Roger had a seminar in Milwaukee. We stayed at the Marriott hotel and stayed in a King Suite (Reg $199 per night and we paid $39 per night which included the full breakfast buffet) WOW!
Here is how we did it! When I first booked the room it was $99 per night. Since we are "platinum" members we have access to the marriott promotions that run most of the time for BOGO weekend nights Free. This is available for both gold and platinum members. Usually you have to stay 50-75 nights to get this status but you can call Marriott and ask them about the challenges to get you to gold or platinum for as little as 12 to 16 nights. The certificates are always in you account and all you have to do is print them out. They usually run for about 3-4 months at a time. All you do is call the reservation line before hand and let them know you will be using one. You can print out as many as you want and anyone can you them.
Right before we left, I checked the reservation again and noticed that the rate was reduced for elite members (gold and platinum) to $79. I modified my reservation and brought with me the free night certificate. I also called the hotel directly a few days before we left and asked them if they had any upgrades available. They had the king suite--$199 per night--available for us at no cost to upgrade, because of our status. And lastly because we are elite, we have access to the concierge lounge, which happens to be closed on weekends so they comped our breakfast at the buffet (reg $12.99 per person)
We took Sydney with us because she is basically free--when Roger flies! She helps us at the seminar and then we get to play when we are done. This time we toured the Pabst mansion and the Harley-Davidson Museum.
The next thing I have come across is looking up the "Diners, Drive-inns, and Dives" We went to 2 of them in Milwaukee and they were both fabulous. They were places we would have never gone to on our own and they were reasonably priced!
