Marshall, Michigan (PressExposure) July 23, 2009 -- Hit the road this summer for a getaway that's close-to-home yet miles from the ordinary, all without breaking your vacation budget. Select Registry offers the best of the best - more than 400 award-winning inns, luxury B&Bs and boutique hotels in and around major destinations across North America.
For value-conscious travelers, many inns offer weekday specials - including free nights, upgrades and gourmet meals - for long weekends and weeknight stays. Select Registry packages are as unique as the inns themselves, placing romance, culinary travel, eco-excursions, spa, historical getaways and more in the limelight.
In this economy, car trips are huge. Nearly three quarters (74 percent) of American leisure travelers used their personal automobile to take a leisure trip last year, according to the just-released Ypartnership/Yankelovich, Inc. 2009 National Travel MONITOR (SM). This summer, new airline fees for food, baggage and even pets plus relatively low gas prices - about a dollar per gallon less than last summer - have people taking to their cars for good old-fashioned road trips that are affordable and closer to home.
With scenic retreats throughout the U.S. and Canada, Select Registry offers top-notch tank-away trips. The organization conducts rigorous, ongoing quality assurance inspections by anonymous inspectors to assure each of its members represents "the very best the industry has to offer."
This elite collection includes AAA-Four Diamond properties and recipients of top honors from established travel guides, including Fodor's, Frommer's and Zagat, as well as awards of excellence from Condé Nast Traveler, Travel + Leisure, and Wine Spectator Magazine, among others. Members rank in the Top Ten on lists of all types, from Leading Inns of North America and Most Romantic Hideaways to Best Places to Kiss, Best Places to Watch Bird Migrations, Best Porches in America and more.
Travelers don't have to roam far for new experiences and discoveries. Select Registry inns are designed to immerse guests in the singular local charms of destinations from California to Nova Scotia. Guests choose from packages that feature dining, spa, cultural attractions, shopping, antiquing and outdoor adventure with winery tours, clambakes, whale-watching excursions and more.
Food and wine enthusiasts, for instance, can take culinary travel to the next level at inns that offer hands-on experiences in cheese making at on-site creameries. They can forage for mushrooms, go lobstering, make maple sugar or brew their own beer at award-winning distilleries and tasting rooms, also on property.
Browse travel itineraries or design your own through Select Registry's online Trip Planner at http://www.selectregistry.com. Whatever your interests, you'll find an itinerary to please. Or, create your own. There are trips spotlighting fall foliage, lighthouses, scenic highways, wine country, moose safaris, presidential residences, Anne of Green Gables landmarks . . . the options are endless.
To find a unique inn near you, visit http://www.selectregistry.com. You can browse a list of inns by location or theme to discover special deals and packages for both weekend and weekday visits.