Starwood Hotels are on Sale in Europe

Starwood Hotels has two promotions currently available for participating hotels in Europe.  Both promotions offer discounts with nonrefundable rates.  You take a risk booking an expensive nonrefundable hotel stay, but the savings may be worth it.  And you always have the option of trip insurance to recover some of your loss if a cancellation is necessary.

Starwood Promotion 1

New Year Sale – Starwood Hotels promotion link

Special Rate Plan: BOXDAY

Book by 11:59 GMT, Friday, January 9 for stays through March 31, 2009 at participating hotels in Europe and also some hotels in Egypt, Morocco, Gambia, Mauritius, and United Arab Emirates. 

List of Starwood participating hotels.

Has there been a better time to take a trip to London in the past five years?

London, Sheraton Belgravia Hotel, 129GBP New Year promotional rate

The British Pound is worth $1.49 today.  A year ago is was $1.98. Five years ago $1.82.

Starwood Promotion 2

40% off a 4-night stay (C4E); 30% off a 3-night stay (C3E); 20% off a 2-night stay (C2E) for participating hotels in Europe for stays through August 31, 2009. 

Starwood Hotels 2009 Discounts for Europe, C2E, C3E, C4E

The rate plan description has an interesting detail.  You must ask for this discount rate or book it yourself using the code.  From SPG rate details using C4E promotion code:

 

“Rate Plan Description

Restricted Discount Non-Changeable Advance Purchase Rate. Fully Prepaid. Non-Refundable Deposit. Can Only Be Booked When Client Gives Promo Code Or Asks For It.â€

This is an interesting condition.  Be sure to ask for it.  SC Flier, the original poster of the FlyerTalk thread for this Starwood Hotels Europe promotion, posted hotel bookings must be made by February 16.  None of the hotels I checked made any reference to a booking deadline.  I am awaiting further information.  The promotion rate details are not exactly the same everywhere. 

Cancellation penalties vary.  The Westin Paris had a one-night cancellation penalty for a stay.  London had a 100% prepayment penalty for the entire stay.  A four night stay could easily set you back $1,000 if you had to cancel.

FlyerTalk’s sc flier also shows a neat tech tip to find participating hotels since there does not appear to be a master promotion web page listing participating properties at this time.

Do google searches using links below to find individual participating hotels:

 

·         site:starwoodhotels.com c2e  (20% off 2 nights)

·         site:starwoodhotels.com c3e  (30% off 3-nights)

·         site:starwoodhotels.com c4e  (40% off 4 nights) 

 

An alternative is to just try the promotion code for a hotel and see if a discount rate shows up.  

To insert the promotion code you need to:

1.  Click on the scroll down window for Rate Preferences/Promotion Codes

2. Select Promotion Code

3. Enter code C2E for 20% off two-night stay; C3E for 30% off three-night stay, or C4E for 40% off four-night stay.

4.  Double check that promotion code used matches the nights selected for your hotel stay.  If you select a three-night stay and use code C4E you will get message stating promotion is not valid for stay.

Click on the picture to enlarge the image and see where promo code is inserted. 

Nights of the week are an important consideration since rates fluctuate most between Friday and Sunday. I found an instance, shown below for Sheraton Belgravia, London, where the nightly rate on a 3-night stay using the 30% discount was lower than the nightly rate using the 40% discount on a 4-night stay.  Try combinations around your stay dates to see if a lower rate is available.

In London, the 40% off rate (149GBP) gave a much better deal for Sheraton Park Tower, a Starwood Luxury-Collection-brand hotel, than the New Year promotion rate ending this week (199GBP).  The Belgravia had a better rate with the New Year promotion rate available through January 9 (129GBP) than the 40% discount rate (GBP149).

Sheraton Park Tower, London, UK – Starwood Luxury Collection Hotel

Hotel link SPG Category 5

2/14-2/16 Sat-Mon,

regular best rate = 209GBP (Endless Weekend with Breakfast)

New Year rate = 199GBP

C2E rate = 167.20GBP

 

2/13-2/16 Fri-Mon,

regular best rate = 219GBP (Endless Weekend with Breakfast)

New Year rate 199 GBP

C3E rate = 146.30GBP/night

 

2/12-2/16 Thur-Mon,

Best available rate = 249GBP 

AAA rate = 224.10GBP

New Year rate = 199GBP

C4E rate = 149.40 GBP

 London, Starwood Hotels C4E rate, Sheraton Park Tower

Sheraton Belgravia Hotel, London

hotel link, SPG Category 5

 

2/16-2/20 Mon-Fri,

            Regular best rate = 249GBP

            New Year Rate = 129GBP  (must book by Jan 9)

            C4E Rate = 149.40GBP

 

 

London Sheraton Belgravia, BOXDAY Special Rate, 129GBP

 

London vacation for 8 nights in two upscale central city Starwood hotels at total cost under $2,000.  These are still premium prices, but at a much lower premium than you would have likely paid over the past several years for these hotels or comparable properties in London.  

 

London hotel sales are frequent.  Hotel rates are fluctuating wildly over the past two months.  It is difficult to predict if the rates available with the Starwood 40% discount promotion will still be a good price for hotel stays in London six months from now. 

There are certainly some good deals to be found and that is welcome news for travelers in Europe over the next eight months.

Tomorrow, January 7, is also the start of the Winter 2009 SPG promotion for 500 points per night and a 5,000 point bonus after 10 nights.  Here is a link to the Loyalty traveler post about this promotion.