The opportunity with Choice Privileges points is landing a deal when reward rates are low, given that many hotels in the chain fluctuate in reward rates every two to three months. The uncertainty factor is reward night rates do not necessarily increase or decrease in ways you might expect given seasonal demand. An early morning flight from SFO to Canada for our June 2022 Lisbon trip had me looking for a hotel convenient to the airport. I found a good deal with Choice Hotels.Â
Ascend Collection Villa Montes Hotel in San Bruno, California at 20,000 Choice Privileges points had me buying a hotel night at seeing the words Free Parking. The hotel is 1.7 miles from SFO Car Rental Center, where I planned to drop off a one-way Budget Car rental from Monterey Airport the following morning.
Reward night rates are currently as high as 30,000 Choice Privileges points for weeknights and 20,000 points on Friday and Saturdays through November 30. Rates drop to 20,000 all nights for December and January, then 16,000 points from February 1 to April 15, 2023.
I booked a King Bed room for 20,000 Choice Privileges points. The comparable best flexible rate at $155.10 totaled $179.87 after tax. I purchased Choice Privileges points for about $5.12 per 1,000 points during U.S. Travel Association’s Daily Getaways annual sale. Points bought this room for $103, a savings of $77 and nearly a 43% discount on best flexible rate for a King Bed room.
The feature I like about this hotel are spaces to chill if you want to hang out outside the room.
Parking garage underneath hotel
The parking garage is a tight fit.
Villa Montes Hotel – King Room
Via Montes Hotel Breakfast
I’ll give the limited breakfast offering a pass due to the pandemic protocols still in place for Via Montes Hotel in June 2022. Complimentary breakfast meant a paper bag picked up at the front desk containing a bottle of water, a banana, Quaker chewy peanut butter chocolate chip bar, and a packaged chocolate filled crepes. I ate the banana and fortunately we were in an airport lounge for lunch.Â
Our room was on the back side of the hotel overlooking a residential street. I also visited suite 219 next door to our room.
Public Spaces in Villa Montes
San Bruno still had Covid protocols in place for mask to be worn indoors in public areas. The Spa and coffee shop were closed. Indoors there were several spaces for two people to sit together and the lobby fireplace lounge had space for at least eight people.
Via Montes Hotel 2nd and 3rd Floors
The room door in the photo above was our room for the night.
Overall I like this hotel as a Choice Hotels option when wanting a place near SFO. It might be my pick for another stay in January.
The pillow on the couch kind of sums up the feeling I had staying in Via Montes Hotel.
“retreat – a place affording peace, quiet, privacy, or security.”
The surprise for me at Via Montes Hotel was finding an urban retreat in the heart of San Bruno, California that I also found quite cozy as a hotel space.
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