Best points program for Europe travel

[anufacturedpending]

Hi all -

I have a lot of travel planned for Europe this year. What points programs would I want to focus on for both airline and hotels to stretch the benefits? Anyone know what hotels are the best to stay at in Germany or Italy?

 

[BEB]

Just returned from Italy where I used points to stay at the grand hyatt milan and gritti palace in venice. Might not be the best places to 'stretch' the points at but found them to be fantastic hotels!

 

[Vins68]

Just Got back from Central Europe. All RAdisson BLus. They were all in great locations in Salzburg, Vienna
and Prague.

 

[knick1959]

Just back from Italy 4/5 thru 4/21. Much of it on points and miles.

AA and United seem to work best for us out of CLE for Europe (thinking about it, I booked 1 AA flight using AS miles).

For hotels, we stayed in a small couple-owned apartment (attached to their house) in Venice. 20 minute train ride into Venice's center (which I enjoyed) and only $55 a night. Excellent find.

In Florence, the AC Firenze (Marriott) which I would NOT recommend on points. This is NOT a category 7 hotel.

We did 3 nights on points at the Holiday Inn Solerno which was a great deal.

Finally, 5 nights at the Radisson Blu in Rome on points, leveraging 2 "last night free" deals ... the end of this great benefit for us.

There seem to be plenty of US chains, but also many private hotels and rooms rented by owners ... but these are cash propositions.

 

[lpaca]

Did Italy last September, mostly on points:

Rome - we did Radisson Blu on points but it's a bit out of the way; if I could do it over it'd be the Intercontinental right by the Spanish Steps - great way to use those annual free night certificates if you have them. Club Carlson is supposedly much nicer in Europe but we weren't impressed by the Rad Blu in Rome.

Florence - Hotel Ambasciatori not on points, did get free upgrade by asking ahead of time to an "apartment" which was nice, literally across the street from the train station which was convenient

Venice - Carnival Palace (boutique) - booked using Flexperks points - was in a quieter part of town and ~30 mins walk to St. Mark's Square. We wanted a hotel with modern decor and most hotels in Venice look like they're dated (even the really nice ones). Hotels on the island itself are all ridiculously expensive and not a lot of great points options.

Milan - the Park Hyatt is pretty much the most baller hotel I've ever stayed in - location & service can't be beat, and pretty nice, though small, spa facilities. Great place for the 2 free nights from the Hyatt card or 30k Hyatt points per night. The hotel restaurant VUN has 1 Michelin star (didn't eat there because we were wayyyyy under-dressed).

We flew using AA miles. We didn't go off-peak (mid Oct-mid Apr, 20k miles each way) and it was still hard to find flights to/from Italy that didn't go through London (lots of fees).

Random tip: we used Loco2 to book train tickets - it's a British site and everything is paid in pounds. For some reason the prices were cheaper than other sites for the same tickets (if you have a no foreign transaction fee credit card, which I'm sure you do/will).

 

[knick1959]

Did Italy last September, mostly on points:

Rome - we did Radisson Blu on points but it's a bit out of the way; if I could do it over it'd be the Intercontinental right by the Spanish Steps - great way to use those annual free night certificates if you have them. Club Carlson is supposedly much nicer in Europe but we weren't impressed by the Rad Blu in Rome.

We found the walk to the historic areas from the Radisson Blu pretty easy and leisurely, if not through some non-touristy areas ... at least close to the hotel. I'd call it a 20 minutes walk from hotel to the Colosseum. Sure, we could have been closer, but 20 minutes is well within our tolerance for a walk.

The hotel's food was a bit overpriced, but the rooms were workable. Odd, but workable. Did you have one of those rooms with the circular shower curtains right in the middle of the room, behind the weird headboard(s)?

 

[jleey98]

As far as flights and US based frequent flyer programs, United has the most availability and most number or partners. I'd say that United miles are underrated at the moment given that they have the most generous routing rules out of any of the US based airlines. As long as you're flying from the east coast (or willing to route through the east coast), you can find a good amount of availability on Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian, Turkish, United, LOT, or Brussels (or TAP Portugal and SAS).

Last year, we were able to fly Austrian from EWR-VIE, Turkish VIE-IST, and Turkish/Air Canada IST-YYZ-PHL all one ticket. We could have taken it further by buying a ticket from IST to another city and using the second jaw we had available to us to visit a third city but you know... time constraints.

AA would be a decent option were it not for the fact that most available flights using AA miles are on British Airways with their ridiculous fuel surcharges. Air Berlin and FinnAir are options with AA miles but you don't have the plethora of choices that you do with Star Alliance.
Delta would be a decent option as well except that their main partners save most of their award space for their own members and Delta's prices for their own flights are ridiculous, along with not so generous routing rules.

 

[lpaca]

Did you have one of those rooms with the circular shower curtains right in the middle of the room, behind the weird headboard(s)?

Yup, weird layout and slight flooding in the room (and some drainage issues so we had to switch rooms). I didn't mind the neighborhood though some on TA complain about it - it's just where the locals live. I think we expected more out of a Radisson Blu in Europe (after hearing about how they're better than the US versions), but found that it wasn't nearly as nice as the one in Philly (Warwick, now no longer Radisson) or Aruba. We also didn't eat at the hotel since there were many food options nearby (we're not hotel diners).

It was great value back when Carlson let you book 2 nights for the points value of 1, but now if we go back to Rome I'd look elsewhere.

 

[smittytabb]

Hi all -

I have a lot of travel planned for Europe this year. What points programs would I want to focus on for both airline and hotels to stretch the benefits? Anyone know what hotels are the best to stay at in Germany or Italy?

In terms of flights to Europe on points, if you use AA you want to fly AA, not BA. That used to be easier to do. Lately I am seeing a lot more BA and a lot less AA. But still it tends to be somewhat limited as the gateways are fewer. The LHR and CDG gateways can be more expensive for fuel surcharges, but if you go through them not to and from them it is not as bad. Star Alliance has more to offer but less of a good deal. My current favorite redemptions are on Air Canada on Star Alliance. And I really like Turkish but I usually use them for Turkey and don't go out of my way to connect with them in IST back to Europe, but many people like that option. I don't collect Delta miles anymore and so I have no idea what Sky Team has although I know there are Air France/KLM options. My last flight on Delta miles was on KLM.

I am currently of the philosophy that if you are starting out it is best to collect a mix of flexible points, (MR, UR, Starwood, Citi TY) and the one airline/group you are most likely to use all of the time. If you can figure out which miles and points work best for you, that helps with targeting earning.

In terms of hotels, specific country destinations help and also your travel style. Hyatt has some nicer properties, but generally they are not everywhere. Club Carlson has been popular mostly because of the their old redemptions. Hilton and Marriott have larger footprints, but they are not everywhere. IHG like Hyatt has some nicer Intercontinental options and also smaller properties. For an outlier, Choice can be a huge value in Europe. Read Loyalty Traveler blog for the best info on that. I tend to collect all the hotel points and choose properties according to location first. I am enjoying seeing the suggestions here about other redemptions for small apartments. Often the best choice in Europe is not the big chains. I was looking at options for a trip to some of the outlying parts of France recently and there were no Marriotts at all for example anywhere I was considering. Getting out of the city and into the provinces is a really different experience.