This weekend I made most of my hotel reservations for 2 weeks in Slovakia and Austria next month. Similar to Krakow, Poland, where I traveled last month, Slovakia has a mix of high and low hotel room rates and hotel reward rates using points. Some hotels are low room rates with high reward night rates, like DoubleTree Kosice at $65 per night or 30,000 HHonors points. And other hotels have high published room rates, but low cost reward rates like the two Starwood brand hotels in Bratislava, Slovakia.
Starwood has two hotels in Bratislava, Slovakia with Sheraton Bratislava and Grand Hotel River Park, a Luxury Collection hotel.
Sheraton Bratislava – SPG category 3
- Standard reward = 7,000 points per night.
- Cash & Points reward = $55 + 3,500 points.
Grand Hotel River Park, Luxury Collection – SPG category 4.
- Standard reward = 10,000 points per night.
- Cash & Points reward = $75 + 5,000 points.
The reward rates seem on par for Bratislava hotels in other hotel loyalty programs.
What caught me by surprise was finding super-high room rates at these two Bratislava Starwood Hotels for mid-September. There are some astronomical rates over $400 per night for Saturday September 17.
Granted most dates are lower in surrounding weeks, but even at a more commonly seen $240 per night, these Starwood Hotels are among the most expensive hotel properties in the entire country of Slovakia.
Saturday, September 17, 2016
- Sheraton Bratislava 395 EUR ($441.80 USD). TripAdvisor #5 of 93 Hotels in Bratislava, Slovakia.
- Luxury Collection Grand Hotel River Park 430 EUR ($480.94 USD). TripAdvisor #4 of 93 Hotels in Bratislava, Slovakia.
Grand Hotel River Park is the most expensive hotel in the city and Sheraton is the second most expensive out of 115 hotels within 5 miles of central city shown on Kayak.com for Saturday, September 17. Only 3 other hotels in Bratislava are over $150 per night. Only 11 hotels are priced over $100 per night of 93 hotels in Bratislava listed on TripAdvisor.com.
IHG: Crowne Plaza Bratislava is $122 per night Saturday, September 17 and TripAdvisor ranked #12 of 93 hotels. This hotel is 20,000 IHG Rewards Club points per night. Holiday Inn Bratislava is $53 per night and a 4-star hotel or 10,000 points per night.
Hilton: DoubleTree Bratislava is $97 on Sep 17. TripAdvisor rank #11 in Bratislava. This hotel is a low 10,000 HHonors points per night, but also two miles from Old Town tourist area.
Club Carlson: Radisson Blu Carlton Bratislava is $72 for a booking today through OTA easyclicktravel.com or pay 28,000 Club Carlson points per night. TripAdvisor rank #16.
I picked up a great deal on easycicktravel.com OTA website yesterday for one of my hotel stays in Slovakia. In a month you can expect photos from the Carpathian Mountains to show up on Loyalty Traveler blog, if the weather is good.
There is a Chamber Music Festival Sep 18-25, but other hotels in Bratislava have not posted extraordinarily high rates for this same weekend. I suppose there might be a conference event at the hotel.
What surprises me more than high room rates at Starwood Hotels is the availability of SPG Cash & Points reward nights for this same date. The combination of a low category SPG hotel and extraordinarily high room rates creates a staggering SPG points redemption rate for these two hotels. This is the kind of convergence usually seen for lower quality hotels during big events or high quality–high category hotels with astronomical rates.
The two Starwood Hotels in Bratislava, Slovakia are among the top 5 TripAdvisor rated hotels in the capital city. Their room rates rank up there in the top tier too for all of Slovakia.
SPG Reward Redemption Rates
Sheraton Bratislava 395 EUR ($441.80 USD)
Classic room, non-smoking: King Bed
- Prepaid rate from EUR €395 ($441.80 USD)
- Standard Reward = 7,000 points.
- Cash & Points Reward = $55 + 3,500 points.
Sheraton Bratislava SPG Reward Redemption Rates
Standard Reward Redemption Rate $441.80 / 7 = $63.11 per 1,000 points.
Cash & Points Reward Redemption Rate $441.80 – $66 cash portion = $375.80 USD / 3.5 = $107.37 per 1,000 points.
SPG members can buy up to 30,000 points in a calendar year for $35 per 1,000, or even up to 25% less during periodic limited time offers.
Buying 3,500 points is $122.50 USD. This one-night stay will cost $188.50 all-in compared to the hotel posted rate of $442.
Grand Hotel River Park SPG Reward Redemption Rates
Luxury Collection Grand Hotel River Park 430 EUR ($480.94 USD)
Castle Hill View room, non-smoking: King Bed
- Prepaid rate from EUR €430 ($480.94 USD)
- Standard Reward = 10,000 points. SPG redemption value = $48 per 1,000 points.
- Cash & Points Reward = $75 + 5,000 point. SPG redemption value = $75 +$15 VAT + 5,000 points. $391/ 5 = $78.20 per 1,000 Starpoints.
Those are phenomenal SPG redemption rates rarely seen. I was impressed with myself when I landed a hotel reward deal for Element Hanover, New Hampshire in July 2015 with a redemption value in the $60 per 1,000 points range.
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