My dates aren't open yet but narrowing down hotels for Switzerland and Italy for next year (will take any recommendations for Rome, Florence, Interlaken, Lucerne and Zurich). Found this interesting on Chase Portal. They had two hotels which said you could book on Chase portal and get benefits hotel loyalty program. The current price was 1000 a night so out of my range. Maybe they've always had this and I look at much cheaper places so I never noticed.
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I wonder if this is a side effect or benefit of The Edit program. Like maybe this hotel is participating in the program, which should convey loyalty program benefits. I admit, if it's a chain that I have points in (or can get points for) I don't usually look at them through the Chase portal, so not sure about it. But very nice if this is becoming a new thing.
Thanks for the recommendations. Off to research. Location is top for me, balanced with price. Not going to pay $1000 a night for the best location. But not going for the cheapest in a bad location. Luxury hotels just don't appeal to me. Maybe I'll change as I age but clean, safe and close to transpo and attractions are my top criteria.
I did have Zermatt on my list but I don't know how long I want to be gone. I'll be retired so it isn't a matter of PTO but rather me getting tired of staying in hotels and eating out. I know as I type it is sounds silly. But two weeks is about my limit of being away from my own bed. I think if I could find one spot to do day trips from and rent an apartment/AirBnB then I'd stay longer. This is the first (hopefully of many) international trip(s) so I'll probably just dip my toes here and plan on returning for everything I missed.
This is so accurate and nuts at the same time!
We've determined that 3 weeks is our max at the moment. By the last couple days we're ready for home. For longer trips we try to stay places that let us do some cooking/meal prep, but it's not the same as having your own space. 1 week is too short for some places, especially long travel time to and from, so I've been trying to plan 'big' trips for the 2-2.5 week mark.
I expect that once we get to a place like retirement where we don't have so many obligations at home, we could probably extend it out more. I'm hoping at that point it will just be like 'home' wherever so it'd be less like a trip and more like temporary relocation. One can dream
Has anyone joined IHG's business rewards program and made a point transfer for free? I signed up P2 but when I try to make a transfer to my account they are charging the normal $5 per 1,000 points. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.
ETA: My account was also registered with the business rewards program and I can transfer points for free from my account but I want to transfer from P2's account so I can easily manage our bookings.
Is P2's business account more than 30 days old? I'd think if it wasn't it just wouldn't let you start the transfer but people design systems weirdly.
I haven't done it myself as I'm the only IHG account in the house. This is just the only restriction I recall for the transfers, each account has to be at least 30 days old.
They seem to be sold out (that's what it says and there is some availability at airport Hiltons). I didn't realize they open up > 12 months in advance. I think Marriott is about 11 months.
With Hilton it's up to the individual hotels to upload their rate schedules, which can be all over the place in timing. Some have it up more than a year out, some have it out 6-8 months out. I'd definitely check back if there's somewhere you would rather stay. I had one hotel where it was the "only" option and would have been very disappointed to have to find an alternative. I called Hilton and the hotel to inquire, wondering if maybe they had maintenance or something scheduled. But that's what they told me, just that they hadn't finalized the rate schedule yet to update the system. They didn't release until about 7 months I think?
). I much prefer Selfridge's, which is also super close to the Mayfair Chippy.
