Originally Posted by
DaveInLA
So that's 2 people who were underwhelmed by Conrad HK... you guys are making this hard for me!
But seriously, thanks for the info. One thing I really like getting out of my points is value. Maybe I will use SPG points + cash for mid-tier hotels for HK and save the HH pts for something truly grand. I know Hilton has upgraded some hotels to higher tiers, but have they actually increased the points requirement for high end hotels in recent years?
Good luck in finding a SPG "mid-tier" property in HKG that have cash + point option.
The only SPG property ever has cash + point option available I have seen is Le Meridian. The W is now a Cat 6 if I remember it correctly.
And in case you do not know, SPG is upward revising the cash + point chart very soon.
Also Conrad HKG is considered higher level than ANY SPG property at HKG, including the W which is in a very undesirable industrial area - unless your fancy of HKG is to stay at the top of the airport express train Kowloon station.
The hotel points in realty are for saving out of pocket cash as hotels in places like Hong Kong, Tokyo, London, Paris, Rome and you get the drift, are truly expensive. $300 a night is about right for things that are reasonably located and reasonably comfortable.
I also agree with another poster about ending your trip with a high note. I always try to stay the last couple nights of our trip in a nice hotel (the airport hotel before flight does not count) so the trip would end in a pleasant note. Our trips tend to be rather long, so we mix our hotel stays in a wide range, always compare the price versus points also. We currently have 2 European trips and 1 long weekend trip to BWI/DC committed this year between April and August with 49 hotel nights in total. About 3/4 of them are award stays spread among 5 programs - from lowly Holiday Inn Express / Courtyard to Hotel Kamp in Helsinki and Hotel Pulitzer in Amsterdam - both SPG properties that have made this year's Gold List from Conde Nest, and the IC Amsterdam. 2 driving trips enbedded in each European trips would have no chain hotels en-route of the itineraries therefore all cash stays.
As you can see, the award stays would save us a lot of cash in our trips. That is what your hotel points mainly for. If you really want a Wow factor for your hotel stays on points, you need to pick the exotic locations such as the islands in Thailand, Indian Ocean and South Pacific, for the general tastes. Even India can have some very upscale hotels that would take your breadth away but then is that what you really look for?
As for the J/F seats, I have not been wowed by any, including CX J and F, NZ J, and BA J & F, VS Upper Class, QF J & F, JL J... All of them are "necessities" because we aint going to do anything longer than 14 hours in coach. Quality sleep in flight is important to us so we are willing to pay for such, by miles.
We get our pampering fixing by going on cruises, especially long cruise but that of course is not for everyone.