hdbear

I've heard so many stories about the near impossibility of using FF points for vacation. With much trepidation, I recently set out to use my Delta and American Express points. It was so easy I had to share my experience.<BR><BR>First, this is our first trip to Paris. Our anniversary is 2/15 and our daughter was born on 2/15. This year was very special as my wife proved herself to be the ultimate hero by donating one of her kidneys to the mother of a child who goes to kindegarten with our daughter. Really wanted to do something special for her. She had watched one episode of &quot;Joe Millionaire&quot; and mentioned she would love to spend time in a Chateau in France. Being the impetuous person that I am, I quickly sought out Chateau deals on LuxuryLink.com (which I highly recommend!) and bid on and won a 6 night stay at the Chateau de Sainte-Paterne.<BR><BR>Then.....reality set in. This trip was going to cost a fortune. Then decided to see what I could do flight-wise with my points. With minimal trouble was able to book business class on Air France through Delta, giving us 4 nights in Paris before we go to the countryside. That's when I discovered this site. To make a choice among the vast number of hotel possibilites was almost impossible. Then, I discovered a luxury hotel/resort link on American Express where I could possible use my points.<BR><BR>Just made the call, no problem with a beautiful room at George V on the May 14-17. Never believed it would be possible. Based on what I've read here and elsewhere I don't think I could have picked a nicer hotel, whatever the cost.<BR><BR>Now, the hard part comes. Trying to put together an itinerary to have a wonderful time, enjoy the sites, but most importantly enjoy as many of the wonderful restaurants and bistros as possible.<BR><BR>I look forward to my research here, reading through all your comments and reviews. Thank you in advance for all the information you have posted here.<BR><BR>

Andre

hdbear,<BR><BR>Let me get this straight: in the US, you can use your Amex Membership Rewards points for 4 Seasons hotels??? <BR><BR>For people who live in Switzerland, they only offer chains like Starwood &amp; Marriott <BR><BR>Or is this some sort of special offer?<BR><BR>Andre

hdbear

Andre:<BR><BR>They offer deals on SOME select hotels. Go to www.americanexpress.com. Then go to &quot;membership rewards.&quot; Right under the &quot;redeem points now&quot; bar near the middle of the page there are two circles. Look at the right circle and click on &quot;Travel: airline and vacation specials.&quot; Then click on Featured Hotel Properties. There are about 250 hotel deals all over the world ranging from 15,000 points a night upward. The George V is 75,000 points a night.

Degas

You said The George V is 75,000 points a night. How do you accumalate points? Is it one point per dollar charged? <BR>

hdbear

Recognize that Amex has specials all the time. Double points here, double and triple points there. For example, gasoline and groceries is an area they are really trying to invade, so there are specials all the time when you charge these. Because of the extreme flexibility offered by Amex, we tend to try to charge everthing possible on the card and then pay it off monthly. The year-end statementis very, very helpful at tax time. Other than that, yes, it generally is $l for l point.

Andre

Thanks for the feedback, hdbear,<BR><BR>Unfortunately, I can't redeem from the US site and just checked the Swiss Membership Rewards site - no such link... <BR><BR>And I thought it was bad enough that credit cards in Switzerland don't offer CDW on rental cars!<BR><BR>Andre

Andre

BTW, have a GREAT time on what definitely sounds like an absolute dream vacation!<BR><BR>Andre

celticdreams

hdbear - agree completely with your amex points point. we recently transferred all ours to Marriott - no problem - and got a week's free stay in Grand Cayman. They are very easy to work with.

kjl

You will absolutely love the George V.<BR>We stayed there last year using our<BR>Starwood points. We leave the end of March and will once again be staying<BR>at the George V for 5 nights.<BR><BR>The hotel is just fabulous, the rooms are beautifully decorated, the bathrooms<BR>quite large all tastefully done in white<BR>marble. The concierge are most helpful.<BR>Do have them make all your dinner reservations for you. <BR><BR>As for restaraunt recommendations, where does one begin. Here are a few<BR>we truly enjoyed.<BR><BR>Bistro de Olivier<BR>13 rue Quentin Bauchart, 8th (George V)<BR>We ate here our fisrt night. It is located acroos the street from the George V on a small side street. The food is french provincial and outstanding.<BR><BR>La Fontaine De Mars<BR>129, rue Saint-Dominique, 7th<BR>www.la-fontaine-de-mars.com<BR><BR>Probably one of the finest meals I ever<BR>had. Highly recommend<BR><BR>Au Petit Tonneau<BR>20 rue Surcouf, 7th<BR><BR>Ginette Boyer owner and chef is just a <BR>wonderful host at her small restaraunt.<BR><BR>Epi Dupin<BR>11 rue Dupin, 6th<BR><BR>Book in advance. <BR><BR>Le Clos des Gourmets<BR>16 ave. Rapp, 7th<BR><BR>Outstanding food and service.<BR><BR>Also Le Cinq which is located in the<BR>George V has just received a 3 star rating from Michelin.<BR><BR>As for the sites, Sacre Couer, Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower, Louvre, and the lists goes on and on.<BR><BR>Have great time in Paris and the countryside.<BR><BR><BR>

Andre

kjl,<BR><BR>You couldn't have stayed at the Georges V on Starwood points - it's a 4 Seasons hotel. You probably stayed at the Prince de Galles (Starwood Luxury Collection) right next door).<BR><BR>Great restaurant recommendations though!<BR><BR>Andre

Barb_in_Ga

Your trip sounds wonderful! My hat is off to your wife and to you, also. You sound like very caring people. Your itinerary sounds interesting, and you should have a fabulous time.<BR><BR>I have a question about the points needed for the Georges V--75,000 points for 1 night seems very expensive if the points are 1 to 1 with airline points. We are using the Delta Skymiles points accrued on our Delta Amex card for a trip to Paris in May. 80,000 points buys a round trip ticket in Business Elite on Delta, so your hotel is costly in terms of points. You may have enough points that it doesn't matter, but it doesn't seem like a good value, even though the hotel is fabulous. Just MHO.

Art

It was wonderful of your wife to do that and super of you to want to give her the time of her life. I know that you both will have a wonderful trip.<BR>

Patrick

I've cashed in 90,000 AA miles for a free business class ticket from Florida (actually first class on this leg) to New York, then a stay there, Business Class from New York to London for a couple week stay, London to Berlin (BA business class) and a return from Paris to Miami (business clsss). This total air fare would be well over $8000. Things like that make me think at least twice before using up miles for a hotel stay.

andy

hdbear- <BR>I would NEVER use all those points for a hotel stay--unless you were a business traveller and accumulated hundreds of thousands of point per year..<BR><BR>While I only have a Regular AX membership point used with the normal green or gold card, I think people need to know that you are using your DELTA SKYMILES AMEX- which does give you 2 for 1 points most of the time..But it also limits you to flying on DELTA/AF which is way more limited than the normal AX membership miles awards=which uses USAIR,AA,DL,CO--etc.....<BR><BR>In any event, trip sounds awesome!! You will love the hotel and the plane ride is worth the entire trip in Business Class- Once you try Business Class, you will be hard pressed to fly COACH again- truly spoils you!<BR><BR>Have a GREAT TIME!!!

Pilchard

Hi, hdbear.<BR><BR>I wish you well and I hope you have a great trip. I would offer a word of caution, however. DO NOT trust that Amex will do exactly what it is supposed to do. I encourage you to verify any arrangements that are to be made by Amex.<BR><BR>On two occasions I used their Platinum Travel Service to make some arrangements and they failed me both times (one failure left us without a hotel reservation in Paris after our transatlantic flight).<BR><BR>I will never use PTS again. No one cares more about your vacation than you do. Leave nothing in the hands of people who may be incompetent or indifferent.<BR><BR>You're welcome.

hdbear

I totally agree that the value received for my points for the hotel stay is underwhelming at best. The two business class tickets were 160,000 points and the three nights stay at the George V were 225,000 points. Good value? No! Good deal? No. On the other hand, I travel more than anyone should have to and building up points is not too problematic. Also, the LAST thing I'm interested in is another airline flight. My main mission was to give my wife a &quot;once in a lifetime&quot; trip. No matter how uneconomical it is for the use of my points, there's something about staying at George V for free that makes sense to me. Think of the wonderful dinners and wine we can enjoy for the cost of the hotel!!!<BR><BR>On another note, I have had totally the opposite experience with PTS. I'm probably one of the most ardent supporters of American Express Platinum (or Centurion if you spend tons and tons of money). Centurion is only open by invitation whereas Platinum is $400 per year. I can't tell you how many times Amex has saved me. To me, there is nothing better! I look forward to paying my annual fee because I know it's a very small price for what I have already received.

kaudrey

I just wanted to let Andy know that his statement is not correct. I have Delta Skymiles and you can use them on any Delta partner airline, including United, Air France, Virgin Atlantic (I just used miles for this last month), and a whole list of others. Check Delta's website for a list of their partners.<BR><BR>hdbear - have a great trip! I was last in Paris about 12 years ago and don't really have any restaurant tips, but I'd suggest using the 4 days in Paris to hit the highlights and allow time for just wandering around this fabulous city! <BR><BR>Karen