Stay for free at four-star hotel

IT'S A FREE WORLD: MARY BOLAND from Co Clare e-mailed to say she found a four-star hotel in Spain offering free accommodation…

IT'S A FREE WORLD:MARY BOLAND from Co Clare e-mailed to say she found a four-star hotel in Spain offering free accommodation until November 5th and again next year from March 29th until June 6th.

In Hotel Costa Narejos “guests pay only for breakfast and evening meal which amounts to €35.50 per person sharing a standard room”, she says. “Every evening there was a happy hour in the bar with cocktails, large gins, vodkas, etc, all half price.”

The hotel is two minutes from a beach in a resort called Los Narejos in Murcia. Normally the 10 rooms in the hotel with sea views cost €20 extra but Boland says “we were upgraded to a room with pool and sea view as the hotel was not full”. Guests are also entitled to a complimentary circuit of the spa each.

Ryanair flies from Dublin to San Javier Murcia, around five minutes from the hotel.

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Catch: this resort is quiet so steer clear if a vibrant nightlife is important.

Take note:hotelcostanarejos.com.

BLACK FRIDAY on November 24th – the day after Thanksgiving – kicks off the beginning of the Christmas shopping season and NYMA (the New York Manhattan hotel) is offering freebies for anyone wanting to visit the Big Apple for some serious retail therapy.

The busiest shopping day of the year – the story goes that it’s the only day where retailers are in the black and not the red – sees shops opening from as early as 4am.

Relaunched earlier this year with upgrades to its lobby and mezzanine areas, NYMA, located on 32nd Street between Broadway and Fifth Avenue, has availability on Black Friday weekend (November 24th-26th) to include Thanksgiving Thursday.

The hotel offers complimentary continental breakfast, all-day complimentary coffee, tea, hot chocolate and cappuccino, Wi-Fi, national phone calls, and a fitness centre. In addition, children aged 12 and under stay free of charge with a paying adult.

Rates at NYMA start from $224.99 (€165.35) per room, per night over Black Friday weekend.

Catch: taxes are 14.75 per cent, plus $3.50 (€2.54) New York occupancy tax per night, per room.

Take note: thenewyorkmanhattanhotel.com.

Edel Morgan

Edel Morgan

Edel Morgan is Special Reports Editor of The Irish Times