Thunderroad

I'm cautiously optimistic that availability will open up soon and certainly before stay (and I hope before mine, in September), as the Starwood affiliation is due to start July 1. I believe that the other new Starwood in Peru (Four Points Lima) opened up availability just a few weeks in advance of its June 10 opening.

Thunderroad

Oops! So much for my cautious optimism. Hotel opening date on the Starwood site now pushed back to Aug. 1. And I just saw a Tripadvisor.com review that mentioned some major construction work still going on there.

I do remain cautiously optimistic, but now I'm edging more toward the cautious end of the spectrum.

gwynne007

What would be the anticipated room rate for this hotel?

trustful88

Safe to assume that it will be similar to the other ones like Tambo. Cat 5, roughly $220-$250/night + taxes/fees (closer to $300), and possible C+P at $110 + 6000 pts.

Coolers

What's the over/under on the hotel opening on Aug 1 like the website says? Still not accepting reservations..

Thunderroad

I'd still say more likely than not that the hotel will in fact become a Starwood Aug. 1. (As you may know, it's been operating for years. It's just that it's only now becoming a Starwood, following like its sister Libertador chain properties Hotel Paracas, Tambo del Inka and Westin LIma.) I'd think that if the Starwood opening were delayed they would have posted a new date by now, well in advance of the transition, as they did previously in connection with the previous delays.

The big caveat here is that my guess is only that. I don't have a clue about the hotel business works regarding such matters.

Thunderroad

Well, so much for my prediction. Aug. 1 is here and no availability for SPG booking, plus no notice now of when booking will become possible. I guess there's progress in that the SPG and Libertador sites now list it as belonging to Starwood, but booking as an SPG hotel (along with points accrual, award redemptions, C+P) does not seem possible yet.

Lurkers, any idea of when we can start booking rooms as SPG and when this will otherwise become a full-fledged SPG property?

Starwood Lurker

I got this in my email inbox earlier today:

"We are proud to announce that the Palacio del Inka, Cusco is now part of Starwood Hotels & Resorts. The hotel is accepting reservations as of today, August 1, 2013. Please note that since this is a new activation, we will not expect availability on the web until later today."

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

Coolers

You spoke too soon. Availability was just loaded. Cat 4 property, yet strangely, appears to be more expensive than the Tambo for every date I've searched.

Thunderroad

Thanks!

Glad to be wrong about being right! (Much better than being right about being wrong.)

Could be that it will be upped to a Cat 5 some time after opening, as sometimes this happens with new properties.

Just booked a C+P, though the CSR cautioned me that as the systems are being updated it will show at the old rate of $60 rather than the current one of $75.

Nice to see this finally joining SPG.

trustful88

Booked rooms already. Not a bad place. 10k points, I'll take it. Or do you think cash/pts is better? Too many saved points right now and if they suffer from inflation later...

Astrophsx

Is this common beyond category changes in March each year? I don't think I've seen a new property change category level other than in March.

Thunderroad

Purely a judgment call. I generally go for C+P, and did so for our booking at PdI. I guess it depends on how many points you have, how you expect to be using them, how certain you are about those expectations and how long you're staying at the property (e.g., if for five nights, the fifth night free makes a straight point redemption that much more appealing0. I was once very glad to have lots of SPG points banked away when converting them to Emirates miles ended up being the best way of booking part of a vacation trip. But yeah, OTOH, they're generally a deteriorating asset.

Me neither, but then again I can't say I've tracked such changes closely.

trustful88

Good call - I'm a SF traveler (not far from you - cheers!). C+P is 5k points + $96 in charge + fees, or just 10k points. Renewal of Platinum gives me 35% off pt redemption, but no sure I want to use that now. I'm only spending 3 nights there between Machu Picchu trips. Any idea if breakfast is included? The other option is the Rumi hotel, which is highly rated, but not luxurious at all.

I've got about 122k SPG points left (blew a lot for flights). Based on category changes this year already, I have a bad feeling points will depreciate another 20% year-over-year. The best point redemption was converting to LAN miles (14,000 kms with 1->1.5km conversion + 5000 bonus) instead of paying $283 RT flight between Lima <> Cuzco.

Cheers bud!

trustful88

They changed the LAN ratio from 1->2kms to 1->1.5kms this year already, right before I booked my Machu Picchu trip Also, all points/$$ went up for each category. This hotel is probably going to get bumped up to cat 5...