Okay...here's the deal on the free hotel night offer at Kohl's. I am familiar about how these types of programs work. First off, this offer is not a scam of any kind. Dockers would never mess with one of their biggest customers (Kohl's) and jeapardize their relationship by funding or supporting a "bad offer."

So how do they do it???

If you do the math you'll quickly see that Dockers (or Kohls) can't make any money selling $100 in pants and giving away a gift-with-purchase (GWP) that has a value of as much as $500 (if you are lucky enough to book the best hotel on the list). The promotion company (Kohls and Dockers) are banking on the fact that "breakage" will occur. History suggests that only 30% - 40% of consumers will ever take the time to book their free trip. That means as many as 70% of consumers will spend the $100 on Dockers apparel, but never redeem the free offer. As a result, the promotion company can charge Dockers a small fee for each certificate redeemed based on the breakage model described above. The only loser in this deal is the promotion company (Vendor) if redemption comes in higher than expected.

That's why the promotion company adds "steps" in the program to increase "breakage" - i/e. must mail receipt to fulfillment center to get a reservation form, then fill out reservation form and send back to fulfillment center, then choose 3 hotels and 3 different dates, an so forth. All of these steps are designed to increase breakage so the promotion company can make money. The biggest breakage factor is time. History again suggests that if the offer is valid for one (1) year, many consumers will simply file away the free travel certificate and forget about it until its expired.

The promotion company rarely gets much of a break on hotel charges from the participating properties. The bottom line is that if you take the trip, the promotion company pays. Sure they negotiate favorable rates, but not $30 rooms like some of you suggest. In essesnce, they go out and buy rooms that would have gone unsold anyway because occupancy rates are low. If occupancy rates are high and they can't obtain a low rate, they will simply book you in your second or third choice property. I wouldn't bank on staying at the Hilton Times Square folks!! It looks nice on the hotel list, but rarely available. Set your sites on the Courtyard or Ramada Inn and you won't be disappointed.

This offer is really for the person who is flexible and enjoys a good deal at a reasonable cost (i/e. buy $100 in Dockers). As long as you are very flexible in your travel plans, and can adjust your schedule based on when the rooms and dates are available, you will go on vacation as promised. If you go into this offer thinking that you'll stay in Times Square over New Years, or Panama City FL over spring break, you'll be very disappointed.

In short, this deal is real and you WILL get one of your three choices, provided you are flexible. Again, Dockers and the promotion company would never attempt to scam a Kohl's customer, nor do they want to upset them in any way.

By the way, the JCPenneys free airfare deal is run the same way as the free hote ofer. It's the same promotion company and works very much the same way. Persoanlly I don't like the free airfare offer because it makes it difficult to book a second ticket for the person(s) you may be travelling with, especially if fares are high for the second ticket, or worse yet unavailable. You WILL NOT earn frequesnt flyer miles or qualification miles for your free trip (same with the hotel offer). Also, ever wonder why there are only 10 cities you can travel to?? It's because those cities are almost always serviced by AirTran, Southwest or other low-cost acrriers where there are usually low fares to be found throughout the year. If you asked to go to Miami in December, you might be told that Chicago (your 2nd choice is available). Why...because Southwest flies to Chicago Midway and perhaps offered a very low fare at the same time you were looking to go to Miami.

Anyway, that's the deal!