Our recent vacations have featured free or majorly discounted hotels courtesy of B's membership in the Starpoints program from Starwood hotels. We've stayed in Paris, Nice, Venice, Florence, Madrid, Barcelona, Munich, Frankfurt, and Salzburg for nearly 40 nights (over 4 trips) and paid a song for it all. Times were good.
Our upcoming trip to the Canadian Rockies will be a relative hardship compared to the golden times of the past, though. The only Starwood hotels in the Rockies are in Calgary, and we're not flying all the way to Calgary to actually stay there (no offense, Calgary).
The current hotel plan involves only 2 nights in Starwood hotels, in fact. We'll stay in one near our local airport for the night before we leave--and can't even use points to pay for it because you "can't combine promotions" (stupid)--and one near the Calgary airport for the night before we fly home. We will have to pay cash money for the remaining 13 nights of the trip.
And even though I threatened/hoped to book some of our nights at one of the glamorous Fairmont hotels in the area (specifically the Fairmont Banff Springs or the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise--ooh la la), I just couldn't bring myself to pay $400--even if it's $400 CAD--for a night in a teeny tiny room. The exchange rate, while favorable for the US dollar, isn't that good.
As of right now--barring an amazing sale courtesy of Fairmont, a proposition that is not out of the question--there will be no castle experience on our trip. However, we have found no bargains when it comes to hotels for Banff, Lake Louise, and Jasper.
There are a limited number of hotels, and an even more limited number in the areas that we want to stay in. They can and do command steep prices. I have booked all of our hotels and gasped a little when I added up the total cost for all of them. It was a small comfort to know that the number will be reduced slightly when CAD is converted to USD. Here's hoping the dollar continues its current rally well into next year.
Our hotels, while pricier than what we're used to (though what isn't, when you're accustomed to "free"), offer a nice mix of accommodations. Our very own log cabin, in one instance. Part of a chalet in another. A one-bedroom suite with laundry in the unit and a full kitchen. A more traditional hotel that's smack in the middle of the action in Banff. All of the places have onsite laundry and most have their own kitchens, so we won't have to dine out for every meal.
And--this is an important distinction--we chose the hotels ourselves. With Starwood hotels, we have a choice of maybe 2 or 3 hotels in any given city, and even then, we usually opt for the lower-category hotel, since they cost fewer points. Whether reviews are good or bad, we have to live with the hotel because it's our only option. For the Canadian hotels, I scoured the guidebook and tripadvisor and compared prices and amenities and locations and everything that I don't have to think about when I book a Starwood hotel. The planning process involved more work but I feel like I was able to choose hotels that suit us and our vacation style.
However, paying for hotels is not and never will be awesome. I protest.
No comments:
Post a Comment