Type in Paris, FR and 43 hotels come up in a search on ChoiceHotels.com

Choice Privileges offers seasonal reward categories for hotels and most hotels in Paris dropped from 16,000 and 20,000 points to 8,000 points for April 16, 2013 through June 30, 2013.

Spring time in Paris is a bargain at these rates.

The redemption value for points is 2x-3x the value of points for hotels in New York and Los Angeles metro areas over the next 10 weeks. Many of these Choice Hotels in Paris go up by 200% points cost in July 2013.

Think of these like IHG PointBreaks and book early while availability is wide open.

Paris, France – Choice Privileges Reward Nights Analysis for June 15, 2013

Bottom line is Choice Privileges points can be earned through May 15, 2013 at the rate of 8,000 points every two stays. This can be done easily for as low as $100 in some places and for $150 per 2 stays in many parts of the USA and elsewhere around the globe.

Several Paris hotels with rates over $200 per night can be booked for 8,000 points per night through June 30, 2013. Earning 8,000 points can be achieved for $150 or less through May 15, 2013.

Pay for two stays at Choice Hotels, even two one-night stays at different Choice Hotels and earn one night in Paris. That is a good value rebate on hotel stays over the next month.

Or there are another 1,500 hotels at 6,000 and 8,000 points per night around the globe to spend points at a variety of Choice Hotels.

Choice Privileges offers 8,000 points after two stays. This bonus points promotion can be done for under $150 in most locations around the USA in time for June travel in Europe.

Starwood Hotels BeattheTimer.com is an ongoing 72-hour flash sale site for hotels in Europe, Middle East and Africa. There are 49 Starwood hotels listed on the site at time of this post. These rates are generally a discount on the published rates available through spg.com, but not always. Read More…

Conde Nast Traveler Gold List 2013 is the annual list of best ranked hotels by CN Traveler readers. 47,000 participants in the Readers Choice survey selected about 500 of the world’s best hotels for the 2013 list. Hotels making the Gold List five consecutive years are designated Platinum Circle status. The Platinum Circle list has 182 slides of hotels.

The 2013 CN Traveler Gold List grabbed my attention when I saw Marriott had published the list on the Rewards-Insiders.Marriott.com forum site.

Dromoland Castle in County Clare, Ireland is a Platinum Circle member of the 2013 CN Traveler Gold List. Read More…

A travel survey of trends among European travelers from 33 countries by ITB Berlin and IPK International indicates Germans have less preference for staying at 4-star and 5-star hotels compared to Russians and Britons. The proportion of Germans staying in luxury hotels has declined in recent years and just 13% choose luxury accommodations for holidays.

In contrast to German frugality are Russia and UK travelers who lead Europeans when it comes to booking luxury hotels for holidays. 26% of Russians stay in 5-star hotels when traveling outside of Russia. 22% of Britons favor 5-star hotels for holidays. Travelers from these two European nations lead the way in luxury hotel travel.

57% of Europeans stay in hotels for holiday travel with 234 million out of 413 million trips abroad booked with hotels. Hotel travel has increased in the past five years for Europeans from 52% in 2007 to 57% now.

Read More…

One of the best discount rates over the past several years is the 2-for-1 discount with InterContinental Hotels Group for 2-night stays in the UK and Europe. This is a prepaid, nonrefundable rate, but the savings are truly two nights for the price of one night. Many hotels in the UK and other countries in Europe are under US$50 per night with this discount.

Another feature of this rate is the possibility to book upgraded room categories, even suites in some hotels. Back-to-back reservations also allow extended stays. These hotels are primarily for weekends, however, many hotels allow the 2-for-1 rate any days of the week.

In the past the IHG 2-for-1 rates T&C indicated no points are earned for these rates. Checking hotels today I repeatedly saw a box for new member registration in Priority Club stating members will earn points for these 2-for-1 bookings. Read More…

Boscolo Hotels are an Italian hotels group with  21 hotels in the 4-star and 5-star market segments. Six of the eight 5-star Boscolo Hotels have signed with Marriott’s Autograph Collection. These luxury hotels are located in Rome, Venice, Milan, Prague and Budapest.

Two Boscolo Hotels not signed are Boscolo Nice (France) and Boscolo Aleph Rome. Boscolo also has 13 B4 hotels in Italy and France. These hotels are not part of the Autograph Collection deal.

Boscolo Hotels joining Marriott Autograph Collection in September 2011

• Boscolo Palace Rome
• Boscolo Venezia (Venice, Italy)
• Boscolo Prague (Czech Republic)
• Boscolo Budapest (Hungary)

Boscolo Hotels joining Marriott Autograph Collection in 2012

• Boscolo Exedra Roma (Rome)
• Boscolo Milano (Milan, Italy)

A quick survey of room rates shows typical rates in the 300EUR range for Boscolo Hotels in Rome and Venice. The Boscolo Venezia offers a nonrefundable rate 20% discount for hotel stays longer than two nights.

One of the more interesting details I noticed when looking over the Boscolo Hotels website is the Boscolo Hotels loyalty program Bclub. The program terms state a Bclub member earns 1 Bclub credit for every 50EUR in hotel spend.

The remarkable thing about the program is one free night at a Boscolo Hotel requires just 12 Bcredits and one free night at a B4 hotel requires only 6 Bcredits.

This works out to one free night at a Boscolo Hotel with every 600 EUR in spend for hotels where the minimum room rates are typically around 250EUR per night. This is a 40% to 50% rebate for every hotel night. There looks to be good opportunities for leveraging the Bclub program for free nights by redeeming credits for high cost hotels.

The Boscolo Hotels offer some valuable hotel loyalty benefits for members that may actually exceed the benefits of using Marriott Rewards for your hotel stays at these properties. The Bclub program looks like something you may want to try out before the Marriott Rewards program takes over and probably dilutes some of the Bclub benefits when these hotels become part of the Autograph Collection.

Boscolo Bclub hotel loyalty program

News Source: Marriott Press Release (July 19, 2011)

InterContinental Hotels Group regularly offers 2 nights for the price of 1 night in Europe. The current offer is for hotel stays through June 30, 2011 at participating Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express brands. Most participating hotels offer weekend 2-for-1 rates with many locations also offering weekday 2-for-1 rates. Up to two children under the age of 18 may stay for free when sharing room with 2 adults.

Main restriction with the 2-for-1 rate is it requires full prepayment and there are no cancellations or changes allowed by the rate terms. These rates are deep discount savings, but use it or lose it once you book your 2-for-1 hotel stay.

Priority Club points are generally earned for these stays, but your results may vary depending on the specific property. Priority Club has a strange rule about not awarding points if the rate is more than a 30% discount. This is a loosely enforced rule, but when applied it seems members are out of luck with earning points.

Two other IHG hotel discount deals currently being offered in Europe like “3 nights for price of 2” and “Save up to 35% on Weekend Stays” specifically mention “Priority Club points do not apply” in the terms and conditions. The 2-for-1 offer terms and conditions do not have this “no points” statement.

London can be an incredible deal with these rates where numerous IHG properties generally mean this deal can be found every day of the week.

My observations for this 2-for-1 offer over the past couple of years concludes this is one of the best deals for European hotel stays. I have written posts in the past showing how London could be done for US$100 per night, but don’t even think you will get this kind of deal for London during the days of the Prince’s wedding.

IHG 2 for 1 special offer rate beats Priceline.com for London

April 22-24, 2011 Crowne Plaza Shoreditch, London

BiddingforTravel.com is a forum where people post successful Priceline.com bids. A member of BiddingforTravel.com posted Feb 26 on a successful Priceline.com bid for the Crowne Plaza Shoreditch at USD$110 per night for a three night stay April 22-25. She states the price on IHG website was $125 at the time.  I assume both these rates are room rate only and do not include the UK 20% VAT tax.

April 22-24 using the 2-for-1 IHG special offer rate lowers the price to just USD$89 per night before tax.

The rate using the 2-for-1 special offer gives a two-night rate for the Crowne Plaza Shoreditch hotel at £109  with 20% VAT = £130.80  or USD$106 per night after tax for the same dates as a successful February Priceline.com bid. This is an overall savings of at least $26 less than Priceline.com and $44 less than the IHG room rate listed on February 26.

xe.com currency conversion

IHG 2 nights for Price of One special rate offer.

Totally off this topic:  

I want to turn people on to the Ryan Bingham of hotel travel who is currently staying in 33 hotels in 33 days on the Las Vegas Strip. Here is a link to Paul Carr’s Huffington Post story “The Strip Diary“. The only relation of Paul Carr to this post is Paul is from London.  I’ll be hanging out in Las Vegas most of next week. Maybe I’ll run into Paul!

Carlson Hotels has a critical mass of hotels for geographic coverage in the USA and Europe with about 900 hotels in these two regions. Carlson Hotels offers American frequent guests an earn/burn competitive edge as a good loyalty program choice for earning points from US hotel stays and burning points for European trips.

Geographic coverage is an important consideration for the international traveler. The big chains like Hilton, Marriott, and InterContinental Hotels Group blanket the USA in midscale hotels with each of these programs having over 2,000 hotels across the states. International travel is where the geographic limitations of loyalty programs can leave you seeking another hotel chain when your primary program does not have a hotel in the city where you need to stay.

Club Carlson has arguably the best mix of hotels for points earning opportunities in the USA with Country Inn & Suites and points burning midscale Park Inn and upscale Radisson hotels across Europe. Carlson Hotels offers over 300 Radisson and Park Inn hotels across Europe.

Spain has the new Marriott AC brand with 80 hotels and provides the best options in that country. Accor Hotels blanket Europe, but provide little USA opportunity for earning points. Nordic Choice is an option for Scandinavia rivaling Club Carlson. Hyatt has few European properties with only around 30 hotels. Starwood has high-end European properties and the points cost for reward nights remind you that luxury has a price in Euros and points. Hilton and InterContinental Hotels Group provide European coverage, but fewer properties than Club Carlson and generally at reward cost higher than Club Carlson.

Carlson Hotels in Each Reward Category = 1,070 Hotels

• Category 1 – 51 hotels  (5%)
• Category 2 – 168 hotels (16%)
• Category 3 – 370 hotels (35%)
• Category 4 – 260 hotels (24%)
• Category 5 – 162 hotels (15%)
• Category 6 – 59 hotels (6%) 

The hotel reward category distribution for Club Carlson has a nice bell curve shape. This is not common for hotel loyalty programs. Most programs have few properties in low categories. Hyatt and Marriott are two other programs with good distribution of hotels in lower reward categories. 

Carlson Hotels has 1,070 hotels globally.

• USA = 587 hotels (55%)
• Canada = 36 hotels (3%)
• Latin America = 41 hotels (4%)
• Europe = 310 hotels (29%)
• Middle East = 23 hotels (2%)
• Africa = 16 hotels (1.5%)
• Asia Pacific = 57 hotels (5%) 

Carlson Hotels has adequate coverage for the USA and good coverage in Europe. Other regions of the world are areas for growth and the company’s plan to grow by 400 hotels in the next four years should fill in many of these areas. 

Carlson Hotels brands: 

• Country Inn & Suites = 491 hotels (46%)
• Radisson Hotels = 417 hotels (39%)
• Park Inn Hotels = 119 Hotels (11%)
• Park Plaza Hotels = 41 hotels (4%)
• Regent Hotels = 5 hotels

* This tally of brands comes out at 1,073 hotels and 3 hotels higher than above totals. This is a small tabulation discrepancy that I failed to reconcile. 

Country Inn & Suites and Park Inn provide midscale hotels across the USA and Europe. Country Inn & Suites may or may not be comparable in price and quality to Marriott Courtyard or Hilton Garden Inn and Hampton Inns. That depends on the location and your preferences. The points earned from your stays will be as valuable as the other programs with the hotel reward night opportunities in Club Carlson. Four Points and Hyatt Place are the midscale brands of Starwood and Hyatt, but there are more Country Inn & Suites in the USA than these two brands combined. The price point may or may not be comparable. 

Radisson Hotels in the USA tend to be viewed as less upscale than Crowne Plaza, Sheraton, Marriott and Hilton. There is much less disparity between these brands in Europe.

Club Carlson’s low cost hotels in USA and numerous hotels around Europe provide a competitive edge for the American traveler who wants to earn points at midscale lower-price point Country Inn and Radisson hotels and redeem for hotels in Europe. Carlson Hotels have coverage in other regions of the world, but Europe is where you will find Club Carlson’s real competitive value for the traveler choosing a loyalty program for earn/burn opportunities.

Related Posts:

Club Carlson Hotel Rewards Category Reassignment Analysis – Overview and Category-1 (April 7)

Club Carlson Category 2 Hotel Rewards Analysis (April 8 )

Club Carlson Category 3 Hotel Rewards Analysis (April 8 )

Club Carlson Category 4 Hotel Rewards Analysis (April 8 )

Club Carlson Category 5 Hotel Rewards Analysis (April 9)

Club Carlson Category 6 Hotel Rewards Analysis (April 9)

Stay 3 nights at a participating Marriott brand hotel in continental Europe with a Friday or Saturday between November 5 and April 5, 2010 and pay for two nights. Reservations must be booked by January 3, 2010.

Marriott Promotional Code B4F.

Marriott promotion link. 

Participating Hotels link.

Loyalty traveler Analysis:

This is a good rate offer where I located availability. I had a hard time finding available rates for late November/early December in a dozen random checks, however, availability in January and later was easy to find in most locations.

Even better is the 3^rd night free offer actually reduced the cost at every hotel where I found the rate.

Sometimes the rate difference was not all that much. Some hotels had other rates with breakfast included for around 50EUR more which could be an overall savings for a couple over three days based on typical hotel breakfast prices.

The main feature of this special offer that is uncommon for 3^rd night free rates is the ability to cancel up to day of arrival at all the hotels where I found the rate.

Good luck finding this offer in Paris. There may be some weekends in Paris with availability, but I was unable to locate one.

Sample Rate Comparisons for Marriott's 3rd Night Free in Europe Special Offer

Starwood Preferred Guest

New Members Offer for Instant SPG Gold Elite through February 2011 (normally requires 10 hotel stays or 25 nights in a calendar year), plus 1,000 bonus points per night through March 31, 2010.

Details:  http://boardingarea.com/blogs/loyaltytraveler/2009/11/20/my-midas-touch-gives-new-spg-members-starwood-preferred-guest-gold-elite/

Upscale Your European Stays with Discount Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn Hotels

InterContinental Hotels Group has updated its ongoing offer for a second night free or 2-nights-for-the-Price-of-1-night  promotional offer. The reservation period is for stays between December 12, 2008 and March 31, 2009 for these discount rates.

Note: This rate needs to be searched through the InterContinental Hotels Group “2 Nights for the Price of 1” promotion page. 

http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/exclusive

These rates do not show up in a regular search through Priority Club or IHG hotel-branded websites.  You must search through the dedicated webpage for this offer and the rate plan should show Rate Preference “Exclusive 2 for 1”. See screenshot below.

Crowne Plaza Bridal Suite, Amsterdam

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Dec 25-27, 2009

Amsterdam City Center Crowne Plaza hotel with a 2-for-1 nightly rate as low as 62.50€ for December 25-27, 2008.  The two night total is 131.25€ after tax, or $166.40USD.   

$83 per night for City Centre Amsterdam is back to 2002 Priceline rates for this expensive European city.

My favorite find for the IHG 2-for-1 special is the Bridal Suite at the Crowne Plaza Amsterdam over the Christmas Holidays.  That will tell her you love her.  I’m sure there are many other hidden jewels in the European IHG world awaiting the 2-for-1 traveler.

The bridal suite is available for the two night Christmas Holiday (Christmas lasts two days in Amsterdam) for 187.50€ per night.  A two night stay after tax is 393.75€ or $499.20USD. 

The bridal suite is 309.50€ per night to reserve through the regular IHG website reservations for these dates.

This deal could be one of the best $500 memories you ever bought.

London, United Kingdom

London Mayfair Holiday Inn

Fri-Sun Jan 23-25, 2009. 

2-for-1 rate for a King Executive NonSmoking Room comes out to £201.25 or $298.40USD at today’s exchange rate after tax for two nights.  This is a couple of room categories above the cheapest standard room type at a rate of under $150 per night in central London. The regular booking channels for IHG reservations show an advance purchase, nonrefundable rate for King Executive NS Room at £301.88 or $447.61USD. 

The 2-for-1 IHG rate saves $150 on this two night London hotel stay at the Holiday Inn Mayfair in an upscale room category for this hotel.

London The City – Crowne Plaza

Fri-Sun Jan 23, 25, 2009

2-for-1 rate for a Deluxe Room is £70.00 per night.  After tax the two night rate is £161.00 or $239USD.  A city center hotel room for almost any major city in the world at $120 per night all in is a reasonable deal.  For London – this is a great deal. 

The Deluxe room is not even the lowest category style room at The London City Crowne Plaza.  A regular search finds the lowest rate for a Standard room at £79.00 per night.  The Deluxe room available for £70.00 through the 2-for-1 promo rate is £105.00 if you search London, The City Crowne Plaza through the regular IHG website reservation links.  The 2-for-1 offer gives you a better room category – a hotel upsale – at a lower price than otherwise available for the lowest room category at the hotel. 

The 2-for-1 rate for a one bedroom suite with hotel club lounge access is £147.50 per night.  After tax, your two day room total for an upscale London suite at The City Crowne Plaza is £339.25 or $503.02.  A suite in central London with Club lounge access for $250 per night is a good deal.

London Crowne Plaza Docklands

Sun-Tue Jan 25-27, 2009

2-for-1 rate = £54.50 per night or £125.35 ($185.86USD )for a Queen Bed room.  Americans fret about the price of visiting Europe and here is a deal for urban London in an upscale Crowne Plaza for under $90USD per night during the business week.  New York City isn’t offering rates like this.

A full two room suite with balcony at the London Crowne Plaza Docklands will run a total of £297.85 ($441.63) for two nights.  A full size suite in London for under $225USD per night is a great deal for this winter travel season.

The benefit of using this deal in London is a variety of IHG hotels offer 2-for-1 rates and most of the participating hotels in London offer the deal every night of the week.  You can stay in central London at 4 different hotels over 8 nights at these bargain rates.

Geneva, Switzerland – No special rates found in my searches

Paris, France – No City Center Special Rates Found

Berlin, Germany – No City Center Special Rates Found.  Holiday Inn Express at Schonefeld Airport (Schonefeld Airport is scheduled to become Berlin’s primary airport in 2011) is only 29.50€ ($37.40USD, tax included) per night for Jan 23-25.  This is one cheap hotel room.

Munich, Germany (These are the biggest discounts on the regular rates I found in my searches)

Holiday Inn Munich, Effnerstrasse

Sun-Tue, January 25-27, 2009

47.00€/night Standard Room ($59.60 USD tax included)

Regular nonrefundable advance purchase rate is 86.50€ ($110USD)

Holiday Inn City Centre, Hochstrasse

Sun-Tue, January 25-27, 2009

2-for-1 rate = 67.50€/night Standard Room ($85.58 USD, tax included)

Regular nonrefundable advance purchase rate is 115.00€ ($146USD)

2-for-1 rate = 107.50€/night Queen Bed Junior Suite ($136.29USD, tax included)

Regular nonrefundable advance purchase rate is 183.00€ ($232USD)

Budapest, Hungary – InterContinental Budapest, Jan 25-27, 2009

2-for-1 rate is 54.50€ ($69.10USD) for a standard room.  The regular nonrefundable advance purchase rate is 82.00€ ($104USD) for a standard room. 

An upgraded room with a view of Castle Hill and the Danube is 74.50€ ($94.45) using the 2-for-1 rate.  The regular nonrefundable advance purchase rate is 112.00€ ($142USD) for the Danube/Castle Hill view. 

One rate qualifier for this hotel is the 2-for-1 rate costs an additional 40€ ($50.72) for a second person in the room.

IHG “2 NIGHTS FOR THE PRICE OF 1”

TERMS & CONDITIONS:

1) 2 for 1 offer is based on the Best Flex Rate and consists of two consecutive night stays for the price of one, based on two adults sharing a standard twin/double room (max.2 adults per room) at participating hotels only.

2) Stays are available over Fri, Sat and Sun nights with many hotels offering midweek availability – please check at time of booking.

3) Full payment must be made at time of booking; no cancellations or amendments permitted; no refunds given.

4) Up to 2 children under the age of 18 stay free when sharing a room with up to 2 adults, if suitable accommodation is available.

5) Single supplement will be charged at the full room per night price.

6) Offer applicable for bookings and stays made from 12th December 2008 up to 31st March 2009.

7) Limited availability may be applicable over public holidays.

All rooms are subject to availability with a limited number of rooms available at these offer rates.

9) Rates may vary by date of booking.

10) Offer not available to groups and can not be used in conjunction with any other offers or special promotions.

11) A booking made pursuant to this offer is non transferable.

12) Offer only available at participating hotels in the UK & Europe