Originally Posted by
pinniped
Damn, wish I could take over that reservation!! My one Okotberfest experience was made possible with SPG points - a jr. suite for 4 for something like 8,500 points per night at a Sheraton that was about 20-30 minutes away on public transit from the Oktoberfest grounds. It was an amazing weekend, and I remember even then looking at Marriott, Hilton, and IHG and finding zip for awards. Only SPG stuck to the "any standard room" spirit of their program.
The Marriott merger has some pros and cons for me, but I agree with this one. Marriott lets its properties game the system and use all sorts of "special event" exceptions (including things far, far smaller than Oktoberfest), whereas Starwood typically had awards available even for high demand periods.
Yes, being close to the fest is key. One year we did it with a hotel further out and it was doable but not as good of by far.
I’m going to try to see if I can book it next year and I think you can use points 330 days out so rest assured I will attempt sometime in early October to to secure the dates for 2019 and when I start seeing Marriott. Bookings be as doable as I want them to be I will have a little more faith but of course we know it is going to be harder to even earn the points going forward. That makes this one hard to cxl. That’s why I want someone to take it ovah.
Oh well.