Because I often stay at hostels I was interested to learn some interesting facts about the differences in booking prices between the two largest hostel booking services on the Internet. A recent study by Reed Business Insight revealed that HostelBookers is, on average, over 8% cheaper than HostelWorld, and HostelBookers is now backing that claim up with a guarantee. If you find the same deal cheaper anywhere else, they will refund double the difference! (Details about their price guarantee here).

Travelex Cash Passport pre-loaded with £1,000

To celebrate this price promise they have launched a competition which will run over the next three weeks. Nine winners will take away some fantastic prizes, with three winners being announced every week between May 26th and June 9th. For the top prize HostelBookers has partnered with Travelex.co.uk to offer three lucky travelers the chance to win a Cash Passport pre-loaded with £1,000 (that’s British PoundsPanasonic camera, which equates to approximately $1434 U.S. dollars at today’s exchange rate).

Three entrants will win the second prize of a Panasonic Lumix TZ8 Camera, and three more will take away the third prize, a 32gb iPod touch. (Full details of the HostelBookers contest can be viewed here). Read the rest of this entry »

San Juan Marriott Resort in Puerto Rico is saying Merry Christmas with a Twitter scavenger hunt that will provide a free three-day stay at the resort for five lucky winners.

Condado Beach, home to the San Juan Marriott

Beginning tomorrow morning and continuing for each of the five days leading up to Christmas, the hotel will tweet a holiday item at 10:00 a.m. EST.  The first Twitter follower who replies to @SanJuanMarriott each day with a picture of the item (via TwitPic, Tweetphoto or otherwise) will receive a complimentary three-day, two-night stay.

Additionally, anyone who tweets all five pictures of the requested scavenger hunt items (one per day) will Read the rest of this entry »

My friend Anil Polat, who also happens to author the fabulous travel blog foXnoMad.com, occasionally puts together fun travel contests for his readers. His latest is the “Cheesiest Travel Photo Contest,” which offers readers the opportunity to vote for their favorite cheesy photo among those sent in by readers. The owner of the photo voted the “cheesiest” will win a nice prize package. I passed on the opportunity to enter the contest the first time around, but when Anil decided to do it all over again I just couldn’t resist.

Despite the fact that I’m now 20 pounds thinner, I no longer have underarm wings , and I’ve let my hair grow out to its natural silver color, I sent him a photo of me (ugh!) at Angkor Wat in Cambodia, taken in 2007. You can check out all the photos right now and vote beginning on December 21st.; I’d sure appreciate your vote if you think my photo is the cheesiest!

I am absolutely blown away! A while back I entered a contest being hosted by Travel Wonders of the World, one of my all-time favorite travel blogs. Travel Wonders had partnered with Priority Club Rewards, the program that allows members to accrue award points for stays at Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Staybridge Suites, Candlewood Suites, Hotel Indigo, Crowne Plaza, IHG, or Intercontinental Hotels, offering readers an opportunity to win a night at one of 4,300 five star hotels located in more than 100 countries.

View of Holiday Inn Miami Beach Miami from the oceanfront boardwalk

To be eligible to win, I needed to do the following: Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve just been notified that Hole In The Donut has once again been nominated for a “Love This Site” Award in the travel blog category at Divine Caroline. I was nominated last year as well and placed 10th; this year I’d love to be in the top three. To vote for Hole In The Donut as the best travel blog, go to DivineCaroline.com or click on the  Divine Carline badge in the right-hand sidebar. You must be registered to vote, but joining is free. Thanks in advance for your support!