Hotels and Fashion Web Sites Make New Teams

(MoneyWatch)  In a new twist on online hotel discounts, some luxury properties have hooked up with fashion Web sites that offer limited-time reduced prices on high-end clothing and accessories.

Ideeli, a Web site that offers deep discounts on designer labels ?  la sample sales, partnered up with Luxury Link, an online travel company, to offer hotel and resort packages among the clothes, shoes, handbags and jewelry Ideeli regularly offers. Gilt Groupe, which also sells high-end discounted fashion items as well as home goods and luggage, announced in July it was planning to launch its own hotel Web site, Jetsetter.

A recent Ideeli-Luxury Link sale included a $1,709 three-night stay for two people at the Hotel Hana-Maui and Honua Spa on the island of Maui in Hawaii. The deal also included breakfast, dinner and parking, among other amenities.

These forays into the hotel business could prove a good move for these fashion companies. Because luxury hotels are having a tougher time than other segments of the hospitality industry, they're more likely to offer discounted packages now. And because the discounts are only available for purchase for a specified time -- both Ideeli and Gilt offer their sales usually for just 24 to 72 hours, or until inventory sells out -- the hotels can still maintain their reputations for exclusivity. Membership to these fashion communities is by invitation only, too (though getting in isn't really all that tough; requests are usually granted within a day or so). Membership is free, but there's still a membership, which also adds to the allure.