While serving the United States from outposts around the world, military personnel are accustomed to sleeping in less-than-ideal accommodations. Hotel chains across the country are committed to ensuring that service personnel and their families have a clean, comfortable and private place to stay, whether they're returning home or taking a hard-earned vacation.
- Hilton Hotels -- including its Hampton Inns & Suites, DoubleTree, Embassy Suites and Homewood Suites brands -- offers government rates to active and retired military personnel and has its own booking page to make these reservations. A nice feature of its website is a booking engine that's searchable by nearby military bases.
- Marriott's 3,600 locations have discounted room rates, and also offer special promotions for leisure travel. Use the booking engine on the military page to look for special offers.
- More than 2,700 Choice Hotels are discounted. The company that owns Comfort Inns and Econo Lodges among other brands has even created the Choice Privileges Armed Services, which allows qualified vets, active members and their families to join its rewards program at the Elite Gold level.
- Starwood Hotels offers government rates for military personnel for stays in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Dominican Republic and French Polynesia. The chain also has a dedicated line (1-866-924-2775) for people booking government rates.
- Best Western hotels allows bookings online or over the phone for its discounted rates. There are more than 4,000 Best Western hotels in more than 80 countries
When booking with a hotel, it never hurts to ask about potential veterans or military discounts. Individual hotels may have their own specials for those who serve.
Before traveling, military personnel can find information and tips on the TSA website.
-- Hilary Solan is an editor at Travelzoo and based in Chicago. Travelzoo has hundreds of deal experts from around the world who rigorously research, evaluate and test thousands of deals to find those with true value.