Westin Riverfront Resort & Spa

Hotel Stay Details
Hotel: Westin Riverfront Resort & Spa
Dates: August 25-30, 2013 
Rate Paid: 7,200 SPG Points/night 
Suite Upgrade: Complimentary
Regular Room Rate: $190/night
Regular Suite Rate: $354/night 
Total $ Benefit: $1,770
Point Redemption Value: 4.9 cents/pt

Well, it's been a great 5 night stay at the Westin Riverfront. It's my first time to Colorado, and I'm most likely going to come back soon. Just about everyone (but not everyone) we met here at the Westin was super friendly and really went out of their way to make you feel comfortable.

Background - The 25% Discount 

Back on March 26, my father made Starwood Gold Status by completing his 25th night of 2013 with Starwood. As a thank you, Starwood sent gifts to Gold members. He had the choice of either (A) double points for an upcoming month or (B) 25% of any award booking. Even though he was going to stay at a lot of Starwood hotels in 2013, he also knew that booking a 5 night award at a Category 5 hotel would save him 12,000 SPG points.

So for (A) to be a better option than (B), he would have to book and spend $4,000 at SPG hotels in a single month to earn an extra 12,000 SPG points.

My father? Spend $4k on hotels? In a single month? NFW. He went with Option B.

Now he had a 25% coupon for any award booking for up to 5 nights at any Category 1-6 hotel or resort by September 30, 2013. Clock starts ticking...

Hyatt vs. Starwood?

My father knew that we were going to be in Denver for the wedding of our friends' Ryan & Jessica in late August. As he's been doing lately, we turned the weekend trip into a longer family vacation after the wedding.

As most miles/point obsessed enthusiasts do, my father started looking at what chain hotels/resorts were in the Colorado area. Having been deeply in the midst of his Hyatt Diamond Status Challenge, he was focused on Hyatt, particularly the Park Hyatt Hotels.

Two hours away from Denver, Beaver Creek had a Category 6 Park Hyatt that would cost 22,000 Hyatt Points or $204 / night. Given it was a relatively low cash rate, he was better off using cash than Hyatt points. Plus having made Diamond status, he had a Suite Upgrade Award he could use for his cash stay that would guarantee a suite as well as free breakfasts for every registered guest in the room. So on April 18th, he booked 5 nights at the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek using a refundable AAA rate.

However, it would still be over $1,000 cash out of pocket for 5 days. Then he started reading reviews from other travelers and bloggers. They all raved about the location right on the ski slopes and the high quality service levels, but had less than great things to say about the actual physical property itself.

It wasn't the same sleek, modern, luxury standard at the Park Hyatt Paris, Buenos Aires or Sydney. It was more of a traditional but dated ski lodge that was taken over by Park Hyatt. Traditional ski lodges on the slopes sound great if you're skiing, but we were coming in August. Plus, during the summers, the reviews warned that the free breakfast may only be a lame offering from their cafe and not the full breakfast at their proper restaurant.

So he cancelled his refundable AAA rate at the Park Hyatt, and we went back to my father's beloved Starwood. As it turned out, Beaver Creek was also home to a Category 5 Westin Riverfront which also received some great reviews, with the only major complaints being (A) not ideally located for skiing and (B) less than great treatment for over-entitled Platinum status holders.

At the time, neither (A) or (B) mattered for us because as I told you earlier, my father was just a Starwood Gold.

The Obligatory Math
The Category 5 Westin Riverfront costs 12,000 SPG pts/night. However, with Starwood, booking 5 consecutive nights on points gets you the 5th night free. So instead of needing 60,000 total SPG points, it would cost "only" 48,000 total.

But then stacking on the 25% off coupon, my father would save an additional 12,000 SPG points, bringing the total to JUST 36,000 SPG points for 5 nights (7,200 SPG points/night).

Of course, this rate only gets you the Traditional 400 sq foot room (seen here), but free is free. He had to call Starwood Reservations to use his 25% coupon, but it was quick and easy.

At the time of booking (April 28), my father could have also booked the same Traditional Room for the prepaid cash rate of $190/night (including all taxes). This option made his redemption worth only 2.6 cents/SPG point. Not a horrible redemption, but just barely made the cut off for redeeming points. Recall, my father's been able to get 6-7 cents/SPG point at Le Meridien Chiang Rai (Thailand) and W Santiago (Chile) earlier this year.

Then when he made Platinum Status a few weeks ago, he called the Westin Riverfront to ask about possible complimentary upgrades. He was told that he wouldn't get confirmed until the day of check in if there was even any availability. But if he wanted to guarantee it now, they said he could pay an extra $100/night to get the regular 1 bedroom suite or $150/night to get the 1 bedroom mountain view suite. It was tempting since he wasn't paying any cash for the room, but he declined and took his chances at check in. Given it was a mid-week stay before Labor Day weekend, we were hopeful but had our baby fingers crossed.

The Good...
The morning of our check in date (Sunday August 25th), my father went to the SPG iPad app and looked up his reservation information. Low and behold, it showed up not as a Traditional Room (as it had for several months), but as a 1 Bedroom Residential Suite, River & Mountain View. Suite! (word play intended.)

Those 850+ sq foot suites were going for about $354/night (all-in, including all taxes). Because of his Platinum status, those 7,200 SPG points were now getting him a room which retailed for $354/night (restrictive prepaid rate), which implied 4.9 cents/SPG point. Much better!

That pleasant surprise made the 2 hour drive from Denver on scenic I-70 all that much better. My father couldn't wait to see my grandmother's face when she walked into her first hotel suite.

As we pulled into the circular driveway, we were greeted by very friendly valets. Apparently, the hotel really insisted everyone valet park for $25/day with no mention of any self park options at all. Given we had a lot of luggage to unpack, we just went with the flow so that my father would be free to help us with all the bags. But as it turned out, the valets were super helpful and did most of the work. After loading up the trolley, he gave my father a card and said the bags will be sent up to the room after we've had a chance to look it first.

The Bad...
When we checked in with the front desk, we were greeted by an overly serious young woman named Ann. She noted that they had upgraded us to a 1 bedroom suite and that we were staying for 5 nights.

But then immediately Ann asked if we knew when we'd be checking out the final day. Thinking this was an offer of a late checkout, my father asked if a 2PM check out were possible. She immediately said, "No, the hotel is very busy this coming weekend. We can only offer you the standard check out time."

"Which is?"

"11AM"

11AM? Now, some mornings my mother doesn't even get up til 11:30, especially when we have really good blackout shades.

Ann then told us about the $20/day resort fee which covers internet, gym/pool access, and other hotel amenities. This would bring our hotel bill from $0 to $100 for 5 nights. Not painful but annoying. Now my well-researched father knew about this in advance (and the fact it wasn't waived for anyone), but asked anyway.

"But I believe I get all those amenities anyway because of my SPG status. Do Platinums still have to pay the resort fee?"

"Yes, it's for everyone."

Another amenity for Platinums is complimentary continental breakfast or 500 SPG points.

"Do you want the 500 SPG points?" asked Ann.

"Well, don't I also have a choice of breakfast?"

"Yes"

"Well, is it for every morning or just one time?"

"Every morning."

"Well, is it a full hot breakfast or continental or something else?"

"Um, it's really nothing great, like coffee and a muffin."

"I'll take the 500 SPG points," answered my father knowing full well that we'd be making our own breakfast each morning from our suite's full kitchen.

According to several travelers, there was also a self-parking option available if you didn't want to pay the premium for valet service.

"Can you tell me how much valet parking is?"

"$25 per night."

"Is there a self-parking option?"

"Yes."

"Can you tell me how much it costs?"


"Um, well, it's actually a pay by the hour, so you're better off doing valet."

"Well, how much is it exactly?"

"For the full day/night, it would be $50 each night."

Raised eyebrows aren't an attractive look for a full faced Asian man, but my father made the facial expression anyway and just thanked her and went to chase me as I ran around the lobby. As it turned out, self-parking was actually only $15 per day according to the Westin Riverfront Villas (timeshare) website, but we were staying at the Resort (hotel) and their website only listed Valet for $25-30/day.

So typically, a top tier hotel status member gets a late check out (not this time), free breakfast (eh) and resort fees waived (nope). At least we got our free internet... oh wait. Nope, we had to pay a $20/day resort fee for it. [UPDATE: on the third day of our stay, my father asked another Front Desk woman if he could have late check out and was happily given 1PM. Don't give up. Never give up.]

It may not have been so bad if Ann had been more sympathetic (or at least fake sympathetic) about having to comply with strict hotel policies. But talking to this young woman was like interrogating an entitled hipster Starbucks barista about the difference between a cappuccino and a cafe Americano while they're busy trying to take a selfie of their new neck tattoo on their iPhone.

Did I mention that we were the only ones checking in?

The Amazing!
Despite this rough start to the hotel stay, all our confusion / frustration with the front desk dissipated as soon as we opened the door to corner Room 400A at the very end of the hallway. We were right next to Room 400B (regular bedroom) which had a connecting door to our suite to make a 2 bedroom suite if we wanted to pay up for an extra bedroom.

Our regular 1 bedroom suite opened up into the kitchen, fully stocked with a ton of silverware, cookware, dishes,appliances (toaster oven, can opener, coffee grinder, and blender) and even a set of bar glasses (including a shaker/strainer and a mixed cocktail recipe book).

 

Turning the corner, you see the large living room complete with a 6 person dining table, two couches, two single seats, floor to ceiling windows, balcony, Bose stereo, and a working fireplace.

 

Then you go into the bedroom which is pretty standard (Westin Heavenly bed, flat screen tv, desk), with the exception that it also had a walk out balcony.

The bathroom was very nicely appointed, with its double sink and separate bathtub and stand up shower. Personally, I love bathtubs, because they can easily convert into kid swimming pools!

 

The coup de gras was the washer and dryer in the hallway closet. Now, I'm not sure how many of you are parents, but trust me, I go through a lot of clothes and having an on-site place to wash my clothes mid-vacation can be a life-saver!

Final Totals
If you factor in the 11,000 SPG points we received for attending the 90 minute Villa sales presentation and the 2,000 SPG points we received for skipping housekeeping for 2 days, then we really only used net 23,000 SPG points for 5 nights in this amazing 1 bedroom suite here (a ridiculous 4,600 SPG points/night, implying an incredible 7.7 cents/SPG point redemption).

Even counting the additional $20/day resort fees and $25/day valet parking for five days, spending only $225 in total cash for this view every morning is pretty amazing.

Kid's Stuff To Do in Vail

We kids have a pretty big influence on the vacations of our parents. First, we make it harder for them to go out late at night to party like they did before we came along. Second, we shift the day time activities to things that are kid-friendly, so no more zip lining or wall climbing (not that my parents really did that stuff before).

But many hotels are starting to realize that offering child care services on site will attract younger families where the parents are still physically active (or just want a break from being around us 24/7).

Westin Kids Club
The Westin Riverfront has what looks to be an amazing Kids Club experience. We've seen a few Kids Clubs in Thailand that were pretty good, but they have nothing on this Westin Riverfront edition.

First, the room itself is pretty large and decorated like an elementary school classroom on a sugar high. They had a ton of different toys, activities, crafts, shows, games, etc.

Second, the staff there are two dedicated Kids Club professionals who genuinely love children. While other Kids Clubs I've seen at other hotels were fine (Sheraton Krabi, Conrad Koh Samui), they were staffed with just 1 person who seemed like they got assigned Kids Club that day instead of cleaning buffet tables or setting up pool chairs.

Unfortunately, the Westin Riverfront had to abide by some Colorado rule that restricted access only to kids above the age of 5 years old. As you may know, I'm much younger than that, so while I didn't get to participate, I did get to sneak in 30 minutes of playtime with my grandmother one morning when they weren't so busy.

But in case any of you readers are above the age of 5, here are the rules and offerings.

Hours
- Saturday-Thursday:  9AM-5PM
- Friday-Saturday: 9AM-5PM and 6PM-9PM
- 24 Hour Reservations Required

Prices (per child)
- $95 for All Day (4-8 hours)
- $55 for 3 Hour Sessions
- $24 per Hour
- $10 for Picnic Style Lunch

After looking through the pamphlet, the Kids Club is more like an active educational day care than just a passive play area. Sessions include a healthy snack and indoor/outdoor activities (learning about animals, water, gardening, arts & crafts, etc). Looks like something I'll enjoy when we come back in a few years.

But even though I couldn't come in, they did give me a nice little Westin Kids Club backpack filled with baby toiletries (shampoo, lotion and baby powder). Thanks, Westin!

Family Mountain Hike
Now, because my parents are cheap love being around me so much, I spent most of my time with them. Instead of pawning me off to some strangers, we found other ways to enjoy our family time in a beautiful Colorado setting, such as hiking along the Vail Mountains.

So after lunch on Wednesday, my parents, grandmother and I drove 10 minutes along I-70 East to the Lionshead (western) section of Vail Village. Lucky for us, parking during the summers is free for everyone which was a nice touch.

When we arrived at Lionshead around 1PM, we walked through the quaint little village area and eventually found the Gondola Lift Ticket window where we bought all day gondola passes (10AM-4PM).

Tickets cost $26/adult, but kids under 4 years old were free. Our plan was only to use it 2x (going up, hiking a bit, and going back down), so $26/person seemed a bit much, but when in Vail...

From Lionshead (bottom red circle on the photo), the gondola took us up to the Eagle's Nest area halfway up one of the mountains (upper red circle). From there we were going to hike across (laterally) east to the other gondola that would put us back in Vail Village (the eastern section). Of course, you smart readers will ask, "How will you get your car which parked back in Lionshead?" Well, there's a free bus shuttle that goes back and forth from Vail Village to Lionshead. Now back to the story...

If you've never been on a gondola before, like my mother, you might get a bit freaked. As you can see from the photo, she was very afraid of heights. Now, my father is actually also afraid of heights, but not all the time (airplanes, gondolas) because as he puts it, "looking out the window makes it not seem real," which, even at less than 2 years old, I realize is B/S.

[Note: I'm 100% sure my mother would not want me posting this great photo of her, but thankfully she doesn't read my blog.]

So once we were at Eagle's Nest, we saw Adventure Ridge, an activity park that has a bunch of activities catered for kids of all ages, including an "adult jungle gym," a bungee/trampoline contraption, a small pony and a nature center filled with stuffed wild animals, frisbee golf, mini golf, etc).

While I was big enough to ride the pony, up until that moment, I had only seen them in books, so I wasn't ready to actually engage with a live one. So we passed on the pony ride in case that the experience scarred me for life the way my adult father is still morbidly afraid of clowns. Good call, Dad.

After spending about 30 minutes in the Nature Center, we started making our way on the hiking trail called Fireweed which went laterally across the mountain to the other gondola. Of course, there were several hiking trails that took you down the mountain, but those would take hours and my mother had her 5:30PM yoga class back at the hotel.

The hiking trail was very well worn (the first 25% was actually just a dirt road), so it's definitely not reminding anyone of Robert Frost poems. But it was my first hike ever, so cut a 2 year old some slack.

I'd like to be able to tell you all that I walked on my own for the the entire 1 mile hike, but as you can see, the photos prove otherwise.

We reached the gondola and went down the mountain to Vail Village. Checking the time, it was only 3PM so we did everything (including a short 30 minute stay up at Adventure Ridge) in about 2 hours.

Overall, I had a great afternoon being carried by hiking with my parents. I saw some dandelions and some cool rocks, which always makes for a great kid's day. But definitely put on some sunscreen before you venture out and bring some bottles of water. That Colorado sun can be pretty sneaky hot.

Bringing Family Together with Miles

About one year ago, my parents took me to South Korea to visit my father's side of the extended family (flights in business class and hotel paid for using United miles and Starwood points, of course). There I met some of my grandmother's sisters.

According to the internet, her sisters are my "third cousins, twice removed" or "great-aunts." I'm only 22 months old, so I'll go with "great-aunts."

My favorite great aunt (3rd person from the left in the photo) was so nice to us and took great care of me for the few days I was able to spend with her family. So I informed my grandmother that I'd like her sister to come visit me in the United States so that I could return her hospitality.

Luckily for us, a round trip flight from Asia to North America costs 65,000 United miles and about $47 dollars for taxes. Assuming you earned all the miles for free (which we did), my family only needed to come out of pocket for $47 for a flight that would normally retail at $1,900.

My great aunt doesn't speak great English, so having her flight connect somewhere would be a complication we weren't prepared for. So we had to search only for direct flights from Seoul Incheon Airport (ICN) to New York City.

Step 1 - Wikipedia.com

The two international airports in our area are John F Kennedy (JFK) and Newark Liberty International (EWR). After a quick search on each airport's Wikipedia page, we saw that the only direct fights from Seoul were on Asiana Airlines flying into JFK.

As you may know, Asiana is in the Star Alliance with United Airlines, so you can use your United miles to book Asiana flights.

Step 2 - United.com
Next, we went to United.com and started an Award Flight Search. If you're not sure how to do that, click on the following links:

• How to search for Star Alliance availability: Extra Pack of Peanuts' "Free Flight Primer." Of course, realize that the Continental.com website he's referring to is now the United Airlines website.
• How to search for just for non-stop flights on United.com: MileValue's "Tricking United.com's Award Calendar."

We were hoping to fly my great aunt in September to celebrate my grandmother's birthday, but unfortunately, there were no direct flights on miles for September or October, except for business and first class seats. But those premium seats cost 120,000 and 140,000 miles round trip, respectively, so that was a bit out of our miles price range.

We did find a non-stop flight in economy for early November though with a return flight 3 weeks later. Perfect!

But my grandmother's United account only had 29,738 miles, and she needed 65,000 for an economy ticket. Booking award seats is very time sensitive, because that award seat could be gone within a few hours if she didn't book it right away.

Step 3 - Chase.com/Ultimate Rewards
Fortunately, thanks to my father, my grandmother also had a bunch of Chase Ultimate Rewards points from signing up for a bunch of Chase credit cards over the past two years (Sapphire Preferred, Ink Bold and Ink Plus).

So we logged into her Chase UR account and transferred 36,000 UR points to her United MileagePlus account (since you have to transfer in increments of 1,000 points at a time). If you're not sure how to do that, click on this other Extra Pack of Peanut's website link ("How to Transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards Points").

Step 4 - Back to United.com
Now after logging back into her United MileagePlus account, she saw the new total of 65,738 United miles. Love those instant transfers! But keep in mind, not all Chase UR travel partners have instant transfers. See Million Mile Secrets' "Experiment" post about transferring Chase UR miles to all their partners to see how long it would complete.

Armed with 65k United miles in her account, she booked the direct flights she wanted for my great-aunt and input all the important info (full legal English name, date of birth, passport number, passport expiration date) and submitted. We paid for the $47 in taxes using our United-branded credit card (to earn 3x United miles) and in a few moments, we had a United Airlines confirmation code and ticket number for the Asiana Airlines flight.

Step 5 - Call Asiana Airlines
As I wrote just before, my grandmother now had a United confirmation number and United ticket number. However, we needed to make sure that Asiana had the ticket booked in their Asiana systems.

There have been several accounts (including my own in 2012) where you'd book a partner flight on United but the airline partner wouldn't know about it and travelers would actually show up to the airport without a ticket! In this case, because the flight is operated by Asiana ("flying on Asiana metal"), it's Asiana that needs to actually ticket the reservation, not United.

United's confirmation code is just their internal way to find your reservation. But Asiana has their own confirmation code for their internal systems.

To find the partner confirmation code on United's website, just click on your Reservation and then find the "View additional confirmation numbers" link at the top to find the partner airline code.

Then call up the operating airline (Asiana in this case) and give the representative the partner confirmation code so they can confirm that "the reservation is ticketed."

It's very important that you confirm that it's "ticketed," and not just that the reservation exists. I've personally shown up to the airport with my lap child reservation on Asiana (from Expedia.com), but didn't have an actual ticket to board the flight. Expedia charged us for two adult tickets, but not the lap child ticket, meaning my seat wasn't ticketed. So, my father had to pay on the spot for my ticket. Thankfully, my lap child ticket only ended up only being $80 for a San Francisco-Seoul flight.

Step 6 - Wait For November

Starwood Villa Timeshares

It's only been 2 nights, but we're loving the Westin Riverfront in Avon, Colorado. Since we're here in the last week of August, we're obviously not in peak ski season, so we've been enjoying the property and it's amenities without all the crowds.

My grandmother likes it so much that she's talking about coming back with the rest of my family every summer.

Funny she should mention that, because the Westin Riverfront is one of 19 Resort Villa properties in the Starwood Vacation Network (aka "Timeshares").

Since my father's a nerd about Starwood status and points a student of human nature who wants to learn better sales techniques, he agreed to attend the 90 minute Starwood Villas sales pitch yesterday morning while I was having breakfast with my grandmother. The gift for attending the meeting, was 11,000 SPG points (which he values at about $330). His other choice was a $175 Amex gift card, but last I checked, $330 is better than $175.

Timeshares
If you're not familiar with a Timeshare, it's basically like a co-op. If you're not familiar with a co-op, then you're probably not from New York City. But don't worry, no one's perfect.

Basically, it's buying (and owning) a fractional share of something that own the real estate property. In the case of a timeshare, you own the right to stay in one of the villas (condo style units) for 1 week every year...forever. If my father were to own a timeshare and pass away, I would inherit it get 1 week every year for the rest of my life. Sounds pretty sweet, right?

Well, not so fast. Like anything in life, a timeshare comes at a price. First, you have a big upfront payment to buy the unit. Second, you have to pay annual dues and maintenance...every year (I realize I already said "annual" but I wanted dramatic effect). Overall, this set up is not too dissimilar from owning any real estate, but it's a smaller asset. Instead of a full house or condo that you own for 52 weeks/year, this unit would be yours for only 1 week a year.

Starwood Vacation Network

At the Westin Riverfront Villas (or any other Starwood Villa property), you could purchase either (A) a studio villa, (B) a 1 bedroom villa or (C) a 2 bedroom villa (which is just a studio connected to a 1 bedroom, as seen here).

Unlike a regular hotel room, each villa will have a full kitchen, dining table, and washer/dryer, which make them much more family friendly than a traditional hotel room.

The upfront prices at the Westin Riverfront (during peak times called Platinum+) were as follows:

(A) Studio - $15,900
(B) 1 Bedroom - $28,900
(C) 2 Bedroom - $54,900

So for just $15,900, my father gets a week's vacation for the rest of his entire life and then can pass it down to his beloved daughter who can own it for my her entire life, etc.

StarOptions

But it's actually even better than that. The way the Starwood Villas program works is that you get Starwood StarOptions (similar to Starwood Hotel SPG points).

The StarOptions are awarded every year of your ownership and can be used at any of the 19 Starwood Vacation Properties for as many days as you can purchase. And like hotel prices, the cost in StarOptions fluctuates both during the year as well as during the week.

For example, the Studio (Platinum+) gives you 67,100 StarOptions a year.

• Those 67,100 StarOptions can get you 1 week in your Westin Riverfront Studio Villa during a peak Platinum+ week (January to mid-April, or Christmas-New Years). 
• But you could also choose to use 62,100 for 3 weeks (20,700/week) during low season Gold+ week (mid-April to end of May, or October to Thanksgiving).
• Or you could also choose a few random weeknights during peak season, a few long weekends in low season until you total 67,100 StarOptions.

So basically, for (A) $15,900 + (B) annual maintenance fees, you're buying the right to receive 67,100 StarOptions a year forever (or as long as you own the villa). How you choose to use those StarOptions each year is completely up to you. And if you don't use them all in the single year, you can roll over unused StarOptions, but only for 2 years before they expire.

But what if you don't want to spend a week every year in Avon, CO? 
Well, you can use your StarOptions to buy time in any of the other Starwood Vacation Properties, including properties in Arizona (2), California (2), Colorado (4), Florida (4), Hawaii (3), South Carolina (1), Bahamas (1), St. Johns (1) and Cancun (1).

But what if you don't want to go to those 19 Starwood Vacation Property resorts? 
Well, then you can "trade in" the week in your villa for a week in someone else's villa somewhere else in the world by using a 3rd party exchange company called IntervalWorld.com. And because you're exchanging a property from well-regarded Starwood, you should get a premium for your villa in terms of what you can receive in return (in theory).

But after I went online to the site and scanned through the villa options available, I didn't really find anything that my father would want to go to. Perhaps he's a hotel snob now that he made SPG Platinum, Hyatt Diamond, Hilton Gold and Marriott Gold, but it's hard for him to give up the VIP treatment he receives at these dependable U.S. chain hotels for a no-name resort (that may or may not live up to its Expedia photos).

But what if you don't want to go to any of those random villas?
Well, then you can convert your StarOptions to regular SPG points - the same SPG points that my father avidly collects like a fat kid in a candy store to use for our amazing vacations.

Using the SPG points, he can use them for any redemption he wants (free night awards, suite upgrades, cash & point redemptions, airline mile transfers, nights & flights redemptions, etc).

Unfortunately, it takes about 2 StarOptions to convert into 1 SPG point. So 67,100 StarOptions will convert to just 33,500 SPG points. And they also charge $130 for each conversion.

Other Perks
If my father signed up and made a 10% down payment (plus an additional $695 title/deed processing fee), he would have received the following welcome gifts:

1. Starwood Vacation Owner Gold Status - same SPG Gold status benefits (enhanced room upgrade, free wifi, late checkout), BUT he would start each year with 10 stays and 25 nights of credit. Therefore, to reach Platinum again next year, he would only need 15 stays or 25 nights in a calendar year (instead of starting from zero and needing 25 stays or 50 nights).

Plus since he already had both the Starwood American Express Personal and Business cards, he already started each year with 4 stays and 10 nights of credit. So combined, he would only need 11 stays or 15 nights to reach Platinum status. Very interesting to a Status Whore like my father.

2. SPG Points - for buying at the Studio villa right away, he would also receive a gift of 60,000 SPG points that would be worth about $1,200-$1,800 to my father (assuming a 2-3 cent/pt redemption value). Had he bought a 1 bedroom villa or a 2 bedroom villa, it would have been 90,000 or 100,000 SPG points, respectively (worth $1,800-$3,000).

3. SPG Point Purchase Option - and finally, he would receive two options to purchase up to 100,000 SPG points each for $1,900 (for a total of up to 200,000 for $3,800). While this purchase price of 1.9 cents/SPG point is relatively attractive (since my father can usually redeem for 3-6 cents/pt), it's not attractive enough to fork over $15,900 + fees.

Asians Love Math
Let's ignore the bribe welcome gifts for now. So thinking about it another way, you're paying (A) $15,900 upfront PLUS (B) annual maintenance fees (about $2,500/year) PLUS (C) a $130 conversion fee for a perpetual stream of 33,500 SPG points every year for as long as you own the timeshare. But take a look at (B) again.

Paying $2,500/year after 6 years will be $15,000 (almost the same as the purchase price). After 10 years, it will be $25,000. Owning a timeshare that gives us just 1 vacation week a year will end up costing $100,000 after 40 years by the time my father's in his 70's (and that's assuming no inflation on the maintenance fee). And that, folks, is how Starwood makes their profit. "Give away the razor and sell the razor blades."

Of course, my nerdy father pulled out his Excel (no, that's not a euphemism) and started creating spreadsheets. Based on his math, he was essentially buying SPG points for about 10-12 cents / pt (after 5 years of ownership), gradually going down to 3-4 cents / pt after 60 years of ownership. Um, thanks but no thanks!

Instead of prepaying for a stream of illiquid hotel points that will eventually be devalued at some point in the next 60 years, we'll just continue watching my father open up SPG American Express credit cards each year for a free 25,000-30,000 SPG points every time, plus using Amazon Payments to get another free 24,000 SPG points every year.

Maybe we won't have a kitchen, dining table, or washer/dryer, but 48,000 SPG points gets us 5 free nights at a pretty nice Category 5 Starwood hotel (like this Westin Riverfront Resort & Spa). Did I mention this would all come 100% FREE?

And that $15,900 that we didn't spend today will just go back into my college fund to pay for my expensive future Princeton tuition.

Do you think this Starwood Vacation Network is a good deal? Does anyone who bought into a Starwood villa want to share their experiences?

Westin Westminster

Hotel Stay Details
Hotel: Westin Westminster
Dates: August 24-25, 2013 
Rate Paid: $134 / night 
Total $ Savings: $0 
Points Earned: 595 SPG Points
Platinum $ Value Received: $35

Since we were visiting my new friends Calvin and Kyle in Boulder, we decided to just spend the night somewhere close by instead of driving 2.5 hours all the way out to Avon/Beaver Creek. Boulder didn't have any Starwood hotels, but we found a Westin in nearby Westminster.

As you can see from the map below, despite the website saying it's a "Boulder hotel," the Westin is actually a 30 minute drive southeast of Boulder proper. But fortunately, it's a very easy drive (99% is just driving south on I-36).


However, since we were going to head south on I-36 anyway to get to Avon/Beaver Creek the next day, the Westminster location ended up being convenient for us. And additionally, the hotel was pretty great for a non-resort.

Booking
My father double-dipped again using the Chase Ultimate Rewards Shopping Portal to earn 2x points on his stay. But in the past, his Starwood Hotel purchases often haven't given him Chase UR credit automatically like other purchases. Several times, he has had to contact Chase to get credit and has failed a few times since the charge was put on his Starwood SPG American Express card (to earn an extra 2x SPG points) instead of a Chase credit card. So the Chase customer representative couldn't (or wouldn't) verify that the hotel purchase was completed and wouldn't award him any UR points. But I digress.

However, he did book the reservation using the AAA rate like he did for the Princeton Westin last weekend. Again, they didn't ask to see his AAA Membership card, but your results may vary. This AAA rate was $119 plus tax and was the same as the advance prepaid rate, but with the AAA rate, we could cancel anytime before 24 hours without any penalty. The regular refundable rate was about $15-20 higher.

Check In

Since we were going to visit our friends in Boulder, we only stopped by the Westin along the drive up I-36 (around 3:30PM) just to check in and secure our room (and upgrade?), but then continued on our way up to Boulder. The plan was to meet my father's friend for an early dinner and then return later that evening. Upon entering, you couldn't help but be impressed with the massive open lobby area. Walking through the main space, you saw the entrance to the hotel restaurant Kachina to the left.

My father however, took the right turn and saw the front desk to check in. When it was his turn, he asked the front desk if his Platinum status showed up in their systems (his passive aggressive way of asking for the complimentary room upgrade to a suite). The computer still showed his Gold status, because that was his status at the time of booking. But after the front desk clicked a few things, they found his Platinum status and offered him his choice of welcome amenities (500 SPG points, free continental breakfast or a local gift).

If you're new to SPG Platinum status (like we were), you should follow these instructions to maximize your welcome benefits:

1. First ask if they have a lounge and if it's open during your stay. SPG Platinum guests get access to the club lounge where they will often have breakfast served each morning. So in this case, go for the 500 SPG points (or the local gift) since you'll get breakfast anyway.

2. If they don't have a lounge open, then ask what the breakfast gift gets you. The cheaper strict hotels are obligated to only give you a continental breakfast (cereal, pastries and fruit). If that's all you get, you really can't complain, because that's what the rules state. Then you need to decide if that's worth foregoing 500 SPG points or not. Personally, I value 500 SPG points at least $10-15, but can often redeem for up to $30 of value. But for longer stays, it may be worth getting free bagels, fruit and juice for the family each morning.

3. However, several hotels care more about your guest experience instead of just reluctantly complying to Starwood rules, so they'll offer you an enhanced breakfast option (either a full hot breakfast at their restaurant or a voucher/coupon for a set $ amount for you to use as you see fit).

In our case, we had #3. The Westin Westminster's breakfast amenity was a voucher for 2 people to get $12 breakfast credit each at the hotel restaurant, Kachina. So we could order whatever we wanted and get $24 taken off our breakfast bill. That's pretty generous given most items on Kachina's diverse breakfast menu (also seen here) were $10-15.

Room
We originally booked a traditional room with a double bed. We were eligible for a complimentary room upgrade, but the Westin Westminster "didn't have any suites available" that night. Apparently they had 5 weddings at the hotel that weekend.

Sometimes hotels just say that no suites are available, but we had already confirmed that online before we arrived, so we didn't challenge their claim. Nevertheless, we were only staying 1 night (after getting into our room after 9PM) so we didn't really need much space for less than 18 hours, 50% of which, we'd be asleep.

As you can see below, the traditional room was pretty basic with the standard desk, flat screen television and basic bathroom. The Westin Heavenly beds were exceptionally comfortable though, and my grandmother was adamant that the room was meaningfully cleaner than the Marriott Denver West we stayed at the night before. Personally, I couldn't tell the difference, but as a 22 month old, all I cared about was the stuffed butterfly toy they had on the bed. But for $18, my mother wasn't interested me taking it with us.

We also used the wifi in the room which was very strong and consistent, though we had to re-log in each time we switched devices. Normally, wifi would cost about $11 per 24 hours, but it came free for having SPG elite status. They accidentally charged it to our room when we checked out, but took it off when my father pointed it out before running the credit card. Always pays to check the bill.

Unfortunately, we didn't have time to check out the other hotel amenities like the swimming pool or the Westminster Butterfly Pavilion across the street. But we'll definitely make sure to come back to the Westin next time we're visiting Boulder.

Hotel Staff Service
I can't speak about the daily housekeeping services since we were only there for a single night, but the rest of the hotel staff was simply amazing. I've been to a lot of hotels in my short 2 years of life, but this hotel had the friendliest service (baby) hands down. And I'm pretty sure this type of customer treatment had nothing to do with status because most people we interacted with had no clue we were anything other than regular guests. Little did they know, my Lap Child Diaries travel blog reaches tens of people every morning.

Nevertheless, every single person we interacted with (from the Front Desk to the Bellman to the Restaurant Server) was exceptionally warm and cordial. Basically, they didn't just treat you like a VIP guest, but more like like you were a personal friend. They asked about your day and actually paused to hear your answer. They engaged you in a meaningful conversation that you'd remember 10 minutes later. Everyone there just had a lot of Colorado charm.

Our favorite staff interaction was with the Kachina server at breakfast. He seemed like the type that was moonlighting as a comedian or actor. Despite it being 9AM on a Sunday morning, he was very outgoing, cracked funny jokes, and (my father's favorite) had strong views on his favorite menu items. His suggestion for my father, the Duck Confit Hash with Eggs and Homestyle Potatoes (just $12) was outstanding.

But then again, everyone's meal was quite excellent and reasonably priced, especially for being a hotel restaurant. My mother had the Bright Salad (seasonal greens, mint, cilantro, sage, jicama, grapefruit, red chile, smoked tomato vinaigrette) and my mother had the exceptionally tasty Huevos Rancheros. Including a diet coke and a side of delicious bacon, the total bill came out to $33 total for three adults. But after our $24 Platinum breakfast credit (see above), it came out to just $9! Pretty sweet.

Best of all, breakfast was free for kids under 8 eating from the kid's menu. I had a choice of Belgian waffles, pancakes, mac and cheese or about 5 other delicious choices, but my mother ordered me the plain eggs and potatoes, because usually I LOVE eggs. As you can see, I was a little bit disappointed that I didn't get to eat from the Make Your Own Pancake bar they had available. But my demanding Asian father just told me to use this experience as incentive to learn to talk sooner.