Update: Offer expired.

I’ve been a member of Hilton HHonors Dining program now for quite a while as a means of keeping my points active should I not frequent Hilton properties. Since the Priority Club reward program has been running their extensive Crack the Case promotion, I’ve since stopped staying at Hilton properties.

Via the HHonors Dining Reward program ( Link), register for the Lucky 11 Bonus, and after you’ve spent $25 at participating restaurants, you’ll earn 11 HHonors bonus points for every additional dollar. Promotion runs through March 15, 2011.

If you are not currently a member, sign up and receive 1,100 bonus points just for registering and spending $30 at participating restaurants within 30 days of registering.

Chevrolet is offering a very limited amount of lift tickets for Chevy Owners to Whiteface Resort in Lake Placid, New York. After registering for the event, join Chevy and other owners on February 27, 2011 for a private event featuring fun, food and freebies. Note you must have a valid VIN to register for the event.

Register Here for the event.

The offer states:

Private offer to select Chevrolet Owners in the Albany NY, Burlington VT/Plattsburgh NY, Watertown NY markets and the counties of Westchester, Dutches and Putnam in New York. Offer good while supplies last and limit one registration per household.

However, there is a chance other people outside of this area can still receive tickets. In addition, there could be a possibility of using the tickets on alternative dates, similar to the previous Hershey, PA giveaway, where the tickets could be used any day since they were a generic ticket.

Back at the end of December 2010, several cities on Groupon offered two any-day, any-time lift tickets to Seven Springs Mountain Resort in PA for $50. It was an excellent deal, and what I had been waiting for since the ski season began.

I have been skiing since high school, and typically go to at least one of the nicer east coast ski resorts per year. I hadn’t been to Seven Springs in probably at least 6-7 years. So I purchased two of the Groupons valid for 4 tickets.

I invited my sister and her husband to go with me since we all go together every year. Since I wasn’t able to find anyone else to go, I sold my other Groupon to a friend who lives near Seven Springs, and her and her husband also met us at the resort. I was able to purchase a single discount ticket through a friend. Seeing as we are expecting a baby anyday now, I was running out of time to use my vouchers, so we were finally able to use them on Saturday, January 30, 2011.

The weekend prior, the Great Lakes region was hit with extreme cold temperatures. So since the weather was going to be in the low 30’s, ideal skiing conditions, I knew the crowds would be higher than normal. The area had also received several inches of fresh powder.

We arrived to the resort around 10:00 AM, and the resort was already fairly crowded. We were directed to park at the north lot, with shuttle service to the lodge. We needed to redeem our vouchers, so we weren’t able to redeem them at the north lot gates and had to visit the lodge. One person in our party also had to rent equipment. The worst part of the day, for me at least, was the shuttle service. Due to the crowds, it took a while for the shuttles to arrive both in the morning and again when we left around 5:00 PM. The buses were also extremely crowded when you did get on the bus. I had never driven to Seven Springs before and dealt with the parking situation; we had always taken tour buses or stayed locally in the area with it’s own shuttle service.

However, when we finally got on the slopes, everything was great. The crowds were definitely high and the waits for the lifts, especially the smaller ones, took upwards of 15-20 minutes to get one each time. However, I had forgotten just how beautiful the area was when you were standing at the top of the mountain. During most of the day you could see for miles.

I felt bad for my brother-in-law though because he had forgotten ski pants. After a couple of spills on the slopes, he was soaked for the day and done skiing by 3:00. It was disappointing because it really was ideal conditions for skiing, and I think he would have really enjoyed the slopes.

After going to Holiday Valley the past couple of years, I’m now convinced to switch back over to Seven Springs because we all had a really great time!