42 million people have yet to start their holiday shopping. With only four days left until Christmas, shoppers are quickly running out of time to find that “perfect gift” at the right price, so for unique gift ideas from racing sofas to playing paintball with real tanks, take a moment to listen to some of the great gift ideas available at BestTravelDeals!

Hyatt will offer 30 percent off the chain’s posted daily rate at participating Hyatt and Park Hyatt hotels in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. When you use code LTO110, you can book at the 30 percent off rate for stays through February 28. The Black Friday rates are nonrefundable and must be paid at the time of reservation.

Lots of great deals in and around Manchester, NH today, Black Friday Package at The Country Inn & Suites By Carlson, Manchester Airport is offering accommodations in a one-bedroom suite with one king or two queen beds, $50.00 gift card to Bugaboo Creek Steakhouse, as well as shuttle service to the Mall of New Hampshire and a Welcome gift bag.

The Highlander Inn is offering its “Black Friday Shopping Frenzy Package” for $109.99 which includes free shuttle service to and from the Mall of N.H. Guests will receive a Black Friday Sales and Coupon Booklet for the Mall of N.H. stores.

Black Friday Package at The Best Western Executive Court Inn in Manchester, NH Available November 27, 2009 for 2 nights includes shuttle service to the Mall of New Hampshire, $50 gift certificate to The Yard Restaurant and a welcome bag with local maps and coupons.

Shop til You Drop in Concord, New Hampshire! , enjoy tax-free bargain hunting at Tanger Outlets in Tilton.

Hillcrest Guest House, St. John, US Virgin Islands is offering 15% off on “Black Friday”‘, which expires at midnight, Nov. 27th. Come enjoy the warm climate and pristine blue ocean waters.

Starting right now, Shell Vacations Hospitality offers Black Friday sales on their 23 resorts throughout the United States, Mexico and Canada, up to 45% off the regular price.

Black Friday Shopping Package at the Courtyard Buckhead Atlanta feature free shuttle to and from the Lenox Mall and Phipps Plaza as well as VIP Mall coupons and special mall promotions.

Relax and unwind in downtown Orlando with Mall of Millenia’s Black Friday Shopping Package, which is good through Cyber Monday.

Also good through Cyber Monday, The Courtyard by Marriott in Thousand Oaks has deluxe shopping package includes great shopping in Southern California’s Camarillo Premium Outlets.

Stress-Free Shopping Package from $139 at Renaissance Providence Hotel, just steps from Providence Place Mall, with delightful accommodations and a gift for you!

$550 Hotel Deal at the Dallas Westin. Receive a $500 Macy’s Card. For the holiday shopping season, this hotel is offering a $550 package which includes a room and $500 in gift cards for Macy’s (one per stay).

Stay and Shop at Cherry Creek Mall, spend the nights at the Fairfield Inn and Suites Denver Cherry Creek and shop in style all day long!

Be sure to check last week’s post, Black Friday East Coast Edition, before making any plans, and have a great weekend!

Whether you want to get the most out of retail’s biggest day or escape from the madness, there are plenty of travel deals available. Today’s travel podcast focuses on all the great hotel deals and sales starting now!

Black Friday is notorious for the chaos that characterizes the shopping scene at stores around the country.  Whether you want to get the most out of retail’s biggest day or escape from the madness, there are plenty of travel deals available for those who want to venture to the East Coast on November 27th.

Park Hyatt Philadelphia at the Bellevue, in Downtown Philadelphia, is offering the Black Tie Friday package.  It attempts to put a classy spin on the unofficial shoppers’ holiday.  The promotion includes a stay in the Bellevue’s luxurious accommodations on Thanksgiving night.  Guest receive a complimentary breakfast the following morning.  The hotel’s location is perfect for shoppers because the epicenter of Philadelphia’s retail scene is just a few footsteps from the front door.  The one-night-only deal costs a mere $135 when you use the code bltie during booking on the hotel’s web site (or on the phone: 1 800 778 7477)

The Country Inn & Suites Manchester Airport is offering a 2-day stay with plenty of perks: a $50 gift card to the nearby Bugaboo Creek Steakhouse and free shuttle service to the Mall of New Hampshire, where the city of Manchester is bringing the retail festivities to Northern New England with several stay-and-shop deals.  The deal launches on November 27th.  Rooms  can be booked now at the hotel’s web site.

Best Western Executive Court Inn, also in Manchester, is offering a similar package with room, shuttle service to the mall and a $50 gift certificate to the nearby Yard Restaurant.  This deal includes a shopping kit with local maps and coupons from local retailers.  The 2-night promotion starts on Black Friday and runs over the weekend.  Book at the hotel’s web site or by phone (1 877 627 25250)

Manchester’s Highlander Inn is offering a deal aimed at more serious shoppers.  The coupon book and shuttle service are still part of the package, but guests will be able to check in on the 26th and can catch shuttles to the Mall of New Hampshire as early as 4 a.m. on Black Friday.  Getting the drop on your deal-searching competitors, as well as experiencing the classy accommodations at the Highlander, will set you back only $109.99 when you book soon on the hotel’s web site.

The Tangier Outlets, near Concord, New Hampshire, will be one of the most popular venues for area shoppers on November 27th.  Concord’s Courtyard by Marriott is offering a special “Shop Till You Drop” package for $119.  The deal includes a $25 gift card for the outlet mall as well as a book of coupons.  Guests are also treated to a complimentary breakfast before departing for the shops.

Further south, the Renaissance Hotel in Providence, Rhode Island, has an offer that is designed to take the stress out of Black Friday (and the holiday shopping season in general).  The Renaissance, part of Marriott’s upscale hotel portfolio, offers a high-end experience and access more than 170 stores, all of which are located a few footsteps from the lobby.  This means that there is no need to struggle with over-crowded parking lots and traffic.  The package, which costs $139 per night, is available from November 27th until December 26th.  Each room comes with a $25 gift card to the Providence Place Mall.  Even those who don’t plan to shop will appreciate the historic surroundings and luxurious amenities of this particular Renaissance.   For more info or to book a room at the Renaissance Providence, visit the hotel’s web site or call 1 401 919 5000.

It isn’t necessary to check into a hotel in order to get the most out of Black Friday. The Shopaholics Train (a.k.a. the Atlantic City Express Service – ACES) will ferry shoppers from New Jersey to New York on November 27th. The train will depart Atlantic City at 10:02 a.m and the ride will include prizes and giveaways. All riders will receive a special shopping
tote and a discount code “ACESTRAIN” gets riders 10% off at the ACE Hotel in New York City. The main event will take place on Black Friday, but a special fare will continue throughout the holiday season, with round-trip tickets costing $39. The only stop during the two-and-a-half hour trip will be in Newark. A complete timetable is available on the ACES web site.

These special Black Friday travel deals make the end of November a great time to visit the East Coast.  If you already live near the Atlantic, there are plenty of opportunities to experience something new before and after doing battle in the aisles of your favorite stores.
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It is easy to predict chilly weather.  By mid-November, heavy jackets have become part of your daily apparel and you start to wish you’d planned ahead and booked a vacation to someplace tropical – Florida would be nice -  before all the hotels doubled  their prices for the high season.

Would-be snowbirds willing to search the entire Gold Coast (from Miami to West Palm Beach)  will still be able to find money-saving opportunities.  West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale are good alternatives to the more pricey destinations closer to Miami.

The West Palm Beach Marriott has an exceptional deal that will make it possible for frugal snowbirds to get some high-season sun and low season prices.  The resort-like hotel’s rates will stay at $77-$99 per night until December 26th, with no blackout days during Thanksgiving and Christmas.  These rates are 50% lower than the Marriott’s regular high-season prices.

via markus941

The Downtown West Palm Beach Marriot’s greatest asset is its location.  It is within walking distance of the popular CityPlace shopping, restaurant and nightlife promenade.  There are several spas, salons and restaurants within a mile of the hotel, making it possible for guests to put together their own “resort experience” without having to pay resort prices.

Bistro Ten Zero One, the Marriot’s in-house eatery, offers modern seafood-based cuisine in a casually classy setting.  The restaurant includes a full bar and free wireless internet access.

The combination of amenities, location and price (as well as the fact that Christmas and Thanksgiving are not black-out dates) make the Downtown West Palm Beach Marriot’s $77-$99 deal one of Florida’s best early season values.

One of the stresses of travel is souvenir shopping. The fastest way to lose friends and alienate people is to cut them out of the perfunctory gift giving that has become a mandatory post-travel practice. So when you wake up on your last day of vacation, in a cold sweat, remembering you forgot to pick up something for your sister’s kids you don’t have to settle for the cheesy key chain emblazoned with their name at the airport gift shop. In fact, here are some alternative ideas so that you never have to set foot in another soul crushing souvenir shop ever again.

Souvenir shops like the one pictured above are for the unimaginative and lazy. Just because something is found in a souvenir shop does not always mean that it is truly representative of the country you’re in. For instance, thongs emblazoned with the country’s name in gold are generally a no-no. For something that’s going to be truly reminiscent of your host country, in this case Argentina, go where the locals go.

Flea Markets

For something unusual and quirky take a trip to Palermo’s Mercado de Las Pulgas (Niceto Vega block 200 between Dorrego and Concepcion Arenales) where many antique shop proprietors head to in search of inventory. From reclaimed furniture to taxidermy there’s something for everyone here and best of all, haggling is a must.

Home Goods Stores

Argentines are a creative group of people and having largely descended from Italian immigrants, aesthetic means a lot to them. Everywhere you look design has been integrated into daily life and two home-good shops that whole-heartedly embody this ethos are Calma Chicha (Honduras 4909, Palermo SoHo) and NoBrand (Gorriti 5876). There are three hallmarks of Argentine culture: leather, mate gourds, and penguin shaped jugs, all of which have been updated from their traditional, pueblo form into modern and stylistic pieces. On any given day you can find these shops swarmed with young, fashionable Argentines looking to capture their culture in the most updated forms.

Antique Markets

The San Telmo antique market (Plaza Dorrego, every Sunday) is one of the most popular weekend activities in the city. Located in the oldest part of the city, San Telmo is characterized by its abundance of antique shops running the gamut from low to high-end. It’s the only neighborhood in the city that is completely devoted to selling its past, so it makes for perfect souvenir hunting grounds. The market sets up in the main square around 10 in the morning and snakes its way through the neighborhood north and south through cobble-stoned streets. Get there early to battle the crowds because by 1 the streets have usually been turned into a sea of bodies.

The Grocery Stores

If you ever spend a single day in Argentina you will inevitably eat dulce de leche at some point. Dulce de leche is to Argentines what peanut butter is to Americans and Nutella is to Europeans. Similar to caramel it’s an addictive treat that the Argentines put on almost everything; toast, yogurt, ice cream and donuts for example. The best thing about dulce de leche is that a 1-kilo tin of it (2.2 pounds) will cost you about $4.00 US and will last you long enough to get back home.

Lastly, stay away from the malls.  Even though Buenos Aires is home to the largest mall in South America it’s not worth a trip because the individual stores pay a very high rent in order to have representation in the mall; in order to make up for the rent the shops then raise their prices a considerable amount.  Instead, keep your shopping restricted to the high streets and other such areas in order to avoid exorbitant prices.