For the Artful Lodger

Far from being left out in the rush of special offers to Europe, the Far East and South Pacific are also spinning out special programs.

Honolulu-based Royal Road Mutual Holidays offers five free nights at a quintet of Hyatt hotels if you buy a pair of round-trip air tickets from Honolulu for $896 to Auckland or $996 to Sydney, per person, aboard Air New Zealand or Continental Airlines. Flights are available from Los Angeles or San Francisco. The hotel rooms are on the basis of two people traveling together.

The vouchers for the five free nights are worth up to $450, according to the tour operator. The five hotels are the Hyatt Kingsgates in Auckland, Rotorua and Queenstown in New Zealand; the Hyatt Kingsgate in Sydney, and the Hyatt Regency in Fiji.

You have to set up the hotel nights prior to departure from the U.S. However, the hotel nights don’t have to be on a consecutive basis. You get a voucher for each hotel night, valid for that date only. These are not open vouchers, so changes are not likely to be accommodated. The vouchers must be used by Sept. 30.

More information on this program is available from travel agents.

Meanwhile, if you’re planning your first visit to Taiwan, you can get your first night’s room free as long as you stay two additional nights (for a total of three). First-time visitors will also get complimentary airport-hotel-airport transfers and a half-day sightseeing tour of Taipei, capital of Taiwan.

Travelers have to fill out coupons indicating dates of travel to Taiwan and their top three choices from 13 hotels listed on the coupon. The price of rooms at the 13 hotels is also provided. This coupon (one per traveler) must be mailed to the tourism bureau in Taiwan, which will then send confirmation of the hotel with the rate plus vouchers for the free first night, transfers and tour. All three nights have to be at the same hotel, with travel to be completed by Sept. 20.

Coupons and details are available from the Taiwan Visitors Assn., 166 Geary St., San Francisco 94108, phone (415) 989-8677.