Ascend Collection Best Western hotels Best Western Rewards Choice Privileges Marriott Rewards (replaced by Marriott Bonvoy) Nordic Choice Club Nordic Choice Hotels Starwood Hotels Starwood Preferred Guest

Copenhagen, Lithuania, Poland and Rome 9 hotels trip using points in 6 loyalty programs

a beach with a building and a large body of water

Our first summer 2018 trip 15-hotel-nights itinerary across Europe started in Copenhagen with two nights at Nordic Choice Hotels, then six nights in Lithuania at Radisson Rewards hotels in Kaunas and the Baltic Sea port town of Klaipeda, followed by three nights in the Baltic coast beach resort of Sopot, Poland at Marriott and Sheraton hotels, then finished off at Best Western hotels for the final 4 nights in Krakow, Poland and Rome, Italy. All 15 nights were booked as hotel loyalty points reward nights.

Skt. Petri Copenhagen, Choice Privileges 20,000 points.

Published room rate at time of booking $802 USD.

Choice Privileges Redemption rate = $40.10 per 1,000 points. I purchased over 200,000 Choice Privileges April 2018 at $5.02 per 1,000 points.

a bed with white pillows
Skt. Petri Copenhagen, Ascend Collection
a building with many windows
Skt. Petri Hotel Copenhagen is located downtown near Norreport Station.

Comfort Hotel Vesterbro, Copenhagen Nordic Choice Club 10,000 points.

Published rate at time of booking $297 USD.

a room with a tv and a table
Comfort Hotel Vesterbro, Copenhagen
a building with a glass door
Comfort Hotel Vesterbro, Copenhagen

Park Inn Kaunas, Lithuania Radisson Rewards 13,500 points junior suite upgrade x 3 nights 40,500 points.

Published rate at time of booking $173 USD x 3 nights = $519.

Redemption rate $12.81 per 1,000 points. Radisson Rewards regularly sells points at $4 per 1,000.

a room with a television and a chair
Park Inn Kaunas Junior Suite-1
a room with a couch and a tv
Park Inn Kaunas junior suite-2

Radisson Blu Klaipeda, Lithuania Radisson Rewards 22,500 Business Class upgrade x 3 nights = 67,500 points.

Published rate at time of booking $206 USD x 3 nights = $618 USD.

Redemption rate $9.15 per 1,000 points. Radisson Rewards regularly sells points at $4 per 1,000.

 

a room with a bed and a tv
Radisson Blu Klaipeda Business Class
a table with bowls of food
Radisson Blu Klaipeda Wave Restaurant breakfast
a bowl of food and utensils on a table
Radisson Blu Klaipeda Wave restaurant breakfast salmon

Marriott Sopot, Poland Marriott Rewards MegaBonus free night certificate.

Published rate at time of booking $243 USD.

Redemption rate: I earned this Megabonus free night certificate with two stays during Fall 2017 MegaBonus promotion. December 2017 at Moxy Marriott $74 and AC Hotel by Marriott Bella Sky Copenhagen in Jan 2018 for $160. The free night in Sopot had a published room rate of $243, higher than the $234 cost for my two Marriott winter 2017-18 hotel stays.

a building with a lawn and trees by the water
Sopot Marriott Resort & Spa, Poland
a room with tables and chairs
Sopot Marriott Mera Brasserie

Sheraton Sopot, Poland SPG Cash & Points $81+5,000 points.

Published rate at time of booking $226 USD. We also received Sheraton Club lounge access. I do not have SPG elite status.

Redemption rate $226 – $81 = $145/5,000 points = $29.00 per 1,000 points.

SPG points are currently selling for $22.75 per 1,000 points through July 20 making room cost $194.75 when buying points.

a beach with a building and a body of water
Sheraton Sopot room view
a large building with trees in front
Sheraton Sopot

Sheraton Sopot, Poland LOT Polish canceled flight hotel accommodation (Pray for flight delays in Gdansk flying LOT Polish. Sheraton Sopot has the passenger accommodation contract with LOT.)

This hotel stay included free breakfast at Wave Restaurant and about $20 in food credit I applied to lunch at Sheraton Bar 512.

a burger on a paper
Sheraton 512 Bar is best burger I’ve eaten in Poland (IMHO).

Best Western Old Town Krakow, Poland Best Western Rewards 20,000 points.

Published rate at time of booking $180 USD.

Redemption rate $9.00 per 1,000 points.

Best Western Rewards points were sold during April 2018 Daily Getaways for $5.50 per 1,000 points making room cost $110.

a television on a table
Best Western Old Town Krakow Superior Room-1
a couple of beds in a room
Best Western Old Town Krakow Superior Room-2

Best Western Hotel Artdeco Rome, Italy Best Western Rewards 20,000 points x 2 nights = 40,000 points.

Published rate at time of booking $188 USD.

Redemption rate $9.40 per 1,000 points.

Best Western Rewards points were sold during April 2018 Daily Getaways for $5.50 per 1,000 points making room cost $110 per night.

a room with a mirror and a chair
Best Western Hotel Artdeco Rome furniture
a staircase with a lamp on the wall
Best Western Hotel Artdeco Rome lobby stairway

Best Western Plus Rome FCO Airport, Fiumicino, Italy Best Western Rewards 20,000 points.

a pool with umbrellas and chairs in front of a building
Best Western Rome Airport FCO pool day
a pool with umbrellas and chairs at night
Best Western Rome Airport FCO pool night

Published rate at time of booking $164 USD.

Redemption rate $8.20 per 1,000 points.

Best Western Rewards points were sold during April 2018 Daily Getaways for $5.50 per 1,000 points making room cost $110.

15 Hotel Reward Nights in June 2018

Copenhagen, Denmark; Kaunas, Lithuania; Klaipeda, Lithuania; Sopot, Poland; Krakow, Poland; Rome, Italy; Fiumicino, Italy.

  • Best Western Rewards 80,000 points; 4 reward nights.
  • Choice Privileges 20,000 points; 1 reward night. Skt. Petri, Ascend Collection is a great deal with Choice Privileges points. Nordic Choice Club charges 30,000 points for this hotel.
  • Marriott Rewards one MegaBonus category 1-5 free night certificate reward night earned after 2 hotel stays ($240) during Fall 2017 MegaBonus. Sopot Marriott at 25,000 points in summer season is one of the best value category 5 hotels for a MegaBonus redemption. This hotel was my wife’s favorite hotel of the trip for pools and beach access. This property will remain at 25,000 points or Cash&Points for $105+12,000 points in 2018. In 2019 reward rates change to $90+10,000 points in low season and $120+13,500 points in peak season.
  • Nordic Choice Club 10,000 points. Comfort Inn Vesterbro Copenhagen is one of the Nordic Choice Hotels with a better redemption rate through Nordic Choice Club at 10,000 points compared to Choice Privileges at 20,000 points.
  • Radisson Rewards (Club Carlson) 108,000 points; 6 reward nights. These two Lithuania hotels were booked before March 1, 2018 when Club Carlson transformed into Radisson Rewards and the reward rate increased for both of these hotels. Park Inn Kaunas is now 22,500 points for Business Class junior suite upgrade and Radisson Blu Klaipeda is 42,000 points per night for Business Class upgrade. My 108,000 points stays now cost 193,500 points for Business Class upgrade rooms with breakfast.
  • SPG Cash&Points $75 + 5,000 points. Sheraton Sopot is currently 10,000 Starpoints and rising to 35,000 Marriott Rewards points as of August 1, 2018. Cash&Points reward nights will cost $140+17,000 points. In 2019 reward rates change to $120+16,000 points in low season and $195+19,000 points in peak season. Chances are June 2019 will be peak season for Poland’s most popular beach resort city.

 

 

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7 Comments

  • Jon June 29, 2018

    Impressive!

  • Ross June 30, 2018

    Ric, I really enjoy your blog and especially posts like this. It is very inspiring actually and has got me thinking about some options for Europe travel that are a bit off the beaten path.

  • Cost of travel Copenhagen and Rome vs. Lithuania and Poland - Loyalty Traveler June 30, 2018

    […] Traveler – Copenhagen, Lithuania, Poland and Rome 9 hotels trip using points in 6 loyalty programs (June 29, 2018). This 15 hotel nights trip had room rates over $3,000. My actual cost was about […]

  • Winnie July 2, 2018

    Love your series of analysis on hotel points. It is very inspiring to me :). Question – if you were to pay retail, how much would you have paid for each stay? When I evaluate how the point valuation of each loyalty program I take into account how much I would have paid instead of how much the room retails for. While I take advantage of five star and four star hotels, if I have to pay out of pocket, I will probably pick a clean and convenient two or three star hotels and that is the value I use to calculate the relevant value of each point system.

  • Ric Garrido July 2, 2018

    @Winnie – I try and keep my paid rates around $100 per night. In general, if I pay for a hotel night I get a bonus points rebate for the hotel stay.

    In 35 hotel nights this summer I only have 4 paid nights for $340 ($85 per night). Two IHG paid nights $197 earn 37,000 points. Another 2 IHG hotel nights I paid 15,000 IHG points per night have rates at $102 per night. Pretty much an even trade.

    Looking back over my hotel stays for past 12 months, I paid $1,300 for 14 paid nights between June 2017 and January 2018 out of about 50 nights.

    Those paid nights earned 9 free nights at hotels averaging over $200 per night.

    My paid nights usually involve getting a significant rebate in points.

    2017 paid nights at Radisson Blu Bratislava, Radisson Blu London Heathrow, Radisson Blu Gdansk, Radisson Blu Krakow, Park Plaza Amsterdam, Park Inn Prague: earned 22,500 points + 2 free nights.
    https://loyaltytraveler.boardingarea.com/2017/06/24/radisson-blu-krakow-poland-hotel-review/

    https://loyaltytraveler.boardingarea.com/2017/07/21/2-stays-earned-1-free-friday-park-plaza-vondelpark-amsterdam-and-park-inn-prague/

    Those 6 paid nights earned 3 free nights with two Fridays at Radisson Blu Prague (room rates about $230 per night) and 1 free night at Radisson Blu Klaipeda (1 of 3 nights for the trip from this article).

    Days Hotel Nice, France ($80) and Ramada Plovdiv, Bulgaria ($80) earned 15,000 Wyndham Rewards points in October 2017.
    Feb 2018 I redeemed 15,000 Wyndham Rewards points for 5 nights at Amsterdam Apollo Ramada for Executive Panoramic room for a $500 rate savings.
    https://loyaltytraveler.boardingarea.com/2018/02/26/ramada-apollo-amsterdam-15000-wyndham-rewards-points-saved-500/

    Holiday Inn Express Warsaw Airport for $58 in June 2017 earned 35,000 IHG points. I redeemed 15,000 IHG points in July 2018 for 3 nights at Holiday Inn Brno ($300 value) and 1 night at InterContinental Warsaw cost $30+25,900 points as my 2017 points redemptions.
    https://loyaltytraveler.boardingarea.com/2017/07/24/holiday-inn-express-warsaw-airport-58-night-earned-34828-points/

    My hotel stay strategy is so integrated with earning bonuses on paid nights and redeeming points for good value stays that it is hard to say how much I will pay for a hotel room. Nearly every room I pay for is earning a points rebate I use on a subsequent hotel free night or discount.

    $100 per night is my general rule of thumb for what I will pay. In general I get a significant rebate on my $100 per night spend.

  • Winnie July 3, 2018

    Thank you for your detail reply. I feel like this can be a post of its own.

  • Ric Garrido July 5, 2018

    In my comment above I stated only 4 paid nights for my 35 nights in hotels this summer. That changed yesterday when I switched some planned reward nights to paid Hilton nights. I have 7 paid Hilton nights for about $450. I will only earn about 8,000 or 9,000 points ($45 rebate value) during double points promotion and no current elite status. I will earn Hilton Honors Silver elite during my next trip.

    Waiting until the end of July when new IHG PointBreaks list posts to see if I travel in October to Romania spending Hilton points (best hotel value), Portugal (seafood), Croatia (seafood) or somewhere totally unexpected as a result of a good IHG PointBreaks hotel (see new places with good hotel deal).

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