Rapid Travel Chai

New York does not have the climate to attract crowds in winter but it is hardly unbearable. And there are deals galore in the twin Broadway Week and Restaurant Week.

Broadway Week runs January 17-February 4 in an unusually long ‘week’. 2 for 1 tickets are available for many shows every day of the week. The cheapest tickets are often excluded and not all seats are available but there is plenty to be found. The Rapid Traveler just helped his college Classical Chinese professor book for this Saturday’s evening performance of Chinglish; there were still tickets available at every price level.

Audience Rewards members can earn SPG/Delta/US Airways/Amtrak/Best Buy/Points.com points on their purchase. It seems to work best to do the booking through the Broadway Week website and enter Audience Rewards membership number at checkout. Going through Audience Rewards does not activate the 2 for 1. The Rapid Traveler has little familiarity with this program, so maybe readers can share their experiences.

Restaurant Week runs January 16-February 10, but only on weekdays. Participating restaurants offer three-course prix-fixe menus costing $24.07 for lunch and $35.00 for dinner, a tremendous deal at many superlative restaurants.

American Express has a promo for restaurant week restaurants offering a $20 statement credit for dining three times following registration, the terms:

To be eligible for this $20 Statement Credit offer, you must register any eligible American Express® Card at amexnetwork.com/nycrestaurantweek between 12am ET on January 4, 2012, and 5pm ET on February 10, 2012. Registration is limited to the first 15,000 enrollees. You may register only one Card for this offer. Using the same registered Card for each transaction, you must dine at least three times at participating restaurants that accept American Express Cards. Minimum qualifying transaction amount at each restaurant is $24. Prepaid and corporate cards and ExpressPay transactions are not eligible. If your Card is replaced during the promotional period, please call the customer service number on the back of your Card for assistance. Statement credits are generally issued within five business days after your qualifying purchase(s), but may take up to two billing cycles to post to your account. Limit one statement credit per Cardmember.

High-end hotels are running tremendous sales. Mid and lower-end hotels have less room to cut and are bunched up, but prime hotels throughout Manhattan are available for $150-$200 for this weekend, for example, such as the Waldorf Astoria offering a prepay rate of $199/night. There are so many choices and luxury hotels are of little interest to The Rapid Traveler so check out the typical brands and sources. The Rapid Traveler’s professor loved the idea of playing oil sheik for a weekend so went with the Waldorf. The Rapid Traveler leaves it to the experts to figure out which current hotel promotions, like Hilton’s facebook one, work best to make the points rain.

And the sidewalks are as clear and they ever will be of confused tourists and New Jersey Christmas tree sweaters.

Readers, share your Broadway Week and Restaurant Week recommendations.