When to Use Blinded Third-Party Booking Sites

I love earnings points and status at chain hotels by booking directly and try to keep the costs manageable by taking advantage of the best rate guarantee “BRG” programs wherever possible. However, sometimes that just can’t be done and that’s when I turn to Priceline or Hotwire. 

Recently, I was staying in Springfield MA and needed an unplanned extra night. The Marriott wanted $199 for the night, the Sheraton across the street wanted $159. No cheaper rates were available elsewhere, so I wasn’t able to try for a BRG discount. I looked at Hotwire and they had a 3.5 star hotel for $80 and then looked at Priceline’s Express Deals (works exactly the same as Hotwire) and saw a $72 rate plus a 5% discount using a promo code also for a 3.5 star hotel. I consulted betterbidding.com, a website that maintains lists of successful Priceline and Hotwire bids and has a nice list of hotels for each star category. What I saw was that the Sheraton and the Marriott were the only two 3.5 star hotels in Springfield MA. I had previously stayed at both hotels and each was more than acceptable. So I booked the hotel through Priceline’s Express Deals and wound up at the Sheraton for $68 plus tax. My luck continued when I checked into the Sheraton and they honored my SPG gold status and upgraded us to the Club Lounge floor. Unlike Marriott, who acknowledges elite status on third-party stays, SPG’s rules state they do not. So I was rather pleased and my continued good fortune.

In determining when to use a third party site, it all comes down to price. If the difference between a third party rate and the best rate your able to get through the hotel is significant, go for the lower rate. Personally, I would not consider anything less than $25 per night price difference. In this case, I was able to save about $80 on this one night stay, which to me was a no brainer. Keep in mind, you are generally not earning elite night credit and points for the hotel stay by using a third party provider. You will earn points however on incidentals charged to the room.

 

Timeshare Users Group Membership Well Worth the Money

Timeshare Users Group (TUG for short) is a great community for people who own timeshare. The message boards are full of helpful people, who bring tons of experience and expertise to bear. You can register to be a guest of the site, which give you access to many of the different message boards. For $15, you can become a member of TUG, which gives you access to a private forum called the Sightings/Distressed forum. In this forum, participants post sightings of weeks in desirable resorts from Interval International and RCI. When I am actively looking to book a week via Interval International, I check the Sightings/Distressed forum at least daily, if not more often. Just this week, I took advantage of that feature of TUG membership and booked a week at Harborside at Atlantis for late January. I wasn’t really looking to go there, but it is a resort that doesn’t come up often and I was able to trade my 1 bedroom at Sheraton Desert Oasis for it. The major benefit of going to Harborside at Atlantis is that it comes with free admission to Atlantis each day you are there for every registered guest. Day passes are regularly sold for about $100 per person per day on the island. 

In summary, if you are a timeshare owner, a membership to TUG will probably be the $15 you’ve ever spent.

 

Ranking The Sixteen Timeshares I’ve Stayed At

A former boss once told me people like rankings. In that vein, I’ve decided to rank the sixteen timeshares I’ve stayed at for at least a week.  In all honesty, I have not had a bad experience at any of the resorts on the list. But certainly some are better than others and someone needs to be the best and worst on a ranking.  I have a preference for beach resorts as you can probably tell from the ranking.  So here goes:

1. Marriott Aruba Surf Club– I love Aruba. The weather is almost always perfect. This resort has a lazy river and is directly on the beach. You can walk to shopping and restaurants. The local bus can bring you downtown. The newly added adult pool is a nice upgrade.
2. Marriott Newport Coast Villas-This resort overlooks the Pacific Ocean. The pools, especially the one in the newly built section, are great. There are tons of things to do in Southern California: Disney, Hollywood, Angels baseball, Southern California beaches.
3. Westin Princeville Ocean Resort Villas– I really loved Kauai. The resort is nicely set on a bluff overlooking the ocean. The units were very nicely done.  Princeville is about an hours drive from the airport, but there are some stores in the area.
4. Casa Dorada at Medano Beach-Medano Beach is probably the best location in Cabo.  The units were very large and well-appointed. I believe all of the units have ocean views. Drinks poolside are only $6 and 2 for $6 during happy hour.  The restaurants on the premises are very good.
5. The Royal Sands-My favorite spot in Cancun. Reminds me a bit of Marriott Aruba Surf Club in that it is a high-rise resort.  Unfortunately, they’ve instituted a mandatory all-inclusive mean plan ($100 per person per day) for exchangers. Next time in Cancun we will try the Westin Lagunamar Ocean Resort.
6. Marriott Frenchman’s Cove-I’m not really crazy about Saint Thomas, USVI but enjoy the resort quite a bit. It’s a small but hilly resort. The pool area is really nice. You can use the facilities of the Frenchman’s Reef Resort, which is next door.  The units are standard Marriott, which is excellent.
7. Harborside at Atlantis-If you love Atlantis, this is the place you need to be.  The unit comes with 7 days admission to Atlantis for all the members of your party up to the maximum occupants allowed. Having a kitchen to cook on Paradise Island is huge because restaurants are a fortune. A$30 pizza anyone?  The pool area was nice to lay around but the water was on the cold side when we were there. Having a Starwood timeshare to trade into this resort is a huge help in securing a room here.
8. Marriott Shadow Ridge-Palm Desert is nice. Loved the adult pool area. There is plenty of room to walk around particularly when the golf course is closed. Great trails on the course.
9. Marriott Beach Place-Fort Lauderdale.  Not a place for those looking for an expansive resort. I like the ability to walk across the street and walk along the beach. Stores and restaurants are within walking distance. The pool area is tiny and fills up quickly. The room views are great for either room view type.
10. Villa Del Palmar-Another Cabo resort. The unit was ok. but the pool are was very enjoyable. Cheap happy hour drinks. too. Villa Del Arco is owned by the same owners and appeared to be much more upscale.
11. The Royal Carribean-Not a bad option in Cancun. Rooms are a little more dated than The Royal Sands, but still clean and roomy. Enjoyable pool area. As far as I know, they haven’t rolled out the mandatory all-inclusive here.
12. Marriott Legends Edge– On the bay in Panama City Beach, FL. Not real easy to get to by air. Would be much better ranked if this was a beach front resort. Pool area was ok. The highlight for me was a trip to the public beach nearby.
13. Marriott Cypress Harbor-A good option in Orlando. Nice pool areas and play areas for the kids. Rooms were typical Marriott with screened-in porches.
14. The Royal Mayan-My least favorite in Cancun, but still not a bad resort.  This property is up for sale as Royal Resorts slowly leaves Cancun.
15. Marriott Sabal Palms-Another Marriott in Orlando. The best feature of this resort is the use of the Marriott World Center facilities, which includes a great pool for the kids.
16. Marriott Manor Club-My least favorite, but I know others love this resort. We had some issues with the room here and when we went a number of summers ago the pool was way to hot to be enjoyable. Williamsburg has a great water park, however.

Keeping a diversified portfolio of points and miles

It’s important to keep a diversified portfolio of points and miles since you never know when your go to programs will far short of your needs. We recently were looking to book a few nights in March in Springfield, Mass. The rate at the Marriott was about $250 or required 20k points per night and to top it off it’s a category 5 hotel so no usage of a cat 1-4 certificate.

Across the street is the Sheraton in Springfield, Mass which cost $180 per night before taxes, but costs only 3000 Starpoints per night. That yields a more than 6 points per $ spend.  An incredible bargain!

It’s important to collect points in a variety of different programs. You’ll never be able to anticipate when you will need them.

 

This and That

Since my last update, I had a few travel related events:

1. I booked a week at Westin Lagunamar in Cancun for my daughter and her boyfriend for next April. They bought a 1 bedroom Every Other Year (EOY)  at Sheraton Desert Oasis (SDO) in the spring. We used that to trade up to a 2 bedroom unit at Lagunamar. SDO continues to be a great trader under the Westin preference period in Interval International.  The three trades I done with an SDO unit got the following trades: Westin Princeville Ocean Resort Villas, Harborside at Atlantis and now Westin Lagunamar.
2. I turned my Delta $315 filght roundtrip from LGA to LAX with a flight change in each direction into a JFK to LAX non-stop rountrip. This latest leg I used @deltaAssist on twitter  to change my flights and they came through like a charm.  Whenever you get a flight change from an airline, look to improve your situation.

Success with Starwood Best Rate Guarantee in NYC.

Starwood is running a Best Rate Guarantee (BRG) promotion for selected New York City hotels over the summer where you can actually get a free night on a successful BRG claim. All you need to do is find a lower rate for one of the participating hotels on a competing website (ie; kayak, expedia, etc.) for a specific night.  I first learned about this promotion from the Loyalty Traveler blog run by Ric Garrido. Ric’s blog specializes in hotel promotions, so it’s a must read for anyone interested in getting the most of their hotel stays.

Anyway, my son and I were able to score free rooms (taxes aren’t free apparently) for this summer and my daughter has another pending. We live relatively close to NYC, but infrequently stay over night because of cost of hotel rooms, so this promotion is a real home run for me. Big Thanks to Ric for pointing this out for everyone.