Starwood Preferred Guest - Looking to build a Starwood itinerary in Belgium, Germany & Austria

Going to these three countries Nov. 27 - Dec. 10, mainly to visit Christmas markets and soak up the holiday atmosphere, and I'd like to use as many Starwood points as possible on hotels. We went to Switzerland and France last year and spent a fortune on hotels (honeymoon)... we can't afford to do that again this year so this will be more of a "budget" trip.

Main areas we want to hit - Brussels, Brugge, Munich, Rothenburg, Nuremburg (basically Bavaria/Romantic Road) then go down to Salzburg/Hallstatt, loop back around to do Stuttgart and Frankfurt. I would love to visit the Alsace region of France (Strasbourg/Colmar) if we have time before heading back to Frankfurt.

I only have about 32500 points right now; I expect to add quite a few more points by the end of the year since we put about $3000 a month on the card. But I want to get as much booked now in case of points devaluation. I figure this will get me about 8 nights if I can use Cash and Points.

So, tentative itinerary:

* Arrive in Brussels Thurs Nov. 27th - Le Meridien Brussels for one night. Heard this is close to Grand Place and since I have been to Brussels before this is sort of a hit and run stop.
* Train to Brugge for two nights - non Starwood property since there are none there.
* Dec. 1st arrive in Munich - rent car so proximity to center of Munich not terribly important. This time is tough because I don't know if I should just stay at a Starwood in Munich for like 4 nights or only do 1 night in Munich and then since I want to see towns like Rothenburg and Nuremburg, switch hotels? Any good recs for this Bavaria area?
* Dec. 5th or 6th - Salzburg - Hotel Goldener Hirsch. This is a definite since I have been reading wonderful things about this property. Not sure if we're going to do two or three nights though, depending on how many side trips we want to make.
* Dec. 9 stay in Frankfurt for one night - early flight on Dec. 10th. Guess we should probably stay close to the airport but I also want to get into the main areas of Frankfurt too. We'll still have the car until we drop it off at the airport on the 10th.

I would welcome any and all suggestions.
Thanks!
Jennifer

We've only been to 2 of your cities-- Brugge & Salzburg

In Brugge I have a few suggestions-- we loved the Die Swaene hotel- a charming little place right on a canal in a converted Guild hall. It's very romantic. The lounge in the old section is a great place to have drinks in the evening, and we met such interesting people there. (though I recommend booking a room in the newer, canal view section). The hotel has an excellent restaurant and will even deliver your (included) breakfast to your room. A lot of the restaurants in Brugge are touristy and overpriced-- we really liked Breydel de Connick Restaurant on Beder Strasse. If you're going to try any of the millions of chocolate places- try Madame Dumon's- they are wonderful. And make sure to take a walk past the lake of love (with the swans) to the Beguinage-- it's peaceful and beautiful.

In Salzburg, we liked the Goldener Hirsch -- and found it gemütlich (homey & friendly) but we absolutely loved the Hotel Schloss Fuschl-- a little way out of town in an old castle on the lake. When we there breakfast was included and we made the error of assuming it would also be at the Goldener Hirsch-- it wasn't-- make sure to ask. (It's sadly leaving Starwood but I'm not sure when)

We had a wonderful dinner in Salzburg at the restaurant in The Museum der Moderne-- it's called Mönchsberg 32. It overlooks the city and has great views.

You are going to have an awesome time. I bet that Christmas-time is wonderful.

FT choked and posted duplicates.

Sorry.

DUPLICATE


Mod- please remove.

I strongly recommend my Google Earth files to help you plan your trip. Download the file for the properties grouped by Nation. Then once it's loaded into Google Earth, expand the list on the left and select only the 3 countries in which you are interested.

Google Earth also lets you search for key places such as "Frankfurt Airport" to help you put places into perspective. ^

You are right to book as much as you can now. I expect category increases for several of the hotels in these locations.

Unless you are planning to spend extra points for confirmed upgrades, I would recommend booking Cash & Points awards whenever possible. Start by planning your most definite dates at the beginning and end of your trip, and then fill in the parts in between. It sounds like you are already on track for this.

LM Brussels -- Cat4. available for C&P award on Nov 27

Frankfurt -- on Dec 9, four of the five Frankfurt-area properties offer C&P awards. Including the Sheraton Frankfurt Hotel & Towers that is located directly at the airport.

Salzburg -- You say 2 or 3 nights in Salzburg starting on the 5th or 6th. Doesn't that leave an extra night before you get to Frankfurt? The Cat5 Goldener Hirsch has C&P availability for Dec 5-9.

Munich -- At least 5 of the 9 properties here offer C&P awards during your dates.

Nuremburg -- At least 1 of the 2 Cat3 properties here offer C&P awards during your dates.

Remember that if you later decide to make changes to your dates of stay, you basically have to book a new reservation and cancel the old. If the category has increased, you'd have to book under the new category. If rooms are no longer available (or C&P awards are no longer offered), you're out of luck. So if your dates are not certain, you might consider booking more than one reservation until you can work out the details.

Also remember that you can search all of Germany (or any country other than the US) at once by omitting the city from your search. @:-)

Even with C&P awards, you don't have enough points to book all of these now. And I have not given enough consideration to these locations to make specific guesses about which ones will go up in category. If it were me, I'd probably book the ones that are most important to me first. That sounds like the Goldener Hirsch.

Additionally, I'd give some consideration to the impact of a 1-category increase at each property. If a Cat5 goes up to Cat6, the number of points required jumps significantly. Same for Cat3 to Cat4. But a Cat4 to Cat5 change is usually less painful.

If you are a little shy of having enough points to book another hotel now but are worried about a category increase, you could consider buying some points from SPG for 3.5 cents each. If the category goes up, it would probably have been worth it.

Duplicate

I strongly recommend my Google Earth files to help you plan your trip. Download the file for the properties grouped by Nation. Then once it's loaded into Google Earth, expand the list on the left and select only the 3 countries in which you are interested.

Google Earth also lets you search for key places such as "Frankfurt Airport" to help you put places into perspective. ^

You are right to book as much as you can now. I expect category increases for several of the hotels in these locations.

Unless you are planning to spend extra points for confirmed upgrades, I would recommend booking Cash & Points awards whenever possible. Start by planning your most definite dates at the beginning and end of your trip, and then fill in the parts in between. It sounds like you are already on track for this.

LM Brussels -- Cat4. available for C&P award on Nov 27

Frankfurt -- on Dec 9, four of the five Frankfurt-area properties offer C&P awards. Including the Sheraton Frankfurt Hotel & Towers that is located directly at the airport.

Salzburg -- You say 2 or 3 nights in Salzburg starting on the 5th or 6th. Doesn't that leave an extra night before you get to Frankfurt? The Cat5 Goldener Hirsch has C&P availability for Dec 5-9.

Munich -- At least 5 of the 9 properties here offer C&P awards during your dates.

Nuremburg -- At least 1 of the 2 Cat3 properties here offer C&P awards during your dates.

Remember that if you later decide to make changes to your dates of stay, you basically have to book a new reservation and cancel the old. If the category has increased, you'd have to book under the new category. If rooms are no longer available (or C&P awards are no longer offered), you're out of luck. So if your dates are not certain, you might consider booking more than one reservation until you can work out the details.

Also remember that you can search all of Germany (or any country other than the US) at once by omitting the city from your search. @:-)

Even with C&P awards, you don't have enough points to book all of these now. And I have not given enough consideration to these locations to make specific guesses about which ones will go up in category. If it were me, I'd probably book the ones that are most important to me first. That sounds like the Goldener Hirsch.

Additionally, I'd give some consideration to the impact of a 1-category increase at each property. If a Cat5 goes up to Cat6, the number of points required jumps significantly. Same for Cat3 to Cat4. But a Cat4 to Cat5 change is usually less painful.

If you are a little shy of having enough points to book another hotel now but are worried about a category increase, you could consider buying some points from SPG for 3.5 cents each. If the category goes up, it would probably have been worth it.


This is all such excellent information!! Exactly what I was looking for so, thanks!

I'll have to spend the next few nights looking over availability and get some of these booked now and then wait later on some of them. Maybe the bigger cities where there are more properties to choose from I'll wait to book, in case some of the properties get bumped a category and others don't.

I'd LOVE to stay at the Schloss Fuschl, unfortunately I don't think they offer Cash and Points and I don't have 20000 pts to blow.... :rolleyes:

We stayed at the the arabella jagdohf sheraton up the hill from schloss fuschl, we left after the first night as we found the beauty of salzburg was being in the City. Goldener Hirsch is the way to go.

We also did the Le Meridien Munich with cash and points - we thought it was really good value.

The starwood highlight of the trip was Le Meridien Vienna, we were upgraded to a beautiful junior suite with complimentary mini-bar. It was a points stay and I'm a gold member - this was all in October 07.