amerikajin777

Hi Everyone,

I'm not sure if this the 'right' forum or not, but i'm desperate. I'm an SPG Plat who travels 90% on business, not often for vacation. Finally, I'm getting to take a much-needed vacation over labor-day week with my partner. I had just enough star points to book four nights in London at the Park Lane (9/5-9) and three nights at the Westin Paris (9/9-12). This was supposed to be romantic and relaxing...

Well, last Sunday, we had his mother over. He was telling her about the trip and I was making dinner. SOMEHOW, when I finished making the dessert, our romantic trip for two became a trip for three. I like his mother a lot, but this is NOT exactly what I had in mind. I did have to make a bit of a fuss when the idea of 'sharing' the existing room came up. Tis one thing to spend each day with your MIL, but each night....we all must have boundaries.

Anyhow, here's my problem, she's got money, but isn't 'rich' per se. She also has never been out of the country (except for a cruise to cozumel) and so doesn't want to stay at a different hotel 'close' to ours. Therefore, I'm stuck trying to figure out how to get the cost of an additional room down. I called the SPG Plat Concierge, but they didn't seem to know much about existing promos.

The best normal rate I've been able to find for the Park Lane is $339/night. I really need to get this below $300. I tried the SPG50 route to no avail. I did find the 'buy 3 get 1' deal to get it to $316, but that's still more than she's going to want to shell out.

The best normal rate I've found for the Westin is $412/night. I can probably convince her to shell about above $300 for that, but i can't seem to get it down anywhere. I found the PWC SET rate using google (I don't work for PWC) and its about $350, but that seems risky?

Anyhow, thanks to anyone with any ideas. Anyone wanna sell some points?

amerikajin777

One additional important note on my motivations; if i can't get the rates down, i have a sneaking suspicion that we're going to end up staying somewhere else that is 'cheaper' for her. Obviously it won't be 'cheaper' for me, since it's all free for us. I know her well enough to know that she won't want us 'paying' for her room, but would push to stay somewhere 'less fancy.'

LETTERBOY

Pretty sure this is against the Starwood T&Cs.

TravelinSperry

If you have some more points you could try the Le Meridien down the road. They have C&P rates available for 9/5-9/7 and then you could pay for the final two nights bringing the average to $279. The hotels are 5 minutes walking distance from each other on the same street. In fact I think the Le Meridien is better (since the Park Lane has ongoing construction). So you can tell her it's an upgrade (although I know it doesn't meet her need of staying in same hotel).

I do not advise using a corp rate you are not entitled to.

This is London, you aren't going to find much below $300 p/nt at the Starwood properties.

Oh and btw, you do know that when using points for 4 free nights you are entitled to the 5th free correct? By leaving London after only four nights you are losing a free night stay. Perhaps a change of itinerary is in order?

FlyingDL4Fun

It sounds like you need better help managing your MIL than your Starwood bookings. You can (in order of preference, I'll assume):

1. Tell her the cost and she says that's too expensive and doesn't go.
2. Have your spouse pay for her, or split the cost.
3. Buy or transfer your own starpoints from somewhere
4. Just pay for it. I don't think a few hundred dollars ( over the magic $300 limit) for a Euro vacation is going to make a difference.

Who's paying for her flight?

amerikajin777

I should have specified more - I'm using two awards on the 'sheraton free weekend night' thing for our room and using points for the other two nights at the Park Lane and then all points for the Westin. I HAD a lot more points a few months ago, but had to use some for a medical issue. So as it was, without her attending, i was already going to be at 0 points left over. So C&P isn't an option for me - though I had no idea that C&P was a night by night thing until you prompted me to check that out; very interesting for future use.

Since we're using the sheraton free nights, i couldn't get the free fifth night since i'm not 'technically' using points for all nights.

Thanks for the ideas though!

As for the corp rate, yeah i guess that's probably not a great idea. I used to work for the feds and would use the gov rate (which is actually higher here) and it seems like a 'matter of interpretation' from hotel to hotel as to whether i should get that rate when working WITH the government...

amerikajin777

I need help managing a partner who doesn't exactly think everything through before making invitations after getting vague hints.

1. I tried that one, believe me. Her answer was 'well we don't need to stay at places that fancy do we?!? Let's stay somewhere less expensive!'
2. This is the bizarre logic. She has no problem saying that we should stay somewhere 'cheaper,' but has a BIG problem with us paying for her hotel. So it's better for us to pay for a crap hotel and for her to pay for a crap hotel, but for us to pay for part of her nice hotel and not pay anything for our own would be wrong....apparently.
3. Where can i buy starpoints for transfer except from SPG? At the current price, it is still cheaper to just pay the normal rate.
3. Believe me, if i could just pay for her hotel, I'd do it.

She's paying for her airfare; she won't 'have us subsidising her.' She suggested sharing a suite (which may or may not have a door), to which i'm saying a big EFF NO.

margarita girl

Why don't you just find a BRG? At 20% off, it can produce some pretty amazing rates.

As for how to say no to your MIL, I'd suggest a letter to Dear Abby (or whoever) might be in order!

karenkay

sorry to chime in here with this, but another vote for 'you have a mother-in-law problem, not a hotel problem'. (also, if this type of thing continues, you have a partner problem...that's who should be corralling MIL, but i digress.)

that said, have you considered a lie? you didn't realize, but you inadvertently made a non-cancelable reservation. you'd love to have her join you at your existing hotel, however, if she can find a rate that works for her. aarp?

good luck.

terpzone

FWIW, the Park Lane is undergoing extensive renovations and is NOT worth paying for. Very much worth the starpoint price, but I'd go elsewhere if I was paying cash.

I got engaged in London while staying there and the staff was amazing and gave us a free bottle of champagne and handwritten card sighed by the team, but the renovations were a bummer.

amerikajin777

I thought of that, any idea where i could find the rates cheaper though? I checked the normal places (expedia, trivago etc.) and couldn't find anything less than spg.com