C, T, and I got away to our favorite family getaway place the other week, La Quinta Resort & Club… and boy what a screaming deal we got away with! I feel as if we robbed the place blind. Just for booking with the Chase Card deal I explain below, we got a great rate, lots of program points, and tons and TONS of freebies by way of resort credit and free meals.

Summer is winding down quickly, and now’s the time to start thinking of that last weekend getaway before the school year gets underway. This is also the time to head out to beautiful Palm Springs if you can stand the heat and enjoy saving money; in general, rates stay low out there from about June 15 through September 15. That’s another reason we now have made a family tradition to head out there for Father’s Day weekend as we usually catch a great rate break just as summer starts.

Below are three bullet-pointed programs that C looked over when we were looking to book our last La Quinta getaway for summer 2012. Keep in mind to take advantage of these rates you MUST be a credit card holder of one of the type of card-levels listed in parenthesis next to the card name. I took the time to look up the three benefit listings for La Quinta Resort & Club as that was where we were looking to book, but do keep in mind that these three programs offer deals for several (around 700) hotels and resorts worldwide with many located in the Southern California region. Just link through the three programs below to use their search engines by entering the dates you wish to travel and where you want to go, and the deals will populate for you.

Also note that all rates we looked into appeared commensurate with the discounted AAA rate offered at La Quinta, or about 10 percent off rack-rate. I think that also applies to the other properties in the program, too, but make sure to do your own homework and comparison shopping when exploring other locations. Furthermore, and since this always gets asked when there are these “too good to be true” deals making their rounds, yes, we were able to link our Hilton Honors membership to our booking and receive the appropriate level of points for the duration of our stay (La Quinta Resort & Club is a Waldorf-Astoria brand in the Hilton family of properties). However, since we used our VISA Sapphire to actually complete the transaction for the stay, no, we could not maximize the Hilton Honors points, but we can always convert those Sapphire points to miles of some sort later to buddy up with our Hilton points, so all is not lost in our “extreme mileing” efforts.

Oh, and the program so exceeded our expectations that we’ve booked one final overnight to fill out our summer schedule – and we convinced another family to join in on the holiday heist, er, I mean summer steal, er, I mean divine deal!

Where ever you find yourselves during these last moments of summer, RMT’ers, please stay safe, have fun, and enjoy the time together as a family!

La Quinta Resort & Club Special Credit Card Program Benefits (with Links to Program Search Engines)

1. Chase Card, The Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection (Sapphire or Explorer card-level holders):
–         Free Breakfast for Two Persons
–         $100 Property Credit (we used ours toward food, beverage, and retail; also applies for golf and spa purchases; credit applied to bill upon checkout)
–         room upgrade upon arrival (when available)

2. VISA Signature Luxury Hotel Collection (VISA Signature card-level holders):
–         Free Breakfast for Two Persons (limited to $25/pp)
–         $25 Property Credit (check details of what this applies toward at check-in)
–         Room Upgrade Upon Arrival (when available)

3. American Express, Fine Hotels & Resorts (Platinum and Centurion card-level holders):
–         Free Continental Breakfast for Two Persons
–         $100 credit (check details of what this applies toward at check-in)
–         Noon/Early Check-In (when available)
–         4p.m. Guaranteed Late Checkout (VERY nice perk!)
–         Room Upgrade Upon Arrival (when available)

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