting a life), a small software program called Imaginaire. Install the program, and it pops up every 45 minutes and prompts you to do specific stretching exercises for about a minute. It's rather ingenious. An animated cartoon figure actually demonstrates the recommended exercises (and text describes the exercises in written form). Each 45 minutes, you're prompted to do a different set of "desktop stretches."

Imaginaire works! I recently installed a 30-day free trial, and my headaches, shoulder aches, back aches, and wrist pain seem to be a thing of the past.

You can download a free trial version at this site. Try it for 30 days. If it helps you, the program costs just $25, a genuine bargain! Imaginaire works on PC's (or on Intel Macs running Parallels, BootCamp, etc., which is how I use it).


copyright (c) 2007 by David J. Ourisman. All rights reserved. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.
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