Every now and then somebody raises the concern that points and miles blogs focus too much on the luxury travel aspect of this hobby. I think there’s something to that, but what bothers me is not that there are a lot of articles on luxury travel–luxury travel is awesome, of course–but that there are relatively few on cheapskate travel. There are good opportunities out there for hotels outside the upper echelon.
Why look to the Category 1 redemptions of the world? Several reasons:
- Volume. Sometimes you need rooms for a long time, or sometimes you need multiple rooms, or sometimes you need multiple rooms for a long time. That can drain your point balance pretty fast. Finding a good low-end redemption takes some of the sting out of a big trip and can let you take other friends and family members along for the ride.
- Travel more. Simple arithmetic would suggest that–for a given amount of points–a lower average point cost per night will give you more nights spent in hotels. So even if you are surrounded by friendly drugstores, grocery stores, and Walmart ATMs, you can get more traveling done for a given level of effort if you can find worthwhile lower-end redemptions.
- Use up leftover points. If you want that Maldives villa, then knock yourself out. But odds are the points you require for any given trip won’t be exactly what you’ve earned. Instead of letting points languish in your account, why not put them to good use?
- Everything is awesome when you’re five years old. I have four kids, the oldest of whom is seven. I’m sure this will change as they get older, but right now the greatest hotel in the world is the one they’re staying in on any given night. Why? Because hotels are AWESOME when you’re that age. I don’t know why they love hotels so much, but they do, and they don’t care how cheap or expensive it is.
- If your kids destroy stuff, it’ll hopefully be cheaper at a Category 1. This isn’t so much an argument for low-end hotels as much as a reason why I fear high-end hotels. But still.
- Staycations are more justifiable. You don’t need a flight or a long roadtrip to get away. If you’re low on energy or time, it’s a nice change of pace to drive for 90 minutes to a nearby city/town/attraction and stay in a hotel. If I were paying for the hotel out of pocket, or paying a lot of points, I doubt I’d do this. But if it’s relatively few points, why not try something a little different?
- Location, location, location. Lower tier hotels are more likely to be located in the middle of nowhere. But scenic natural areas are also more likely to be located in the middle of nowhere. Look around and you may find a reason to visit a hotel you otherwise might not have considered.
- Pockets of value exist. Just because something is Category 1 or Category 2 doesn’t mean it’s a lousy hotel. Most of the chain hotels with credit card programs will be, at worst, acceptable. And there may be other reasons beyond cost as to why it’s a low-end redemption–maybe it was just renovated, or just opened, or just put under new management, and the powers that be are trying to get some more customers in. Imagine that smug, self-satisfied feeling you’ll get when the hotel you stayed in last year increased in category. “Yeah, I stayed there when it was only a Cat 2,” you’ll tell everybody. “It was pretty cool before everybody else discovered it.”
That’s all I have, feel free to add your Cat 1 success stories below.
The Hilton Doubletree in Kuala Lumpur is a Cat 2, costing 10K points/night and I thought it was amazing. With MS, I figure my cost in this posh hotel was about $40/night, which was an amazing value. I probably consumed at least that much in cookies, hors d’oeuvres (actually HHors d’oeuvres) in the VIP lounge. They even had a pillow menu (I chose the buckwheat hulls…)! Long live the cat 1 & 2 hotels!!!!!
About 10 years ago the Hyatt Cancun Caribe was Category 1. After Hurricane Wilma they built a brand new Regency Club building next to the beach. 12500 points per night for pure luxury and outstanding service. Sadly, the property was converted to another brand.
That is definitely great segment not catered by most of the blogs,
how to do economy travel ? low category redemption ? more travel is what I am interested than the first class flat beds.
I let my kids jump in the hotel bed and go crazy. Given that the quality of the bed is the main distinguishing factor between low and high ends hotels, I suggest going with mid to high end hotels to give kids the highest quality jump per point.
Just got back two days ago from here:
http://www.starwoodhotels.com/westin/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=1090&language=en_US#
For some reason only a Category 3. Stay in multiples of 5 nights, and it’s 5,600 points per night (we stayed 10). Phenomenal right there (especially considering they wanted ~$200 per night at the time if paying cash). Couple that with the fact it was 4 of us (wife and 7 and 5 year old), and we were upgraded to club level (free breakfast, and free dinner with happy hour drinks), and I think we covered the value of the points on the free food and booze alone.
Well, I guess this isn’t so much a ‘Category 1’ story, but, I hope it achieves ‘honorable mention’ as such.
I’ve written about this exact topic before – I strongly believe that “budget” hotels DESTROY the so-called “nice” ones, for all the reasons you mention, plus one more – the fancy hotels seem to nickel and dime you for everything!
I remember 2 weeks for work training that I was in Chicago. First week I was in a Holiday Inn Express out in the burbs. Free Internet, free breakfast, nice room. Second week I was in the Palmer House Hilton downtown. Charge you for Internet, charge you for breakfast, same kind of room (if not smaller). No question which one I’d rather return to.
This is especially true with kids! All my kids want is a swimming pool and a waffle maker. Plus at the “fancy” hotels, I have to worry that they’ll be bothering people and/or breaking stuff.
I blame the PH Zurich for helping me discover that we prefer the HI Express. It was a phenomenal hotel, we received flawless service as Diamonds(challenge). But it took only getting the hairy eyeball from the bodyguards getting out of a S63 AMG as I unloaded my sleepy 3 yr old from a POS Citroen hatchback. They were protecting the fellow getting out of a Rolls Royce in front of them. No thanks, my little guy likes jumping on couches in the HIX’s and Hyatt Places just as much as he does trying to break expensive vases in the PH.
This is DEFINITELY an ‘underserved’ area of the travel/points blogs as MANY are focused on the points/dollar.
I’m ALL about the DESTINATION not ‘how get there (coach vs. FC, lux hotel vs. economy, etc).
Just get me to my destination and let me stay there for the MINIMUM number of points.
Any good blogs that DO focus on this type of content? The only I know is travelisfree.
All very very true points – even if you don’t have kids!
Travel Is Free covers this category pretty well I’d say and I personally used to cover this category but don’t blog anymore… still travel though!
I’m currently in the Hilton Pyramids Golf Resort outside of Cairo, Egypt. It’s a category 1 for 5,000 points or just 4,000 points a night w/the 5th night free benefit. What does Gold status obtained from the credit card get you in a country who’s tourism has dropped 90% 2 years in a row?
Free upgrade to the Presidential Executive Suite……..
Almost makes me wish I booked more than 2 nights, but I came of the destinations, so I am heading on to other cities – and more Category 1’s! TIF touched on it, but Egypt is the KING of Category 1’s, and not just Hiltons! There is no other country in the world with so many cheap points redemptions at ALL major hotel chains. And they’re resorts too – not some podunk hotel! Amazing amazing… 120k Hilton points for a month in Egypt. If you’ve got 2 people applying for cards, it would be possible to temporarily move here and live in the resorts!
Good post. Cheers.