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Finding St. Regis Florence low rates using SPG.com Compare Rates and Calendar tools

Starwood Hotels St. Regis Florence, Italy is a hotel built in the 15th century Giuntini family palace in the center of the city near the Uffizi Gallery and within 500 meters of the Duomo. This SPG category 6 hotel has River Arno views and commendable reviews on FlyerTalk since the hotel rebranded from Luxury Collection Grand Hotel Florence earlier this year. The hotel history is available on the St. Regis website.

SPG.com Starwood Hotels Compare Rates Tool

The main point of this article is to examine features of the SPG.com Compare Rates tool that allows three additional Starwood corporate, group and promotional rates to be compared to Standard Rates in a display.

My initial rate checks for the St. Regis Florence pulled up several dates with low rates at 550EUR or USD$752 per night in October and November 2011. This certainly seemed the appropriate time to search the SPG.com Compare Rates and Browse Dates/Rates tools. I also checked St. Regis Florence hotel special offers.

SPG Compare Rates allow me to check different rate types while Browse Dates/Rates allow rates on different dates to be compared far more quickly than simply plugging dates into the homepage calendar search.

Finding the SPG Compare Rates and Rate Calendar tools

  1. Go to SPG.com or StarwoodHotels.com.
  2. Enter City Location and preferred dates.
  3. Hotel search results page looks like these two examples.
a screenshot of a hotel
St. Regis Florence – No available rooms October 20-24, 2011 (click on image to open full size)
a screenshot of a website
SPG.com St. Regis Florence Nov 3-6, 2011

Both screenshots show the option to compare more rates or browse dates/rates. My account is set to show AAA rates shown as SET/Corporate Account # 298940.

Compare more rates allows three rates to be compared and even a specific promotional or corporate rate code to be used.

a screenshot of a computer
Starwood Compare More Rates checklist for quick rate checks.

When my interest is paid rates rather than using points, then I can compare AAA, Senior and Breakfast rates together.

a screenshot of a computer screen
Starwood Compare Rates display for AAA, Senior and Breakfast rates.

Different dates I tried resulted in rate differences of a couple hundred euros per night.

Promotion Code Z3H is a third night free offer I entered into the Compare Rates option and the St. Regis Florence returned availability.

a screenshot of a website
St. Regis Florence Compare Rates Display for November 3-6, 2011

The 3 nights for the price of 2 rate is prepaid and nonrefundable. The rate discount looked to be the best deal going.

a screenshot of a hotel
St. Regis Florence 3rd night free rate.

Two special offers at the St. Regis Florence showed a 20% discount for a 3-night stay and 30% discount on a 4-night stay. These rates have the same prepaid, nonrefundable terms as Z3H and provide a smaller discount for a three night stay compared to Z3H for November 3-6, 2011.

a screenshot of a hotel
St. Regis Special Offer 20% off Rate is higher than Starwood Z3H rate.

St. Regis Florence Rate Comparison November 3-6, 2011

Deluxe King (no river view)

  • Z3H = 290 EUR/night
  • 20% = 335 EUR/night

Deluxe KingPanoramic river view

  • Z3H = 340 EUR/night
  • 20% = 393 EUR/night

Premium Deluxe Panoramic River View

  • Z3H = 390 EUR/night
  • 20% = 445 EUR/night

 

St. Regis Florence Rate Comparison on 4-night stays

St. Regis Florence has a hotel special offer 30% discount on four night stays. This rate should be lower than Z4H fourth night free which works out to 25% discount. I went back to the SPG.com Compare Rates function to input Z4H.

a screenshot of a computer
Starwood Compare Rates function for Z4H 4th Night Free promotion.

Search results show no Z4H availability, but the lowest rate is the 30% discount on a four night stay.

a screenshot of a hotel
St. Regis Florence 30% discount on four night stay.

The lowest rate so far is 262 EUR per night on a four night stay November 20-24, 2011.

Rate Calendar for Quick Checks of other dates

The 30% discount special rate on 4-night stays is the best deal seen. The Starwood Rate Calendar allows a quick check of other four-night dates to see if there are even lower rate dates for November 2011.

a screenshot of a hotel
Starwood Rate Calendar for quicker comparative rate checks.

The 262EUR rate is for November 20-24, 2011. I can enter alternate dates and see a quick rate display.

a screenshot of a calendar
Starwood Calendar Quick Rate Check Nov 19-23 St. Regis Florence

Shifting the arrival date one day earlier pushes the rate up 100EUR per night for the entire stay from 262EUR/night to 363 EUR/night. About $600 more to arrive one day earlier on a four night stay. The calendar rate function shows this rate instantaneously once dates are inserted into calendar.

Shifting the Arrival date one day later has no impact on the 262EUR rate. I can quickly check every date of the month using four night stays and find 250EUR/night is available beginning November 24.

a screenshot of a calendar
Starwood Rate Calendar quickly reveals rate drop Novemebr 24-28, 2011 for St. Regis Florence.

 

Starwood Rate Comparison and Rate Calendar make searching for the best rate a simpler task. The features could be improved by showing lowest daily rates on calendar without having to enter specific dates.

Finding the lowest rates for your hotel stay can be challenging. Starwood’s tools make the task a little bit easier. There is still room for improvement.

 

 

 

5 Comments

  • Charles Clarke October 12, 2011

    Am I understanding correctly that your initial search returned EUR 314 per night as the lowest, but then when you used the 3rd night free, it bumped the rate up to EUR 435 per night and then would only charge you for 2 nights instead of 3 (prepaid and non-refundable) at that rate? So you went from a 3 night cost of EUR 942 non prepaid refundable rate to a 3 night cost of EUR 870 prepaid refundable rate? I’m not sure that is much more than a discount for a prepaid non-refundable rate.

  • […] Loyalty Traveler Research on using SPG website Compare Rates and Calendar Tools to find low Starwood rates. LT post Oct 10. […]

  • […] Loyalty Traveler Research on using SPG website Compare Rates and Calendar Tools to find low Starwood rates. LT post Oct 10. […]

  • […] Loyalty Traveler Research on using SPG website Compare Rates and Calendar Tools to find low Starwood rates. LT post Oct 10. […]

  • […] Loyalty Traveler Research on using SPG website Compare Rates and Calendar Tools to find low Starwood rates. LT post Oct 10. […]

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