Australia, New Zealand & the South Pacific - Cairns/Port Douglas Hotels - options via points

We will be staying in the Cairns/Port Douglas Area on 3 nights - July 1,2. and 3.

My wife and 13 yr old duaghter will be staying with me.

We would prefer to use points.

We would like to go to the Great Barrier Reef on one day, and see the local area on the other day.

Using my Marriott points, we have the option for staying at the Pepper Resorts - 2 in Port Douglas, and 1 in Palm Cove.

Using my Air Canada Aeroplan points, I can stay at either the Best Western Hotel in Port Douglas, or the Best Western Cairns.

Which hotel (or city) would you recommend?

Hi FlyerGoldII,
I'll defer to the locals, but Cairns is the gateway for Great Barrier Reef tours.
It might be a matter of evaluating the relative value of the redemptions, but on a pure convenience level, you can't beat Cairns as the base before exploring the Reef. :)

Check out this thread on OzFest 6, FT social Do at Cairns (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/communitybuzz/829288-oz-fest-6-cairns-queensland-memorial-day-weekend-may-22-24-2009-a.html).
Attendees stayed at a few places and many people have posted links and pics from their activities. Some locals did a heck of a lot of reseach to find the best activities, so it could be a good place to start. My pics should be linked in the signature below, too.

We drove up to Port Douglas on our first day, looked around and had lunch. There is a lot of resort-style accommodation there. There is a lot of resort accommodation at Palm Cove, as you mentioned.

I'd recommend seeing the World Heritage areas of the Daintree, up to Cape Tribulation, north of Port Douglas and the Reef, east of Cairns. :)

Flyergold- We will be on our first trip to CNS at exactly the same time! I will have my 16yo with me. It was pretty hard to pick CNS vs. Port Doug but it seemed like CNS has more of interest to a teen. PD is less touristy and arguably seemed more upscale. Both have good access to reef tours; PD is closer to Daintree while CNS is closer to the Kuranda Skyrail and Atherton Tablelands. Since we plan to see all of the above, it didn't seem to make much geographical difference where to stay.

FYI, we are taking Silversonic out of CNS to the reef, Billy Tea Tours to Daintree, and Dan's Mountain Bike Tours on a night bike ride through the rainforest.

Of course take my advice with a grain of salt since I've never been there!! PM me if you want to try to meet up in CNS...we will visit MEL, CNS, Uluru, and SYD in that order.

Flyergold- We will be on our first trip to CNS at exactly the same time! I will have my 16yo with me. It was pretty hard to pick CNS vs. Port Doug but it seemed like CNS has more of interest to a teen. PD is less touristy and arguably seemed more upscale. Both have good access to reef tours; PD is closer to Daintree while CNS is closer to the Kuranda Skyrail and Atherton Tablelands. Since we plan to see all of the above, it didn't seem to make much geographical difference where to stay.

FYI, we are taking Silversonic out of CNS to the reef, Billy Tea Tours to Daintree, and Dan's Mountain Bike Tours on a night bike ride through the rainforest.

Of course take my advice with a grain of salt since I've never been there!! PM me if you want to try to meet up in CNS...we will visit MEL, CNS, Uluru, and SYD in that order.

Thanks. I will p.m. you when I come back to work this evening.

PS-Where is your home - I do not understand your location from your handle.

To the Op. I'd work out what you want to do on your two days. If it is go to the reef one day and to the Daintree the next you are probably a little better placed in Port Douglas. But if it's the reef then Kuranda via Skyrail and the train then Cairns or Palm Cove, probably Cairns, is the best bet.

And I'd choose any of the Peppers Resorts over Best Western any day. But you also should look at paying for a hotel and saving your points for a better use. There are great deals around at the moment for better properties than any of the ones you mention. The Aussie dollar is currently on an upward path against the greenback which reduces value for you but that can change in a twinkle of the eye.

And kenish, Port Douglas is upmarket on Cairns in general but it is very touristy. In fact, that's why it exists! For a 16 year old there are probably more diversions around Cairns.

As BiziBB said, there is a lot of information in the Ozfest 6 thread including links to a lot of photos taken this weekend. Most you'll find towards the end of the thread. It's linked in my signature below at least for the next few days.

[QUOTE=turtlemichael;11800953]To the Op.

And I'd choose any of the Peppers Resorts over Best Western any day. But you also should look at paying for a hotel and saving your points for a better use. There are great deals around at the moment for better properties than any of the ones you mention. The Aussie dollar is currently on an upward path against the greenback which reduces value for you but that can change in a twinkle of the eye.

[QUOTE]

What are the other good quality hotels in Cairns (I think, after reading all the posts, I would prefer to stay in Cairns over Port Douglas), and how do I find about these good deals?

What are the other good quality hotels in Cairns (I think, after reading all the posts, I would prefer to stay in Cairns over Port Douglas), and how do I find about these good deals?

The better hotels downtown include: Hilton, Pullman Reef, Sebel Cairns, Sebel Harbour Lights and Shangr-La . You'll find deals either via their own websites or one of the short term booking sites: quickbeds.com, lastminute.com or wotif.com. The Australian travelzoo site often has very good deals.

I will take advantage of this 2 for 1 (all Australian and New Zealand) Hilton hotel Promotion for the June/July/Aug

http://au.deals.travelzoo.com/hotels/593608?utm_source=top20_au&utm_medium=email_top20