Vacation Planning Help
 

I'm currently planning 3 trips: Prague (this month), Las Vegas (December), and Paris (April). Everything is squared away for the first two, but I'm still trying to figure out the Paris trip. I know I'll fly American Airlines (there are 5 of us going and I have 200k AA miles set aside for 5 off-peak RT tix @ 40k each). The biggest question is the hotel. I have about 35k Starpoints to spend, and about 100k AmEx Membership Rewards points. I'm Starwood Gold and Priority Club Platinum, and the only real choices for me are Starwood properties and Priority Club properties (MR transfer to PC at 1:1). The catch is I need 2 rooms (3 adults + 2 kids > 4 people).

Most PC properties are 15k/night + $60 (or 30k/night + $60 for an Intercontinental which seems out of scope). That means, with two rooms, I can get 4 nights on PC points. On the Starwood side, there are Category 5, 6, and 7 hotels (none currently show cash & points availability, though). If cash & points does become available, then the rates are 4,800 + $90 or 8,000 + $150 (you can't use cash & points on a category 7). So, that means either 3 nights at a category 5 or 2 nights at a category 6. If I want 6 nights, there are a few ways to break it down:

•4 nights at a PC property for 120,000 PC points + $480
•2 nights at a category 5 Starwood property for 19,200 Starpoints + $360
•Total = 120,000 PC points, 19,200 Starpoints and $840

•4 nights at a PC property for 120,000 PC points + $480
•2 nights at a category 6 Starwood property for 32,000 Starpoints + $600.
•Total = 120,000 PC points, 32,000 Starpoints and $1,080 (but this is, theoretically, at a nicer hotel).

•3 nights at a PC property for 90,000 PC points + $360
•3 nights at a category 5 Starwood property for 28,800 Starpoints + $540
•Total = 90,000 PC points, 28,800 Starpoints and $900

Any way I slice it, it's about a week in Paris for $1,000 in spending on the hotel room. Which is not bad at all given that I get 2 rooms. My fear is that no cash & points availability opens up on the Starwood properties and I get stuck with full rates (which means I stay at the PC property and don't have to switch hotels).

What do you think? Does it seem likely that the cash & points rooms will open up? What's your experience with that sort of thing? Also, there are a lot of PC properties in Paris. Does anyone have a recommendation?

BTW, I also posted this question on my blog, but FT gets a *lot* more readership ;)

Thanks!
David

I've read that some people were successful getting a Cash and Points room if they called the specific hotel and inquired about it. YMMV. It can't hurt to try since you can only gain from this situation.

Call the SPG people. I've wanted to use SPG cash and points for a couple hotels that say online that the hotel doesn't participate, but the phone rep said they do and have booked in via phone.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.601 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

Where are you flying from, and how confident are you that you'll be able to get five MileSAAver seats (presumably on the same flight) to CDG? Have you checked award-seat availability on aa.com?

We're coming from RDU. I'm *somewhat* confident (I checked on ExpertFlyer not too long ago). I actually have to wait a couple more weeks until my Citi statement closes to get the last bit of miles, though. So, I am still in a bit of limbo. The date is somewhat flexible, so I'm hoping. We don't all have to fly on the same flight. We could easily break into 2-3 groups as long as we arrive/depart the same day (or within a day). Also, if we can't get the 5 MileSAAver seats, I can always retail 1-2 of the seats if I have to--but obviously I'd like to avoid that if I can.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.601 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

OK. Keep in mind that if you use the RDU-LHR or LHR-RDU flight when going to or from PAR, you can make RDU your "gateway" stopover. So for 20K per person, you can get a MileSAAver award LAS-DFW/ORD/JFK-RDU (stopover) - RDU-LHR (or RDU-LHR-CDG/ORY, with the last segment on BA).

Or on the return, CDG/ORY-LHR-RDU (stopover) - Hawaii/California/Caribbean, etc., later on, all for 20K one way.

I've been trying to figure out how to work something like that in. I did retail tix RDU-ORD-LAS/LAS-ORD-RDU for the Vegas flights because I had $100 fare coupons to use. So the award tix are not in that mix. I should have about 260k or so AA miles. I do have to get 5 folks to CDG from RDU, but would happily follow some one-way award strategy like you laid out for 2 of those folks to get another trip out of it.

I think that would be 5 tix RDU->CDG (via LHR if necessary) for 100k, then 3 tix from CDG->RDU for 60k + 2 tix CDG->Somewhere else fun for 40k + 2 tix from that fun place back to RDU for 40k. That totals 240k points which is imminently doable.

I've very new to this game (really only started in May), so any advice on how to book that sort of thing would be greatly appreciated!

somewhat OT, but does any airline allows sth like this:

HKG - JFK (gateway stopover) - ANC

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.601 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

There's no trick to booking the gateway stopover, but if the itinerary involves even one segment on a partner carrier, you must call AA to book, and then pay the $25 telephone-ticketing fee. And you only get a free stopover at RDU if you fly on the LHR-RDU nonstop; if you fly CDG-JFK-RDU, your "gateway" would be JFK, so you would not be entitled to a stopover at RDU.

Also, be aware that flying BA from CDG/ORY to LHR for a connection to the LHR-RDU nonstop would entail both a fuel surcharge on the BA leg, and a UK Passenger Service Charge for connecting at LHR. The cost of returning via London might therefore be greater than flying CDG-JFK/MIA/ORD-RDU, depending on how much different the French tax is for departing to London, rather than to the U.S. Make sure that the free stopover at RDU is worth the additional cost (if any) for flying home via LHR.

I'm thinking that if we broke the return trip into 2 groups (3 that fly via JFK/somewhere else, and 2 that fly via LHR), that it should be cheaper. That way we only pay YQ on the 2 tix that go via LHR on the way home. SO, something like this:

RDU-JFK-CDG x5 = 100k
CDG-JFK-RDU x3 = 60k
CDG-LHR-RDU (stopover) RDU-<somewhere else> x2 = 40k
<somehwere else>-RDU x2 = 40k

We have to have 2 groups, but we save 3 fuel surcharges and still get the stopover.

It does mean that grandma takes the 2 kids (ages 10 and 13 at the time of travel) through JFK while my wife and I get LHR... Oh well, that's the privilege of me providing the tix :). Maybe I should try for a 24-hour layover in LHR to check out London for a day...

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.601 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

Well, if Grandma's up for it, she and the kids could stop over in NYC (or MIA or BOS or ORD or DFW) for a day or two en route from CDG to RDU. :)