Big news announcement in hotel branding as Hilton signs Chicago LondonHouse Hotel to Curio Collection. There is good reason you likely never heard of LondonHouse Hotel. The hotel will not open for another year in spring 2016. The big deal is its location on the Chicago River in the historic London Guarantee Building designed and completed in 1923 by Chicago architect Alfred S. Alschuler for an insurance company. The building is one of the four 1920s architectural anchors located on the corners to the Michigan Avenue Bridge.

This is my photo of the London Guarantee Building as seen from a boat on the Chicago River during a Chicago Architecture cruise in 2011.

Loyalty Traveler – Chicago River Architecture Tour

A 22-story glass tower is being erected to harmonize with the historic building and serve as the main entrance and gateway lobby for the 452-room hotel with a grand second floor check-in lobby and bar. The remodeled cupola at the top of the hotel will offer rooftop dining and event space.

LondonHouse Hotel on south side of Chicago River with glass Trump Tower and Hotel on north side of river.

The design scheme of LondonHouse, led by Simeone Deary Design Group, will speak to the London Guarantee Building’s roots with the use of historic detail, while adopting the progressive thinking of the 1920s to create modern and chic accents. The color palette will feature warm greys and crisp whites, punctuated by jewel tones and rich fumed eucalyptus woods. The guestroom design is inspired by the luxurious automobiles of that era – clean, sleek, and elegant. The hotel will be outfitted with modern furniture upholstered in lavish materials, paying homage to the opulence of the 1920’s. The lines of the furniture will be contemporary, but embellished with classic touches, providing an overall feeling of serenity and elegance.

Hilton press release

Another interesting feature of the Hilton press release is a closing statement about HHonors members:

As members of the Hilton Worldwide portfolio, Curio hotels will offer guests the benefits of Hilton HHonors®, the award-winning guest-loyalty program serving more than 44 million members. Hilton HHonors offers more ways to redeem points than any other guest-loyalty program. LondonHouse will participate in Hilton HHonors, the only hotel rewards program that offers Points & Miles® and No Blackout Dates.

Hilton rocks in Chicago with several high profile and historic hotels. I have reviewed several of them. Last year I photographed the Palmer Hilton, Chicago’s oldest hotel (1871) and Hilton Chicago, the largest hotel in the world for many years after it was constructed in 1927.

Waldorf Astoria Chicago was rebranded by Hilton in February 2012. This came a few months after the new the Zell Fund bought the well-regarded 5-star hotel Elysian for $95 million in November 2011, setting the highest per room purchase rate for a Chicago Hotel, $505,000 per room. Zell Fund put the 188-room Waldorf Astoria on the market last month. The hotel is expected to fetch a record breaking room price. This is a hotel I have not seen.

Loyalty Traveler - Palmer House Hilton history of Chicago’s oldest hotel (April 14, 2014)

Loyalty Traveler – Hilton Chicago and its Stevens Hotel scandalous history (April 16, 2014) was the largest hotel in the world when it opened in 1927.

Loyalty Traveler – Palmer House and The Drake: Historic Chicago in Hilton Hotels (November 10, 2010)

LondonHouse Facebook, LondonHouse Twitter and LondonHouseChicago.com are ways to keep informed on the hotel’s progress over the next year.

CurioCollection.com, Curio, a collection by Hilton

Sheraton Mountain Vista Villas Avon Colorado near Vail Valley ski resorts, is one of the hotels dropping SPG reward category from SPG 5 to SPG category 4 on March 10, 2015. I was at the hotel in May 2013. Apparently I never wrote an article about Sheraton Mountain Vista Villas. Here are photos of the property.

First thing to know if you have not been to Avon/Beaver Creek is the town of Avon is built along Eagle River beside Interstate-70. Vail is about ten miles east. Beaver Creek ski resort is located uphill on mountain slopes a couple miles south of Avon.

Sheraton Mountain Vista Villas is in a residential and retail part of Avon. Westin Riverfront and Villas are on the north bank of the Eagle River. Park Hyatt Beaver Creek and Ritz Carlton Bachelor Gulch are in the private gated ski resorts up the mountain roads.

In the photo taken from the Sheraton Mountain Vista 7th floor hot tub sun deck, the Westin Riverfront is the tallest building seen in left background. Beaver Creek ski runs are seen in the distance and Park Hyatt Beaver Creek is located a few miles away from Avon in Beaver Creek Village at 8,100 feet higher up in the mountains.

Beaver Creek was originally built as the downhill ski venue for the 1976 Winter Olympics planned for Denver, Colorado. The claim to fame for Denver is it is the only city to win an Olympics bid and then turn down the event. Beaver Creek ski resort opened in 1980-81.

Sheraton Mountain Vista are residential timeshare units called Starwood Vacation Ownership SVO properties.

Some units are available for nightly stays as if the property were a hotel.

There are eight floors in the building with retail shops and Mountain Vista market on ground floor level. There is a seasonal outdoor pool and hot tub at ground level and indoor and outdoor hot tubs on Floor 7 with the sun deck seen in the first photo of this article. The 8th floor has a game room.

The outdoor pool at Sheraton Mountain Vista Villas was empty of water in mid-May, whereas the outdoor pools at Westin Riverfront and Park Hyatt Beaver Creek were operational.

Sheraton Mountain Vista One Bedroom Unit 1506 on 5th Floor

The residential unit itself was nicely furnished with a full kitchen.

The kitchen was equipped with dishes, cutlery, coffee maker, blender, dishwasher and all modern conveniences.

The one bedroom unit offers a living room, kitchen, dining space, small balcony and bedroom.

This room faced the freeway with a view of the dry, brush covered northern slopes rather than the southern view ski resort mountain slopes of Beaver Creek.

Each unit has a grill on the balcony.

The units have connecting doors to expand the one bedroom unit to a larger space.

This unit features a spa tub in the bedroom.

The bathroom has two doors with one for living room access.

The bedroom has its own fireplace.

The Sheraton Mountain Vista Fitness Center on the 7th floor offered a good selection of equipment.

Up the stairs from the Fitness Center is a small indoor hot tub.

The fitness center also holds a steam room and sauna.

Sheraton Mountain Vista Villas at SPG category 4 for 10,000 points per night and Westin Riverfront Villas at SPG category 5 for 12,000 points per night and 16,000 points peak season rates were the SPG category levels for these hotels when I visited in May 2013. The past year these two SVO hotels were category 5 and 6.

March 10, 2015 will rectify the SPG category assignment for these hotels when Sheraton Mountain Vista returns to category 4 and Westin Riverfront Villas drops down to category 5. These seem more appropriate for the properties.

Related Posts:

Loyalty Traveler – Westin Riverfront Mountain Villas Beaver Creek (May 27, 2013)

Loyalty Traveler shoots for Top 10 Hotel Images Travelers Want to See (Oct 25, 2013) features images of Park Hyatt Beaver Creek.

Loyalty Traveler – Park Hyatt Beaver Creek in HD (Hotel Detail) (Aug 18, 2010)

U.S. Travel Association’s annual Daily Getaways returns on Monday, March 23, 2015. A preview of deals will be available on Monday, March 16. The five weeks of daily getaway deals, Monday to Friday, are one of the best ways to buy relatively cheap hotel points in programs like Hilton HHonors, Hyatt Gold Passport, Best Western Rewards, Choice Privileges and more. There are 23 travel partners lined up for this year for 25 days.

Here is my post from 2014 showing the five weeks of deals.

Loyalty Traveler – Daily Getaways post 5 weeks of travel offers May 19 to June 20 (May 12, 2014).

Loyalty Traveler blog tag ‘Daily Getaways’ pulls up dozens of articles from the past few years on specific deals and the cost of hotel points.

This year of Daily Getaways is different in that American Express will not be the favored credit card sponsor with a 10% discount. The 2015 Daily Getaways preview page states all credit cards will offer the same price. The question becomes whether the price points will be the regular price from past years or the discount price that was available with AmEx payment in past years?

This year, all card types are eligible to receive the same great savings. Quantities are limited and available on a first-come, first-serve basis.

A sneak preview of select offers will be available beginning March 16, 2015.

https://dailygetaways.ustravel.org/default.htm

U.S. Travel Association is the primary trade organization for the promotion of travel business to and within the United States. U.S. Travel Association is the official tourism bureau for the United States. The organization’s primary objective is to attract international visitors to the USA and lobby for regulations that improve the U.S. travel industry.

Point Lobos is my mistress. At least that is what my wife claims. She accuses me at times of spending more time with Point Lobos in her part of the woods than here at home in our part of the woods. That is not true in fact. But, perception is 9/10ths of the facts. Point Lobos State Nature Reserve on the central coast of California is located a couple miles south of Carmel, between Carmel and Big Sur about 125 miles south of San Francisco.

Born to be Wild

Yesterday, I returned to Point Lobos to search for the mama otter who birthed twins last week. The more I thought about the incident over the past week, the more questions I have. The backstory is I saw an infographic last week on the Point Lobos website showing birth seasons for different animals around the park. Sea Otters showed peak season for February. I decided I would search for sea otter pups at Point Lobos Thursday morning, February 26. Beyond my wildest expectations I came across newborn sea otter pup twins.

Loyalty Traveler –  Rare sea otter twin pups at Point Lobos State Reserve (Feb 27)

Point Lobos State Natural Reserve is called the “crown jewel of the State Park System. The coastal, mostly undeveloped park is seven miles south of my place in Monterey, California.

The website http://www.pointlobos.org/ is better for more up-to-date happenings at Point Lobos like the birth of sea otter twins last week and the rescue of one of the abandoned pups by Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Twin sea otter pup rescued at Point Lobos – KSBW news.

Sea otter with twin pups born February 26, 2015. One of these pups was abandoned and rescued by Monterey Bay Aquarium as otter pup 696.

I happened upon a sea otter and pup within minutes of my arrival to Point Lobos last week and perhaps within minutes of the sea otter twins birth. The sound of a sea otter pup crying is one I have heard before. Just as I spotted the pup in the small cove north of Coal Chute Point, mama otter swimming toward the pup snatched it up and onto her chest. I was surprised the mama sea otter went directly to the rocks and pulled the pup onto wave splashed rocks. After the events that unfolded this past week, it might be that she placed the two pups on the rocks just after birth to catch her breath and figure out what to do with two pups? Within a minute she carried the pups back to the sea and loaded them on her chest and abdomen for the swim across Whalers Cove to calm water near the scuba divers parking lot. I photographed mama otter with her twins for an hour until about noon and went home.  My photos saddened me as I looked at one of the pups hanging on to mama after the journey across Whalers Cove, looking water logged and worn out like Leonardo diCaprio’s character Jack, hanging on to Rose near the end of the movie Titanic.

Later that day, an abandoned male pup was rescued at Whalers Cove by the Sea Otter Research and Conservation SORAC team at Monterey Bay Aquarium. Sea otter pup #696 is living in the Monterey Bay Aquarium now. I think I’ll call him ‘Lucky Jack’.

I located mama and her remaining pup yesterday between two other single sea otters floating in Whalers Cove, Point Lobos. I had photographed two other otters last week moments before coming upon mama sea otter with twins. These four souls seem to be the current resident sea otters for Whalers Cove.

Sea otter and remaining pup seen March 5 in Whalers Cove, Point Lobos State Nature Reserve.

Mama otter seen March 4 with her remaining female pup (born Feb 26) resting on her chest under her chin floating restfully in Whalers Cove, Point Lobos State Natural Reserve.

Gray Whales are passing by Monterey Bay

The gray whales are heading north past Monterey on their way back from Mexico to Alaska. Yesterday afternoon was the offshore northern express for whales with pairs and small pods of whales seen all along the coast. I spotted around ten whales. They did not seem to be in any hurry swimming north. The abundance of flukes and flippers sticking out of the ocean surface gave the appearance of playtime on the migratory travel circuit.

Whale flukes and flippers sticking out of ocean past Sea Lion Point rocks, Point Lobos State Nature Reserve.

Beyond the rocks two whales sticking their body parts out of the water.

A website I check to see the gray whale migration notes from Palos Verdes viewpoint in Los Angeles helps with determining what is happening off the Monterey County coast. The American Cetacean Society Los Angeles Chapter records the number of whales seen passing Los Angeles from the cliffs at Palos Verdes.

ACS/LA whale census graphic shows the relative number of whales southbound and northbound on Alaska-Mexico annual migration.

ACS/LA has counted 354 whales heading northbound so far this year and only spotted one calf. The mama gray whales and calves leave Mexico later in the season after the calves have fattened up on milk. Calves should be passing Monterey in the next six to ten weeks.

Normally the sighting of so many whales traveling slowly along the coast and making a spectacle with all their body movements out of the water would be feature entertainment for the Point Lobos live action reality show.

Sea Otter Pup drama ends and Harbor Seal Pup drama begins

Sea Lion Point offered high drama in the afternoon. The trail to the beach at Sea Lion Point has been closed for more than a month as sea lions congregate there this winter.

Sea Lion Point at Point Lobos State Nature Reserve with hundreds of sea lions on the beach.

The vantage point on the bluff around 100 feet above the sea is a great photographic spot. My head was abuzz from all the whale sightings. I arrived to a new buzz among eight or so people about something in the cove.

An older man standing next to me with an iPad pointed out a white harbor seal pup on the rocks, born a few minutes before. The part of the story I don’t know is why mama harbor seal was in the ocean and pup left alone on the rocks?

The problem was low tide. This was around 3:00pm and low tide was not until 4pm. The sea level where mama seal was swimming was some four feet below the rock outcrop tidepool where baby seal pup was left alone.

Newborn harbor seal pup in tide pool, while mama seal in water at low tide is unable to reach her pup on the rocks.

Seal pup lying in tide pool on rocks four to six feet above sea level at low tide. Seagulls are eating the seal’s birth sac. A white snowy egret is checking out the scene while mama seal finds herself unable to get back on the rock at low tide.

There was a discussion an hour earlier with a male visitor in a different part of the park when I was photographing whales. The man questioned if turkey vultures flying overhead were condors and if the ravens on a rock in the distance were turkey vultures? My previous sentence gives you my opinion on what I thought the birds were.

Several turkey vultures arrive within minutes of the seal pup birth to devour birth sac left on the rocks. Vultures do not disturb the living seal pup.

Turkey vultures zoomed in on the seagull activity and moved in with dominance to devour the remains of the seal pup’s birth sac.

Some 15 minutes passed since I arrived and all the people who witnessed the seal pup birth left Sea Lion Point. The live action seemed like it might turn into a horror film until the turkey vultures left the scene without disturbing the living seal pup.  Little pup just lay there the way harbor seals do. Every few minutes he shifted his weight and moved his body an inch or two in the tidepool water. His little flippers were like a newborn’s arms and were not capable of lifting him at all to move across the rocks.

Mama seal made another strong attempt to reach pup. She reached only enough height to see her pup laying in a pool of water eight feet away.

Mama seal can get high enough to see her pup, but can’t climb rocks to reach seal pup at low tide.

I stuck around for an hour. Seal pup made attempts to move, but moved only a couple of inches with each effort. The pup never cried and I did not hear any sound from mama seal. Unlike the barking and boisterously loud sea lions on the nearby beaches and rocks, harbor seals are quiet animals. Pup feeding season is the primary time you hear harbor seals vocalize. Newborn harbor seal pup simply lay there in the tide pool, eyes open…waiting, unable to see mama.

Other park visitors walked by, couples smiled and took photos of the hundreds of sea lions and selfies from the cliffs with an ocean backdrop. Below a newborn pup waited, quietly, patiently, its entire view of life up to that point being several large vultures and seagulls walking around the rocks.

Mama was swimming in the water below the rocks when I left Sea Lion Point.

High tide was 10pm last night.

Seal pup alone in the tide pool as I left the area of Point Lobos State Nature Reserve. Mama seal must wait still several hours for high tide to reach her pup again.

The outcome of this seal pup is unknown to me. The pup looked healthy and six or seven hours separated from mama was probably not life-threatening.

Crowne Plaza Dublin Airport Northwood is an upscale full-service hotel a few miles from Dublin Airport with complimentary airport shuttle service departing at bus stop #14. The hotel has an attached conference center and the Holiday Inn Express Dublin Airport is adjacent to the Crowne Plaza.

The lobby features a large aquarium.

The public spaces in general were inviting with a variety of art around the lobby and hallway to the convention center.

I stayed next door at the Holiday Inn Express Dublin Airport. I do not have room photos.

The hotel had Inca Coffee Company as a breakfast outlet and Touzai as a dinner restaurant, along with a pub bar.

Touzai is an Asian Restaurant with noodle dishes, beef, chicken, pork and fish. Two course early-bird meal 17:30 to 19:30 is 20 EUR and three course meal for 25 EUR.

The hallway wing to the Conference Center is lined with butterflies under glass.

The conference center foyer had even more interesting art with ancient bog wood, fountains and large butterfly sculptures hanging from the ceiling.

The two bog wood sculptures displayed date to 2,000-2,200 BC. They were unearthed from a bog in Castleblaney. The lack of oxygen in the waterlogged peat prevented decay and ensured the preservation of the tree. These magnificent pieces, “Hosanna” and “The Burning Bush of Moses” were created by James Rogan for the Crowne Plaza.

This would have been my choice for a Dublin Airport hotel on our return trip to San Francisco, but the shuttle’s first run at 5:00am was too late for our 6:00am departure.

We stayed at the Radisson Blu Dublin Airport with 24-hour shuttle and close enough to walk to the Dublin airport terminals in less than ten minutes, if needed. That hotel review to come.

Crowne Plaza Dublin Airport Northwood is 30,000 points per reward night. Rates are variable based on demand and conferences, mostly from 85 to 130 EUR per night. I stayed at the attached Holiday Inn Express Dublin Airport hotel for 69 EUR. I could have stayed at Crowne Plaza for 85 EUR, but chose Radisson Blu Dublin Airport instead for our early morning departure due to its 24-hour shuttle service.

Related post:

Loyalty Traveler –  Beer or Points? Holiday Inn Express Dublin Airport (March 5)

Club Carlson announced #hashtaghotelpromo for a Twitter 12-hour sweepstakes in two weeks on Thursday, March 19, 2015. Register today for Club Carlson #hashtaghotelpromo to receive 1,000 points free.

Follow @Club Carlson on Twitter and register your email, name and Club Carlson account number to receive 1,000 bonus points free.

That is all you need to do for 1,000 Club Carlson bonus points.

Then, return at 11:00am ET, 8:00am PT on Thursday, March 19 for the #hashtaghotelpromo prize giveaway.

Cheap flights under $500 from San Francisco to Dublin motivated me to buy my last two tickets to Europe and then catch a low cost carrier to the city I really wanted to visit. In November, I flew British Airways to Dublin via London and last month KLM to Amsterdam and Aer Lingus to Dublin on a $449 round trip.

In December, I stayed at Holiday Inn Express Dublin Airport and we stayed at the hotel again in February. I wanted to stay at the adjacent Crowne Plaza Dublin Airport Northwood in February to fulfill one of my Set Your Sights IHG promotion offers for 12,000 bonus points with two Crowne Plaza stays by April 30. The rate was 50 EUR more than Holiday Inn Express. The hotels are adjacent to each other in an area called Northwood, about four miles from the airport.

Holiday Inn Express Dublin Airport

The complimentary hotel shuttle runs 5am to midnight. Airport pick-up and drop-off is at bus station #14. Dublin Airport has two terminals and the bus parking spaces are in a central airport lot and numbered from 1 to 18 or so. You can travel onward to all over Ireland from the bus stops at the airport. We lucked out to catch the Crowne Plaza Dublin Airport shuttle just before it left the airport for the hotel. Good I knew directly where to go for bus stop #14 from my December stay at the airport hotel.

Beer or Points?

Cayeleen checked us into the hotel. I was given a choice of points or a free pint of beer. Which do you think I chose?

You are wrong if you guessed I chose beer.

Kelley looked at the room and was unimpressed at the size of the room and bed. It looked just like the hotel room I had slept in ten weeks earlier, except as a corner room there were two windows to open for fresh air. In Amsterdam earlier that day we had a rough time with Kelley getting her wallet and eyeglasses stolen from her purse.

I was happy she still had her passport and I had a second chance to snap the blue light bathroom photo I did not take during my December stay at the hotel.

Bathroom blue light in Holiday Inn Express Dublin Airport

Holiday Inn Express Dublin Airport room photos can be seen in an article I wrote in December comparing the small Dublin Airport room size at about 150 sq. ft. to a much larger Holiday Inn Express Port Hueneme , California hotel room.

Loyalty Traveler – But we stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night (and earned one free night) December 22, 2015.

The nagging question: Beer or Points?

So there I am at midnight in Dublin, Kelley asleep in bed after 30 hours of international travel and I can’t get the hotel Wi-Fi to work on my computer. I read the slip of paper from the front desk stating I will get 300 IHG Rewards Club points as my IHG Rewards Club Platinum amenity.

You are right if you guessed I chose beer over points.

A pint of beer had a 5.50 EUR value, whereas 300 IHG Rewards Club points is about a $2.00 value for me.

Cayeleen, the front desk staffer also worked as the Holiday Inn Express Dublin Airport bartender. She canceled the 300 bonus points and poured me a pint of Heineken.

Holiday Inn Express Dublin Airport bar

Big shout out to Cayeleen of HIX Dublin Airport

Big shout out to Cayeleen of the Holiday Inn Express Dublin Airport for her vital assistance in helping us out during our stay. We arrived at the Holiday Inn Express Dublin Airport about 12 hours after Kelley’s wallet was stolen with two credit cards lost, while walking through Amsterdam Centraal train station.

The police in Amsterdam recommended contacting the credit card companies right away to cancel our cards, however, they did not offer to let us use their phone for the international collect calls to the numbers on the cards.

I tried using my computer at HIX Dublin Airport to find I was unable to connect to Wi-Fi at HIX. When I went to the public phone in the Holiday Inn Express lobby, there was no dial tone.

I use my email for all communication when outside the USA. Figuring out foreign phone connections can be challenging for the inexperienced.

Holiday Inn Express Dublin Airport bar seating in lobby.

Cayeleen at the front desk of the Holiday Inn Express helped me access the collect phone call connections. I canceled the two credit cards with no fraudulent activity reported on either card.

The wireless connection issue turned out to be due to my stay in December and Wi-Fi worked fine after I deleted the old Wi-Fi connection for the HIX off my computer.

Crowne Plaza Dublin Airport Northwood (left), conference center (white building in center) and Holiday Inn Express Dublin Airport (right).

Crowne Plaza Dublin Airport Northwood and Holiday Inn Express Dublin Airport Northwood are two hotels with a small conference center between them. The Crowne Plaza is a good looking hotel. I snapped photos of the lobby and conference center area to share in another article. (link to come)

There is a large green space in Santry-Demesne Regional Park across the street from the hotels. This was the site of a 1703 estate house that was demolished in 1959. The 72 acres became a public park in 2004.

Santry-Demesne Regional Park Dublin was created from an early 18th century estate.

Holiday Inn Express Dublin Airport is 25,000 points for a reward night.

I booked a 69 EUR flexible day of arrival cancellation rate, about $80 USD. For that price, we had complimentary airport shuttle transportation, breakfast for two and one pint of Heineken. Good deal.

Courtyard by Marriott is opening its 1,000th hotel this month in Walla Walla, Washington on March 31, 2015. There will be an estimated Marriott Rewards 50 million points giveaway on March 31 to celebrate the Courtyard brand milestone.

50,000,000 points would buy about 1,500 to 2,000 nights in the upper category hotels. You could even pack in a few million airline miles with Marriott’s Travel Packages for 7-night stays and 120,000 miles or even 132,000 miles with United MileagePlus.

Don’t get too excited though about a lifetime of free points travel.

On March 31, the opening day of the 1,000th Courtyard by Marriott, all guests worldwide staying at a Courtyard who are Marriott Rewards members will receive 1,000 bonus points. This is estimated to be 50 million points.

What confuses me though is Courtyard had almost 25,000 rooms worldwide on December 31, 2014. Assume every Courtyard room worldwide is occupied on March 31 by a Marriott Rewards member and all rooms earned 1,000 points. This is only 25 million points.

How did they come up with 50 million points?

Source: incentivetravel.com

SPG Hot Escapes offers cold Canada deals this week with 12 hotels in the frozen north, all under $100 per night. From Four Points YVR Vancouver Airport ($76) and Four Points Kamloops ($67) in the western province of BC to Four Points Halifax ($67), Nova Scotia, you can find a hotel room for under $100. Even as low as $60 per night at Four Points Mississauga, Ontario.

At these rates you can splurge with Westin Harbour Castle at $90 per night.

33 USA Hotels

Denver: In the USA there are several hotels in Denver like Sheraton Downtown Denver ($90), Sheraton Denver Tech Center ($60) and Element Park Meadows ($57 to $75) extended stay hotel in south Denver area. Westin Westminster ($83) is a good suburban hotel between Denver and Boulder.

Chicago: W Chicago Lakeshore at $96 is a good deal for a room with a view. There are a couple more suburban Chicago hotels at $75 per night. Westin Chicago River North is as low as $128.

San Diego: The US Grant, Luxury Collection is $170 Easter weekend, although rates that low are possible at other times.

Aloft London Excel is under $100 on several dates over the next six weeks.

SPG Hot Escapes March 4, 2015

• 12 Africa-Middle East hotels
• 35 Asia-Pacific
• 20 Europe
• 5 Latin America
• 45 North America

This post looks at the benefits of being a Nordic Choice Club member for North Americans traveling in Scandinavia. As a Choice Privileges member residing in North America, you can redeem Choice Privileges points for stays at more than 180 Nordic Choice Hotels in Norway (92), Sweden (83), Denmark (4), Latvia (1) and Lithuania (1).

The catch with Nordic Choice Hotels is you cannot earn Choice Privileges points when staying on a paid rate. You must join Nordic Choice Club to earn Nordic Choice Club points when traveling on paid stays at Nordic Choice Hotels.

The Nordic Choice Club guide for North Americans looks at the benefits of Nordic Choice Club membership. There are some points redemption advantages to Choice Privileges rates for some hotels. There are some advantages to Nordic Choice Club membership that may favor crediting some U.S. Choice Hotels stays to Nordic Choice Club if you travel to Scandinavia.

Choice Privileges Silver + Nordic Choice Club Blue

Last September I earned Choice Privileges Silver elite status after staying at Nordic Choice Hotels in Norway for two weeks while spending more than 200,000 Choice Privileges points. Choice Privileges counts reward stays for elite qualification. Silver elite is earned after ten eligible nights. All my 13 nights at Nordic Choice Hotels in Norway were paid with Choice Privileges points. I had no out-of-pocket hotel expenses for my two week trip.

Room rates in September 2014 summer season averaged $400+ per night when converted from the room rate in Norwegian Krone for the room category I booked. One of the best features of booking reward nights with Choice Privileges points was the availability of upgraded rooms for standard reward prices. I booked several of my hotel nights in suites.

The currency exchange rate today in March 2015 at 6.32 NOK = 1 USD has fallen steeply in the past six months to 7.80 NOK = $1 USD. That is a 23% decline in the value of Norway’s currency in six months, meaning the USD buys more for 2015 travel in Norway. Those $400 per night Nordic Choice Hotel rooms from 2014 might only be $300 per night in summer 2015. Norway is one of the top five most expensive economies in the world. Still, I lived two weeks at Nordic Choice Hotels with daily free breakfast included. Clarion Collection Hotels, where I spent about half my nights offered a light dinner meal too.

These food photos are a reminder to my wife that she will not go hungry if I take her to Norway and Sweden for our WOW trip Boston to Copenhagen via Iceland in July 2015.

The relationship between Choice Hotels and Nordic Choice Hotels is a confusing one for American travelers. Choice Privileges members from the USA can redeem Choice Privileges points for any of 180 Nordic Choice Hotels in Scandinavia and the Baltics.

Most Nordic Choice Hotels are listed for Choice Privileges reward nights at the 16,000 points level for one free night. Some hotels are 8,000 and 10,000 or 12,000 points and some hotels like Oslo’s The Thief are 20,000 points per night for Choice Privileges members. These are great deals for hotel stays on points.

Nordic Choice Club is your loyalty program when it comes to earning points for paid stays at Nordic Choice Hotels

Nordic Choice Club

Americans can join Nordic Choice Club. I joined in 2008. They even sent me a physical card.

Basics of Earning Nordic Choice Club points

You earn 1 point per Swedish krona in room rate at Nordic Choice Hotels.

You earn 1 point per Swedish krona when you eat at the restaurant while staying at Clarion Hotels, Quality Hotels, Quality Resort Hotels and Nordic Hotels & Resorts in Norway and Denmark.

You earn 750 bonus points per night when you stay at a Choice Hotel outside of the Nordic and Baltic region. Don’t forget to send your receipt to Nordic Choice Customer Service. Send the receipt to booking@choice.no.

You earn 10 bonus points for each euro spent when you stay at Sokos Hotels. There are more than 50 Sokos Hotels in Finland, Tallinn, Estonia and St. Petersburg, Russia.

1.00 US Dollar = 8.35 Swedish Krona (March 4, 2015)

1.11 US Dollar = 1.00 EUR

Nordic Choice Club Spend for one free night

Assume a room at a Nordic Choice Hotel in Sweden is 1,000 SEK ($120 USD) and the hotel night earns 1,000 Nordic Choice Club points. Spending $1,200 USD to earn 10,000 points for one free night at most hotels is not too impressive an earn rate in the Nordic Choice Club scheme. But better than nothing, since paid stays at Nordic Choice Hotels do not earn Choice Privileges points in a North American account.

There are some advantages for Nordic Choice Club compared to Choice Privileges on the redemption side of points equation. There are also some advantages to Choice Privileges points for hotels like The Thief Oslo at a discount points reward rate compared to Nordic Choice Club.

Nordic Choice Club 750 points for stays in Choice Hotels elsewhere

One interesting feature of Nordic Choice Club is a fixed earn rate at 750 points per night for stays at Choice Hotels outside of the Nordic and Baltic region. This includes over 5,000 Choice Hotels in the USA. You can earn 750 points per night for stays in the USA. This might be more points than you would get crediting a MainStay Suites night to your Choice Privileges account.

Nordic Choice Club Sokos Hotels partnership covers Finland and St. Petersburg too

Sokos is the largest hotel chain in Finland. Nordic Choice Club has a partnership with Finland’s Sokos hotel chain for comprehensive points earning coverage of Nordic countries with more than 50 hotels around Finland and hotels in St. Petersburg and Estonia. This feature of Nordic Choice Club provides a benefit unavailable through Choice Privileges.

There does not appear to be an option to redeem Nordic Choice Club points for reward nights at Sokos Hotels.

Nordic Choice Club Redeem Points

There are many Nordic Choice Hotels with lower priced reward nights at 10,000 points compared to their 16,000 points rate with Choice Privileges. This is a reason why crediting Choice Hotels stays in the USA to Nordic Choice Club for 750 points might be a better value than earning Choice Privileges points when it comes time to redeem points for hotel stays in Norway and Sweden.

The deal is a person with points in both Nordic Choice Club and Choice Privileges can take advantage of lower rates on different days of the week and in summer period.

In Nordic Choice Club, Clarion Collection Hotels are only 10,000 points per night on weekends Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.

The food pictures in this post are from the complimentary dinner buffet at the Clarion Collection Hotel Christiania Teater in Oslo, Norway. This hotel is 20,000 points through Choice Privileges points, but only 10,000 points for one free night on a weekend using Nordic Choice Club points.

Clarion Collection hotels in Nordic Choice Hotels are distinguished from other Nordic Choice brands by offering guests a light dinner buffet in addition to free breakfast. In Norway, this generally means a savings of $40 to $80 per night on the cost of food. Clarion Collection Hotel Christiania Teater in Oslo had one of the best dinner buffets I saw when in Norway.

Nordic Choice Club Reward Nights at 10,000 bonus points:

• One weekend night (Fri-Sat, Sat-Sun Sun-Mon, the day before a public holiday or a public holiday) for two people at Comfort Hotel, Quality Hotel, Clarion Hotel, Clarion Collection as well as Yasuragi Hasseludden, Skt Petri, Nordic C Hotel and Nordic Light Hotel.

or

• One weekday night (Sunday til Friday) for two people at Quality Resort or Selma Spa+ and Stenungsbaden Yacht Club

Nordic Choice Club Reward Nights at 20,000 bonus points:

• One weekday night (Monday til Friday) for two people at Comfort Hotel, Quality Hotel, Clarion Hotel, Clarion Collection as well as Skt Petri, Nordic C Hotel and Nordic Light Hotel.

or

• One weekend night (Friday til Saturday, Saturday til Sunday or the day before a public holiday or a public holiday) for two people at Quality Resort hotels or Selma Spa+, Stenungsbaden Yacht Club, Yasuragi Hasseludden.

or

• One night for two people at Farris Bad or Copperhill Mountain Lodge.

Nordic Choice Club Reward Nights at 20,000 bonus points or more gets you:

• One night at selected Choice hotels in Europe. An overview of the hotels to which this applies will always be published on the Nordic Choice Club website.

or

• One hotel night for 2 at The Thief for 30,000 bonus points.

Nordic Choice Club summer 2015 June 19 – August 16,  10,000 points for Reward Nights

“Between 19th of June and 16th of August 2015 we have other bonus point rates. During the summer period mentioned a bonus night at Comfort Hotels, Quality Hotels, Clarion Collection, Clarion Hotels, Nordic Light Hotel,
Nordic C Hotel and SKT. PETRI will cost 10,000 bonus points all days.

During the same period the price of a bonus night at Quality Resort, Stenungsbaden Yacht Club, Yasuragi, Copperhill Mountain Lodge, Farris Bad and Selma Spa is 20,000 bonus points all days. A bonus night at The Thief cost 30,000 bonus points, as usual.”

Since most Nordic Choice Hotels are 16,000 Choice Privileges points and only 10,000 Nordic Choice Club points, you might want to consider crediting Choice Hotels stays outside of the Nordic countries to earn 750 points per night with Nordic Choice Club. You can earn free nights more quickly.

Another advantage of Nordic Choice Club is there is no booking limitation like the 60 days window limiting the booking of international hotel rewards with Choice Privileges points until 60 days before your stay. You can book summer 2015 dates with Nordic Choice Club points now.

Nordic Choice links:

Nordic Choice Club member benefits – Silver elite members (10 nights in 12 months) have access to 2-for-1 rates on weekends and Gold elite members (35 nights in 12 months) have access to 2-for-1 rates any day. Anyone have knowledge of the availability of these rates?

Nordic Choice Club Free Nights table,

Nordic Choice Hotels map

Sokos Hotels (Finland) – Nordic Choice Club hotel partner

My Norway Nordic Choice Hotels Trip September 2014

Bergen seen from Mount Floyen

1. Oslo, Norway walking on a summer day (Sep 6)
2. Hotel Review Clarion Royal Christiania Oslo, Norway (Sep 6)
3. Hotel Review Clarion Collection Hotel Bastion Oslo, Norway (Sep 7)
4. Think before you eat whale meat (Sep 8)
5. Six days in Norway and $6 spent on food (Sep 9)
6. Hotel Review: Farris Bad, Ascend Collection Larvik, Norway (Sep 10)
7. Hotel Review Farris Bad Kaupang Suite upgrade (Sep 10)
8. Hotel Atlantic Sandefjord offers whaling culture experience and beds too (Sep 11)
9. Hotel Atlantic Sandefjord, Clarion Collection (Sep 13)
10. Oslo Sandefjord Torp Airport low cost flights (Sep 12)
11. USA Branded Bergen (Sep 12)
12. Oops! Radisson Royal Bergen hotel damaged Bryggen UNESCO World Heritage Site. (Sep 12)
13. Walk like a Norwegian up Floyen in Bergen (Sep 13)
14. Think before you eat Norwegian farmed salmon (Sep 13)
15. Biked, hiked and psyched about Bergen (Sep 15)
16. Clarion Collection No 13 Bergen, Norway (Sep 15)
17. Clarion Collection Havnekontoret Bergen, TripAdvisor #1 hotel – Part One (Sep 16)
18. Clarion Collection Havnekontoret Bergen – Part Two (Sep 16)
19. Bergen Line to Oslo, 500 km by train (and bus) – Part One (Sep 18)
20. Bergen Line to Oslo 500 km by train part two (Sep 19)
21. How I stole 2 nights at The Thief Oslo with points (Sep 23)
22. Hotel Review The Thief Oslo Room 603 (Sep 23)
23. The Thief Oslo by design (Sep 24)
24. Clarion Collection Folketeateret Oslo is recommended Nordic Choice Hotel (Sep 27)