Starwood Preferred Guest - First Time To Europe, need recommendations.

I will be going to Europe from 9/30 - 10/09/2010 to visit my best friend who just moved with her husband and child to Aviano, Italy. I am looking to take a 3 day trip within those dates with them, somewhere in Europe.

Since this is my first time, I was wondering if anyone had recommendations on the best European hotels. Maybe even hotels that frequently give upgrades? I will be using SPG Award Points for my stay.

Some of the places that we have discussed are Prague, Malta, or somewhere in Spain, but we are open to all ideas.
I know this is pretty vague, but we are looking for something that is a reasonable train fare, or flight fare from the Venice area.

Any help would certainly be appreciated!

You might enjoy reading this thread:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/starwood-preferred-guest/594178-europe-top-starwood-properties-discussion-summary.html

I'm still here in Europe right now on the end of an around-the-world trip I've done the past 4 months.

I am in Valencia, Spain tonight and based on what you said you were thinking about, I can tell you emphatically to avoid the Westin in Milan, Italy.

I thought the W in Barcelona was awesome and Barcelona is a cool city so with only a few nights that might be a great destination for you.

It really all depends on what you like as far as being a tourist. Do you like being in old, historic cities in the thick of things, or do you like nature?

I personally hate the cities and while Le Meridien in Vienna gave me a nice upgrade and the hotel was pretty cool, I just hated the density and crowdedness of Vienna and didn't end up exploring.

I found the Sheraton Jagdhof Hof Bei Salzburg on Lake Fuchslee (also knows as the old Schloss Fuschl) just outside of Salzburg, Austria to be awesome, and Salzburg and surrounding area is really cool. The city is not so huge and overwhelming like Vienna.

Personally I found the hotels in Italy to not be very warm and welcoming, and I'm going to make a big judgment and guess that they'll be even less warm and welcoming if you're staying on points.

I loved the Sheraton Davos-Dorf in Davos, Switzerland (a ski town in the mountains).

And I really loved the Westin Grand in Munich and booked one night but stayed three. They gave me a nice upgraded room from the "Best Available Save 10% Book Now" rate for the lowest category room. Upon checkin I inquired about the Club and got the Club added on for 50E a night, which was about 40E less than the BAR for a Club room had been when booking online. They offered me to use 3,000 points a night for the Club but I declined and paid the 50E.

Their Club was by far one of the nicest I've found, and certainly the nicest in Europe. They had substantial appetizers that were really really good and different each night. I actually didn't need dinner because their stuff was so great!! And their breakfast equally good. And the staff in the Club is just oustanding.

Munich is pretty cool for a city and it's easy to get around on the Underground from the Westin to the Marienplaatz or other significant places.

I just cruised through that thread that SanDiego posted and unfortunately it is so old it's pretty useless. Almost none of the properties mentioned are under the Starwood umbrella anymore.

The properties evidently change management a lot and anything prior to 2009 is so obsolete and even then, for example the Sheraton outside Salzburg I mentioned was mentioned several times as no longer a Sheraton, but it is again as of March this year!

I just cruised through that thread that SanDiego posted and unfortunately it is so old it's pretty useless. Almost none of the properties mentioned are under the Starwood umbrella anymore.

I am unaware of errors in the summary:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/starwood-preferred-guest/594178-europe-top-starwood-properties-discussion-summary.html#post6279604

I'd be delighted to update that list if you would PM me with any corrections.

Oh wow. Ok. There were so many. I don't think I'll get to it tonight.

Schloss Fuschl near Salzburg was fantastic in June. Beautiful location, perfect service and got an upgrade from standard room to Junior Suite. Best hotel I've been to (and the food is great too).

Personally I found the hotels in Italy to not be very warm and welcoming

Did you stay at the Westin Excelsior Florence ?

Oh wow. Ok. There were so many. I don't think I'll get to it tonight.

There arent that many hotels on that list, wouldnt take more than a minute to skim through them ....

Can't really be too helpful re specific properties, but FWIW my favorite cities in Europe include Prague, Krakow (Poland), Venice (once you get off the tourist track, which is not that hard to do), Rome, Paris, Amsterdam and London. I've heard great things about Barcelona, but haven't been there for a very, very long time.

By the way, if you didn't know this...If you cash in points for four nights, you get the fifth one free. Perhaps you folks are simply limited to three nights, but I thought I'd mention this just in case.

Regardless of where you go, the time of year is pretty good. There's never a guarantee of good weather in Europe, but by early October it certainly won't be jammed with tourists and you have a decent chance of getting dry, sunny weather in most places. Plus the dollar is pretty strong against the Euro right now.

Munich is pretty cool for a city and it's easy to get around on the Underground from the Westin to the Marienplaatz or other significant places.

Munich is wonderful. I loved the Le Meridien there, and we also got a very nice upgrade to a suite on our $99 room! ^

Thank you all for your help! Here is what we have decided:

2 nights at the Sheraton Arabella Park Hotel in Munich from Oct 3-5 (During Oktoberfest!)

2 nights at The Westin Excelsior in Rome from Oct 5 - 7.

Cant wait to see these hotels! Hopefully even get some upgrades along the way! :)

I personally hate the cities and while Le Meridien in Vienna gave me a nice upgrade and the hotel was pretty cool, I just hated the density and crowdedness of Vienna and didn't end up exploring.

... and Salzburg and surrounding area is really cool. The city is not so huge and overwhelming like Vienna.




Fascinating observations...I do not think that Vienna is high density and really crowded in comparison to the old town in Salzburg, actually Vienna is known for its wide boulevards and pretty spacious inner core with lots of parks...