Travel contests: Avoid paying for your next vacation

Avoid paying for your next vacation by winning one of these current sweepstakes for getaways —

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef — Win round-trip airfare for two from select U.S. or Canadian cities; five nights accommodation in Cairns, gateway to the Great Barrier Reef; a day trip to the outer Great Barrier Reef. The contest is sponsored by Tourism Queensland and Eagle Creek luggage and travel gear. Sign up on a dedicated sweepstakes website by July 15, 2012. Second prize is Eagle Creek luggage.

One million — You could go around the world a couple of times with one million frequent flyer miles on Alaska Airlines, or stay 100 nights at Red Lion hotels with one million points from their frequent stay club card. Those are the prizes in the Take Off with Millions sweepstakes sponsored by the hotel chain. It’s open to anybody who reserves and checks in to a Red Lion room on any Sunday through Thursday through September 30th. Guests are automatically entered into the four drawings — one for the air miles, three for the hotel points. Or, enter by logging onto the Red Lion sweepstakes website. You can enter once a day through September 30th, 2012. Winnners will be announced in October.

Disneyland — Alaska Airlines also has a separate Dream Suite Sweepstakes where one lucky winner gets a trip for four to Disneyland, including round-trip airfare for up to four people on Alaska Airlines, four nights’ stay in a Disneyland Resort hotel—including a once-in-a-lifetime stay in the Disneyland Dream Suite—and four four-day Disneyland Resort Park Hopper tickets. The sweepstakea continues through Aug. 7, 2012, also includes monthly vacation prizes awarded in July and August. These prizes include round-trip airfare for four on Alaska Airlines, a three-night stay in one of the Disneyland Resort hotels and four three-day Disneyland Resort Park Hopper tickets. Register to win on the Alaska Air Dream Sweeps website.

Anywhere there’s an Embassy Suites — Win a week-long family vacation for four, plus $10,000 in spending money to buy round-trip tickets and more. This is a photo contest — send Embassy Suites a photo of your family’s “vacation face”, with a caption explaining how you all get the most out of your family vacation, before, during and after. The best shot wins. Enter by July 20th, 2012. Registration information is on the Embassy Suites Get More Vacation Contest page on Facebook.

These are legitimate travel sweepstakes. Beware of the ones which contact you, telling you that you’ve won a free vacation from a contest you didn’t enter, or for answering some questions from a telemarketer who phones you. Read more about one such fraud in a previous article on ecoXplorer, about a free Bahamas cruise fraud.

photo courtesy Kiawah Island Resort