Hotels Jump Into Cyber Monday

This Friday, people will be waking up way too bright and early (in my opinion) to test their mettle in the face of deals, deals and more deals. Much like a large portion of the US population, I've made my way to the malls on past Black Fridays, but just try to get me up and out of the house before 10 am. After consuming way too much turkey, gravy, stuffing and pumpkin pie the night before, it just isn't happening, and that means I miss a lot of the best of the best sales.

Thankfully, that's where Cyber Monday comes into play. First used in the holiday season of 2005 (according to Wikipedia), it was coined that year after "77% of online retailers reported a significant increase in sales on the Monday after Thanksgiving in 2004." And this year, according to USA Today, hotels are jumping into the fray for the first time, as "at least 60 hotels — including some of Starwood Hotels' top resorts — will try to fill rooms next year by tapping into the ceremonial Cyber Monday holiday shopping madness."

Of course, hotels aren't the typical holiday gift, but don't tell the hotels that. According to the article, a little more than half of workers with access to the Web will shop for gifts from work. That's nearly 70 million people. If hotels can capture just a small percentage of those eyeballs, it could mean some serious coin.

The article provides a sampling of hotel deals, and you can find out who else is getting in on the Cyber Monday madness here.

Photo courtesy of stock.xchng