Hotel Deals: Tax Day Discounts and Spring Sales

For those lucky enough to get a refund on their 2013 taxes, hotel deals of all kinds offer a way to spend some of that hard-earned cash.

For trips throughout the summer, travelers can get deals on their hotel and other expenses through Marriott, in Washington, D.C. The hotel chain is offering a flat 25 percent discount on hotel stays from May 2 through September 2. The option is for three specific locations near National Park Stadium, historic monuments, and the Smithsonian museums.

Other deals are available in major cities for hotels and travel as one of the coldest winters on memory finally begins to fade from memory.

In Boston, Red Sox fans can get special freebies and discounts when they stay at a hotel in the New England city for a baseball game. XV Beacon, The Hotel Marlowe, The Hotel Commonwealth, and several others are offering baseball-themed packages that include a tour of Fenway Park, a bonus six-pack of beer and peanuts, and rooms with views of the ballpark.

Other hotel deals for the spring include special packages to far-flung destinations such as Lyon and Nice, France.

For travelers who are willing to risk the type of room they end up with, many hotel deals can be found through the smartphone app HotelTonight. By using the app, which makes discounts and deals available at noon local time daily, travelers can get a deeply discounted room. Participating hotels (of which there are over 2,000), range from luxury to basic, and might include smoking rooms. It’s a gamble best taken by flexible travelers.

Another option for ferreting out deals using technology is a website called Tingo. Owned by TripAdvisor, Tingo makes you pay in advance for your refundable hotel room, then monitors deals for lowered prices. Tingo then cancels and rebooks the reservation if the price goes down. The average rebate is about $50, sometimes more, but the odds of getting hotel deals at all is only 20 percent.

For travelers who revel in staying in a brand new hotel, the soon to open SLS Las Vegas Hotel & Casino is offering a huge discount on rooms for travel after August. SLS does not open until Aug. 25, but for those who book a stay by April 30, they can get a weekday rate (Sun.-Thurs.) of $109 per night and a weekend rate of $139 per night. There’s an extra resort fee of $25 per night, but the accommodation is for a superior king room.

This spring, for those willing to spend a little extra time on their travel arrangements, there is a healthy range of options on hotel deals.