Here’s a great little hotel deal for anyone fancying a midweek getaway to sunny Palm Springs. Relax at the plush Viceroy Palm Springs Resort for 25 percent off - but not just your room. Book the Breathe Easy Package on the hotel’s web site, and you’ll also save 25 percent off spa services, food and drinks. And you’ll receive access to complimentary wellness programs, bicycles and Internet access.

And what a time to head to this famous desert hotel. They’ve recently added the Ice Haus, a D.I.Y., open-air spa treatment room where you can slather yourself with clay mud followed by an ice exfoliation treatment and a spritz in the shower, complete with seaweed scrub bar. The on site spa is also offering evening massages held outdoors under the stars.

I just checked rates for a midweek stay in June and found them starting at $109/night for a king room. A King room with pool view was available for $142/night, while the luxe Sovereign Villa can be had for $389/night.

If you’re going to be in New York this weekend and you love travel, consider checking out the New York Times Travel Show, a veritable smorgasbord of travel information from resorts, hotels, spas, cruise lines, tour operators, tourist agencies and adventure travel companies from around the world. Along with vendor booths and live entertainment performances representing a vast array of cultures, the show features a Taste of the World Pavilion filled with international cuisine and cooking demonstrations, a Spa Pavilion offering sample treatments and discounted packages at spa resorts, travel author appearances and special travel deals offered to folks brave enough to book their next vacation on the spot. And with travel experts Rick Steves, Arthur Frommer, Ian Wright and Stephanie Abrams - among many others - leading seminars, the show offers a rare chance for face-to-face learning from leading peeps in the industry. Cost: $15.

Behold, Travel + Leisure’s roundup of the best airport restaurants, bars, lounges and spas:

Best Airport Restaurants and Other Time Killers

Today Mobil Travel Guide announced its 2008 Four- and Five-star ratings for U.S. hotels, restaurants and spas. Notoriously picky (they don’t just hand out five-star ratings to any old Four Seasons or Ritz Carlton), Mobil added eight new hotels to its five-star list for 2008. We’ve listed all 41 of the five-star hotel winners below. For four-star results and winners in the restaurant and spa categories, you can check out all the ratings in the Mobil Travel Guide’s 50th Annual Star Awards.

Mobil Five-Star Hotels

California - Beverly Hills

Raffles L’Ermitage Beverly Hills

The Beverly Hills Hotel

The Peninsula Beverly Hills

California - Dana Point

St. Regis Resort, Monarch Beach

California - Los Angeles

Hotel Bel-Air

California - Oakhurst

Chateau du Sureau

California - San Francisco

Four Seasons Hotel San Francisco

St. Regis Hotel, San Francisco

The Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco

Colorado - Aspen

The Little Nell

Colorado - Colorado Springs

The Broadmoor

Connecticut - Washington

Mayflower Inn & Spa

District of Columbia - Washington

Four Seasons Hotel Washington, D.C.

Florida - Manalapan

The Ritz-Carlton, Palm Beach

Florida - Naples

The Ritz-Carlton, Naples

Florida - Palm Beach

Four Seasons Resort Palm Beach

Georgia - Atlanta

Four Seasons Hotel Atlanta

Georgia - St. Simons Island

The Lodge at Sea Island Golf Club

Hawaii - Wailea

Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea

Illinois - Chicago

Four Seasons Hotel Chicago

The Peninsula Chicago

The Ritz-Carlton, A Four Seasons Hotel

Massachusetts - Boston

Boston Harbor Hotel

Four Seasons Hotel Boston

Massachusetts - Lenox

Blantyre

Nevada - Las Vegas

The Tower Suites at Wynn Las Vegas

New York - New York

Four Seasons Hotel New York

Mandarin Oriental, New York

The Ritz-Carlton New York, Central Park

The St. Regis

New York - Saranac Lake

The Point

North Carolina - Pittsboro

The Fearrington House Country Inn

South Carolina - Kiawah Island

The Sanctuary at Kiawah Island

South Carolina - Summerville

Woodlands Resort & Inn

Tennessee - Nashville

The Hermitage Hotel

Texas - Dallas

The Mansion on Turtle Creek

Utah - Park City

Stein Eriksen Lodge

Vermont - Barnard

Twin Farms

Virginia - Richmond

The Jefferson Hotel

Virginia - Washington

The Inn at Little Washington

Wyoming - Jackson

Four Seasons Resort Jackson Hole

The Historic Hotels of America has a little promo going to mark the annual daylight savings clock change, which goes down on a week later than usual this year on Nov. 4th. Through the Historic Hotels of America Fall Back in Time promotion, there are 75 hotels and inns offering promotions and deals that have something to do with the year each was built. Here are a descriptions for a few (text taken from HHA):

Kings Courtyard Inn, Charleston, SC: Built in 1853, the Kings Courtyard Inn offers the “1853 Then and Now” three-night package for two in a standard room. Complimentary continental breakfast offered each morning and sherry and wine are served each afternoon. (Available October 1 through November 30, 2007, valid Sunday through Thursday; $235.00 per night for two nights and $18.53 for the third night.)

The Grove Park Inn Resort and Spa, Asheville, NC: The Grove Park Inn has been drawing rave reviews since opening in 1913. The “Fall Back in Time” package features a nearly 50% discount on a two-night stay in a Mountain View room. (Available October 1 through November 30, 2007, valid Sunday through Wednesday; $385.00 for the first night and $19.13 for the second night.)

Cranwell Resort, Spa and Golf Club, Lenox, Mass: In 1894, almost five years after Harriet Beecher Stowe’s brother, the Reverend Henry Ward Beecher, owned what is today Cranwell Resort, Spa and Golf Club, the Sloane family built their Gilded-Age “cottage” Wyndhurst Mansion on the property. Celebrate Cranwell’s heritage with the “Fall Back in Time in the Berkshires” package. (Available October 1 through November 30, 2007; book one night at full rate and receive the second night at $18.94, Sunday through Thursday night, excluding holidays.)

The Middlebury Inn, Middlebury, VT: Enjoy one of Vermont’s loveliest historic inns built in 1827. The “Fall Back in Time” two-night package offers luxury lodging, picnic lunch, a “Hunt for History” scavenger hunt with prizes, two passes to the Henry Sheldon Museum and the U.V.M. Morgan Horse Farm, self-guided covered bridge tour, afternoon tea and continental breakfast. (Available through November 4, 2007; $699 per room, Sunday through Thursday; $749 Fri. & Sat. Add a three-course dinner for two priced at $18.27 per person.)

The Wort Hotel (pictured), Jackson Hole, WY: Commemorating the hotel’s gambling lore and 1941opening, the “Fall Back in Time” package offers three nights in a themed suite, signature yellow rose bouquet, one-hour poker instruction and commemorative poker set, dinner in the Silver Dollar Grill and $19.41 credit in the famed Silver Dollar Bar, Jackson Hole historical walking tour map, two signature Wort Hotel bath robes and a copy of the hotel’s coffee table book. (Available October 1 through December 7, 2007; $1,941 per couple, including tax; additional nights $194.10.)

And here’s an added perk for American Express cardholders: Book a Fall Back in Time package through the Historic Hotels of America (online or by phone, 800-678-8946), pay with your card and receive a complimentary one-year membership to the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Want to be one of the first to stay in Zurich’s five-star Dolder Grand when it reopens next spring after nearly four years of renovations? Well, now’s the time to hop to it. The 173-room hotel and resort began accepting reservations for its April 2008 reopening yesterday.

London architects Foster & Partners restored the hotel’s with attention to its original architectural detailing while adding a new spa complete with fitness facilities and 21 treatment rooms. Originally opened in 1899 as a hotel and spa retreat, the restored landmark now features an innovative geothermal energy technology that draws and stores heat from probes drilled deep into the earth underneath the resort. This energy-efficient alternative to traditional power is able to generate and store 1 million kilowatt hours of energy annually. When the resort reopens next April, its on-the-grid energy use will have been cut in half thanks to the new system.

But while the earth-friendly aspects of the new Dolder Grand are enticing, what will really hook you are the views with views of Lake Zurich and the Alps from the terrace dining room and suites outfitted with whirlpools, steam showers and saunas.

Geothermal heating system cuts energy consumption

Once a family-owned second home on Spain’s Puigcerda Lake, the Hospes Villa Paulita is the latest boutique destination from the Design Hotels group. The original building - a 19th century Spanish villa - has been updated with two new annexes. Black, silver and cream tones runing throughout the 34 rooms, four luxury suites and public spaces are balanced by open wood beam ceilings, wrought iron fixtures, stained glass windows and a selection of antiques from the home’s original owners.

But of the unique features of this new hotel isn’t even inside the property. Interspersed throughout the manicured gardens surrounding the main building, glass pyramids usher a modern architectural edge into the bucolic setting. These pyramids are actually large windows that allow natural light into the Bodyna Spa, whose indoor pool and fitness facilities lie beneath the gardens.

The 89-room Solage Calistoga from Auberge Resorts opened yesterday in the Napa Valley town of Calistoga (known for its therapeutic mud baths). The rooms are decorated in a style described as “Napa barn meets San Francisco loft,” with open floor plans, stone showers and high tech amenities like complimentary wi-fi, iPod hookups and flat-screen televisions. Other perks include:

- Solbar restaurant, led by Executive Chef Brandon Sharp

- 130-foot swimming pool with private cabanas

- Spa offering Kate Somerville signature skin treatments

- The mud bar, where guests can paint themselves with the messy stuff

- 25 acres for guests to explore

- A clothing-optional sun-tanning area

Through July 31, 2007, the hotel is offering a special introductory package that includes two nights’ accommodations during the week (Sunday through Thursday) in a king studio with private patio, dinner for two (excluding alcohol and tip), continental breakfast and use of the hotel’s cruiser bikes for the duration. Cost: $850.

We’ve blogged about the Chodovar Family Brewery in Chofova Plana, Czech Republic, where visitors can get spa treatments in tubs of beer, but many of these other weird spa treatments were news to us. Toe-reading? Cactus massage? Nightingale poop facials? How far are you willing to go for a little R&R?

Weird Ways to Unwind

The Four Seasons Austin Hotel opened its new spa last week. The treatment menu includes all the usual suspects (facials, nail care, massage, body wraps, etc.), but also includes signature treatments that use regional ingredients. The Lavender Lemongrass Journey combines Texas Hill Country lavender with sea salt exfoliation, a hydration wrap and full body massage. The Yellow Rose of Texas body wrap pairs fresh rose petals with rose essential oil in a body wrap designed to soften and calm the skin.

After a visit to the spa, the hammock pictured above is waiting under a shady tree on the hotel grounds.