The Best Hotel Credit Cards for Free Nights (2024)

Calling all beach bums: the Maldives is a region famous for its palm-fringed desert islands, most of them surrounded by gin-clear water teeming with tropical fish.

On average, Americans will be taking five trips throughout spring, with weekend getaways being the most popular, according to Vacasa, a vacation rental management company. In addition, 84% of spring travelers have shifted their plans or planning behavior to be more budget conscious. There’s no need to max out the credit card by taking one of these affordable weekend getaways.

Anna Payne holds more than 15 years’ experience in the luxury and hospitality sectors; having achieved success with Small Luxury Hotels of the World and Firmdale Hotels, where she worked across multiple markets and hotel openings in London and New York.

Last month, I was just wrapping up a short but sweet family vacation in Hawaii with my husband and our 9-year-old twins. It had been mostly uneventful in the best way, and we spent our time perfectly balanced between relaxation and light adventure — swimming in the pool and the sea, horseback riding, doing archery, and eating well.

For once, you can have it all in one trip: waterfalls and superlative seafood restaurants, windy mountain roads and surf beaches.

Say the phrase “best beaches in Texas” and you might think the very idea is an impossibility. Not many travelers imagine the Lone Star State as a beach bum’s paradise. Sure, the color of the water tends more toward café au lait than turquoise in places, and it’s legal to drive your vehicle along many of the public beaches. But if you know where to go, you can find inviting expanses of sand, soft ocean breezes, the occasional frolicking dolphin, and—when the weather’s right—waves big enough to surf.

Airline network planners may have taken an extended holiday break in January, but they were back in full force this month.

Even as we travel around the globe, it’s easy to forget that our planet is part of a much larger celestial dance. Sure, we mark the orbit of the Earth around the Sun each year, but nothing reminds us that we are part of something much bigger than the experience of watching the Moon slide in front of the Sun during a solar eclipse. 

A holiday is always a good day to market travel deals. But what about a holiday that comes not ‘but once a year’ like Christmas, but just once every four years?

If you’re not familiar with the famous Halekulani Hotel in Waikiki, let me tell you about “House Befitting Heaven.” The luxurious Hawaii resort has won prestigious awards too numerous to mention – and is iconic for a lot of things – but let me tell you about the popovers. I stayed at the famous hotel more than 25 years ago – and I’m still thinking about the yummy breakfast popovers, which have been served there to guests for more than 100 years. They are simply made with flour, eggs, salt, milk, and served with poha berry jam (a type of orange gooseberry). And let me tell you – they are super delicious.

In Manhattan's shadowno more, Brooklyn is the place to find some of New York City’s most exciting and original eateries. 

WHEN I WAS growing up in Stockton, Calif., in the 1970s and ’80s, there were only two special-occasion restaurants acceptable to my family. They were both on the south side of the city, in the barrio. My Mexican-born liked Mi Ranchito, and for my dad it was Arroyo’s Cafe. No matter which one we went to, my order was always the same: rib steak ranchero with rice, refried beans and leaves of undressed iceberg lettuce wilted by soupy salsa. I’d pinch torn pieces of machine-pressed flour tortillas around the slices of steak and mix in all the sides. It was a celebratory meal if there ever was one.