SPG Hot Escapes list is out for this week. There are 64 hotels listed at time of this post. Rather than make a list, this week I will highlight a few hotels where I see great deals.
In 2003 I stayed at The Laguna, Luxury Collection Resort in Bali. This was one year after the Kuta bombing that killed 202 people in the nearby nightclub district.
The Starwood resort was empty in 2003. There was literally only about 10 to 15% occupancy at the Laguna and the next door Westin.
The rates for the Laguna Resort Bali at $116 per night on this week’s SPG Hot Escapes is lower than the 2003 rates. This is surprising given that Bali has been one of the ‘hot escapes’ tourist destinations ever since Julia Roberts assisted room rates with her ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ midlife crisis portrayal.
When I stayed at the Laguna Bali, the beach chairs were usually occupied by numerous policemen patrolling the beach as empty of tourists as this hotel photo. I stayed off the beach most of the time due to the local sellers targeting me as a customer every time I stepped off the resort’s grass lawn.
Another hotel I like on this Starwood list is Le Meridien Lav in Split, Croatia at $87 per night. Of course it is off-season in Croatia and a bit colder than summer months, but a nice seaside resort in a historic city and a lack of crowds makes a perfect getaway to relax. And you know you want to burn your frequent flyer miles to travel to Europe in a premium cabin before award rates rise.
On the domestic front, the $68 rate for the W Foshay in Minneapolis brings back memories of when W Silicon Valley was the cheapest W Hotel in the world. Rates this low could knock W Hotels out of the luxury market segment in STR’s data.
Westin Lake Las Vegas at $66 per night for most days during the next six weeks is a great deal. This is a price drop of $30 from the listings the past few weeks. The location is 20 miles east of the Las Vegas Strip heading out to Lake Mead. This is the perfect time of year for taking the scenic Lake Mead Drive and heading out to Valley of Fire State Park to see the Indian petroglyphs and Great Basin bighorn sheep when daytime temperatures are in the 60s to 80s. It was 115F when I went to Valley of Fire last June.
Westin Michigan Avenue Chicago is an upscale urban hotel in the heart of the high-end shopping district of Chicago. Easy access to Park Hyatt Chicago and The Peninsula for fine dining in fancier hotels. Thanksgiving and Christmas weeks show rates around $87 to $99 per night.
SPG Hot Escapes T&C
- Weekly savings start at 20% off.
- Stay over the next 6 weeks at resorts and weekends at hotels.
- Check back every week* for new deals at spg.com/escapes. Website goes live every Wednesday at 6:00 p.m. Shanghai Time / 11:00 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time / 6:00 a.m. Eastern Time
- Book by Saturday for the current week’s deals.
- SPG Hot Escapes reservation are prepaid; penalty for changes and/or cancellations.
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Ric Garrido of Monterey, California is writer and owner of Loyalty Traveler.
Loyalty Traveler shares news and views on hotels, hotel loyalty programs and vacation destinations for frequent guests.
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