lanago2

Hi group.

Some poor planning on my part and I'd really appreciate your advice. I thought redeeming these certificates would be easier. Not at all.

I have two free nights Hyatt and 2 Fairmont. Anywhere. They expire end of March/beginning April 2014. And 2 (1?) suite upgrade with paid Hyatt stay. These are from credit card sign ups.

I enjoyed May and June 2013 in Italy. Planning to head to Italy in October (truffles and wine--yum!)

So, that leaves me with certificates in generally bad weather spots.
I fly standby only 2013-2014, so I'm very flexible. I prefer to stay in one location rather than rush around.

Fairmont- I'm booked at Savoy April 5,6. Weather just seems to be awful then though. I am a late riser and I imagine getting very little daylight plus gray rain and cold. Yuk. I've traveled a lot but never to London. Guess it didn't seem "foreign" enough and I generally prefer Mediterranean spots and loved Thailand.

Any suggestions about how to combine these in one destination? I've spent hours and more hours trying to coordinate the hotel chain locations with nice weather. So far, I'm coming up short. Fairmont won't redeem them during the nice holiday time London which would balance weather issue.

I've been to Buenos Aires and it just wasn't my spot.

Ideal is a location friendly for single woman, I can get by in Spanish and Italian, cool weather, some sunlight and very little rain. Don't want very hot or freezing. Love contemporary art, boutiques, cafes, friendly people, different cultures, pleasing architecture, walkable villages/cities.

Thanks so much for your help!

Happy travels,
Lana

JCary

I would go to Maui and stay at Fairmont Kea Lani and Hyatt Andaz Maui!

lalala

Hawaii

THE LSE

No problem getting using my certs at Fairmont Big Island.

lanago2

Thanks for the Hawaii recommendation.

Maui is beautiful. However, I'm traveling alone, a woman in my 50's and Maui was lovely...for my honeymoon long ago. Divorced, but if I happen to find a partner quickly, I'll reconsider romantic Maui. ;-) Otherwise...

I didn't want to "waste" these 4 nights at nice hotels on a US destination. It's a huge challenge to find availability for both hotels to redeem certificates back-to-back for the few cities in which they both have properties abroad. Thought it was such a deal to pay under $100 for the 2 nights that I'd splash out in the London Savoy, Paris Hyatt, or somewhere that's $500-1000 nightly that I wouldn't otherwise pay.

After so much time trying to do this, I'm ready to just take them separately or try to brave the dreary late March/early April London weather with both hotels' certificates. Dilemma! Just HOW bad is it in London late March/first week of April?
London hasn't ever called out to me as a destination, but as it's pricey and I've never been, I thought maybe I'd use these 4 nights there.

I forgot to add--destination needs to be United Air or with easy access from a United destination. Geez, this shouldn't be this hard.

I'm very grateful for your suggestions.
Regards,
Lana

Thunderroad

You could get lucky in London in late March/early April, but you're right that the chances are it will be cool, gray and perhaps even rainy. Still, it's a great city. I know you don't want to hop around to two different locations, but two nights at the Savoy and then two nights at the Park Hyatt Paris could be sweet. Weather in Paris likely won't be great either, but it's such a wonderful city that weather matters less there.

I imagine that Asia is too far away for a four-day trip...or maybe you could make it a longer trip and add other destinations? Both chains have hotels in Singapore and Shanghai. Singapore will be hot; Shanghai perhaps cold, though I'm not certain. Singapore is very safe and easy to navigate as everyone speaks English. The knock on it is that it's sterile, but it has some great food and enough to explore over the course of a few days. Plus you could hang out by the hotel pool. And it's easy to tack on a trip to a Thai beach from
Singapore without having to go through Bangkok.

lanago2

"Great suggestions. Thanks. I've been to Paris several times. This trip, I was trying to go somewhere either new or far-flung. Sorry I wasn't clear about length of the trip. In Europe, 10 days+ on the ground. Asia, about 3 weeks.

United doesn't fly to Singapore--I did consider it. Though the city, high rise sterility turns me off, the food is supposed to be fab!

The only Fairmont/Hyatt/United common cities I could come up with outside the US (or Carib, Mexico, which I've been to too many times and beach locations aren't my thing anymore) were London and Shanghai. I've never been to China (in Asia, only Thailand 3x, Bali once for a month) but China hasn't called out to me. Throbbing, crowded bustling cities usually hold no allure. I love villages these days so I planned to take a lux "free" 4 night city break then head to a village or 2.

Guess it's come down to try to get the Hyatt back to back with my Fairmont reservation in London and maybe tack on an airbnb or homeaway uk stay for a week there or just use the hotels separately in the US. Got so excited about the good promos on credit cards that I didn't coordinate it thoroughly before applying for them all. Sometimes spontaneity in travel brings the best adventures, sometimes this! :-)

mia

If you will be traveling for 10 to 21 days, why do the awards need to be used on four consecutive nights?

Thunderroad

Not sure why in the world you'd want to fly UA, but it does fly to SIN (via both Tokyo and Hong Kong. Both Fairmont and Hyatt have hotels there. In looking into SIN for our own SE Asia vacation, I've become convinced it's well worth a few days. And you could combine it with all sorts of great nearby destinations in SE Asia that feature more village or beach life. Though far bigger than a village, Luang Prabang in Laos for example is well worth a visit.

Good question!

Preacher7

Banff springs for fairmont. Paris vendome for Hyatt.

lanago2

Hi Mia, My style of travel is sloooow. I tend to stay in one place for a week, or many weeks, if I enjoy it. Not one who enjoys hopping around to new destinations every few nights. It's enough of a hassle to just unpack, pack, check out, get to the next destination and check in. Each change=1/2 to an entire day of travel time.

Thunderroad: I am flying on a flight attendant-friend's UAL standby travel pass for 2013 and hopefully 2014. It was honestly a tough choice to give up my UAL gold status by not taking many paid trips in 2013, but I decided the great $ benefits of standby traveling, paying a bit in fees and taxes compensated for the status loss. Can't even fly Star Alliance partners, only UAL metal....Sorry--looking at UAL route map and see that they do fly to Singapore. Because I plan to spend a few weeks soon in Italy then December in Vietnam/Cambodia, Singapore isn't in 2013. I'll think about if it's a destination I'd like to explore. Can't forget that while these "free" certificates are nice, going to a place that isn't attracting me or has horrid weather is no bargain at all.

So far, I'm keeping the Savoy April 5,6, as I'll probably never stay there other than by using the certificates. Still open to new ideas. I'm soon headed to Italy (truffles! :-)) , then Vietnam and Cambodia in December, so I may end up using the hotel certs there. (Not in Milan-dislike that city.) Just wanted the most "bang for my few bucks" by backing them up to the other.

If I don't use them in pricey London, I will probably split them.

Thanks, everyone.
Lana

dovergator

Why not make a trip to San Francisco! So much to do and an incredible city! Both Fairmont and Hyatt properties there! Could be great!

Or maybe go relax in Scottsdale while it's cold everywhere else!!!

wjb123

Go to Paris (Vendome) or London (Churchill)...or two nights at each!

cascade

I second the London-Paris combo. You get the best of both worlds, and won't get bored traveling alone

lanago2

Thanks for all the good ideas. I'm keeping London Savoy April 5,6. Will plan to separate the stays and look into Park Hyatt availability Paris. Maybe Tokyo. In the future, I will give more careful thought to the timing of getting these credit cards. In general I think that I would choose to apply for the hotel credit cards that give the two free nights probably in September which would allow me to hopefully use it during a nice time of year. Fairmont Blocked out all rooms at their top tier hotels except in the unfriendly weather months of january February March and the first few days of April. I received the Fairmont card and certificates April 2013 and I called within two weeks of receipt. I was advised that the first availability was in January 2014. I thought that kind of sucked.

I need to reserve Hyatt because certificates expire in March. Will find a nice Hyatt hotel near where United flies. USA travel doesn't excite me so I better get that Hyatt map out. Thanks again.