The Deal Mommy

I wanted to give a shout out today to the Ritz-Carlton in Tenerife, where I spent my last night on Tenerife before heading to Paris last summer. I often see bloggers mention the Seychelles and the Maldives, but almost no one mentions the lovely Canaries. I was thrilled to see Frugal Travel Guy is giving them their due.

For this stay I splurged a bit: It was $258 a night, but I received $120 in room credit, an upgrade to Ocean view, Noon check in and 4PM check out, a plate of chocolates and fruit, and free breakfast thanks to my American Express Platinum’s fine hotels and resorts program. I also paid using Marriott Gift cards purchased at a 20% discount thanks to the “Daily Getaways” promotion, so my net cost was only $206. In addition to that, I used the Marriott.com Megabonus (now called Unexpected Bonus) promotion to combine that stay with another Marriott stay to get a free night, which I used in Montreal on a room worth over $250 a night. So my splurge actually ended up rewarding me…gotta love it when that happens!

In July 2013 rates drop back again to $247. I prefer one night stays with FHR because the benefits are “per stay”, not per night, but if you’re doing a 3rd or 4th night free the math might work out in your favor as the rates are generally identical with the ones on the hotel chains’ own websites.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not a fan of detailed hotel reviews unless there’s something super-distinctive to recommend (or not to recommend) a hotel. So I’ll sum this one up by saying it meets all Ritz-Carlton expectations in spades-service, facilities, etc. all top notch in every way. However, there was another fun quirk to recommend this specific property over other Ritz-Carltons I’ve visited (besides the value, which I’ve already mentioned):

Yes, it’s an elevator. So what, you say? Here’s what. It goes…wait for it…to the beach. For you highfalutin’ types out there that might not be a big deal, but the novelty of taking an elevator to the beach just cracked me up!

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