Yesterday I wrote that Starwood’s 35% discount on several of their most expensive resorts is back. They haven’t yet updated the promotion web page but the discount is live.
And I now have confirmation of which hotels are bookable. The hotels are the same as last year, except that the St Regis Maldives replace Mystique in Greece.
Here are the 8 hotels where you can book redemptions at 35% off:
- W Retreat & Spa – Maldives
- The St. Regis Bora Bora Resort
- Le Méridien Bora Bora
- Vana Belle, a Luxury Collection Resort, Koh Samui
- W Retreat Koh Samui
- Al Maha, a Luxury Collection Desert Resort & Spa, Dubai
- The Naka Island, a Luxury Collection Resort & Spa, Phuket
- The St. Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort
35% off redemptions have to be booked by phone, and are available for stays through February 2018. And of course even with this discount fifth night on your award remains free.
I still wish that Starwood’s category 6 and 7 ‘all suite’ hotels didn’t start off at double the points. But 35% off the regular redemption price makes them accessible, and often still a very good value. For instance when I stayed at the Al Maha Desert Resort that property was running $1400++ per night, and cost me 39,000 points per night. I spent 3 nights there so didn’t get the further discount of 5th night free.
It was well worth it as an experience as well. All rooms are standalone Bedouin villas with their own pools.
The redemption includes meals (including room service) and two activities per day such as falconry, dune driving, and camel riding. In the evening you ride a camel out to a spot in the dunes where they have champagne and strawberries set up. Then you ride the camel back into the sunset towards the resort. You Ride. The Camel. Into. The Sunset.
Been hoping the AL MAHA special redemption rate would come back. Is it 100% all meals and excursions included? I’ve looked in FINE HOTELS AND RESORTS and it just says free breakfast. The spg rep didn’t even mention the free breakfast but your write up, as well as One Mile At a Time indicates all meals are always included. Should I worry that they’re not?
I was able to take the discount this January in Le Meridien French Polynesia and was given an upgrade to Water Bungalow upon arrival. It is a gorgeous property and services are really nice. Was a bit surprised to see how few (very few) number of guests was there, both at the hotel and at Bora Bora in general. Perhaps tourism to these remote parts of the world is down big time.
@Larry meals are included and so are two activities daily, write to the property directly if you’d like to confirm, that was certainly my experience on points
@NX, January is slow season in Bora Bora
Has anyone been able to book st Regis bora bora through 2018 on this deal, every time I call they don’t know what I am talking about.
Is there a code I can give them to reference?
Always found it interesting that “all suite” hotels such as the Sheraton Suites were able to only charge 1X points for a room while some of the higher end ones required double the points since all of the rooms are suites. Isn’t this the point of Cat 6 or 7? The points required are often 3-5 as much required as a Cat 3 or 4 hotel which makes sense since they are more expensive. Why charge double the points for any room? It would be less deceptive just to create a Cat 8 @ 60K points a night.