ftnoob

My wife and I were looking to redeem an award and the place we wanted to stay showed availability of only two room types for the nights of my stay: two single beds, or a one room suite with one double bed. Standard rates (at the conversion rate the Choice web site is using at the moment) are $511.63 to $629.93 (first night/second night) for the two single beds, or $2,957.42 per night for the one room suite. Each room type was listed as available for 16,000 points per night. I can't imagine they actually charge people $2,957.42 (nearly six times the regular room rate), but I don't travel in those circles. The property does have a non-suite double bed room (only two rooms left!) available for the second night of my stay.

I reserved the one room suite for two nights using 32,000 points. Should I be nervous about the reservation being honored? It will certainly blow my budget if they decide to bill me over $5,900 for a two night stay!

ftn

soitgoes

No need to worry. I see the worst case scenario as the hotel giving you a standard room instead of a suite, but even that isn't likely. Like you, I doubt they actually sell that room for $2900.

dhammer53

Twice I've booked a 'suite' room using points for the same cost of a regular room.

Go for it.

BigLar

Gotta love these Choice redemption rates!

As stated before, there doesn't seem to be any real correlation between room rate and points/night rate.

Maybe someday they'll get it all together, but until then let's just enjoy the ride.

And, yes --- when you book a suite for points, you should get what you book. This seems to be especially true in Europe, where the properties are more varied, and lots of them actually have suites to book.

ftnoob

I too have booked a one-room suite for the same points as a standard room at other Choice properties. (I rarely see the suites even listed as available for points in recent years; maybe I've just been unlucky most of the time.) I've also taken advantage of "steals" like the Clarion Collection O'Brien in San Antonio when it was 6,000 points/night (20,000 now). I've never seen a situation as extreme as this one, though. I won't be upset if they move me to a standard room, especially if it at least has a double bed; the $1,000-$1,200 of two nights' regular room rate for 32,000 total points is still a good deal. The concern is that they'll be sold out of regular rooms and try to find a way not to let the expensive suite be taken just for points.

Firewind

You've probably already thought of it, but this seems to be a prime candidate for "print a copy of the reservation", both to have with you when you turn up, and for later use in case the suite isn't honored (though in that case, your communication is likely to be in cyber, anyway).

Brendan

Where the heck is this hotel anyway ??
Reminds me of the Holiday Inn Christchurch NZ where I grabbed the Presidential Suite for the 15K points of a Standard Room in March 2007!
Must have been an computer loading error, because that hotel stopped offering the PS on points after me.

ftnoob

In case anyone has been wondering how this would turn out...I never got to find out. There was an airport workers strike and our flight was canceled. We found out with only a little to time to spare before the property cancellation deadline (4 pm day of arrival, luckily). I have the 32,000 points back, but no way to realize even a tiny fraction of the value they would have been.

Several of the best travel deals I've ever scored (this room and €10 all-in flights on skyeurope) turned into hundreds of dollars lost on a prepaid tour, the extra expense of buying replacement airline tickets on one day's notice, and paying for two nights' hotel room in a totally different country.

I don't expect to ever be able to take the planned trip again and even if I do I sure don't expect to find an amazing deal like this available again.

Firewind

Very sorry to hear. Two thoughts: Another amazing set of deals will come along. They always do. (One reason for my confidence is that it looks like travel will really be off, come fall, and so probably winter, too. I am already seeing gaping availability on plane seat charts, and sweetening hotel come-ons in frequent guest programs.) Second, try to get something from the airline that says the flight was canceled, telling them the consequences for you. Maybe you got and saved an easy-update type of email from them? And maybe you can dig up and print a news article about the strike.

Then try to make the case with each vendor. Who knows? I don't want to sound Pollyanna-ish, but you might score with even one. Even if it's just a credit for the future. Then try to re-negotiate that later. You weren't a scofflaw. There are still a few good people. Judging from other threads of yours, you are excellent at sussing, and capitalizing on what you find.

Firewind

Can't pass up an opportunity to grind an ax, though. This is a good example of why the spreading practice of a *72 hour* cancellation policy is draconian.

sdsearch

I just checked and I've got a very similar situation in an upcoming Norway reservation, except that the cheapest room is "only" $375ish (if not using prepaid rates), and the suite I selected for 16k is $2975ish (again, not using prepaid rates). My calculator says that's eight (8) times the cheapest room rate! (There are "superior" rooms, between the standard and the suite, that range from $415ish to $535ish.)

One thing I note on the Choice Scandinavia calendar for this hotel is that they have weekday rates that are higher than the above for the rest of the rooms, but the suites (plural!) are always the same.

I emphasize the plural because on one of the two nights I'm staying there's still a suite available for sale, but on the other night there isn't. So did someone actually pay $2975ish (or $2500ish prepaid), or did someone else get a 16k award overlapping with me?

But the way, this is just a 1-room suite. 1 double bed. Max occupancy 2 (3 with extra bed). So it's not like it's Embassy Suites types of suite or anything (makes me wonder how much more than a Comfort Suites "barely a suite" it is!). I would think that for 6 to 8 times the rate for other rooms you should at least get a small apartment, no?

I should point out that this is the priciest Choice hotel in town. The prices for others nearby go as low as $250ish (standard room, of course, and not prepaid). Some of those don't even seem to have suites.

OTOH, there's a Scandic not too far away that has a suite that has a "separate bedroom and seating area" (so is it two rooms or not?) and they only charge $415ish a night for that (just 25% over the cost of their standard room). So it makes me wonder if these Choice hotels that charge $2900+ on their websites really charge anything like that for people who call and negotiate?

DCBob

You were asked in APRIL where the heck this property was. Are you ever going to let us know? Oh, and the name would help, too. We are a curious lot, you know.

ftnoob

Thanks for the tips and kind words, Firewind. I agree new deals always come along, but I'm still pretty sure I'll never snag anything as remarkable as the ones I lost out on this time due to that strike.

Incidentally, despite the weak demand for travel that you mention, most Choice hotel markets that I've utilized in the past appear to me to have seen significant pricing increases from a few years ago. It is making it hard for me to justify "on a whim" quick local trips even with the bonus points offer.

I'll send a PM with some replies to a couple of your other comments that are not specific to Choice.

ftnoob

That's a good point. I can understand imposing a penalty if the property was sold out and a guest's late cancellation caused a room to unexpectedly go empty, but how often does that really happen? It seems that Choice only allows a property to choose the cutoff for the basic all-or-nothing cancellation policy. It would be nice if properties had more flexibility. (Varying percentages based on number of days notice would be one example.)

sdsearch

Well, unlike the OP, I made it to the hotel in question, which was the Clarion Collection Hotel Havnekontoret, easier to remember simply as the Clarion Collection Hotel in the Bryggen side of the harbon in Bergen, Norway (as opposed to the Clarion Admiral which is on the other side of the harbor).

However, at check-in, they mentioned that the room I had reserved was on the harbor street side which can get noisy, and would I prefer a room away from the street, which is still a "family" room? It was 11 pm and I was tired from flying all day and I accepted. But since the original $2900ish suite had been described as a single-room suite for 2 people (what makes that a suite???), I can't tell whether I got another single-room suite or some other kind of room! (I can say, however, that there was no "Comfort Suites" type of divider. There were two singlish beds, a sofa, and a small desk.)

The hotel was very nice (but like so many European city hotels the room not big) but I wasn't staying in the room a lot other than sleeping. There was apparently an evening "light buffet" from 6 to 9 pm, but I was out between 6 and 9 the second night (and arrived after 9 the first night) and so I didn't get to even see what that's like.

Btw, the hotel is across the street from the furthest-out stop on the Flybussen route from the airport, since it's across the street from the Radisson SAS Royal. That made it extremely convenient for getting into BGO late on my first day and for getting to the airport (to pick up a car rental for the rest of my trip) on the morning of the third day.