Leap year offers an extra day – and extra perks for travelers, especially leaplings
Leap year offers an extra day – and extra perks for travelers.
Like the U.S. presidential election, leap year spins into view once every four years.
And 2020 is it.
Adding an extra day – Feb. 29 - to this month not only helps keep our calendars in sync with the astronomical seasons, it creates an excuse to offer bonus perks to travelers.
Poke around and you’ll find many hotels offering leap day-themed packages and discounts to all travelers. Look closer, though, if you’re a “leapling” – someone born on Feb. 29 – or are traveling with someone who is because there are some extra deals out there just for you.
29% off on Feb. 29 – and beyond
A long list of hotels and hospitality brands are celebrating leap year by offering some version of a 29% discount. Some are bookable only for a leap day stay; others have a wider window. Be sure to read the fine print.
Here are some examples:
Graduate Hotels across the country are offering 29% off all stays from leap day through March 6 with a bonus $10 daily food and beverage credit thrown in. (Code Leapyear; bookable between Feb. 28 and July 9)
Guests can get 29% off room rates at Moxy Hotels in New York City (Moxy Chelsea, Moxy East Village and Moxy Times Square) that fall on Feb. 29, plus two glasses of prosecco.
In Washington, D.C., the art-focused Kimpton Carlyle Hotel Dupont Circle will be offering a Leap Year Sale on Feb. 29 only. Two offers will be available that day. The first is for 29 rooms available at a $29 rate (Sunday nights only); the second is a 29% discount on reservations for select dates between April 1 and Dec. 31.
And Viceroy Hotels & Resorts, with properties in the United States, Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe, is waiting to roll out some special leap year hotel offers on Feb. 29.
A leap year proposal package
A woman may certainly propose marriage any day of the year she chooses. But there’s an Irish tradition that promises a bit of bonus luck if a woman schedules the proposal for leap day.
To help out, Chicago’s historic Palmer House is offering a Leap Day Proposal Package. Starting at $2,290, the package at this Hilton hotel includes a consultation with the catering team to plan an on-property proposal and a photographer to document the proposal. Also part of the deal: a private dinner for two, with two cocktails; a proposal-night stay with Champagne and rose-petal turndown; and discounts on a return stay on the next leap day (in 2024) and the wedding if the couple holds their nuptials there.
These hotel deals and freebies are just for leaplings
In addition to discounting leap day stays, Moxy Hotels in New York City (see above) will give leap day babies born on Feb. 29 a free night on their birthday, plus a celebratory bottle of prosecco. (Be sure to show a valid license at check-in.)
Conrad New York Downtown is offering leaplings a complimentary stay on their birthday (Feb. 29), when they present a valid ID at check-in time and stay Feb. 29 and March 1 (or longer.) Guests and the public alike who have Feb. 29 birthdays can enjoy a complimentary bottle of house wine in Conrad New York Downtown's Atrio Wine Bar & Restaurant (Valid ID and purchase of two entrees required.)
For 29 hours, from 7 p.m. EST on Feb. 28 until midnight on Feb. 29th, the Kimpton Taconic in Manchester, Vermont, will offer a 29% discount and a $29 food and beverage credit per night for stays between March 1 and June 30. As a bonus, every package booked during this brief window will be entered in a drawing to win 29,000 IHG bonus points.
