Greetings Community Southwest!
Starting this weekend, SoCalFlyer97 has a marathon line-up of Southwest Hotels Rapid Rewards Points Plus reservations all booked up through the end of April. Seven hotels, Eleven nights to be exact...a third of the month spent away from home. Two hotels involving a pair of roundtrip Southwest flights.
To those who frequent my posts, I stay at all kinds of hotels and different brands with just about all of them booked via Southwest Hotels or RocketMiles with the Free Cancelation option thanks to the thousands of Companion Pass-Eligible Rapid Reward Points that I can redeem toward flights. I do have scheduled business at all of these locations; I'm not just racking up airline points here.
Just like my marathon run from last October...
...there's a mix of both big chain and smaller independent inns that have my name on it.
In the coming days, I'll be posting updates in this thread of both the fights and the hotel experiences ranging from the booking process, value of points received versus money spent, and the actual stay experience. I've done several bookings through Southwest Hotels in the past year and have not had any serious problem that went unresolved. The only goof-up I experienced thus far was when I booked a room via Southwest Hotels only to learn on check-in day that the hotel relocated literally one parcel to the west and the computer booked me at the old property's location which was operating under another brand upon arrival but with the same advertised amenities.
Other than that...I've had zero issues with SW Hotels. Will this continue?
Hotel #1 will be in Corona CA. Which one will it be? Hint: SoCalFlyer97 has stayed there before and published the experience here on this board. Stay tuned.
Greetings!
SoCalFlyer97's April '24 line up of Southwest Flights & Hotels is underway. To start things off, I fulfilled a single-night Southwest Hotels stay in Corona CA at a local Holiday Inn for job training, booked through Southwest Hotels in return for 2,000 Rapid Rewards points.
This location for the second consecutive time assigned me a room that turned out to be an 'upgrade' to their King Suite at no additional charge. I get the 'news' upon entering the room...nothing mentioned at the desk. Not sure what the causes this perk but...Free Upgrade...Nice!
Perhaps IHG knows I'm an A-Lister and wants to give me some extra perks--just kidding. I think the hotel wasn't able to rent out these suites and decided to place the single-nighters into the suites so they can rent out the remaining available standard rooms for those staying longer--my guess as I don't work in the hotel industry; I could be wrong.
Had no issues at all with booking and check-in. Incidentals deposit was $100.
A gorgeous sunset provided a key highlight of this stay.
LUV'n the free hot breakfast too:
Next on the Line Up: A Southwest flight from ONT-OAK and back combined with a 3-night hotel stay in Norco CA...not too far from ONT. Stay tuned!
Greetings Everybody!
SoCalFlyer97 continues his April '24 line up of Southwest Flights and Hotels. The next leg of this journey takes us from ONT-OAK and back for some business with same-day return, booked during a Wanna Get Away Sale--$39 each way. I was able to lock in this sale at my convenience airport at ONT which is a rare treat.
The departing flight was aboard Plane #N8578Q, a 737-8H4. On time with two pre-boards out of Gate 404--don't get yourself caught with "File not found" here.
Flight was only 34% filled; that meant everybody spreads out. In fact, only ten people were permitted to sit in the first ten rows of the plane; everybody else in the back. What was really nice was the plane had blue beacon lights indicating where passengers were allowed to sit. That meant if the seat offered the Blue Light Special, it was up for grabs.
The San Antonio Reservoir gleams in beauty near the Dublin area during final descent.
After taking care of some business, I took the BART into San Francisco and went into Fisherman's Wharf, thinking, "Hey, it's mid-morning in the middle of the workweek...This place won't be at all crowded...". I was wrong.
It turns out that not one but two cruise ships made stops in the bay and flooded the zone with tourists.
With the Ruby Princess docked at Pier 27 and the MS Europa 2 at Pier 35, it looked like a typical weekend crowd. And I took a glance at both of those ships and there were some tourists onboard both; thus both boats were in full service.
BART's train status monitors in downtown San Francisco getting modernized...My ride back to OAK will be an 8-car train due in four minutes...Nice!
Taking the BART Beige Line cable APM into OAK costs about three times than it would taking AC Transit Bus 73 from the Coliseum BART Station. Ordinarily, I would take the bus to save on ground transportation expenses...
Except...in this case...let's spend the money and take the quicker route! By, the way everything looked peaceful from above Oakland's Hegenberger Road. Back in January, this area was receiving all kinds of national media attention and business closures due to widespread property and vehicle crime at the gas stations and restaurants back then.
The return flight was on a 737-700 aboard Plane #N202WN. On time departure and about 65% full. Four pre-boards.
It was not cloudy above San Francisco. That meant great views at the 10,000' mark.
Up next: My 3-night hotel stay in Norco CA...not too far from ONT which involved some questionable Southwest Hotels Points Plus deals that originally popped up during the booking phase. Stay tuned for those reports...
Hello Everybody!
SoCalFlyer97's April '24 line up of Southwest Flights and Hotels continues with a 3-night weekend stay in Norco CA which is a short distance to ONT. As most travelers know, both airfare and hotel rates during the bookends of the calendar typically price higher and my place of business was no exception.
Thankfully, Southwest Hotels powered through Booking.com allows me to shop around for deals. Most cases, I can lock in terrific rates combined with huge Rapid Rewards payouts. Other times, the deal is not so great. And I had a small case of that when I booked this stay.
When I did the initial search of the area for the nights required and reviewed the Free Cancelation booking options, a top-tier, independent regional hotel located just south of Norco popped up as a Points Plus property for $580.75 after taxes/fees for the weekend with 5,000 points. I was tempted buy this; 5k is a lot of points. This hotel had solid ratings. However before I finalized the booking, I do a price comparison just to make sure--and I was glad I did:
Ayres Hotel Corona East
(All prices include Free Cancellation, taxes and fees):
SW Hotels: $580.75 / 5,000 Points
RocketMiles: $589.82 / 4,000 Points
Direct: $493.62
Trivago Lowest Price: $493.62
While the 5,000 points was generous, so was the mark-up which added up to $87.13 more than booking direct which appeared fair at first considering 5k CP-Eligible Points is a nice payout but the tradeoff was a bit on the high side in my opinion. RockMiles' deal had even a higher mark-up; a $96.20 mark-up than booking direct for 4,000 points. I opted not to buy this and went back to the Southwest Hotels search.
Travel Tip: Make the time to price-compare not only different hotels but the different booking portals to lock in the best deal.
Time for Round 2. The next hotel that popped up on the list that grabbed my attention was a Fairfield Inn & Suites for $483.07 after taxes/fees for the weekend.
Upon reviewing, the location was more convenient, rated well, supported free cancellation, and the hotel amenities were right on par with my first search:
Fairfield Inn & Suites Riverside Corona/Norco
(includes taxes/fees):
SW Hotels/Rocket: $483.07 / 3,000 Points
Trivago Lowest Price: $483.91
Direct: $545.97 w/ Loyalty
You read that right...for this listing, Southwest Hotels had the lowest price of the booking site competition and offered 3,000 Rapid Rewards points. SOLD.
Check-in at the Marriott's Fairfield went smoothly. Incidentals deposit was nice too...Only $20 per night; $60 held for the stay. Free guest parking was on the honor system; no need to submit plate numbers or place a ticket on the dash.
And nice hot breakfasts too for free.
Between this stay and my previous stay at the Corona Holiday Inn, the combined points received was enough to redeem a one-way flight from SAN to LAS to take place later this summer. I would consider the Southwest Hotels Points Plus deals if you're looking for points. Just remember, the points credit into the Rapid Rewards account after the stay and normally takes about a week for Plus Points properties.
Next on the Line Up: SoCalFlyer97 has training in Corona once again with another good deal locked in at another nearby Marriott property followed by a separate upcoming Southwest trip to LAS. Stay tuned for those reports.
Greetings everybody!
SoCalFlyer97's April '24 hotel line up makes its next stop in Corona at another Marriott property dubbed the Residence Inn. Let me be upfront and forthright: This was probably one of the best 'luxury' deals I ran across on Southwest Hotels. That's because rooms at the Corona Residence Inn are Extended Stay, full-fledged single bedroom apartment-style suites with a full furnished kitchen complete with dishware, and separate living space. Room Rates can often run in excess of $200 per night plus taxes/fees/parking at this hotel with the maximum rate being a full grand.
However, when I did my hotel shopping last month for this area for a Friday night's stay, Southwest Hotels posted a rate in addition to giving away 1,000 points that not only beat the competing booking sites but even the standard room rates at nearby competing hotels.
Residence Inn Marriott, Corona
(prices shown include $10/night parking and all taxes/fees, free cancellation)
Southwest Hotels: $177.58 / 1,000 Points
RocketMiles: Not Available
Direct w/ Loyalty: $187.41
Trivago Lowest Price: $196.32
Essentially, the SW Hotels rate was $10 less than the loyalty rate, $19 less than the lowest price offered by Trivago, and I got back a nice 1,000 Rapid Rewards bonus. And for only $177.58 total on a Friday night, SoCalFlyer97 spent the night in a furnished luxury suite.
Spoiler alert: My remaining hotel reservations for this month April won't even come close. This is as 'luxurious' as this series will get until Southwest Hotels offers something else like this for my future needs.
Anyway, check-in at the Marriott's Residence Inn went smoothly with no glitches whatsoever with Southwest Hotels. Reservation was found. Incidentals deposit was $150...a little high for a single night but considering that I'm basically renting an apartment for the night, this high amount for the hold was understandable. As mentioned, the hotel charged $10/night for parking with the hotel issuing a paper dash permit. Even with tolled parking, the deal was still great.
How about an A1 boarding spot aboard the lift too...okay, it was only me waiting for this ride.
Sheltered from the cool breeze through Santa Ana Canyon means a warm dip in John Marriott's pool.
And yes...hot breakfast on the house!
Next on the Line Up: SoCalFlyer97 returns to LAS with a planned stay at the Old 'haunted' Apache Hotel once again.
It looks like the happy haunts supposedly dwelling above the Binion's Casino may have been playing around with Apache's hotel listing the last few weeks on both SW Hotels and Booking.com during a routine price check...Did they manage to 'break' to booking site? How did SoCalFlyer respond to this "ghostly" encounter?
Stay tuned for those reports.