Originally Posted by AZ Boomer
I have a bit of a dilemma; I have 36K+ Starwood points and a planned trip to Vienna for three nights after a 20th anniversary cruise. I was originally planning to stay at a budget (i.e. Rick Steves style) hotel/pension then discovered I had enough points to stay three nights at either the Bristol or the Imperial.
Is it more prudent to save the points to convert to 50K airline miles (after a few more purchases) or burn the miles for a stay at either of these fine hotels?
We stayed at the Imperial for three nights on points back in April (our first anniversary). As I recall, we spent 14,500 for the Specialty Select award, which was a junior suite. The going rate was something like $900, so from my perspective, I'm glad we used the points to save $2700.
But it gets better...we got there at about 9 a.m. and asked if by chance we could check in (realizing we were early and being fully prepared to wait for our room). Our junior suite wasn't avalable, but they said "Since this is your anniversary, let's see what else we have available". We ended up in a 3 room, almost 1000 square foot room, overlooking the Ringstrasse (room 85)! It was amazing! The rate on that one was about $1500 a night, so again, I felt the points well worth it.
All in all, we loved the Imperial and would recommend it to anyone!