highlanderfil

Hello, FT friends! I'm trying to make a fairly expensive decision and am hoping collective wisdom will help me avoid buyer's remorse. FT advice has rarely steered me wrong in the past I'm just hoping that you'd be able to give me an idea of any blind spots I may have missed in what otherwise feels like a pretty solid plan.

I always knew that traveling to Iceland during the warmest time of the year was going to be expensive, but I had no idea just HOW expensive it would be. Our dates are August 12-20 (not super flexible; EDIT: changed to 4-13 due to certain circumstances, but still not terribly flexible from that) and the cheapest "typical" hotel I have managed to find during that time is the Courtyard by KEF at around $210/night. Everything else in that price range either comes with a shared bathroom or is nowhere near Reykjavik. The latter may not be a problem in and of itself, since Iceland's beauty lies outside of its major cities, but we would still prefer a base with the usual creature comforts. So, in order to do that, it looks like some creativity is needed. Enter Mr. and Mrs. Smith Sandhotel and the 4th award night free benefit. We've stayed at one Mr. and Mrs. Smith property before, in the Lake District of England, and it was spectacular. This one looks good, as well. Cash rates are around 400 Euro/night, so for our eight nights would run us around $3,400. (Disclaimer: To be entirely fair, we would probably not stay at this expensive a property on cash. Our somewhat arbitrary budget is $2K for the eight nights - worth keeping in mind for the calculations below).

We have two IHG accounts in the family and since IHG doesn't allow pooling like Hilton, we'd have to book two separate reservations by topping up each one with purchased points. Sure, it would be possible for us to earn some points with credit card spend (we're both maxed out on 5/24 with Chase, so opening a new card or two for a SUB isn't really an option) or minor travel here and there between now and August, but it won't be the whole amount and I don't know how often IHG has a BOGO offer with points (best I've seen before was BOGO80%off). I'm not necessarily as worried about higher-end properties selling out, but that, too, is a consideration.

• Account 1 has 81K points. The first block of four nights requires 165K. That leaves us 84K short, needing to purchase 42K for $420.
• Account 2 has 28K points. The second block of four nights requires 157.5K. We need an additional 129K, so awkward math being what it is, would need to purchase 65K, for $650.
• Total spend on points, then, would be $1,070 for 214K points.
• The existing 81K + 28K points, if valued using The Points Guy's somewhat arbitrary methodology (0.5 cents/point), are worth almost exactly $550. So, the total out of pocket for us would be the equivalent of $1,620 for a stay with a cash rate of $3,387 or 2.09 cents/point.

We have some other points we could transfer (e.g., about 62K Amex MR and around 12K Bilt), but I'm hesitant to do that. I don't value MR points as much as TPG and most others, because I rarely travel in business or first class and that's where the sweet spots typically lie, but even if I use a 1:1 conversion in my mind (so, 1 cent per point), I would still be "spending" $100 of value for 10K points or essentially double the current IHG point cash purchase rate.

The obvious drawback would be if our travel plans fall through. Sure, we'd find use for the points eventually, but it would still be a pretty sizeable outlay for something we normally wouldn't purchase. Also the resulting points would be split between two accounts: I don't want to top up just one because the one with 81K is my mom's (she doesn't do a whole lot of traveling and I'd like to make use of her points before she cancels her IHG credit card and they become subject to expiration) and I don't want to top up just the 28K one for obvious reasons.

So, ideas, criticisms, etc.? Also, if anyone has stayed at the hotel before and can offer a personal account, I'd appreciate it. It's ranked very highly on TripAdvisor (7th in Reykjavik), but personal accounts are always appreciated. Would be especially curious to find out if breakfast is included - I believe it is with the cash rate and it was included for us in Ambleside when we stayed on points, but I am not that familiar with Mr. and Mrs. Smith hotels. Suppose I could just call or write to Sand, as well

CaptJOB

I can't comment on that hotel but your points plan seems solid other than to say I can't imagine staying in Reykjavik for that long. Are you just doing day trips in the Golden Circle?

Having just been in April I can't see you being able to go much farther than Vik in the south(maybe Hof if you're feeling ambitious) or Hvammstangi in the north for a day. If possible I would try and do a half and half with somewhere farther out East. Akureyri is plenty large to have a hotel suitable for your needs. I remember Hofn also having modern hotels.

That's just my two cents though. Understand if that would be financially impossible.

highlanderfil

Yeah, that's kinda the plan. I could conceivably break it up into two stays - four nights in Reykjavik and four elsewhere, but I'm fairly certain the missus will shut it down as she's going to want to just relax somewhere before another long academic year, rather than move multiple hotels.Yeah, that's about the range I was thinking of. Vik is around what, 2.5 hours away?
Might be worth a calculation to see if that'd be any less driving, cumulatively. Rental cars are freakin' expensive there...
Not impossible - especially if hotels in other places in the country are cheaper, which, from prior experience (I've booked a pretty detailed itinerary before, starting at the Faroe ferry terminal, but due to a health issue in the family just ended up driving half the ring road in a day before flying home), isn't always a given.

Six Travelers

1. There is a 100% points promotion right now, so if you buy a certain number of points, you get a 100% bonus. That should put points at .005, rather than 1 cent a piece.
2. I often buy points, as it's typically cheaper than the going cash rate and you then avoid the taxes. Agree, don't transfer points from other currencies when you can buy them so cheaply.
3. Please, please rethink your plan to stay in Reykjavic for 8 days. I would strongly advise you select a different destination if you aren't interested in moving every 2-3 days. We will be traveling around a similar time, and our plan is 2nts in each location, sometimes 1. You will spend so much unnecessary time in a car or on a tour bus and I can't imagine that will be relaxing for your wife.
   1. I do think you can be at about $300/nt for 2 people in many locations, utilizing AirBNBs, hotels, etc.
4. Rental care prices are about $1500 for 8 nights with insurance, so if you haven't factored that in, it's something to think about.
5. We've stayed at the Kvosin Hotel (also Mr & Mrs Smith) in Reykjavic and enjoyed it. I'd max Reykjavic out at about 2 nights though.
6. If you do move forward with this trip, get Jeannie's guidbook for about $20- Iceland with a View. Saves A TON of planning and is totally worth it!

rrgg

For Iceland with a View I see 3 eBooks, ring road, south/west, and highlands. Is that what you mean? Looking for a paper guide.

Six Travelers

Yes, it's an eBook. Also comes with a digital google map. Priceless. Sorry, no recommendations for a paper guide.

highlanderfil

OK, so it turns out the wife is actually not opposed to splitting the trip into two pieces (but only two - well, technically, three). So it looks like this is the plan right now:

August 4 - fly in, stay somewhere around the airport and just take a load off.
August 5-9 - go to the Blue Lagoon (maybe) on the morning of the 5th, then go to Reykjavik and stay at the Sand. 185K points total, we ended up paying $520 to top up Mum's account.
August 9-13 - rent a car and go a little deeper into the country (not by much) and stay at the Frost and Fire Hotel. Makes it a bit more convenient to some of the southern Ring Road attractions. Right now the total is around $1K for the four nights. The points purchase, after we adjusted the dates, was going to run us around $1,200, so we are only around $300 over that.
August 13 - fly home (the flight isn't until 4 p.m., so we should have plenty of time to check out of the hotel and make it to the airport as it's about 75 minutes away).

Could use some rental car advice. I know they're expensive, but are there any tricks to save money at all? Best I'm coming up with right now is around $500/4 days from Sixt, but that will require me to schlep out to Keflavik to pick it up. Would prefer to pick up in the city and drop off at the airport.

Six Travelers

Given that the locations you are choosing to split your time in are only about 40 mins apart from one another (you know, like a person's normal one way commute to work), you might as well just stay at the Sand for the week.
Blue Car rental is excellent. May not be the cheapest, but you'll get the insurance you need, which is very important in Iceland, given the sand, ash, gravel, winds, etc. They have a location at the airport and also in Reykjavic.

highlanderfil

We liked the pool, hot tub and river setting of F&F, all of which are notably absent from Sand. And 40 minutes is still 40 minutes, especially when it cuts down on travel to places like Vik.
Thanks. I just checked the pricing and it's the lowest I've seen so far. I want to try to get to Landmannalaugar, so a 4x4 with insurance will be important and they have one for around $500 for four days (nuts when compared to car rental in literally every country I've ever been to, but what are you going to do).