It’s hard to believe, but it was 16 years ago this month, when Travelocity was launched as the first online travel company. To help celebrate its Sweet 16, Travelocity experts are giving a gift to its customers offering 16 fabulous hotel deals from now until March 31.

For the Sweet 16 sale, customers can book a Travelocity GoodBuy Hotel stay or Flight + Hotel vacation package and receive up to a $200 credit on a future trip. Travelers must book by March 31, 2012 and travel by May 31, 2012. Visit the Travelocity Sweet 16 Birthday Celebration deals page for full details on how to redeem the SWEET16 promo code.

Also, in honor of the celebration, Travelocity pulled together 16 special hotel deals saving customers up to 50 percent. 

Marking another milestone in the movement to snuff out smoking rooms for good, in July Wisconsin will become the first state to ban smoking in guestrooms of hotels, motels, bed-and-breakfasts, and rental cabins. The law reinforces what many hotel chains are already doing; the first chain to go entirely smoke-free was Westin in 2006, and Marriott, Sheraton, and others weren’t far behind.

In his Washington Post column this week, Christopher Elliott points out that Wisconsin’s move is great news for those of us who have lost count of the number of smoking rooms we’ve endured despite efforts to avoid them. And most of us do try to avoid them: when Westin went smoke-free, the chain said it was a popular decision among the 92% of guests already requesting non-smoking rooms.