Holiday Inn Resorts Winter Stay free night offer

Holiday Inn Resort stays of two nights or more from November 23-February 28, 2013 can earn a free night for a future two-night Holiday Inn Resort stay. This is a typically confusingly detailed fine print offer from InterContinental Hotels Group, but I see good potential for a traveler wanting a discount resort stay.

When

Stay anytime between November 23 and February 28, 2013.

What

Register for the promotion and stay two consecutive nights at a qualifying rate at any Holiday Inn Resort location and receive a certificate for a free night during your next stay, valid for one year. Offer only valid on first stay during promotional period and can only be used one time.

Participating Holiday Inn Resorts

• Holiday Inn® Waikiki Beachcomber Resort, Hawaii
• Holiday Inn Resort® Aruba
• Holiday Inn Resort Los Cabos All Inclusive, Mexico
• Holiday Inn Resort Acapulco, Mexico
• Holiday Inn Resort Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
• Holiday Inn Resort Castle Ineternational Drive, Orlando, Florida
• Holiday Inn Resort Daytona Beach Oceanfront, Florida
• Holiday Inn Resort Fort Walton Beach, Florida
• Holiday Inn Resort Lake Buena Vista, Florida
• Holiday Inn Resort Panama City Beach, Florida
• Holiday Inn Resort Pensacola Beach Gulf Front, Florida
• Holiday Inn Resort Wilmington E-Wrightsville Beach, NC
• Holiday Inn Resort Lake George-Turf, Lake George, NY
• The Lodge at Eagle Crest, a Holiday Inn Resort, Oregon
• The Lodge at Running Y Ranch, a Holiday Inn Resort, Klamath Falls, Oregon
• The Beach House, a Holiday Inn Resort, Hilton Head, SC
• Holiday Inn Resort Galveston-On the Beach, Texas

There are a load of detailed terms and conditions for this offer. Pay close attention if Hawaii is in your plans.

Terms and Conditions

1. Offer is open to legal residents of the 50 U.S., including DC.
2. You must register your Priority Club® Rewards Number in advance of your two night stay at www.holidayinnresorts.com/freenight and your stay must be completed between November 23, 2012 and February 28, 2013 to be eligible for free night Award. If you are not already a Priority Club Rewards member you may join for free at www.priorityclub.com. A stay is defined as two consecutive nights at the same hotel, regardless of frequency of check-in/out. A stay is qualified when paying qualifying rates, which include most business and leisure rates. Qualifying Room Rates do not include the following reduced room rates: net wholesale individual and group rate, certain package rates, employee discount rate, friends and family rate, crew rate, special discounted contract rates, seasonal worker/crew rate, 50% travel club discount rate, travel industry discount rate, distressed passenger rate, Priority Club Reward Nights/Airline Hotel Reward rate, complimentary hotel stays and any other rates not defined as a Qualifying Room Rate. Also excluded are opaque rates and “name your own price” rates (where hotel name, location and/or rate not visible until after booking is submitted).
3. You must claim your Winter Break Promotion Award (“Award”) online within 30 days of receipt of the Award email at www.activateaward.combefore using it (“Award Registration”). Only the person who initially received the Award can claim it and redeem it and must be the traveler. A toll free number to make Award travel reservations will be provided upon Award Registration. Award travel reservations must be made through this number.
4. Award travel must be completed within one (1) year of Award Registration.
5. Questions regarding the promotion may be emailed to support@otbterms.com
6. Your Award may be redeemed for a single free hotel night at any Holiday Inn Resort location in North America, excluding the Waikiki Beachcomber, up to a maximum value of $400. For a list of eligible resorts visit: www.HolidayInnResorts.com. If you stay at the Waikiki Beachcomer property for two (2) consecutive nights, you will be eligible for two (2) free nights, up to a maximum value of $600, for redemption for another stay at the Waikiki Beachcomer property, using the same process as described herein.
7. Stays to utilize the Award must be a minimum of two consecutive nights,and the Award’s value will be used to cover the cost of the night(s) with the lowest cost. The Award’s value will be applied to a standard room. If you wish to stay in a higher category room you may apply the Award’s value to that room’s cost by paying the difference in rate.
8. Awards redeemed for stays in Hawaii require the purchase of airfare to Hawaii.Airfare and the hotel nights must be booked at the same time.
9. Room inventory is subject to the availability of IHG’s Advance Purchase Rate. Blackout dates may apply.
10. Full payment of any amount beyond the value covered by the Award must be made at the time of booking using a major credit card.
11. All Award travel must be booked through ATG (CST# 2001330-10 and Florida Seller of Travel Registration #35395, and Nevada Seller of Travel Registration No. 240000054), using the toll-free phone number provided upon Award Registration.
12. Travel must be booked at least 45 days in advance of departure.
13. The office that will book your travel is open from 8:30AM to 5:00PM (Pacific Time) Monday through Friday, and closed on holidays. Please consider the hours of operation when booking your travel. You may need to call more than 45 days in advance of departure to reach an agent during business hours.
14. This offer is subject to the availability of hotel and airline inventory at the time of reservation, so the farther in advance you can make your travel plans the easier it will be to accommodate your specific preferences.
15. Travelers are subject to all rules and regulations of the issuing airline and/or hotel property, including but not limited to refunds, exchanges, cancellations or changes of itinerary. The names of the travelers cannot be changed. Changes or cancellations to the original booking may be subject to additional fees charged by the airline or hotel. Changes and/or cancellations to the original booking must be made through ATG. If changes are made directly with the hotel or airline, the Award will be voided and the discount may be charged back to the purchaser’s credit card.
16. Only one Award can be redeemed per trip. This Award cannot be combined with any other promotional program.
17. ATG has no control over schedule changes, cancelled or oversold flights. Remedies for these situations are at the discretion of the validating carrier and subject to federal regulations.
18. ATG has final authority on all ticketing, pricing, and availability decisions.
19. Only one award may be redeemed per trip per household. Multiple awards may not be used for guests in the same party.
20. Terms and conditions are subject to change. For complete, up-to-date information, please go to www.holidayinnresorts.com/freenight

Rate Analysis

The opportunity here is to stay at a low priced resort this winter to earn the free night and then stay at a high-priced resort when you redeem the free night within one year.

Holiday Inn Resort The Lodge at Running Y Ranch outside Klamath Falls, Oregon has rooms in January 2013 as low as $79 per night. A one bedroom suite with the preferred view of the golf course is only $112 per night.

Total cost for 2-night stay in a suite = $255 after tax.

The free night credit is good for up to $400 on a future two-night Holiday Inn Resort stay within one year of activating your free night credit.

Holiday Inn Resort Lake George Turf, New York

July 12-14, 2013

Standard Room = $245.33 per night.

2-Queen Bed, Balcony, Lakeview Suite = $345.65 per night.

The free night covers the advance purchase rate for a standard room. The terms allow a room upgrade when you pay the difference from the standard room rate.

You can stay 2 nights in a standard room, get one night free and pay $245.33 for the second night. Free Night Savings = $245.33.

Or you can stay in a Lakeview Suite, pay $100 for the first night and $345.65 for the second night. Pay $445 and save $245.33 on this stay.

Either way the amount saved on the free night hotel stay covers the cost of the qualifying stay at a low cost winter resort hotel like The Lodge at Running Y Ranch.

This is just one example of how you can have two resort hotel stays for the price of one stay with this Holiday Inn Resorts promotion.

Florida, Mexico and Aruba provide other opportunities for savings.

http://www.priorityclub.com/hotels/us/en/global/offers/hir_winterretreat/