BoSoxFan45

O.K.

Here's the deal.

I have to spend 3-4 weeks over the next 2 months in St. Louis (downtown).

The Westin St. Louis isn't opening until December, or I would just stay there and bring myself almost to Platinum status in Starwood.

It looks like all other Starwood properties are outisde of Downtown (a good ways), unless I'm misinformed.

The Hyatt looks o.k., but nothing special.
The R.C. looks great, but is out in Clayton.
Someone told me that the Drury Inn was o.k, but points???
The OMNI is supposedly nice and I have a suite upgrade cert I need to sue there, so that's 1 week. but they are booked all but one week...

Any suggestions. I'm a HHonors member, but with minimal points. And I'm platinum in Hyatt.

Please help.....

Mvic

The Hyatt is actually fairly decent but my vote would be for the Chase Park Plaza on the corner of Lindell and Kingshighway (basically 5 minute cab ride to down town) in the heart of the Central west End, especially for an extended stay. Not sure if they are partners with any FF program though.

Here is their link http://www.chaseparkplaza.com/hotel.htm

[This message has been edited by Mvic (edited 09-06-2000).]

Tino

I'd go for the Hyatt myself, but then I spent 13 straight months there a while back. Are you close enough to make a run at Diamond level? You can occaisionally get good deals from the Ritz, but that's west of the city in Clayton.

BoSoxFan45

I am nowhere close to making Diamond (Zero stays this year). I had been concentrating on making platinum in Starwood, but the St. Louis hotels are just too incovenient until the Westin opens. Is there a Metrolink or something I could take?

I asked Hyatt if they would "fast-track" me to Diamond and they said that all they could do was comp me to the level I attained in another program.

I would think they would want the 20-plus nights I would give them in the next 2 months, plus my future exclusive business (40 plus nights annually) if I was allowed to fast-track diamond. Maybe they think I'm going to just stay there anyway, which isn't the case. I like having an incentive to direct my business somewhere.

Unless Hyatt allows me to fast-track, I think I will likely just stay at the Omni Majestic most of the time. Although their Select Guest program is far more amorphous than other programs, I often get suprised by complimentary things.

rfrost

I stayed at the Majestic some years ago (it may not have been an Omni then) and thought the room was quite lovely. Unless they've messed it up since, it probably is a good choice.

mmerkin800

I was just recently in St. Louis and stayed in the Clayton area which is pretty accessible to the downtown area. I stayed at the Sheraton in Clayton to get Starwood points and was pleased with that. Another new place that is a hotel/condo is The Bonhomme also in Clayton.

seawolf

I've been staying in the St. Louis area for the past four months. Where you should stay should depend on where you need to be during the day. If you do need to be downtown, then you should stay there just because of the morning traffic. The Hyatt is nice. If you want Hilton points, I think there's an Embassy Suites located downtown. There's a Hilton at Frontenac which i where I'm currently at right now. But it is a bit for out. Too bad the Westin is not open. I wouldn't recommend any of the Starwood properties even thought I'm Platinum. They are all bad. It also doesn't help that they are not company owned.

Eastbay1K

Agree with Seawolf. Last fall I stayed at the Sheraton West Port. It was one of the most awful stays ever, anywhere. I wrote a polite and detailed letter to the general manager. I never even received the courtesy of a reply. I also found it inconvenient to downtown.

doc

I'd go Hyatt as well and yes, I'm Diamond but have gone previously as a Platinum and it is as good as it gets in downtown St Louis, IMHO!

BTW- Boomer also spends alot of time here, so you might check with him about the best Starwood properties locally!

tkla

Its been a few years but if you are Single the Adams mark across from the arch has a killer bar...if not go for the Hyatt

Boomer

Doc, you beat me to the punch

I'm in st louis 6 or 7 times a year.

Mostly I stay in the Clayton area, and have to strongly disagree with those that have posted negative commnets about the Sheraton Clayton Plaza.

I love this hotel, the staff are one of the best i've dealt with anywhere. They have a nice club level, Rhonda the club level concierge is terrific.
The hotel also offers free airport transportation.

I also, stay out in westport now and then, and just love the sheraton westport, the lakeside property is lovely and westport has lots of restuarants within a 150 yard walk of the hotel.

I almost never stay downtown, so i can;t offer much advice on hotels. The adam's mark has a nice buffet dinner, I'm not sure what days of the week they run it, but the food is excellent.

Clayton is about 15 mins from downtown, unless traffic is awful, westport is a hike to downtown.

Mvic

Central West End is the trendy area in St Louis these days (Clayton is the expensive area), good restaurants, bars, pubs, clubs, and even a dedicated Cigar and Martini lounge (unless you prefer the college kids crowd in which case University city is the place).

Bosoxs check out this web site for good restaurant reviews.
http://www.inlink.com/~eckert/restaurant.htm

St. Louis FF

Box, hello from STL. I use to work at the RC, send me an e mail and we can talk.

trd

see the hyatt discussion group for more comments on Hyatt St. Louis

seawolf

Totallly disagree about the Clayton Plaza except the bit about Rhonda. She's very friendly and helpful. But the club level is just awful. Been to better club floors. I guess I'm just not used to domestic club floors. Domestically I'm usually at Westins.