I am currently working on my 63rd auction, so I have had this same problem in the past. I can tell you my experience including hotel trips.
First, everyone's immediate reaction is that you have to create a package that includes hotel stays. Yes, this would be great to get a hotel stay donated, but you are likely to get more money if you do not package the hotel stay with your other items. Instead place the hotel stay bid sheet next to the other package's bid sheet that includes the outings, restaurant gift cards, etc. Include a small table tent suggesting that they can "complete their family vacation by bidding on both packages!" If your hotel stay and outing package is very inexpensive then you may want to group them. Packages with a $100-$250 value make a higher return. When you get above $250, the percentage can decrease. But of course this depends on your audience, the amount of items per guest ratio, and the type of event you are holding.
Getting hotel stays donated is very difficult. I continue to solicit various hotels, bed and breakfasts, and casinos for weekend stays. But I have also tried other alternatives to receive them. I've been really lucky contacting the hotel's valet service (usually a private company separate from the hotel) and asking them to donate a weekend stay. Because these valet companies have many accounts they can often get me more than one stay at various locations.
I've also solicited parents and had them donate their frequent flier miles, or points from the credit card. These can be used for hotel stays. In the past I've had them transfer their points to a gift certificate offered from their credit card company. It's much easier to do that then transfer points after the auction.
I also hunt down any parents that may work for hotels, or have a hotel connection. If you have a good connection you can always receive something from them. This includes suppliers to the hotels and their vendors.
And I love including vacation homes in my auctions. Contact everyone that you know that has a vacation home or second home. Ask them to donate 2 free weeks. If it is in a location that is really popular, place a one week stay in your live auction and when the bidding goes up, sell two in the end!
And after all of this, if you still can't get a hotel stay donated I would not purchase a stay or gift certificate towards a stay. If you do this you will be losing money. Silent auction items get a 45-60% return on average, depending on a lot of factors. So you will not get your money back in return.
So our auction is a week from tomorrow...although I asked probably 50 hotels for donations, I only got 1 positive response.
So, with having some getaway packages that are several hours away from us, I was thinking of maybe having the auction purchase like a $50 gift card towards a hotel stay to include in these getaways.
Has anyone done this before? Is $50 good or should it be more? Was thinking of purchasing like a gift card at one of the travel websites, so the winner could pick from their hotel choices, rather than us decide on a chain of hotels.
