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Los Angeles
What’s Your Santa Monica Hotel Style?
Los Angeles is such a sprawling patchwork of neighborhoods – from haute Beverly Hills to shabby-chic Venice Beach – that choosing where to stay during a leisure visit can be a bit perplexing. I like to suggest that couples consider Santa Monica, a beachside community that offers a bit of everything, from eclectic dining (such as The Misfit for a terrific small-plate menu and neighborhood happy hour ambiance) and shopping (along the pedestrian-only Third Street Promenade and in the new Santa Monica Place mall with its rooftop dining deck) to walking/jogging/biking (on the paved beachfront path that runs to neighboring Venice Beach) and even kitschy fun on the world’s only solar-powered Ferris wheel (at Pacific Park atop the historic Santa Monica Pier, shown above at left). Plus, the sunsets from the cliff-top park that spans Ocean Avenue are always spectacular. I recently toured four hotels in Santa Monica, each offering a very different style and all worthy of a stay during your next visit.
Introducing ShermansTravel Local Deals Los Angeles
Our ShermansTravel Local Deals have been hooking up New York City with incredible experiences like perk-filled theater nights, insider tours, spa days, and wine tastings – all at 50 to 80 percent off. This week, we are excited to expand the sweet local savings to Los Angeles.
The first amazing LA offer entitles you to a 90-minute cooking presentation at Rise restaurant with chefs who have created culinary delights on shows like Jimmy Kimmel Live and Dancing with the Stars.
Chefs start the class with an explanation of the menu and a demonstration of the key techniques before sending attendees off to their work stations.
Menus change weekly, but you’ll learn to prepare a mouth-watering four-course meal including dishes like crab cakes with honey Dijon or ginger soy steak roulades. You’ll also mix a colorful cocktail like fresh-ginger-cucumber martini to pair with your meal.
Of course, you’ll get to savor every bite and sip of your creations at the end of class!
JetBlue Teams Up With Hawaiian Airlines for Easy East Coast Access to Hawaii
JetBlue and Hawaiian Airlines have announced a partnership that’s primed to make travel to the Aloha State easier than ever before, particularly for East Coast travelers. The newly inked arrangement will allow for seamless daily connections between flights out of New York City (via JetBlue’s JFK hub) and into Honolulu (on Hawaiian Airlines), allowing customers to book single tickets that combine travel on the two carriers.
The new partnership will be featured on Hawaiian Airlines’ soon-to-launch flights (on June 5, precisely) between New York City and Honolulu (where continuing connections are additionally available to Kauai, Maui, or Hawaii Island), on what will be the only nonstop offering on that particular itinerary (advertised rates start at $431 each way). Or, customers can book travel immediately via Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), where JetBlue operates, and Hawaiian Airlines currently offers multiple daily departures to Hawaii (rates start at $339 each way). Plus, the airlines have agreed to allow for reciprocal frequent flyer benefits between the two carriers. Read more
No Kids In School? Save On Fall Travel
When Labor Day passes, those of us with school-age kids observe a moment of silence to mourn the end of family vacationing until the winter holidays roll around. For those of us who don’t yet have or no longer have children in school, the passing of Labor Day means the time for a family vacation is now.
“Fall’s most reliable and notable trend is the drop in prices post Labor Day,” says Genevieve Shaw Brown, editorial director at Travelocity. “It’s a more affordable time for a family to take a vacation than the summer months.” For families and other bargain-hunting travelers, it’s a shoulder season “when prices are lower, crowds are fewer, and the weather is still agreeable,” she says.
$189+: JW Marriott L.A. Live, Plus Activities, Food and Drink Discount
For the remaining few weeks of the JW Marriott L.A. Live’s “I Love L.A. Live” package, the hotel has decided to slice an additional 15 percent off the already 15 percent off prices. That brings room rates in the downtown Los Angeles complex to just $189 on weekends (unfortunately, weekday rates start at $299). The deal comes with a slew of extras, including discounts at four on-site restaurants and bars, freebie attraction admission, and complimentary overnight parking.
THE VALUE: This package brings room rates down to as little as $189 on weekends ($299 on weekdays), but it’s the add-ons that make it a money-saver: Score free overnight parking ($40), a pair of tickets to two select L.A. LIVE attractions (choose from the GRAMMY Museum, $26; bowling and shoe rental at Lucky Strike, $33; movie tickets at Regal Cinemas, $26; or ESPN Zone Game Cards, $10), and 10 percent off food and drinks at the hotel’s four restaurants and bars.
THE CATCH: Hurry! The deal is only valid through September 9.
THE DETAILS: Visit the L.A. Live Marriott site and enter code L9Z to book.
WE’VE GOT MORE: See our Los Angeles Travel Guide for more trip-planning information, then use our Travel Search price comparison tool to find the lowest rates on flights, hotels, packages, and more deals.
$199+: Los Angeles’ Portofino Hotel & Yacht Club, Plus Dining Credit
Combine the glitz of Hollywood and the lure of the Pacific Ocean into one vacation at Portofino Hotel & Yacht Club, Los Angeles’ only waterfront hotel. The 161-room Redondo Beach property claims partial and panoramic views of the water in select rooms, and now through October 31 those very quarters are 25 percent off, bringing rates to just $199/night. On-site, guests may take in the view via three-story windows in the Living Room Lounge or retreat to the waterside restaurant, BALEENlosangeles, where locally focused New American cuisine and expertly mixed cocktails await.
THE VALUE: All ocean view rooms are discounted 25 percent, plus guests receive a $25 dining credit to spend at BALEENlosangeles.
THE CATCH: Blackout dates apply.
THE DETAILS: Visit the Portofino Hotel sale page to book.
WE’VE GOT MORE: See our Los Angeles Travel Guide for more trip-planning information, then use our Travel Search price comparison tool to find the lowest rates on flights, packages, and more travel deals.
$49+: Virgin America Summer & Fall Flight Sale
Fly across the country or escape somewhere nearby with this nationwide (plus Cancun) Virgin America flight sale. Book by July 29 and travel August 16 through November 16. Cross-country fares in this sale are going for as low as $139, one-way.
Sample One-Way Fares:
• San Francisco – Las Vegas: $49
• Seattle – San Francisco: $79
• Dallas-Fort Worth – Los Angeles: $99
• Chicago – San Francisco: $109
• New York – Los Angeles: $139
• Cancun – San Francisco: $169
• And more!
THE VALUE: These fares can save you over $100 each way!
THE CATCH: Taxes and fees are not included.
THE DETAILS: To book your flight, visit Virgin America
WE’VE GOT MORE: Use our Travel Search price comparison tool to find great rates on hotels in your destination city!
Not sure where to go? Look to our Travel Guides for some inspiration.
Save 40.5 Percent on Last-Minute, LA-Based JetBlue Flights
JetBlue’s Over the 405 sale – with tickets from Long Beach to Burbank priced at just $4 and $5 – sold out yesterday within hours of its announcement. But if you missed it, fear not – the airline has concocted another way to flee L.A.’s impending Carmageddon.
Book flights from Long Beach, Burbank, or LAX this weekend to anywhere JetBlue flies, and the airline will slash, appropriately, 40.5 percent off the ticket price (not including taxes).
We think a shut-down expressway is as a valid an excuse as any to embark on a spontaneous trip, but keep in mind that though the discount is generous, the markdown is off of pricier last-minute fares.
Outsmart Los Angeles’ Carmageddon, Fly JetBlue for $4 and $5
Los Angeles residents are bracing for this weekend’s “Carmageddon,” when 10 miles of the city’s notorious 405 freeway will close for construction and leave many Angelenos stranded in their own pockets of town.
Solutions to the madness are many: Adventure Helicopters is hosting VIP tours above the freeway for $400; the same company is selling shared helicopter rides from Westside to the Valley for $150 one-way ($275 round-trip); and the SLS Beverly Hills is offering a 405 Staycation Package for $405/night (a $95 savings), complete with free valet parking, so you don’t have to think about your car at all.
You could also take the bus or subway, since Los Angeles County transit authority is waiving fares for the weekend, but for those residents who refuse to do so, JetBlue has a pretty economical solution: Fly across town! The budget airline is selling flights between Burbank and Long Beach (and above the 405) for a measly $4 and $5 each way – about what you’d pay for one gallon of gas.
Top Spa Treatments at Los Angeles’ Ritz-Carlton and Casa del Mar
If you’re looking for celebrity-style spa treatments paired with seamless Hollywood hospitality, here are two havens, from the beach to the city streets, that are sure to spoil upon arrival.
For the City Slicker: The Ritz-Carlton at L.A. Live
A recent renaissance in downtown L.A. caused an urban revival that’s left the area pulsating with award winning restaurants, classic cocktail bars, and hip hotels. The Ritz-Carlton, the first luxury hotel of its caliber in downtown L.A., plays a prominent role in the revival and in L.A.’s urban, iconic landscape.
Check in to one of the Ritz’s 123 well-appointed guestrooms, one of its 14 suites, or even its 3,000-square-foot Ritz-Carlton Suite. Jet set your way to the Club Lounge with views of the beach, city streets, and Hollywood Hills. It looks like a first class airport lounge with service so sublime, you’ll find yourself requesting a pillow to park it for the night. Do manage to mosey on so you can sip a signature cocktail in a cabana at the rooftop pool bar or make a resto reso at WP24, Puck’s place, where the duck is world-renowned.
