DISchurners Hotel Reviews Thread (extension of I love credit cards so much! thread)

That's spectacular! Costa Rica is on my travel list and such beautiful pictures make me bummed about "cold" Alaska that I'm focused on right now. I know I'll enjoy our trip but when someone says vacation to me, your trip is what pops into my head - sun, pools/beach, hammocks, and palm trees :) That sounds like an excellent property, I can't believe they have so much to do, thanks for sharing!

I kept thinking that when we planned for Alaska and our recent Norway/Iceland cruise. I thought I'd be missing the beach and the palm trees and such but I didn't. Honestly those cruises were amazing and now I'm much more open to colder vacations.
 
@platamama thatw as your private pool!? How many does your room sleep? Looks amazing!

It was!! Not very big, but still it was great to cool down in if we didn't want to go to the other hotel pools. I think the room's occupancy was 3 people. But there are two bedroom villas available on the Marriott website for the hotel that could accommodate larger families. I don't think those are bookable as award nights though?
 
Hotel Punta lslita, Guanacaste, Costa Rica

https://www.hotelpuntaislita.com/

Travel dates: Nov. 17-24, 2018

We stayed here over Thanksgiving week using Marriott points. I booked a standard award room for 210,000 points for 7 nights (approx. $280/nt for standard room) - and got upgraded to a 1BD/Jr. Suite (approx. $400/nt) before my arrival (presumably due to my Marriott Gold status?) and this stay included buffet breakfast every day for three of us (TBH not sure how that happened). The property is quite isolated, though it is within walking distance of the nearby town named Punta Islita, and the hotel will give you free shuttle rides to the town and back. I arranged a hotel shuttle ($45 each, one way) for transportation from Liberia airport. As it turned out both times my family was the only one in the large van, and the journey was about 2.5 hours each direction. The $270 shuttle fare was covered by my $300 SPG Lux credit. Airfare was covered by my SW RR points and SW CP.

A very special aspect to the property is the included activities with your stay. We participated in bird watching, monkey safari, zip-lining, horseback riding, ceviche class, tortilla & agua dulce class, keychain making class, candle-making class, yoga, golf lessons, golfing, dusk hike, and local style painting class. The only activities we didn’t go to were mixology and pick-up soccer. These were all included with the room rate, though we tipped for service.

The staff work very hard and are gracious and aim to please. Their English is very good, and certainly lots better than my Spanish. There is wildlife on property and we saw scarlet macaws, howler monkeys, coatimundis, raccoons, iguanas, geckos, hummingbirds, and DH saw an armadillo.

The food on property is actually quite good and priced about what I would expect for restaurant food here in the US. In town, there is a place called Don Ramiro which serves tapa-style plates and the proprietor Miguel is the friendliest person I have ever met and the food is fantastic.

This place is AWESOME and I want to go back already.

View from our private patio:
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Thanks so much for posting this. We love Costa Rica and are ready to go back!
 
:cheer2:Wailea Beach Resort- Maui:cheer2:
Stayed December 8-15,2018
Used the "old version" Marriott nights and Flights certificate for 7 night stay. So this was a category 8 on the old award chart-which meant that the 'cost' for 7 nights stay+ 70,000 SWA Rapid Reward points was 310,000 Marriott points.(!!!) This was fairly simple,as I had about 100k SPG points to transfer at a 3:1 rate. (used the SWA for other trips)
Hotel charges a nightly $35 resort fee,and a $30 daily parking charge.(plus taxes on those charges) so total was approx. $474.00 :-)cool1:)
1st trip to Hawaii...and Maui. C'mon....it was AMAZING! This resort sits on lava rocks and coral,with soft sand beaches on either side of it. Also a fantastic paved beach pathe runs right in front of it,linking various resort and condo areas. So easy walking access to either side.
The pools are quite lovely- the serenity adults only pool wad the prettiest, but also too quiet and (dare I say it) 'stuffy' for our tastes. We always felt like we had to whisper while lounging here,I have no idea why. But it's a beautiful infinity pool.
We also enjoyed the 'kids pool' with the big waterslides,waterfalls and play areas. Lots more fun(no I don't have small kids) and more relaxing to lounge and hang out.
We spent most of our time at the central pool area,which has two pools(one is infinity) and two hot tubs. (one wasn't bubbling at the time) I feel like they need more hot tubs in this resort since it's quite large,but that's a minor quibble)
The views of the ocean while lounging around this pool area are wonderful,and there are a variety of comfortable choices for seating.
We enjoyed walking the beach path, swimming and snorkeling on Ulua beach (to the right of the resort) every day,along with just sitting and relaxing,either by the pool areas, in the gorgeous open air lobby,or sitting out by the beautiful lava rock shoreline. From the shore we could see turtles aplenty,and one day the whales came,it was breathtaking and wonderful! (swam with turtles on on Ulua beach numerous times)
So it's safe to say we loved it here!
The checkin was relaxing and easy(thanks for the lei's!)
We got a room right off the lobby,and I suspect it was a 'bargain' room due to the certificate booking,but I can't be sure. It was lobby level,so mere steps from convenience,which we liked a lot. It was also right over a loading area for the hotel,which we were right above while sitting on our large and lovely balcony. This only became a problem when a noisy truck showed up. We tended to overlook this issue,as the rest of our stay and room was wonderful. Our balcony view was basically a lovely treeline(so many flowers and birds) and if you peeked around the corner,the ocean thru palm trees.
I really liked the room layout, it was spacious,2 double beds, and I like that the bathroom was away around the closet area, where the sink was located,and bathroom door. This provided a sort of break,when in hotel rooms sometimes it feels like the beds and bathroom are right on top on each other.(makes a big difference when you're rooming with 3 guys lol)
I like the easily cleaned tile floors,and the table and chairs provided. We ate in our room about 1/2 the time (sooooo lazy) - it was a great place to relax!
The nespresso machine is hiding in a cabinet,we found it after 3 days,and discovered that we hate nespresso coffee drinks.... fortunately the Starbucks was right out in the open air lobby,so an short walk for morning tea or coffee,and then I tended to relax in a soft chair on the lobby to drink and wake up....(oh,the views!) while gentle Hawaiian style music played in the background.
The grounds are lovely,the walking is lovely,we spent a lot of time walking up to Shops at Wailea to Island Gourmet market for meals,or snacks to bring back and enjoy picnics at the pool or beach. Also a great place for souvenirs- their kitchen had some basic,decent food choices daily. The sushi was pretty good,and not expensive!
I wish I could live here! This was a FANTASTIC bargain using the certificate,and I'd do it again if I could!
 


:cheer2:Wailea Beach Resort- Maui:cheer2:
Stayed December 8-15,2018
Used the "old version" Marriott nights and Flights certificate for 7 night stay. So this was a category 8 on the old award chart-which meant that the 'cost' for 7 nights stay+ 70,000 SWA Rapid Reward points was 310,000 Marriott points.(!!!) This was fairly simple,as I had about 100k SPG points to transfer at a 3:1 rate. (used the SWA for other trips)
Hotel charges a nightly $35 resort fee,and a $30 daily parking charge.(plus taxes on those charges) so total was approx. $474.00 :-)cool1:)
1st trip to Hawaii...and Maui. C'mon....it was AMAZING! This resort sits on lava rocks and coral,with soft sand beaches on either side of it. Also a fantastic paved beach pathe runs right in front of it,linking various resort and condo areas. So easy walking access to either side.
The pools are quite lovely- the serenity adults only pool wad the prettiest, but also too quiet and (dare I say it) 'stuffy' for our tastes. We always felt like we had to whisper while lounging here,I have no idea why. But it's a beautiful infinity pool.
We also enjoyed the 'kids pool' with the big waterslides,waterfalls and play areas. Lots more fun(no I don't have small kids) and more relaxing to lounge and hang out.
We spent most of our time at the central pool area,which has two pools(one is infinity) and two hot tubs. (one wasn't bubbling at the time) I feel like they need more hot tubs in this resort since it's quite large,but that's a minor quibble)
The views of the ocean while lounging around this pool area are wonderful,and there are a variety of comfortable choices for seating.
We enjoyed walking the beach path, swimming and snorkeling on Ulua beach (to the right of the resort) every day,along with just sitting and relaxing,either by the pool areas, in the gorgeous open air lobby,or sitting out by the beautiful lava rock shoreline. From the shore we could see turtles aplenty,and one day the whales came,it was breathtaking and wonderful! (swam with turtles on on Ulua beach numerous times)
So it's safe to say we loved it here!
The checkin was relaxing and easy(thanks for the lei's!)
We got a room right off the lobby,and I suspect it was a 'bargain' room due to the certificate booking,but I can't be sure. It was lobby level,so mere steps from convenience,which we liked a lot. It was also right over a loading area for the hotel,which we were right above while sitting on our large and lovely balcony. This only became a problem when a noisy truck showed up. We tended to overlook this issue,as the rest of our stay and room was wonderful. Our balcony view was basically a lovely treeline(so many flowers and birds) and if you peeked around the corner,the ocean thru palm trees.
I really liked the room layout, it was spacious,2 double beds, and I like that the bathroom was away around the closet area, where the sink was located,and bathroom door. This provided a sort of break,when in hotel rooms sometimes it feels like the beds and bathroom are right on top on each other.(makes a big difference when you're rooming with 3 guys lol)
I like the easily cleaned tile floors,and the table and chairs provided. We ate in our room about 1/2 the time (sooooo lazy) - it was a great place to relax!
The nespresso machine is hiding in a cabinet,we found it after 3 days,and discovered that we hate nespresso coffee drinks.... fortunately the Starbucks was right out in the open air lobby,so an short walk for morning tea or coffee,and then I tended to relax in a soft chair on the lobby to drink and wake up....(oh,the views!) while gentle Hawaiian style music played in the background.
The grounds are lovely,the walking is lovely,we spent a lot of time walking up to Shops at Wailea to Island Gourmet market for meals,or snacks to bring back and enjoy picnics at the pool or beach. Also a great place for souvenirs- their kitchen had some basic,decent food choices daily. The sushi was pretty good,and not expensive!
I wish I could live here! This was a FANTASTIC bargain using the certificate,and I'd do it again if I could!

Thanks for the write-up! We're heading there over Spring Break and already I can't wait!
 
Wanted to do a quick write-up of the St. Regis NYC. We stayed over the weekend, December 14-16. We have had a tradition the past few years of heading to NYC over Christmastime and enjoying the lights and shows. P2 signed up for the Ritz-Carlton card right before it was discontinued, so post-Marriott merger and pre-full pricing, this seemed like a a great redemption for the two 60k free nights from the sign-up bonus. And it was.

A few things to note: P2 is Marriott Platinum Elite thanks to the first year of the Ritz card. Platinum Elite members get an upgrade at check-in, when available. We had booked a standard room. Normally, the Platinum upgrade is to a Deluxe room, but I guess it was a slow(er) weekend, as we were given an upgrade to a Madison Suite. The front desk told us this was the highest allowable upgrade for Platinum Elite, so your experience may vary.

The Madison Suite is a 1 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 1 den, 950sqft suite. Even bigger than our apartment, as it turns out! We were at the end of the hall on the 6th floor. Every single thing in this suite was exquisite. The pictures don't do it justice.

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This was way more than we needed, but we weren't going to turn it down. It's a shame we were only there for 2 nights - not even 48 hours total - so we couldn't enjoy it as much as we wanted.

There was daily fruit and chocolates in the den. Every room at the St. Regis gets butler service. The butler will offer daily complimentary shoe shines, tea and coffee, and a newspaper.

The St. Regis, unfortunately, has a Daily Destination Fee of $50/day + tax. This is not waivable for anyone, so even "free" award stays have to pay it. However, it's not all nothing. The fee provides the following:
  • $50/day food and beverage credit
  • $50/day laundry credit
  • $25/day salon credit
  • High Speed Internet Access
  • 2 free museum tickets (MoMa or Met) per day
So, there's some decent value to be had out of those. I remarked to DW that I should have brought my suit to be dry cleaned! Oh well. I did send off my jacket to be cleaned overnight on Friday because I had a spill on it. The full amount was credited back. For the F&B credit, we ordered room service both days (DW likes that). $50 of room service is... not much. The salon prices are listed online, and there is absolutely nothing that's only $25. I decided to go in for an eyebrow wax (I'm a modern man, why not), and that was only $35, so not too bad. They did a good job.

I always have an issue when hotels charge a resort fee and use high speed internet as a justification, then turn around and provide garbage Wifi. I'm happy to report the St. Regis Wifi was actually fast and reliable, so good on them. The 2 free museum tickets is a nice deal, unfortunately we just didn't have enough time to use them.

It's annoying they charge the $50 to everyone staying, but at least it's possible to get more than $50 value out of it. But you do have to work at it. Of course, they're hoping you'll pay the fee and forget the benefits.

Since DW is Platinum Elite, we also got daily free breakfast. The breakfast was from Astor Court, the in-hotel restaurant, and we were allowed the American Breakfast, or any menu item up to that amount ($44) - you'd just pay the difference if you go over.

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One day we got the American Breakfast, and one day I had the Manhattan Breakfast while DW had the Smoked Salmon. Everything was good. There's zero chance I would ever pay those prices if it wasn't included - you can get far better breakfast many places in NYC for much cheaper. But as an included option, it was good.

Location - the hotel is located at E 55th and 5th. It's a short walk from the 5th Ave/53rd St subway, where you can catch the E and M lines. Super easy to get around, especially since we arrived via Penn Station. Also, the hotel is on 5th Avenue, so it's easy access to all the shopping and Christmas lights along 5th Ave. We easily walked to Rockefeller Center. We walked to Wicked on Friday night, and afterwords walked back to see the Rockefeller Christmas tree and watched the Saks light show. It was raining a little and after 11 PM, so there were few people around. Definitely the best time to go.

All in all, this is easily the nicest hotel we've ever stayed. It's a shame the Ritz card went away, because the sign-up bonus was responsible for the two best hotels we've ever experienced - the St. Regis NYC, and the New York Edition. It's easily worth the cost in points if you have that many available.
 
Courtyard Nashville Downtown - King Room Extended
Corner of 4th and Church St

https://www.marriott.com/hotels/hotel-photos/bnadt-courtyard-nashville-downtown/

Travel Dates: Nov 30 - Dec 1, 2018
  • Cash rate was $485 total
  • We used 35,000 new Marriott points. There were no extra fees.
  • Parking is valet or self park, we did not have a car
  • UberX here to airport on Sunday night, 5pm $10
  • There is a lobby bar with live music at certain times
  • There is a little 24hr convenience shop at the front desk with snacks/drinks/etc
  • There is a breakfast option for purchase
We went to Nashville for the weekend for a concert and to do some exploring. This would be a great base for downtown. Everything downtown is really easy walking distance - maybe 5 or 6 square blocks for all of the major highlights. Originally we were flying in late and were going to stay by the airport Friday, but ended up coming in earlier. Only Friday night was available or I probably would have done both nights here. I had a card welcoming me for my gold status and 2 complimentary bottles of water. I booked a standard room, as that’s all that is available on points, but looking at the site now I see we got an Extended King room - I just thought it was set up funny because it was a corner room :) We really couldn’t hear any of the downtown noise when we were in the room like we could the next night at the Hyatt.

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Hyatt Place Nashville Downtown - King Room with Sofabed
Corner of 3rd and Molloy St

https://www.hyatt.com/en-US/hotel/tennessee/hyatt-place-nashville-downtown/bnazd

Travel Dates: Dec 1 - 2, 2018
  • Cash rate was $485 total (crazy high that weekend because of the parade maybe, I think $220 is more normal)
  • We used 15,000 Hyatt points (12k per night) transferred from Chase UR points. There were no extra fees.
  • Parking is $34 per day per website, we did not have a car
  • UberX here from airport on Friday night, 7pm with surge pricing was $22
  • There is a lobby bar with live music at certain times
  • There is a little 24hr convenience shop at the front desk with snacks/drinks/etc
  • There is the Hyatt breakfast option available, we didn’t check it out but I would assume it is the typical free breakfast
We went to Nashville for the weekend for a concert and to do some exploring. This would be a good base for downtown. Everything downtown is really easy walking distance - maybe 5 or 6 square blocks for all of the major highlights. This hotel was about a block or so off the main downtown areas so that last block was pretty empty or had not as nice people around no matter what time of day we came and went. We never felt truly unsafe though. We would stay again. We could hear a lot more noise in the room from the streets and such compared to the Courtyard, if that is a consideration.

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Dec 2016, 1 night at Crowne Plaza LAX before our flight home-spire status (free night on IHG points) included upgrade to high floor/nice views,and free AMAZING breakfast the next morning for all 6 in our party. VERY nice stay (i'm going back upcoming December!)
Update on the Crowne Plaza- got the the free shutt;e from LAX on Dec 7- it was kind of crowded b/c they also pickup/dropoff for a nearby staff parking lot for the airport, but it worked fine- used a free IHG night here- forgot P2 was a platinum status so we got a high floor,free club level access for snacks at night and free breakfast(!) so we managed to make use of these amenities even tho time was tight:rotfl: We walked a few blocks to get some dinner at a greek diner- then headed up to club for snacks and stuff later in the evening (why not?) they had stuff like chicken fingers,fresh veggies and cheese cubes,also some fried egg rolls- it was pretty popular! free wine and beer,and bottled water too.
Breakfast as usual was an amazing buffet,whiwch he hit at 5:50 a.m. so we could grab a quick plate before heading back to LAX for our flight. I wish we had the time to relax and slow down for that, it's really quite nice.(I like free) shuttle on way back to airport was crowded again- but timely. I like this place a lot for a one night stop near airport.
 
New York Marriott Marquis
Times Square
December 15-16

https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/nycmq-new-york-marriott-marquis/

Payment:
My mom and I stayed one night at the New York Marriott Marquis for a Christmas getaway to NYC! This hotel is right in the very center of Times Square and was very nice. It is currently a category 6 and I was charged 50,000 Marriott points for my stay. However, I made my reservation prior to the SPG/Marriott merger and was told it would be 45,000 points, and I was able to get Marriott to refund me the 5,000 points. I was very pleased with my point valuation for this trip as the cash rate for this room during peak Christmas tourist season was a whopping $700/night! So the 45,000 points was a great deal for that. However, I notice that even during December on a weekday, the cash rates are more in the $250-$300 range, which would obviously make it not as great of a redemption. There was a $25 daily destination fee. In exchange, you get a $35 credit to one of their restaurants or room services, a "NYC Tour" (I think it was restricted to the open air bus tours), and a free cycling class.

Transportation:
Parking is a whopping $90/day. We used Lyft from EWR to the hotel and it was $55. A Lyft from the hotel to LGA was $50. There are conveniently located Subway stations.

Restaurants:
There are multiple restaurants/lounges in the hotel, but the only one we checked out was The View, which is the only rotating restaurant in NYC. We went for dessert around 9 PM and were seated right next to the window. The restaurant offers a buffet for dinner and dessert at night, which was $42 per person for dinner and $21 per person for dessert. You can apply your $35 credit towards this when you charge it to your room. The dessert buffet was good, but not worth $42 for two people. However, my mom really enjoyed the experience and it is neat to rotate around, so I was happy to do it.

Photos:
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Room:
We had the exact room pictured above. I was pleasantly surprised by the size of the room. I did not book a Times Square View room, but our room on the 39th floor looked out directly to the Disney store! The room was also extremely quiet. Even though the hotel was packed that weekend (they told us when we checked our bags at Bell Services that they had 4,000 bags in storage), I never had any noise from any nearby rooms. The only noise I heard from the street was a siren one time during the night. The blackout curtains were effective and my mom and I both slept until 7:30 AM (late for us). The room was clean and comfortable, but I wouldn't say there is anything that screams "Marquis" about it. The Marquis aspect really only comes into the fact that its located in Times Square. The rooms were just on par with what I would consider to be a standard Marriott. That being said, I have no complaints about it.

Location: Obviously being in Times Square makes this hotel central to a lot of NYC tourist locations. It was a very easy walk to Rockefeller Center and then right over to 5th Avenue. We also walked to Columbus Circle from the hotel. We took the subway to the Empire State Building and to Herald Square.

Overall, we were very pleased with this hotel! I would never pay the exorbitant cash rates for peak season for this hotel, but I did feel I got a good value from my points for the use. Conversely, if you're just going to NYC on a random weekday, points may not be your best option.
 
New York Marriott Marquis
Times Square
December 15-16

https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/nycmq-new-york-marriott-marquis/

Payment:
My mom and I stayed one night at the New York Marriott Marquis for a Christmas getaway to NYC! This hotel is right in the very center of Times Square and was very nice. It is currently a category 6 and I was charged 50,000 Marriott points for my stay. However, I made my reservation prior to the SPG/Marriott merger and was told it would be 45,000 points, and I was able to get Marriott to refund me the 5,000 points. I was very pleased with my point valuation for this trip as the cash rate for this room during peak Christmas tourist season was a whopping $700/night! So the 45,000 points was a great deal for that. However, I notice that even during December on a weekday, the cash rates are more in the $250-$300 range, which would obviously make it not as great of a redemption. There was a $25 daily destination fee. In exchange, you get a $35 credit to one of their restaurants or room services, a "NYC Tour" (I think it was restricted to the open air bus tours), and a free cycling class.

Transportation:
Parking is a whopping $90/day. We used Lyft from EWR to the hotel and it was $55. A Lyft from the hotel to LGA was $50. There are conveniently located Subway stations.

Restaurants:
There are multiple restaurants/lounges in the hotel, but the only one we checked out was The View, which is the only rotating restaurant in NYC. We went for dessert around 9 PM and were seated right next to the window. The restaurant offers a buffet for dinner and dessert at night, which was $42 per person for dinner and $21 per person for dessert. You can apply your $35 credit towards this when you charge it to your room. The dessert buffet was good, but not worth $42 for two people. However, my mom really enjoyed the experience and it is neat to rotate around, so I was happy to do it.

Photos:
View attachment 370512
View attachment 370513
View attachment 370514

Room:
We had the exact room pictured above. I was pleasantly surprised by the size of the room. I did not book a Times Square View room, but our room on the 39th floor looked out directly to the Disney store! The room was also extremely quiet. Even though the hotel was packed that weekend (they told us when we checked our bags at Bell Services that they had 4,000 bags in storage), I never had any noise from any nearby rooms. The only noise I heard from the street was a siren one time during the night. The blackout curtains were effective and my mom and I both slept until 7:30 AM (late for us). The room was clean and comfortable, but I wouldn't say there is anything that screams "Marquis" about it. The Marquis aspect really only comes into the fact that its located in Times Square. The rooms were just on par with what I would consider to be a standard Marriott. That being said, I have no complaints about it.

Location: Obviously being in Times Square makes this hotel central to a lot of NYC tourist locations. It was a very easy walk to Rockefeller Center and then right over to 5th Avenue. We also walked to Columbus Circle from the hotel. We took the subway to the Empire State Building and to Herald Square.

Overall, we were very pleased with this hotel! I would never pay the exorbitant cash rates for peak season for this hotel, but I did feel I got a good value from my points for the use. Conversely, if you're just going to NYC on a random weekday, points may not be your best option.

Thanks for posting this. Four of us are staying 3 nights in May. DH and I are using our Lux free nights + paying the 50k for the third night. I thought we would go to the View buffet simply cause it would be fun for my DD and her friend (+ I can charge to the room and pay with my gift cards). Very excited!
 
Thanks for posting this. Four of us are staying 3 nights in May. DH and I are using our Lux free nights + paying the 50k for the third night. I thought we would go to the View buffet simply cause it would be fun for my DD and her friend (+ I can charge to the room and pay with my gift cards). Very excited!

Have fun! Yeah, The View was neat. I didn't look carefully at the dinner options on the buffet, but what I saw on people's plates looked pretty good. The dessert was delicious and it is cool to rotate around and see different stuff. Just make sure you pay attention to where your table is, since I definitely got lost at one point :rolleyes1 I'm sure your DD and her friend will love this hotel since it's right there in Times Square. My mom just thought it was amazing and loved everything about it, so I think it was money (or points) well spent!
 
New York Marriott Marquis
Times Square
December 15-16

https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/nycmq-new-york-marriott-marquis/

Payment:
My mom and I stayed one night at the New York Marriott Marquis for a Christmas getaway to NYC! This hotel is right in the very center of Times Square and was very nice. It is currently a category 6 and I was charged 50,000 Marriott points for my stay. However, I made my reservation prior to the SPG/Marriott merger and was told it would be 45,000 points, and I was able to get Marriott to refund me the 5,000 points. I was very pleased with my point valuation for this trip as the cash rate for this room during peak Christmas tourist season was a whopping $700/night! So the 45,000 points was a great deal for that. However, I notice that even during December on a weekday, the cash rates are more in the $250-$300 range, which would obviously make it not as great of a redemption. There was a $25 daily destination fee. In exchange, you get a $35 credit to one of their restaurants or room services, a "NYC Tour" (I think it was restricted to the open air bus tours), and a free cycling class.

Transportation:
Parking is a whopping $90/day. We used Lyft from EWR to the hotel and it was $55. A Lyft from the hotel to LGA was $50. There are conveniently located Subway stations.

Restaurants:
There are multiple restaurants/lounges in the hotel, but the only one we checked out was The View, which is the only rotating restaurant in NYC. We went for dessert around 9 PM and were seated right next to the window. The restaurant offers a buffet for dinner and dessert at night, which was $42 per person for dinner and $21 per person for dessert. You can apply your $35 credit towards this when you charge it to your room. The dessert buffet was good, but not worth $42 for two people. However, my mom really enjoyed the experience and it is neat to rotate around, so I was happy to do it.

Photos:
View attachment 370512
View attachment 370513
View attachment 370514

Room:
We had the exact room pictured above. I was pleasantly surprised by the size of the room. I did not book a Times Square View room, but our room on the 39th floor looked out directly to the Disney store! The room was also extremely quiet. Even though the hotel was packed that weekend (they told us when we checked our bags at Bell Services that they had 4,000 bags in storage), I never had any noise from any nearby rooms. The only noise I heard from the street was a siren one time during the night. The blackout curtains were effective and my mom and I both slept until 7:30 AM (late for us). The room was clean and comfortable, but I wouldn't say there is anything that screams "Marquis" about it. The Marquis aspect really only comes into the fact that its located in Times Square. The rooms were just on par with what I would consider to be a standard Marriott. That being said, I have no complaints about it.

Location: Obviously being in Times Square makes this hotel central to a lot of NYC tourist locations. It was a very easy walk to Rockefeller Center and then right over to 5th Avenue. We also walked to Columbus Circle from the hotel. We took the subway to the Empire State Building and to Herald Square.

Overall, we were very pleased with this hotel! I would never pay the exorbitant cash rates for peak season for this hotel, but I did feel I got a good value from my points for the use. Conversely, if you're just going to NYC on a random weekday, points may not be your best option.

Great write-up! Thanks for posting it. This is one of those hotels I've considered several times in the past. I'm not sure about staying in Times Square in the middle of the madness, but I've always heard the Marquis is a surprisingly good respite - quiet with huge rooms. Glad to hear that's the case!

We did see a show there earlier this year, On Your Feet! was playing in the Marquis Theatre. It's a beautiful place overall.
 
I'm not sure about staying in Times Square in the middle of the madness, but I've always heard the Marquis is a surprisingly good respite - quiet with huge rooms. Glad to hear that's the case!

Yeah, I would never stay in Times Square except for this trip for my mom with her never having been before. I knew we would be hitting all the major tourist attractions and that she would like the experience of staying in Times Square. DH and I stayed at the Marriott Downtown right next to the WTC Memorial last year and had a great experience there. It was reasonably priced and the accommodations were the same as what you'd get at the Marquis. Obviously, you have to take the subway or taxis a lot more to get around staying there though.
 
@DisneyMandC NY Marriott Marquis has always been on my bucket list to stay at. While we just got back from staying at the Intercontinental Times Square we are already planning to go back next year.

Thanks for posting.
 
Wanted to do a quick write-up of the St. Regis NYC. We stayed over the weekend, December 14-16. We have had a tradition the past few years of heading to NYC over Christmastime and enjoying the lights and shows. P2 signed up for the Ritz-Carlton card right before it was discontinued, so post-Marriott merger and pre-full pricing, this seemed like a a great redemption for the two 60k free nights from the sign-up bonus. And it was.

A few things to note: P2 is Marriott Platinum Elite thanks to the first year of the Ritz card. Platinum Elite members get an upgrade at check-in, when available. We had booked a standard room. Normally, the Platinum upgrade is to a Deluxe room, but I guess it was a slow(er) weekend, as we were given an upgrade to a Madison Suite. The front desk told us this was the highest allowable upgrade for Platinum Elite, so your experience may vary.

The Madison Suite is a 1 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 1 den, 950sqft suite. Even bigger than our apartment, as it turns out! We were at the end of the hall on the 6th floor. Every single thing in this suite was exquisite. The pictures don't do it justice.

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This was way more than we needed, but we weren't going to turn it down. It's a shame we were only there for 2 nights - not even 48 hours total - so we couldn't enjoy it as much as we wanted.

There was daily fruit and chocolates in the den. Every room at the St. Regis gets butler service. The butler will offer daily complimentary shoe shines, tea and coffee, and a newspaper.

The St. Regis, unfortunately, has a Daily Destination Fee of $50/day + tax. This is not waivable for anyone, so even "free" award stays have to pay it. However, it's not all nothing. The fee provides the following:
  • $50/day food and beverage credit
  • $50/day laundry credit
  • $25/day salon credit
  • High Speed Internet Access
  • 2 free museum tickets (MoMa or Met) per day
So, there's some decent value to be had out of those. I remarked to DW that I should have brought my suit to be dry cleaned! Oh well. I did send off my jacket to be cleaned overnight on Friday because I had a spill on it. The full amount was credited back. For the F&B credit, we ordered room service both days (DW likes that). $50 of room service is... not much. The salon prices are listed online, and there is absolutely nothing that's only $25. I decided to go in for an eyebrow wax (I'm a modern man, why not), and that was only $35, so not too bad. They did a good job.

I always have an issue when hotels charge a resort fee and use high speed internet as a justification, then turn around and provide garbage Wifi. I'm happy to report the St. Regis Wifi was actually fast and reliable, so good on them. The 2 free museum tickets is a nice deal, unfortunately we just didn't have enough time to use them.

It's annoying they charge the $50 to everyone staying, but at least it's possible to get more than $50 value out of it. But you do have to work at it. Of course, they're hoping you'll pay the fee and forget the benefits.

Since DW is Platinum Elite, we also got daily free breakfast. The breakfast was from Astor Court, the in-hotel restaurant, and we were allowed the American Breakfast, or any menu item up to that amount ($44) - you'd just pay the difference if you go over.

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One day we got the American Breakfast, and one day I had the Manhattan Breakfast while DW had the Smoked Salmon. Everything was good. There's zero chance I would ever pay those prices if it wasn't included - you can get far better breakfast many places in NYC for much cheaper. But as an included option, it was good.

Location - the hotel is located at E 55th and 5th. It's a short walk from the 5th Ave/53rd St subway, where you can catch the E and M lines. Super easy to get around, especially since we arrived via Penn Station. Also, the hotel is on 5th Avenue, so it's easy access to all the shopping and Christmas lights along 5th Ave. We easily walked to Rockefeller Center. We walked to Wicked on Friday night, and afterwords walked back to see the Rockefeller Christmas tree and watched the Saks light show. It was raining a little and after 11 PM, so there were few people around. Definitely the best time to go.

All in all, this is easily the nicest hotel we've ever stayed. It's a shame the Ritz card went away, because the sign-up bonus was responsible for the two best hotels we've ever experienced - the St. Regis NYC, and the New York Edition. It's easily worth the cost in points if you have that many available.

I was just lamenting when I saw this thread that I don’t really take hotel photos, but wanted to add some of my hotels from my most recent trip! I’m so glad you covered this one!!

I’ve loved the NYC St. Regis for many years now and it’s really where I try to stay when I go. I’m a big fan of the St. Regis brand and hope Marriott doesn’t mess them up.

Being a Platinum member to get the upgrade and breakfast/some other included options really helps whether staying on points or shelling out the cash. Being in NYC you pay high prices plus the luxury hotel inflation. We really prefer a leisurely breakfast in our room or hotel restaurant when traveling as well so it softens the blow.

If you go here an want to spend all the money you saved by using points on dinner :rotfl2:then Le Bernadin is only a few blocks away and absolutely amazing.
 
We stayed at the Embassy Suites Washington DC Convention Center Dec 26 -Dec 31, 2018. Sorry I didn't take any photos, but I'm happy to share what info I can.

https://embassysuites3.hilton.com/e...ngton-dc-convention-center-WASCCES/index.html

First of all, we booked 5 nights on 133,000 Hhonors points which are easy get with an Amex sign-up bonus. Prices fluctuate on the site, but this is not a hard deal to find when using their '5th night free' booking on points.

The hotel was very nice, rooms and public areas well maintained except for some peeling paint and carpet discoloration. Not 5 star, but generally what you would expect for an Embassy Suites. Beds were comfortable, even the sleeper sofa which had a surprisingly good mattress. Bathroom, housekeeping, and front desk were all good. The view from our room was into an office building. Try to get a room facing 10th St. if you can. I don't know that the view would be much better, but it cannot possibly be worse. Free happy hour and breakfast were as expected of an Embassy Suites. Long lines, fresh omlets, certainly not the best, but a solid and B- compared to other Embassy Suites.

My kids said the indoor pool was like a cruise ship pool-- small, cool, and packed! :crowded: But, it was open until 11pm, and they liked it enough to go back over and over!

The location was close enough to walk to the mall and most DC sights, but it was cold and rainy many days:umbrella:, so we relied on Lyft and taxis. About $8 per ride to most museums and monuments, and never waited more than a minute or two for pick-up.

I have to say, this was one of the cheapest vacations we have ever taken. We did three tours with Free Tours by Foot (the Mall all-in-one, Capitol Hill, and Georgetown Glow) and tipped the guides well because they were all outstanding! We also had free/docent tours inside The Capitol, National Cathedral, and American History Smithsonian. All of the monuments, public tours, Smithsonians and even the Zoo and Zoo Lights were free! :love:

Food was not cheap, but after a big (free) breakfast, we usually just had one main afternoon/early evening meal. There were lots of deals around, particularly with the government half shut down and everything but tourist-stuff half empty. :sad2:

We also flew free on SW points (with both kids as free companions until Dec 31st):disrocks:. We took Lyft from DCA Reagan to the hotel, and taxi back (it was 4:30 am ;) and both were about $20.

I highly recommend the hotel and the trip as a whole... just wait until the Smithsonians at least reopen! :rolleyes1
 
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We did three tours with Free Tours by Foot (the Mall all-in-one, Capitol Hill, and Georgetown Glow) and tipped the guides well because they were all outstanding!
I've never heard of them, interesting! Sounds like a really great trip, I've never been to DC.
 

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