The real gem of Crowne Plaza Avenue Hotel Chicago is its 40^th floor rooftop pool and open-air deck. The view is one of the best in Chicago despite what room view you may have. Since the pool is uncovered I assume the deck area is closed for most of the winter weather season. But catch this deck on a sunny day and you have a 270-degree view across the city. The hotel breakfast lounge is also on the 40^th floor with north and east facing views.

Crowne Plaza Avenue Hotel Chicago 40th floor pool deck

I received a Tech room on Floor 33 with a desktop Mac computer and complimentary internet access.

Crowne Plaza Avenue Hotel Chicago Tech Room with Mac computer

I was competent on a Mac when I taught computer studies at an elementary school ten years ago, but it takes some getting used to after working regularly on a PC. I enjoyed playing with the computer for a bit, but found myself pulling out my laptop for work.

Crowne Plaza Avenue Hotel Chicago bed and north facing window

The zebra chair is a feature of the Avenue Hotel rooms.  The hotel has 200 deluxe rooms.

There are 150 suites in the hotel featuring leather couches. The hotel was filled with doctors attending a major convention and I didn’t get upgraded to a suite. Some suites at the hotel have Lake Michigan views which you can also see from the 40th floor pool deck.

There are also kid-friendly rooms with Wii video games and in-room games and colorful bedding. I do not recall seeing any kids in the hotel during my stay.

The curved shower rod is a simple feature I truly appreciate in a hotel bathroom.

The Avenue Hotel website uses the phrase “Welcome to an oasis in the heart of it all.” Loyalty Traveler has to agree. Located on Huron Street, just one building east of Michigan Avenue places the Avenue Hotel Chicago in a prime Magnificent Mile location for shopping, dining, and easy transportation. Walk straight west on Huron Avenue about four blocks and there is a Whole Foods Market with plenty of hot food options and the usual market items.

My room view looked across Michigan Avenue to the Peninsula Hotel. The pool at the top of the Peninsula Hotel is the finest pool setting I saw in Chicago, but I was not permitted to take photos inside the pool room while guests were swimming. I have a sentiment that it is almost as nice to have a terrific view from a lower market segment hotel than to be in a high market segment hotel without a great view.

Frequent buses will take you north or south on Michigan Avenue and the Red Line CTA is about five blocks NW on Chicago Street west of the Water Tower and running between the Peninsula Hotel and the Park Hyatt Hotel.

Park Hyatt 70-floor tower residences seen from Crowne Plaza 40th floor pool deck

View of Marriott Chicago and Trump Tower Chicago from 40th floor pool deck of Avenue Hotel

Lake Michigan at sunset (Avenue Hotel 40th floor view)

Fitness room is located on a low floor.

The Sky Lounge, also located on the 40th floor, offered breakfast until 11am in the morning. The spread looked like a typical buffet breakfast. A bit overpriced even with the 15% discount coupon, which in effect only covers the hotel tax on the $18 breakfast. Dinner dining is probably a better value.

The Elephant & Castle pub, located off the lobby of the Avenue Hotel, was not a good dining experience for me. After eating at the Peninsula Hotel the night before where my entrée was only $1 more than the Fish & Chips at the Elephant & Castle, I thought the pub offered poor dining value.

My pet peeve with the free beer coupon I redeemed at the Elephant & Castle was the waiter told me it was only valid for a 10 oz. domestic beer at a British pub. The Elephant & Castle pub only lists imperial pints (19 oz.) on its menu and does not even list 10 oz. beers as a menu choice.

The coupon was also valid for a glass of wine or a well drink. Does the pub only give you half a glass of wine? Half a shot?

This hotel was a bargain at 25,000 points compared to the $380 after tax published rate. The effective rate for me was $150. I bought 40,000 points for $240 last May through DiscoverAmerica’s Daily Getaway at a time when I had no Priority Club points in my account. I booked the Avenue Hotel Chicago less than two hours before I checked in, but the Points & Cash Priority Club reward option was no longer available.

One of the advantages of Priority Club Points & Cash rewards is the requirement to buy nonrefundable points before completing the reward reservation. This past month I have purchased 40,000 Priority Club points through Points + Cash rewards for $240. As it happened I needed to cancel two of my hotel reward reservations and I used two of the reservations. The net effect is I purchased 20,000 points for $120 and these points are available in my account for other Priority Club reward nights. This is about 50% the cost to buy points from Priority Club through the normal Purchase Points link.

The InterContinental Hotel Chicago is just a few minutes walk from the Crowne Plaza on Michigan Avenue. That hotel will cost 40,000 points for a reward night. The IC Chicago actually had lower published room rates for the night I stayed at the Crowne Plaza. I toured the IC Chicago and photographed rooms and the pool. The pool at the IC Chicago is also one of the hotel gems of the city. Loyalty Traveler will post an InterContinental Chicago hotel review soon.

Crowne Plaza Avenue hotel website photos

Maldives Wedding Bell Blues, Ireland’s (formerly the Hilton) Limerick Hotel Brothel Bust and St. Regis Mexico City $20 Mistake Rate

Maldives Wedding Bell Blues

This story just makes me sad. Anyone who has traveled to a region where the people speak a language you don’t understand has likely had the feeling of being the fool. This unfortunate Swiss couple renewed their wedding vows with a local ceremony at the high-priced Vilu Reef Beach & Spa Resort, Maldives.

The wedding ceremony You Tube video with English subtitles has gone viral as the officiant of the ceremony mocks and insults the wedding couple in the local dialect Dhivehi. The amazing part to me is the number of other local people listening to the ceremony who stand by saying nothing.

The video is 9 minutes and includes subtitles in English for offensive language by the officiant. Without subtitles you would not have a clue that anything is out of the ordinary. The story even made it to Huffington Post yesterday.

I imagine the officiant of the ceremony will spend time in jail. There could be a backlash effect for Maldives tourism. The President of the country even addressed the issue of the YouTube video in his weekly radio address.

The Vilu Reef Maldives Resort itself receives great reviews on TripAdvisor and these are reviews posted before the story broke. Rates currently posted for 2011 start at US$230 per night for a Garden Villa and $950 per night for the Presidential Water Suite accommodating four people.

Hotel in Limerick Brothel Bust (IrishCentral.com October 23, 2010 story)

The IrishCentral.com story from October 23, 2010 states this incident happened at the Hilton Limerick, however, this property went independent as the Strand Hotel Limerick in September 2008 and has actually not been associated with Hilton Hotels in over two years.

Delving into this story a little deeper I find the actual brothel event occurred in July 2008. So why is there a confusing IrishCentral.com story with 16 comments from the past week?

Bad reporting.

The truly fascinating discovery I made with this brothel story is a paper discussing the rationale for why the Strand Hotel Limerick decided Hilton branding was not in its best interest in the decision to go as a hotel independent in Limerick, Ireland. Local branding seemed more relevant to this hotel than global name recognition. The removal of the Hilton brand occurred just two months after this brothel story broke in July 2008.

Strand Hotel Limerick website.

St. Regis Mexico City $20 Mistake Rate

October 22 at 4:22 PST (California Time), there was a post on FlyerTalk for $20 per night room rates at the St. Regis Mexico City. Dates throughout 2011 were available at the $20 room rate.

This hotel normally publishes rates in the $300 to $400 per night range.

In less than two hours this deal was gone and the rate mistake was fixed. Who knows how many hundreds of nights were booked?

The $20 rate switched to minimum rates around $379 per night.

The St. Regis responded to the lucky $20 guests with an email later that day. The hotel agreed to honor one night at $20 (+19% tax), but additional nights would be $189 per night plus 19% tax. Potential guests were given until October 27 to accept or reject the offer.

Starwood Lurker even clarified the issue with a statement that the St. Regis would honor the first night at $20 and additional nights at $189 in the Grand Deluxe room category  originally booked with breakfast included at the hotel restaurant.

Quite a reasonable outcome. I missed this deal by about 30 minutes.

Redeem 40,000 Priority Club points for a free night at the Venetian or the Palazzo in Las Vegas. Or maybe 40,000 points for the new Marriott Autograph Collection hotel like the Algonquin New York or o 35,000 points for the Marriott Rewards category-7 Cosmopolitan Hotel Las Vegas.  The Planet Hollywood Las Vegas used to be available using 10,000 SPG Starpoints and in 2011 you may be able to book free nights with Wyndham Rewards points. Park Hyatt Bermuda and Grand Hyatt Nassau will be hotel reward options in a few years. Hilton’s Waldorf Astoria Collection doubled in size with hotel branding acquisitions the past two years.

Big hotel chains, big money and big marketing back up big hotel partnerships.

The Venetian Las Vegas - InterContinental Alliance Resort

So what is the lure of US-based resort hotel brands associated with Marriott, Wyndham, Starwood, Hilton, IHG, Choice and Hyatt?

A good read in The Tribune Bahamas paper about Bahamas tourism gives some insight to answer this question. U.S tourists comprise 80% of international visitors to the Bahamas. Only 24.5% of hotel rooms in the Bahamas are associated with the major U.S. hotel brands.

                U.S. Brand Hotel Rooms in Bahamas

• Wyndham 5.1%
• Starwood (Sheraton) 4.2%
• Choice 1.9%
• Hilton 1.7%
• Other U.S. brands 11.6%
• No Marriott or Hyatt or IHG brand hotels in the Bahamas

A June 2010 Bahamas Tourism report cited in The Tribune Bahamas paper: “We can conclude that many of the Caribbean islands, especially the US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Trinidad, the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic have a defined need for US-branded hotels to accommodate the significant volumes of US visitors.”

“It is in our opinion that US-branded hotels are, overall, under-represented in the Caribbean, and that there are opportunities for conversions or new developments of US-branded hotels in the region.” 

“I think that what these brands also do is induce demand,” Mr Jordan said (HVA Bahamas Director). “What that means is that people go to that destination because of that brand, and others do not go to that destination – they go to another. The brand assists destination marketing.

“What we need to understand is that when the US customer travels to a destination, they look for familiarity a lot of the time. Some like going to the Marriott, others like going to the Hyatt. ”

The Difference between Airline and Hotel Brands

Unlike airlines with large corporate control over the flight routes, planes and frequent flyer programs, hotels are a series of partnerships between hotel owners, management companies and hotel loyalty programs for marketing hotel properties.

Baha Mar Ltd. is a hotel development company in the Bahamas. They have signed a deal with Hyatt Hotels to create a 700-room Grand Hyatt Hotel as part of the 1,000-acre Cable Beach, Nassau, Bahamas resort. Baha Mar Ltd. is also planning hotels at Cable Beach with Morgans Group and Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, a luxury brand with high-end U.S. resorts.

The company reportedly planned to work with Starwood Hotels to develop the Cable Beach Bahamas resort complex, but ultimately decided to diversify and work with several other hotel brand companies to branch out marketing opportunities for the US$2.6 billion resort complex.  Cable Beach Nassau Resort will develop with several U.S. based hotel brands. Baha Mar Ltd. already owns the Sheraton Nassau Beach Resort.

While frequent guests may have loyalty commitments to specific hotel chains, the hotel owners are looking to diversify and improve their reach across the markets of potential visitors.

Related links:

Hotel Interactive has the best article I have seen on the Priority Club and Las Vegas Sands Corporation partnership to brand Venetian and Palazzo hotels as “InterContinental Alliance Resorts”. (Oct 28)

IHG Press Release on Sands deal (Oct 25)

Baha Mar and Cable Beach Nassau Bahamas Development (BCworldtravelnews-Oct 18)

The Tribune Bahamas - US hotel brand 24.5% market share costing the Bahamas (Oct 28)

Earn a maximum one free weekend night after three stays paid by MasterCard from November 1 – January 31, 2011 at more than 250 participating Starwood Hotels in Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa.

Free weekend night may be redeemed at a Starwood Preferred Guest Category 1-6 hotel December 2, 2010 to February 27, 2011 for Friday, Saturday or Sunday night. Some properties in Africa and Middle East allow redemption on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.

• Promotion Registration Code “3MC” is required. Must be a MasterCard credit card member for eligible credit. Register at www.SPG.com/mastercardfreeweekend
• SPG Free Weekend after 3 stays paid with MasterCard in Africa, Middle East, and Asia-Pacific
• More than 250 participating Starwood Hotels, except W Koh Samui, Thailand is not eligible for free night redemption.
• Earn November 1-January 31, 2011
• Redeem Fri-Sat-Sun or Thu-Fri-Sat depending on hotel December 2 – February 27, 2011
• Promotion registration required
• Promotion maximum limit is one free night earned per SPG member

Countries designating Thursday, Friday and Saturday as weekend nights: Algeria, Bahrain, Chad, Djibouti, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

Working around one free night limit

Traveling with a spouse, relative, or friend provides an opportunity to earn at least one additional free night.

For example, two people traveling together can alternate reservation nights. My wife and I can travel and stay one night at the Westin Sukhumvit Bangkok under my name. The following day I check out and my wife checks in the Westin Sukhumvit under her name. We may have to change rooms, but each of us will receive one hotel stay credit after two nights at the same hotel.

This is both room hopping and hotel hopping.

Repeat this over 6 nights at three different hotels, or the same hotel for 6 nights, and the two SPG members earn two free nights to share during the promotion.  

The one night limit is rather restrictive, but I am certain there would be SPG members from around the world flocking to Indonesia for $75 hotel stays if SPG didn’t impose a limit.

Loyalty traveler promotion rating = 4 keys of 5.

Accor has 50% off hotel rooms at participating hotels from October 29 – November 1, 2010, but it looks to me like anyone can book these special rates now for hotel stays from December 12 to February 12, 2011.

Kayak.com shows these 50% discount rates for Accor brand hotels I checked. This makes price comparison shopping easy with other chains.

Singapore has the Grand Mercure Roxy Hotel at US$86 per night. Whether this is a good deal depends on how much you desire the Clarke Quay or Orchard Road part of the city to be in the thick of things. I have enjoyed my time outside the city center in the communities around downtown when visiting Singapore.

I wanted to see where the hotel is located and the Accor Hotels website has a map link, but the Accor Hotels website map function shows me the entire world rather than the island of Singapore. I didn’t want to navigate my way across the globe to street level Singapore.

Accor Singapore Mercure Grand Roxy Hotel 50% off rate at US$86

Budapest for under $50 per night at your choice of more than 10 Accor brand hotels like Mercure, Ibis and Novotel.

Accor Hotels 50% off sale puts a dozen Budapest Hotels under $50

You can even splurge for the authentic 5-star luxury class Sofitel Budapest Chain Bridge cheap room at US$117 per night for a hotel on the banks of the Danube and this is not even the 50% off rate. This rate has chocolate perks too.

Sofitel Budapest 5-star Luxury Hotel - Accor Hotels US$117 per night December 2010

Accor is a French hotel company and Paris is loaded with Accor brand hotels. These 50% rates are a way to greatly reduce the cost of a winter hotel stay in the City of Light.

Pullman Hotels, along with Sofitel Hotels, is a luxury market segment brand of Accor Hotels. The Pullman Rive Gauche Paris is participating in the Accor 50% off sale bringing the rate down to $127 per night for a 4-night stay January 15-19, 2011.

Paris Rive Gauche Pullman Hotel 50% off Accor Sale US$127 per night January 15-19, 2011

Thanks to Lucky for posting about this high-value, very limited time offer.

Book a two-night stay between October 27 and November 9 for stays between November 19 and January 31, 2011 to receive 35% off the Best Available Rate. I found some good discounts at Radisson Hotels with this 35% discount offer. Too bad there are only about 40 participating Radisson Hotels in North America and available dates vary at different hotels. This offer does not apply to other regions.

The rate at the Radisson Santa Maria, California November 22-24 reduced the otherwise lowest rate using AAA rates from $102.60 per night down to $74.10 for a basic guest room.

Another catch is these 35% off rates are only available during select periods between November 19, 2010 and January 31, 2011. Some of the participating hotels have as few as one weekend offered at these discount rates. Click the links for either Radisson or Country Inn and the webpage lists all participating hotels and dates.

Country Inn & Suites participating hotels in the USA – Carlson Hotels 35% Discount Link.

Remember this 35% discount requires a two-night stay between November 19 and January 31, 2011.

Country Inn & Suites has one of the best offers currently available right now for 15,000 bonus points on a one night stay from Sunday to Thursday. This offer is in effect until November 21, 2010. Here is the Loyalty traveler write-up on the Country Inn & Suites 15,000 points offer. These are both promotion code room rates so I do not think they are combinable for the couple of overlap days. But call and find out if your travel plans overlap the two offers from Nov 19-21.

Promo code = S2G35OFF works for both Radisson and Country Inn & Suites

Looking for room rates at the Barstow Country Inn & Suites over the Christmas Holiday actually revealed lower rates for a basic room, but the 35% off rate brings the cost of a suite down to near the cost of a regular guest room without the special.

Barstow baby. That means a Vegas road trip!

Or more likely a Las Vegas road trip breakdown.

I think turning Chinese is a good thing, so please don’t start a Loyalty Traveler boycott.  Chinese members actively using Starwood Preferred Guest have surpassed the United Kingdom membership as the second most active SPG members behind the USA membership. SPG enrollment jumped 58% this 2010 year in China compared to last year and 2009 saw 50% growth. Chinese members are SPG’s fastest growing customer base.

More than 50% of guests are Chinese at China’s Starwood Hotels.

All this data comes from the HotelsMag.com story (10-27-10). Here is the link, but you need to become a member (free) to view the article.

Watch for China SPG promotions

I would love to see another good SPG promotion targeting China hotels. That would be incentive for someone like me to take a country tour.

SPG is not the only hotel chain recruiting members in China. China, Brazil, India, and Russia are the hot spots for global rapid hotel growth. The big hotel chains are branching out rapidly. Competition in marketing hotel brands means hotel loyalty program competition. Watch for promotions. I think they will come in 2011 for the hearts and minds of loyalty travelers. I just hope they are open to us in the U.S.A. I’d love a good incentive for a trip around China.

Hey SPG! How about running another one of those stay at 5 Starwood brands and get 50,000 points?

SPG ran a promotion like that in 2003 for the Asia-Pacific region. With the opening of the Starwood Luxury Collection The Astor in Tianjin this summer, there are actually hotels in China representing every SPG brand, except Element.

Eight brands for 50,000 bonus points!  Now that would still be a decent SPG offer.

Update October 28, 2010 - 

As it happened, SPG announced a free night after 3 stays promotion yesterday:

 Stay 3 times and earn 1 free weekend night when paying with MasterCard at over 250 Starwood Hotels in Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa from Nov 1 – Jan 31, 2011.

Registration required and goes live November 1, 2010.

Promotion is limited to one free night per member during promotion. A good offer, but the one night limit keeps this from being a great offer.

Free nights may be redeemed from Dec 2 through February 27, 2011 at Category 1-6 hotels. 

SPG Free night promotion link

Loyalty Traveler warning! SPG category shift predicted to rock China

I have a feeling category shift to higher redemption award night levels is a past trend in SPG that may accelerate in China’s Starwood Hotels. Currently there are no SPG category 6 or 7 hotels in China. At the present time there are seven category 5 hotels in China.

Starwood Hotels in China at SPG Category 5 Award level

My Loyalty Traveler advice regarding SPG  for all you new Chinese Starwood Preferred Guests is spend points at the category 1 and 2 hotels before they become category 3 and 4 as rates likely will rise over the next couple of years.

Starwood Hotels in China at SPG Category 4 Award level (10,000 points/night)

I remember when some of the currently category 4 hotel awards were category 2 awards just a couple years ago.

Starwood Hotels in China at SPG Category 3 Award level

Starwood Hotels in China at SPG Category 2 Award level

There are still category 1 hotels in China. These hotels are only 2,000 points for a Friday or Saturday award night. You can buy that many Starpoints for US$56 right now.

Starwood Hotels in China at SPG Category 1 Award level

Just buying points from SPG will get two nights ($112 for 4,000 points) for the price of one night based on the prevailing rates at the Sheraton Zhoushan.

Get two nights for Price of 1 buying Starpoints at $28/1,000 points

And if you are more in the upper-upscale and luxury dream set then grab those category 5 awards at 12,000 points since they are more out of reach when SPG increases some of these hotels to category 6. Seriously, how long can the St. Regis sit in category 5?

The 20,000 points needed for a free category 6 award night results in a 67% increase for a free night. Currently you can get a five night stay for 48,000 points at one of China’s top level category 5 hotels and resorts.

If you have 50,000 points to spend and any of these hotels move to SPG Category 6 in March 2011, you will see your 5-night award stay potential reduced to two nights.

There are dozens more Starwood Hotels in China scheduled to open over the next three to four years.

Starwood Hotels posted 2010-Q3 financials today. They have a quarterly loss through taxes despite optimistic growth forecasts and around 10% growth in revenue per room. Wyndham and Marriott report being happy with their financials too. The big are getting bigger in the hotel world.

I walked into the W Chicago City Center and I felt that ‘WOW’ factor that I never got at the Chicago W Lakeshore.

W City Center Hotel Chicago - living room space

W Chicago City Center at 172 West Adams Street is across the street from the JW Marriott  hotel, a historical building renovation, scheduled to open sometime in the next few months opened November 11, 2010. The W City Center Hotel is a renovated building from 1910s or 1920s. The hotel opened as the W Chicago City Center in 2001, the same year the W Chicago Lakeshore opened.

W Chicago City Center

The interior architecture is cool to walk around.

W Chicago City Center interior arches

The lobby is dark and moody, but in a positive light.

W Chicago City in blue ray

In contrast to the living room space and low lit 3-D elevator space, the bedrooms reflected brilliant light.

W Chicago City Center bed

The seating was not so traditional. This was a standard size small room facing West Adams Street.

W Chicago City Center room bench

In another room was a lounge chair.

Larger space room on backside of hotel.

All the mod cons present and accounted for in these rooms.

Wonderful Wall in guest room

WORK space has a comfortable desk chair.

W Box of Wine

And of course every room comes with a bathroom!

The hotel had a hopping bar, but too crowded for photos. The restaurant IPO was preparing to open.

W Chicago City Center IPO Restaurant

My Way Cool W Hotel Guide – V – comped me a drink after showing me around the W City Center hotel. I felt like I had put in a full day’s work after visiting 15 Chicago hotels in a single day.  My feet hurt.

I hung out in the W Chicago City Center living room taking in the ambience. In the spirit of full disclosure I accepted a free Pilsner Urquell beer and drank it all.

This lamp is so Alice in Wonderland - You have to see it to really appreciate it.

Location:

This hotel is located right in the Chicago Loop. The advantage of this location is close proximity to Millennium Park, the Art Institute (free Thursday evenings with extensive Impressionist and Georgia O’Keeffe collections) and the Willis Tower (formerly known as Sears Tower to us older people).  

The Loop is the section of the city where the elevated train winds through downtown. The trains are loud, clanking along the old elevated metal frame and wooden platforms. I give it a Disneyland C ticket ride (again for the older folks who remember Disney history).

Reviews of the W Chicago City Center hotel are positive about the atmosphere of the hotel, but less forgiving of the noise from the ‘L’ trains above Franklin Street one block away. Wikipedia actually has a good page on the Chicago Transit System and where the different CTA lines go around the city.

One great thing is this hotel is just about four blocks from the Monroe or Jackson CTA stops on the Chicago O’Hare Airport Blue Line. There is little difficulty paying $2.50 for a ticket and getting the blue line directly from the airport right into downtown Chicago. The inconvenience results in changing to a different CTA line like the red line to the Magnificent Mile area or the ‘L’. Make sure you can carry all of your luggage. You will not necessarily find an elevator or escalator once in the city in some of the transit stations. Be prepared to haul your stuff up and down stairs.

CTA train Blue Line goes directly into the Loop area of downtown Chicago

Related post: Loyalty Traveler – W Chicago Lakeshore Hotel review (Oct 26, 2010)

Best Western has classified about 25% of properties within the 4,000+ hotel chain as Best Western Plus and Best Western Premier and will begin marketing the new designations to consumers in January 2011.

Best Western Premier hotels feature amenities like concierge or turn-down service, oversize fitness rooms, 42-inch flat screen TVs with HD channels, and on-site restaurant.

Best Western used AAA classifications for designating upper tier properties with 3-diamond rating needed for Best Western Plus and three or four diamond for Best Western Premier.

The properties currently designated Best Western Premier are overwhelmingly outside the United States with only two hotels – BW Premier Eden Resort and Suites in Lancaster, PA and BW Premier Crown Chase Inn & Suites in Denton, TX in the U.S. 

Compare that to 30 BW Premier properties in Germany alone.

Best Western is the U.S. based hotel chain with more international hotel properties than any other chain including Marriott, Hilton, and InterContinental Hotels Group. French-based Accor is the only other hotel chain with more international hotels than Best Western.

The articles cited below indicate about 700 to 800+ hotels will be designated Best Western Plus.

Best Western Rewards has a very confusing reward night table that is even more difficult than HHonors to determine the hotels in the different categories from 8,000 to 36,000 points. I assume the new designations of BW Plus and BW Premier will create a shift in hotel reward category placement, but I don’t think I can tabulate the data easily enough to track the changes.

Sources:

Hotel Interactive – The New Best Westerns – By separating its properties into three tiers, the brand hopes to reach new customers. (October 25, 2010)

Barbara De Lollis – Hotel Check-in,  USA Today – Best Western to call its higher-end hotels ‘Premier’ and Plus’ (April 20, 2010)

Best Western Premier and Plus Press Release (April 20, 2010)

The appeal of the W Chicago Lakeshore is its location adjacent to Lake Michigan. No other hotel I saw in downtown Chicago had such close proximity to the lake for unobstructed views to the east.

W Chicago Lakeshore view

The disadvantage of the W Lakeshore is its location is less convenient for transportation and activities aside from being near the Navy Pier with the Children’s Museum, rides, attractions, and restaurants.

W Chicago Lakeshore view of Navy Pier

The hotel is about four blocks east of Michigan Avenue in a mostly residential area of tower blocks.

Chicago W Lakeshore city view to Michigan Avenue from 33rd floor Altitude

The serene beauty of viewing the lake from a bedroom at the W Lakeshore is better than a lakeshore walk due to the eight lanes of traffic on North Lakeshore Drive bordering the bike and walk path alongside Lake Michigan. My room on the 23^rd floor of the 33 floor hotel did not have any noticeable road noise.

Chicago W Lakeshore 33rd floor Altitude lake view north

The hotel bar Wave at the lobby was fairly packed with finely dressed gents and ladies. I did not fit in with my jeans attire. That didn’t inhibit me from redeeming my coupons for two free beers while I read a poorly written book with great hotel photos.

W Chicago Lakeshore lobby

Whiskey Sky is the 33^rd top floor hotel bar open in the evening, but there was nothing happening there on a Sunday night at 9pm.

W Chicago Lakeshore Whiskey Sky 33rd floor bar

The bar has primarily a south and west facing view.

W Chicago Lakeshore view of Navy Pier from Whiskey Sky

In contrast, the large room Altitude also on the top floor of the W Lakeshore had a roaring party, however, this wonderful viewing space is only for private events.

W Chicago Lakeshore Altitude room on 33rd floor

I found daytime access and snapped a few photos from Altitude.

W Chicago Lakeshore, Altitude is circular room on 33rd floor

The Bliss Spa, WET pool and fitness room SWEAT are located on Floor 7.

W Chicago Lakeshore WET, 7th floor indoor pool

There is a small lakeside outside deck by the indoor pool.

W Chicago Lakeshore sweat

The W room had all the mod cons, but I wasn’t really inspired by the layout and design.

W Chicago Lakeshore bath shutters

As a Cash & Points room I received good value for $60 and 4,000 points for a $350 or so room rate after tax.

-W Chicago Lakeshore bath

The double beds made for a cramped space, but there were no lake view rooms with King beds available.

W Chicago Lakeshore double beds

The usual nice Bliss bath amenities were present and I received one of the three pricey Fiji bottled waters in the room complimentary as a SPG Platinum elite.

W Chicago Lakeshore bathroom

The seating was adequate for one person, but not for two with only one cushion chair by the window and one desk chair.

W Chicago Lakeshore chair

The TV was large with some HDTV channels. Internet worked easily and was complimentary for me as SPG elite.

W Chicago Lakeshore desk space and TV

I liked the rooms and lobby better at the W Chicago City Center, but that location and hotel is a totally different Chicago experience.

W Chicago Lakeshore

Related Post: Loyalty Traveler – W Chicago City Center in Blue Ray (Oct 27, 2010)

Grand prize is six nights ocean view room at a Choice Privileges hotel in Hawaii. The actual hotel is undisclosed, sort of like a Priceline thing I guess. There are five Ascend Collection hotels at Waikiki: Ala Moana, Outrigger Luana Waikiki,  Ohana Waikiki Melia, Ohana Waikiki West and  Ohana East.  Hopefully Choice Privileges gives the sweepstakes winner some choice in hotel, although the rules say hotel choice is up to Choice. There are another five Ascend Collection Hotels on Maui, three Ascend Collection hotels on Hawaii and one Ascend Collection hotel on Kauai.

This sweepstakes appears to be another new member enrollment marketing strategy, yet open to all Choice Privileges members. Entering sweepstakes will automatically enroll you in Choice Privileges if you are not already a member.

• Sweepstakes is limited to residents of 50 U.S. and D.C.
• Sweepstakes begins October 20 and ends December 15, 2010. You may enter sweepstakes once per day. Drawing will be about January 3, 2011.
• Grand Prize is six hotel nights in Hawaii ($1,800 value) + $2,000 credit for airfare + private hula lesson for two ($150) and two grass skirts ($50).

One of the other fine print rules for the Hawaii Sweepstakes is publicity. Something you may want to consider as a potential winner: 

 8. Publicity: Except where prohibited, participation in the Sweepstakes constitutes winner’s consent to Sponsor’s and its agents’ use of winner’s name, likeness, photograph, voice, opinions and/or hometown and state for promotional purposes in any media, worldwide, without further payment or consideration.

Is Choice Privileges really sure they want my opinions?

Ohana Waikiki Melia - But does it have an Ocean View?

Ascend Collection Outrigger Kanaloa Kona, HI