airplanepeanuts

Madrid Westin palace. Awesome upgrades. Awesome Brunch. Awesome Location.

Pulitzer Amsterdam - same as above.

Athens - Bretagne.

Also W in Leicester square is great. Booked with 20k points x 2 nights. Upgraded to fantastic suite.

Dr. Pam

We enjoyed the St. Regis in Rome ( but somehow had a MIA butler to our suite) on points a couple of years ago. We are checking out the Gritti Palace this summer now that it has reopened after extensive renovations!

taipeiflyer

Will be traveling to Greece in September... have already decided on 4 nights at Blue Palace, 4 nights at Mystique, and 4 nights at Grand Bretagne... would like to add one more stop and am deciding between The Romanos Costa Navarino and Santa Marina in Mykonos- where would you choose? This will all be on paid stays, so no need to factor in redemption differences if there are any. Is 4 nights in each locale a good amount of time? Many thanks.

schley

Curious why you don't use some points and do the stay 5 pay for 4 option? If you don't have the points that is fine but in September that would be a good value for Greece.

taipeiflyer

A good recommendation Schley... although with SPG I usually use my points for cat 2 props and under and pay for cat 5 and up, with the exception of nights and flights, which I have not redeemed in a LONG time. All of my travel is on my own dime, and I find I tend to get better value at the low end properties. With Hyatt, I do just the opposite and save my points for cat 6 properties alone. If I did use points, would you suggest 3 5-night stays as opposed to 4 4-night stays and cross off either Mykonos or Costa Navarino altogether and enjoy Athens, Crete and Santorini each an extra day?

taipeiflyer

Just a cursory look at rates and I can get a place like Blue Palace for around $1500 USD for the 5 nights... that seems like not the best use of 80,000 points, but I might be wrong.

Noctilux

Hi All;

Love this hotel, 3 or 4 visits a year; book the cheapest room and always get one of the fabulous rooms with the giant terrace and the view over the Duomo.

stimpy

Hah! If only that were true. You may love this hotel if you get one of those great upgrades, or think rather little of it if you only get a small one level upgrade, as was this Platinums experience.

remymartin

Any recent thoughts on good summer destinations in lower category ranges? An outdoor pool is important, but otherwise it could be a city destination or a resort.

FD1971

I strongly recommend the Sheraton Jagdhof and/or Schloss Fuschl. The lake is quite warm these days, there is a nice spa, a golf club and many activities in the greater Salzburg area.

The Jagdhof has nice suites in the upgrade pool as well.

nexus52

I stayed on many occasions at the Prince de Galles in Paris and both myself and my wife loved it so much we were excited that after extensive renovations the hotel re-opened at the end of last May, so I thought it will be a good idea to re-book 4 nights during early next September. The rates have practically doubled since my last stay, can someone tell me if it is worthwhile??

Medved

It depends on your definition of lower category. For me it's been Cat 5 low season @ 12K for a number of years. Especially in Europe. Castillo Son Vida in Mallorca is fantastic, LM Ra outside of BCN is very nice too. Unfortunately, Europe is in high season in summer -- so you'll pay 16K.
Lower than Cat 5 props I don't think belong to this thread: SPG Best of Europe - What are your top European Starwood Properties. I'd love to be wrong.

psfcfa

We stayed at the Grand Bretagne in central Athens as well as the Arion/Astir Palace just outside of Athens...and I would not stay at the Grand Bretagne again. The hotel is beautiful, grand and historic...and across the street from where all protests take place, so unless you have much business in central Athens, a day trip or two should suffice. The Arion/Astir Palace complex is beautiful, cleaner, safer and more pleasant IMHO.

The Blue Palace is also gorgeous...Crete is very big, though, and you will need to figure out your transportation options if you want to explore at all.

Santorini is one of the two most beautiful places I have seen (Milford Sound in NZ the other), and 4 nights should be quite sufficient. Mystique is very pricey, though, and there are equally well-located, wonderful hotels in Oia that can be had for 1/2 to 1/3 of the price...PM me if you want a recommendation.

Forstbetrieb

In europe and up to whitch category?

Outdoor pool in italy for example:

Sheraton Roma category 3
Sheraton Firenze category 2, but outdoor pool may be closed...

The two starwoods at Fuschl: no outdoor pool, but at Schloß Fuschl you can swim in the lake.

remymartin

I suppose 1-4 are ideal categories. I've had Austria in mind and was also thinking about LM Lav Split.