deant

I sure hope some chain has award availability for during the Olympics.

Would hate to pay thousands of dollars for tickets and "hope" there will be a room available.

ThePointsCollector

Those of you that will make it to Sochi - we will need to hook up and have a FT party. As you can tell I am of Russian descent and I will definitely be there. This will be my fourth winter Olympics and if it's not Gold (in hockey) this will be my last. If you guys need any help with anything about this trip to Russia, please let me know via PM.

drbobguy

Maybe it's just me but I wouldn't expect there to be capacity-controlled award seats available on flights to/from an olympic venue. You might have to tap into the UR cash value in booking flights.

I have flown on S7 in Russia domestically on flights booked with BA Avios, although recently it seems the fees have gone way up as I was searching the other day and a round-trip Moscow ticket was Avios + $150 or something. Not worth it with those fees.

Definitely look into flying via Krasnodar, Novorossiisk, Istanbul, and even Kiev/Simferopol. Sochi does have a sea terminal, so taking a ferry from Ukraine or Novorossiisk seems to be a possibility. [EDIT: It seems most of these routes are closed in the winter]

In most Russian cities the hotels tend to be way overpriced and there is a thriving cottage industry of renting out serviced apartments, often up to Western standards in terms of interiors.

deant

I am not too worried about the flights to / from Sochi. Can always get to somewhere in Europe on a saver award and then pay for a flight to Sochi.

My main concern is about getting a hotel. We have attended the last couple of Olympics and have been very lucky in getting rooms. For the London Olympics, we were able to book the Sheraton Park Lane on points, which was great. I know that Hilton has said they will be opening a couple of new hotels in Sochi. Believe one will be a Doubletree and the other a Garden Inn. Don't know the status of them.

SkinsFan0521

I think the biggest problem will be getting rooms on points. I agree with you that it will be easy enough to pay for a flight to get to Sochi from somewhere else if there really aren't any award seats available.

I've been communicating with the GM who contacted me previously and we've come to an agreement on compensation for my troubles as well as the fact that they are still working with whoever is in charge of those rooms to see about getting me in there. I really have no expectation that them working with the committee will actually yield any decent results (mainly because I won't be paying an exorbitant amount of $ that I'm guessing they'll want), but I'll be happy to get the points deposited into my account for my troubles and move on. My reservations were just officially canceled as of last week sometime and my original points re-deposited into my account. I'm just waiting on the compensation points now.

As has been mentioned, there are several new hotels across the big chains that are opening up there, so I just hope to get in on one of them with points.

@mommypoints - Have you heard anything back or had any further communication from Club Carlson about your reservations? Feel free to PM me if you don't want to post publicly.

Mommy Points

I am still going back and forth with the two Club Carlson Sochi hotels I booked on points and with Club Carlson. Finally I have gotten the property to agree that some points are appropriate as compensation, but we have not yet hit on a specific number. I had to bring that up as their response was just "sorry it's not our doing" (basically).

So, mine is still ongoing but I expect a resolution next week. I do think it is complete garbage that you can have confirmed award reservations that are then just unconfirmed.

SkinsFan0521

I also agree that I think it's pretty bogus that they won't honor the reservations, but I do honestly think that their hands are tied.

So, that's why I'm having them supposedly try to still work out a way for me to get a room during the dates that I originally booked. I just haven't discussed anything specific as far as what they're even trying to get for me. So, I don't know if they're just trying to find a room for me that they expect me to pay for or if they're going to let me use points or what their plan is. As I said before though, I don't really expect much of anything to come from it.

I would've expected my compensation points to have posted this past week, but they haven't. I think on Monday, I'll send a follow-up email asking about the status since it will have been a week. I'll post back here when I actually have the points in my account.

deant

Any status? Did they wind up finding a room for you???????

SkinsFan0521

No updates yet. I actually sent an email earlier this morning asking about the status.

The last communication I had was a few weeks ago and they told me that they couldn't actually give me the bonus points yet because they need to come from the property, but it's not actually open yet. It was scheduled to open in "early November" and they would post the points after that. The website says that they started accepting arrivals on November 1st in one place, but then in another, it still says "Opening late 2012", so I'm not sure what that means.

I'll update when I get a response.

SkinsFan0521

So, as an update, I received 100,000 bonus points for my troubles of them canceling my confirmed reservations in Russia. They were posted to my CC account either yesterday or today.

They are also claiming to still be working on getting me alternate accommodations, but again, I have no real confidence in that happening. Plus, I don't know what they're even trying for. I assume that they're just trying to get me in touch with the people that will let me pay a fortune for those hotel rooms. That's not something that I'm probably going to be interested in anyway, but I really don't even know what they're trying to get for me, so I'll wait to see what happens.

Mommy Points

Nice! So far I have a rock.

SkinsFan0521

True, but if I were you, I'd ask for more than what I got because I believe that you had more nights booked than I did. I had 4 nights booked. He offered me "2 free nights" and I clarified that it would be enough points for 2 free nights at any Club Carlson hotel in the world and he said yes. So, if I had more nights booked, I would've asked for even more.

EDIT: There was space available again, but it has been removed. They say that it was something that was done after the officially opened and something about restarting the systems. I don't know...

Mommy Points

Update, I just got 100,000 "rocks". I was booked at two Club Carlson hotels. Only one has officially cancelled so far (though the other says it is going to cancel). I actually had fewer days than you at the Blu Resort than you. Thanks for helping keep me encouraged to follow up on this. Hopefully we will still find a way in on points in the end.

fti

Having gone to three olympics I can say it is true that the IOC takes control of all hotel inventory in the ilympic city. It is a conditon of the city/country winning the bid.

Hiwever about a month before the Games the IOC releases unused rooms. If it makes you nervous to wait that long then look for B&Bs, hosteks, VRBO-type properties, etc.

deant

Any updates on new hotels opening or when we will be able to make paid reservations????

Have also heard that Russia has instituted a law limiting the prices the can charge.