Why am I not satisfied booking $500 suites in Norway with points? The basic itinerary I have booked for my trip next month is more than a week in $500 per night suites using Choice Privileges points for hotels in southern Norway. And I keep debating whether to trade in large hotel suites for IKEA college dorm style rooms at Best Western and Choice Hotels in northern Norway to get out into the wild spaces of the Arctic region. Choice Privileges points provide ridiculously high value for high category room suites at several locations around Norway by redeeming 16,000 points per night at each hotel. This Scandinavian thing is a whole different economic stratosphere to USA travel.
Or at least I thought Norway prices were stratospheric compared to the cost of a Quality Inn & Suites in the USA.
The local Quality Inn & Suites around Oslo fjord are spa resorts within 80 miles of the city, catering to urban dweller getaways. A 3-bedroom cabin/villa on the Oslo fjord for time to chill in a foreign land sounds like a relaxing getaway for me.
I live in Monterey, California, a weekend beach and nature getaway for the highly stressed Silicon Valley industry managers. I can relate to the attraction of nature near the urban hustle and bustle. The same kind of hotel travel as the spa resorts of Norway takes place in my hometown of Monterey where travelers from LA and San Francisco and around the world come for $500 to $1,000 per night spa vacations in our local resorts.
My local Quality Inn Monterey California on Munras Avenue is 30,000 points per night for a room tomorrow tonight.
Quality Inn Monterey is $509 for August 14, 2014. Booking the hotel on points is a big money saver.
The funny thing is that I did not expect a Norwegian-style hotel rate when I thought to compare Monterey hotel rates to Norway today for this post.
Welcome to Concours d’Elegance
This happens to be “car week” in Monterey, California when the annual Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance auto show and auction event occurs.
The auto showcase event has grown quite a bit in the past decade and now has taken over the entire Monterey Peninsula with car street shows all over this week. Kelley and I went to watch dolphins playing at Carmel beach yesterday and driving back into Monterey we found ourselves being waved through stop signs by Carmel-by-the-sea police officers managing traffic as the streets were blocked and filled with classic cars.
This is not a week to be a tourist in Monterey if you are not here for the car show. Hotel rates this week around the Monterey Peninsula are the highest of the year.
But, Norway is always expensive.
The room rate for a Double Bed Suite is $493 for Quality Resort Son, Norway on a midweek date for Tuesday, January 13, 2015.
Monterey is cheap on Tuesday, January 13, 2015. One thing I know is Monterey has a far higher probability of being clear and 85F in January than having snow, even though either is a possibility. Oslo, Norway will not be 85F in January, rest assured.
And if you truly have $500 to spend for a hotel night you can look beyond Quality Inn to book a King Bed ocean view room with a balcony at Monterey Plaza. This is one of the best waterfront hotel locations in the area.
Monterey Plaza Hotel & Spa is a member of Stash Rewards so you can earn points too.
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