Using Hotel Points for Europe in September? Book Early

italdesign

Level 2 Member
For the 2nd year in a row, I’m going to Europe the 1st week in September. The crowd is a bit smaller and temperature has gotten a bit cooler. However, also for the 2nd year in a row, when looking into hotel redemptions several months out (as early as March), many dates in early September were already fully booked. This happened last year at the Fairmont Le Montreux Palace. I reached out to ask what that was about and they said all the rooms had been booked up for an event almost a year in advance. I had to be flexible with my itinerary to make it work for the only 2 dates that had availability. Similarly this year at other hotels, the dates I wanted weren’t all available and I had to adjust my itin accordingly. Availability was much better in July and August – the peaks of summer vacation. There’s something about beginning of September that makes it highly amenable to large events.

So if you’re thinking of using hotel points for Europe in September, book early. Like, a year early if possible. Or consider 1-2 weeks earlier or later. In any case, don’t assume the hotels you want will have availability just because it’s past prime vacation season; check availability before making flights and other commitments.


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SanDiego1K

Level 2 Member
I've just booked most of our hotels for travel in Italy June 2019. I was happy to find space at a Starwood hotel in Rome that has just 11 rooms. It's easy enough to cancel bookings should our travel plans change.

I've read that Marriott has a more restrictive policy on releasing award rooms. Starwood allowed booking all standard rooms as awards. Marriott allegedly allows just 15% of their rooms for awards. Thus, it makes it all the more important to make those bookings early, particularly at hotels in high demand.
 

spottedcat1234

Level 2 Member
I had a very similar experience trying to book a hotel for my trip to France in late September. Due to some personal circumstances, my wife and I were forced to book our trip a bit later than expected. And while cash rates were still available (albeit very high), award space was tight. Honestly, I would have booked it a year in advance if I could.

And the same goes for flights. Perhaps even more so if you have your heart set on flying biz class on a direct transatlantic flight. It became clear pretty quickly that direct biz flights weren't happening if I wanted to spend a saver-level amount of points.
 
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