Hotel group Sage Hospitality has come up with a novel idea to promote both their hotels and volunteerism: it’s offering half-price rooms for those who have completed a day of charity work. A limited number of free nights are also available at the group’s hotels, which include Marriott, Starwood and Hilton locations.

At check-in, guests show a letter from a registered non-profit organisation that proves they’ve undertaken 8 hours of voluntary work. This entitles them to 50% off the published price of any night in the hotel. Sage's Give a Day, Get a Night promotion runs from July to December 2009, and the charity work needs to have been completed by December 18th.

With occupancy rates tumbling at hotels around the world, this promotion is a Generation G(enerosity) alternative to slashing room rates, and one that businesses in many industry can follow to build good-will (and foot-traffic) in tough times. (Related: Free karaoke for worthy workers.)

Website: www.sagehospitality.com/specials/giveadaygetanight.htm
Contact: www.sagehospitality.com/contact.htm

Spotted by: Raymond Kollau

Hotels are an ideal setting for many tryvertising campaigns, approximating as they do consumers' domestic milieu. Much the way Starwood recently began giving its guests a free taste of Zinio's "digital newsstand," so Omni Hotels now offers patrons a free camcorder for the weekend.

Through the Omni Flips for Summer campaign, which runs through Sept. 6, families staying at any of the chain's hotels and resorts in North America can borrow a pocket-sized video camcorder for free and use it to record their most memorable moments. The camcorder provided is the new Flip Ultra video camcorder, launched this spring by Pure Digital, and it's available to guests who purchase any "Omni Flips for Summer" weekend package. Along with the simple-to-use camcorders, families can also start their holiday with a complimentary breakfast for four featuring “Flip-jacks” on their first day. A “Summer Fun Counselor” will also be on hand with advice on local attractions. When their weekend filming is complete, guests can upload their video memories to their own laptop or use the Omni Hotels Business Center at no charge to transfer the footage to a thumb drive to take home. Guests are also encouraged to upload a three-minute video to Omni’s Local Scoop social networking website as part of the Omni Flips for Summer Video Contest, the winner of which—announced in September—will get a free trip for four to the Omni Bedford Springs Resort in Pennsylvania.

There's no substitute for trying before you buy, and what better time to let consumers try a camcorder than when they'd most likely use it in real life, such as on vacation? Take note, purveyors of holiday-minded goods! (Related: Hotel offers each guest a favourite book, on Kindle — Free car for the weekend, no strings attached — Hotel as retail space.)

Website: www.omnihotels.com/Home/SpecialsAndPackages/SpecialOffers/OmniFlips.aspx
Contact: www.omnihotels.com/ContactUs.aspx

Spotted by: HotelChatter via Raymond Kollau

Pop-up hotel rooms and luxury camping are both concepts we've written about on numerous occasions, but it wasn't until recently that we had seen a variation on the theme designed specifically for stargazing. Sure enough, French tourism company Bocages has created a pop-up cabin for four that features a transparent dome in the roof, a telescope and a sky observation kit.

Carré d'étoiles are portable and reversible cube-shaped structures crafted with recyclable wood. Included in each parquet-floored cabin are a double cabin bed, a sofa bed for two, a kitchenette with refrigerator and hot plates, shower, toilet, wardrobe, electric heating, a bio-ethanol fireplace and cast-iron garden furniture for outside. In addition to modern conveniences like flat-screen TV and connections for MP3, phone and internet, Carré d'étoiles cabins also come equipped with bedding and towels, and extra services such as cleaning and breakfast can be added. Black-out blinds, meanwhile, facilitate use of the telescope and stargazing kit.

Just launched this year, Carré d'étoiles have now been installed in several holiday spots in France. Pricing is EUR 25,000 per unit, according to a report on Forum Eco; structures are delivered fully equipped and ready to use, with an ROI ranging from at least 10 percent in the first year of operation to 30 percent or more in following years, Bocages says. One to set up under the starry skies in your neck of the woods...? (Related: Elqui Domos geodesic astro lodges — Farm camping in cottage-style tents.)

Website: www.carre-detoiles.com
Contact: info@carre-etoiles.com

Spotted by: Patrick Moizo

A few years back, we covered ride-sharing site Hitchsters, which matches travellers to help them cut down on cab fare to airports in New York and San Francisco. Now, in the UK, Luton Airport has now joined forces with ride-sharing enterprise Liftshare to connect commuters en route to the airport.

Interested passengers and airport employees can register to access a database of other commuters, dropping a line to those heading to the airport at a similar time. The site never reveals the user's email or other contact information, and suggests that ride-sharers meet in a public place for the first trip just to keep things safe. The program, which is the first of its kind in the UK, is a smart move by Luton Airport. Not only does it improve its less-than-stellar transportation links to London, but it can ease its negative impact on the environment by helping to reduce the numbers of cars on the road. Key, of course, will be to make it easy and safe for travellers to share, and targeting frequent flyers seems like the way to go. Other airports to follow?

Website: www.londonlutoncarshare.com
Contact: londonluton.carshare@ltn.aero

Spotted by: Raymond Kollau

Digital publisher Zinio has teamed up with Starwood to offer guests free digital copies of their favourite magazines. As of last month, a variety of well-known titles can be downloaded at Starwood's Element hotels, with Aloft and Four Points by Sheraton joining at the end of the year.

Zinio's 'digital newsstand' can be accessed on guests' laptops in their rooms, or via a kiosk in the lobby. After logging on to the Starwood portal and registering with Zinio, guests can select as many single titles as they wish, choosing from a wide range of popular publications like Caribbean Travel & Life, Destination Weddings & Honeymoons, Field & Stream and Ski Magazine. (Prices for magazines purchased through Zinio are normally similar to those paid for paper copies.)

With editions that can be read online or off—and that are identical to their printed brethren—travellers are freed from schlepping around a bag full of paper. Zinio gets the chance to demo its service to new users, and Starwood can offer its guests magazines they actually want to read, instead of a standard selection. And there's an environmental benefit too, of course, which is fitting since Element is Starwood's new 'green' brand. Reminds us of another download service for travellers we spotted recently: airline alliance offers free audiobook downloads at airports.

Website: www.zinio.com — www.starwood.com

Spotted by: Raymond Kollau