dannieboiz

I got 2 freebies from the last promo that needs to be used by the end of the month. I'm thinking about taking the wife for a nice drive from San Jose somewhere and spend Memorial day weekend. I'm up to drive up to 2 hours from San Jose, so Monterey, Carmel, San Francisco and slightly further north of that. Any suggestions?

DJ_Iceman

I am biased because I used to live in Monterey, but I think that would be a perfect weekend getaway from the hustle and bustle of Silicon Valley. I tried escapes to San Francisco and found that place to be more stressful than home--horrible parking, expensive hotels and restaurants, homeless people everywhere, etc.

The Monterey Marriott is an underrated gem in the chain. The service there is wonderful, the location almost ideal, and the view from some of the rooms worth five times the price they charge...

dannieboiz

2011 Visa MegaBonus Free Night Certificate, Cat 1-4 hotel

according to that I can only stay at a cat 4 hotel max. What's the monterey one? I tried to look but it doesn't say.

BKKLEE

+1

VickiSoCal

Monterey Marriott is a Cat 6

DJ_Iceman

It's a cat 6, listed right on the front page of the hotel website.

BKKLEE

Residence Inn Salinas Monterey
Courtyard Salinas Monterey

are the closest Cat 1-4's

kar120c

It's right on the hotel website, Monterey is a Cat 6, although I had a nice stay there last year. The problem is that in the Bay Area (where I live) I don't think there are a lot of interesting Cat 4's. I think most of the wine country Marriotts are higher as well but it's easy to check.

I used my last Cat 4's at the Fairfield in Capitola, next to Santa Cruz, brand new hotel and I thought it was quite nice if you like the area. I thought I saw they raised it to a Cat 5, but now it says Cat 4 so either I goofed or they moved it back down.

michelin

If you would consider driving a little further, the Santa Maria Fairfield Inn is a category 4 and is very new. I was treated very well there and its about a 30 minute drive into the local wine area.

DYKWIA

Agreed! Only stayed there one night, but got upgraded to the Presidential Suite

SacTownGuy

We are going to use our two cat 4s at either San Ramon Marriott, Walnut Creek Marriott or Walnut Creek Ren. They are all cat 3 or 4.

kar120c

Funny that you mention that one, I was just there to attend a wedding. About 3 hours from San Jose, compared to the 2 the OP mentioned. You're right, it is new, and we were treated very well there also, upgraded to a suite. However, I'm not crazy about the location, right off the freeway next to a couple other hotels and a farm supply company IIRC, views of the fields, didn't seem to be much nearby. Although to be fair, I don't know what else is in Santa Maria and we didn't have time to go look for wine.

I was a lowly gold when I stayed in Monterey, so no Presidential Suite But I was upgraded to a nice view of the bay

Horace

With Marriott categories going from 1 to 8, you won't be able to stay at high-end Marriott properties in high-demand locations. But there are still many options that are near visitor destinations. Many Courtyard, Fairfield, and other limited service properties in Northern California are available to you. There are even full-service properties that are category 4 and below, although primarily only in suburban locations.

How about a property that's not too far from the California Wine Country? With a Visa Signature card, you can get free wine tastings at more than 70 different Sonoma area wineries.

How about a property in the Marin County area for visits to Muir Woods National Monument, Sausalito, and other local attractions?

If you like amusement parks, there's California's Great America in Santa Clara and Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo, with Marriott properties near each of them.

It really depends on what you want to do. Sign in to Marriott.com, click on "Use Marriott Rewards points," and try various locations that interest you.