Originally Posted by
asandrs
One more thumbs up for the Clarion Collection Étoile St. Honoré. I just spent 2 nights there (8k points p/n) after spending one night at the Hyatt Park Vendome (one of my free credit card nights). I'm guessing that were I paying for it my room at the Hyatt cost four times as much as the Clarion (€800 versus €200) and no way was it four times better. I know there are rave reviews for the Hyatt but I have to admit that as a 5 star hotel I was a little disapointed. The Clarion is basic and not in such a good location but let's look at the pluses - free breakfast, free wi-fi and free snacks and soft drinks in the mini bar. These items will cost about €100 p/n at the Hyatt (for a non diamond) and after all - you are in Paris - who wants to spend time in a hotel (5 star or otherwise) when you are in Paris? I think this hotel, if you can get it for 8k points is one of the best bargains out there.
You've put your finger right on it. The people who can afford to pay the €800 for the Park Vendome can also afford all the other crazy charges that go along with such a hotel--so they probably don't care whether or not "elite" status gets them a free breakfast or not. It's the folks, like the bloggers who bleat about this hotel or the various Maldives properties, who essentially are living a life they couldn't otherwise experience. Nothing really wrong with that, but are you going to Paris (or Rome or London or Prague) for a hotel or for the experience outside those doors?
It's one of the reasons that I think Ric Garrido at Loyalty Traveler has it right for 99% of the population with his blog. If a Choice or Wyndham or Best Western happens to be located along some spectacular stretch of highway, he's happy to stay there although he doesn't mind the fancier properties either. With some of the other bloggers, it seems the inside of airplanes, the inside of hotel rooms, and the inside of airline lounges are much more important that the places they go to or the people they could find there.
This hobby of ours is great in that it does allow us to extend our travel budgets, but I will not build a trip solely around which redemption options are available to me, thus excluding destinations I might not otherwise visit but that are worthwhile in themselves (such as, for me, Ballyliffin in the northernmost part of Donegal in Ireland where I've spent the last few days--no major loyalty program hotel within 50 miles).