Lots of travel discounts

The stay-cation seems to be having an impact on the nation's resorts. You can get some pretty good deals in Palm Springs, San Diego and Vegas over the next few weeks as hotel operators reduce room rates and offer special deals like a an extra night for free. It's largely about cutbacks in air service and still-high gas prices. August hotel-room prices booked on Hotwire.com are down about 5 percent from a year ago. From the WSJ:

In Palm Springs, Calif., hotel occupancy is down more than 6% so far this year. In April, the resort town lost its direct flights from Houston on Continental Airlines Inc. And with rising gas prices, "our drive market has been off this summer, no question about it," says Jeff Beckelman, the chief executive of the area's convention and visitors bureau. As a result, last week, the tourism organization began touting promotions with discounted hotel rates as low as $89 a night, and resort credits for $100 to spend on spa treatments and golf rounds on a new Web site, pshotdeals.com. "We've been very aggressive," Mr. Beckelman says.

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In places like San Diego, an influx of new hotels is partly to blame for falling room rates, as are rising gas prices and weak housing markets in nearby feeder cities like Phoenix and Las Vegas. At the Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines in La Jolla, a sprawling resort next to the golf course that hosted this year's U.S. Open, occupancy held steady over the peak summer season this year, but more travelers than usual booked rooms at the last minute, with about 48 hours' notice instead of two or three weeks, says Patrick Duffy, the general manager. The hotel has dropped its room rates about 5% from last year's average rate of about $250, he says.