Marriott

Looking to boost business at its convention center, a Los Angeles City Council panel set the stage Tuesday for another downtown hotel developer to receive financial help from taxpayers. The council's three-member Trade, Commerce and Tourism Committee voted 2 to 0 to begin determining how much financial assistance the city will provide to Williams/Dame & Associates, which has proposed a Marriott hotel complex across the street from the L.A. Live entertainment complex. The proposal, which now heads to the full council, comes 10 months after the council agreed to provide up to $249 million in tax revenue for the reconstruction of the Wilshire Grand Hotel.

Marriott and Enterprise took two of the top honors in an annual poll of travel agents on suppliers and destinations they prefer. Marriott won for best hotel and resort chain and Enterprise for best domestic car rental company. Royal Caribbean was the top pick for best overall cruise line and Southwest was chosen best domestic airline. The poll of 113,000 agents was done for the trade magazine, Vacation Agent  . . . . Thinking of hiking Half Dome this summer? Note that permits will be required to ascend using the safety cables, the most popular route.

This deal from Marriott makes it easy to get a jump-start on a vacation. Stay at a JW Marriott, Renaissance or Marriott Resort through January and receive a companion airline ticket to anywhere in the continental U.S. plus a $100 resort credit. The deal: The Stay Here, Fly There package is available in California (including Sonoma, San Diego and Palm Springs), Hawaii, Arizona, Colorado, Texas and Florida. It requires a two-night stay, and the $100 credit may be used for golf, spa services or food.

Cerberus Capital Management and Chatham Lodging Trust ended their $1.12-billion agreement to buy 64 hotels owned by the bankrupt Innkeepers USA Trust. In a joint statement Monday, Cerberus and Chatham said a "material adverse" change had taken place since the May 16 agreement, entitling them to withdraw. Neither specified whether the change related to the marketplace or to Innkeepers itself. Material adverse clauses let buyers pull out of deals in cases of changes to the market or the purchased company.

Pool or the beach? Both come with a stay at Laguna Cliffs Marriott Resort & Spa in Dana Point . The hotel has a third-night-free offer that stretches summer until the end of September. The deal: Laguna Cliffs Marriott requires a two-night stay to score the free night. The Victorian-style resort with the classic red roof has two pools and a large spa but also is close to Doheny State Beach. Use the code "BGS" when making a reservation. When: The offer is good through Sept.

X Games 17 fans, prepare to open your wallets. JW Marriott Los Angeles L.A. Live is offering a weekend pass for a close-up of skateboarding, BMX, motocross and other adrenaline-packed competitions that run July 28 to July 31 in downtown Los Angeles. The package comes with three nights at the hotel, tickets to events, breakfast with X Games medalist Dave Mirra and more for a cool $3,000. See what I mean about the open-wallet policy? --The details: X Games 17 events will be held at L.A. Live, the Nokia Theatre, Staples Center -- all within walking distance of the hotel.

Mardi Gras and Jazz Fest aren't the only reasons to visit New Orleans . The Running of the Bulls in July, when roller derby "bulls" skate through the French Quarter and "gore" each other, can be just as much crazy fun. But you have to be able to handle the sticky summer heat.  For those who can, the New Orleans Marriott has a room rate that starts at $99 a night and throws in dining discounts. The deal: The Hot Location, Cool Deal requires a four-night stay to get the sale room rate.

It can get mighty hot in central Arizona in summer -- and that in turn forces hotels to turn up the heat in the promotions department. Case in point: the JW Marriott Camelback Inn Resort & Spa in Scottsdale. A Southwestern classic, the 125-acre desert resort is offering a Linger Longer package to entice heat-seekers who want to make the most of their weekends. The package nets you a stay in a 550-square-foot, nonsmoking "casita" on the resort's sprawling grounds at the foot of Mummy Mountain.

The JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort & Spa in Phoenix is a sprawling, 950-room hotel on four acres with lots of outdoor activities for grown-ups and children. This summer package includes golf and a $50 resort credit for rooms that start at $149 per night -- perfect for an affordable family getaway. Yes, the Arizona desert gets hot in summer, but you can cool off by splashing around in the pools and gigantic water slide. The deal: The freebies in the Family Fling & Swing Summer Package are what make this deal such a bargain.

An Oregon developer plans to build a 22-story hotel near the L.A. Live entertainment center to serve a growing number of visitors to downtown Los Angeles. Marriott International Inc. would operate the proposed 377-room hotel on Olympic Boulevard under two of the company's brands: Residence Inn by Marriott and Courtyard by Marriott. Construction on the nearly $120-million project is set to begin next March and be completed by 2014. It would be built and owned by a consortium led by Williams/Dame & Associates, the Portland, Ore., developer that built the condominium towers Evo, Luma and Elleven near Staples Center in the South Park district of downtown.