Newbie to Starwood

[YYJMSP]

Some off topic questions: Could you pls share your itinerary, hotels you stayed at etc; did you drive; how many months before the trip did you make the hotel reservations using SPs; can the rooms accommodate a family of four; any other advice? Thanks a lot.

We are a family of 3, and our daughter was only 5 so she stayed in the same bed with us fairly often. We flew in to Paris and out of Rome, and took trains in between everywhere. It was all on points, so the airfare was booked about 11 months in advance, hotels just after that, and train reservations about 6 months in advance.

Here's the itinerary and SPG costs (back in summer 2008, I'm sure it's more now):

Paris - Le Meridien Etoile -- 1 King Club President (Specialty Select upgrade, cost 50K SPG points for 5 days, included breakfast every day with a view of the Eiffel Tower)

Monaco - Le Meridian Beach Plaza -- 1 King Classic (cost 48K SPG points for 5 days)

Milan - Four Points -- this was an unintentional stop, when our train broke down and we had to wait until the next day to continue our trip

Zurich -- ArabellaSheraton Neues Schloss -- 1 King Executive (Specialty Select ugprade, cost 24K SPG points for 2 days)

Vienna -- Le Meridien Vienna -- 1 King Junior Suite (Special Select upgrade, cost 46K SPG points for 5 days) -- we actually got bumped up to a massive suite.

Venice -- Hotel Des Bains Venice Lido Resort -- Deluxe Seaview (Specialty Select upgrade, cost 46K SPG points for 5 days, including breakfast) -- we got bumped here as well to a massive suite

Rome -- Westin Excelsior Rome -- King Junior Suite (Specialty Select upgrade, cost 58K SPG points for 5 days) -- we got bumped up to a multi-room Grand Luxe Suite (it was our wedding anniversary)

Frankfurt -- ArabellaSheraton Am Busing Palais -- King Superior (cost 8K SPG points for 2 days, including breakfast) -- this short stop was to line up with our return flight

 

[grgs]

We're spending 5 nights at the Le Meridien Piccadilly Circus this June in a junior suite with club lounge access. We're a family of four (2 adults & 2 kids)--any other room type, and we would have had to book 2 rooms. The junior suite will accommodate four. I did get an e-mail saying that we will have to pay 50 pounds extra for the fourth person. At the time we booked, this hotel was a cat 5, but I think it may now be a cat 6. A standard room would have been 12,000 points; the suite upgrade was only an additional 2,500 points per night which I think is pretty good. We also got the fifth night free.

Glorian

P.S. I hope we get a room like DavidnRobin did!

 

[DavidnRobin]

We stayed at the Park Lane - 1 metro stop down - the Le Meridan Piccadilly is in the thick of it (great location, but 1000s of tourists right outside). Be prepared that the London rooms are small, but great idea to use SPs to upgrade (IMO). If you are facing Piccadilly - expect noise prettty much all the time. Enjoy.

vss - I took videos of our rooms and surrounds (YouTube - blujahz). Made reservations about 6 months in advance. My advice - depending on hotel and how many people - nicely ask to see your room before taking luggage up - and if not up to expecations - politely ask if there are other rooms that you can see. We moved rooms in both London and Paris. The Paris room they attempted to give us was a smoking room and had 2 small beds... unacceptable. The London room was very nice but adjacent to the lift (could hear cables in the wall) - and we ended up in a room that had no classification (incredible).

 

[YYJMSP]

My advice - depending on hotel and how many people - nicely ask to see your room before taking luggage up - and if not up to expecations - politely ask if there are other rooms that you can see.

We've made a habit of calling the hotel directly about 2 weeks in advance, speaking to the reservations manager, and trying to prearrange SPG Platinum upgrades. This usually works...