The Leading Hotels of the World group was founded in 1928 and for it’s 80th birthday it’s doing something special. If you go register for their promotion, at 8 a.m. eastern on October 1 they’ll be selling off a limited number of rooms for $19.28 a night double.

You’ll still pay the taxes of course, but quite a score if you can pull it off. The sale will happen for 80 minutes and you must travel between November 1 and December 15 of this year.

Here are the hotels in Latin America that are part of the promotion, with links to our reviews where applicable.

Argentina
Alvear Palace Hotel (Buenos Aires)

Brazil
Pestana Convento do Carmo Hotel (Salvador)

Ecuador
Royal Palm Hotel Galapagos (Galapagos Islands)
Hotel Oro Verde (Guayaquil)

Venezuela
Gran Meliá Caracas Suites and Conference Center (Caracas)

Mexico
Presidente Intercontinental Cozumel Resort & Spa (Cozumel)
Marquis Los Cabos (Los Cabos)
Hotel Habita (Mexico City)
Grand Velas All Suites & Spa Resort (Nuevo Vallarta)

I got an error message trying to register, so the buggy corporate LHW site may give you trouble. Try back later before October if you get denied.

We’ve pulled the winners out of a hat for the Argentina Boutique Hotels contest we were running with N | A Town & Country Hotels in Buenos Aires. We had about 150 entries from 9 countries. Thanks to everyone who entered! If you’re on this list, expect a package in the mail this month.

Grand Prize - 6 Boutique Hotel Nights in Buenos Aires
from New Age Town & Country Hotels

Ralph Blessing of Washington, D.C.
USA

First Prize - A copy of Moon Handbooks Argentina

Maria Verdaguer
Fairfax Station, VA
USA

Charles Weaver
Birmingham, AL
USA

Sydney Freas
Santiago
Chile

Second Prize - A copy of Tango Around the World
from Putumayo Music

Avril Nunez
Brooklyn, NY
USA

Thomas Andrillon
La roche sur foron
France

Catherine de Vries
Toronto, Ontario
Canada

Kara Dodson
Whangarei, Northand
New Zealand

David Wiggins
Boulder, CO
USA

With the help of New Age Town & Country Hotels in Argentina, Luxury Latin America is giving away six nights of hotel stays in Buenos Aires or in the countryside. No essays, no photo competitions, just plain old luck to win. We are not Yahoo or TripAdvisor though, will millions of readers, so your odds are pretty good. Go enter the contest.

N/A has plenty of fine hotels in Argentina, including Solar de la Plaza in Salta and Club Tapiz in Mendoza, which we’ll be posting a review of soon. For this contest though, the winner will have their choice of five hotels in and around Buenos Aires. Here are descriptions of the participating hotels.
Even if you don’t come in tops, you can get a copy of Moon Handbook Argentina (our vote for the best guidebook on the country) or a copy of Putumayo’s Tango Around the World collection. See all the details here: Argentina boutique hotel contest.

If you’re a flower lover or a painter (or both) thinking of heading to Peru, you might be interested in this unique learning holiday from Orient-Express.

Inspired by the discovery of a new orchid in the Andes Mountains of Peru, the Miraflores Park Hotel in Lima and Hotel Monasterio in Cuzco are offering guests an eight day orchid painting course. It includes full day classes with tours and trips to collect specimens to paint, private tours of Machu Picchu, and optional hikes to see the sunrise over the mountains. Dinner on board the Hiram Bingham Train and welcoming cocktail are also included. (We assume that means the full Cuzco to Machu Picchu train ride as well, but check.) These courses are led by orchid enthusiast Carol Woodin and run from November 3 – 12, 2007.  Prices start from US$4,207 per person for nine nights. For more information, visit the Orient-Express Peru site.

Guests who use an American Express card in 2007 and book through Preferred hotels can get some extras with their room rate, which happens to also be discounted as well. Preferred is one of those umbrella groups representing a variety of hotels, so you’ve got to go search the list to figure out if any coincide with your travel plans.

These aren’t all luxury hotels, despite what the marketing may say, but there are some notable ones scattered around Latin America. Ones we have reviews posted on already include Quinta Real in Guadalajara, and Ceiba del Mar in Puerto Morales (near Cancun).

Extras can include a room upgrade, bottle of wine or champagne, or a hotel-specific amenity. Preferred’s web site doesn’t make this easy to figure out, however, so you might want to call the reservations number to figure out what’s really included: 877-323-7505