{"id":1416,"date":"2012-08-13T21:31:27","date_gmt":"2012-08-14T01:31:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/boardingarea.com\/blogs\/verygoodpoints\/?p=1416"},"modified":"2013-04-23T13:36:14","modified_gmt":"2013-04-23T17:36:14","slug":"the-best-and-worst-starwood-hotels-enter-to-win-3000-spg-points-traveltuesday-spglife-starwoodbuzz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/first2board.com\/verygoodpoints\/2012\/08\/13\/the-best-and-worst-starwood-hotels-enter-to-win-3000-spg-points-traveltuesday-spglife-starwoodbuzz\/","title":{"rendered":"The Best and Worst Starwood Hotels – Enter to Win 3,000 @SPG points! #TravelTuesday #SPGLife @StarwoodBuzz"},"content":{"rendered":"

Contest now closed\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

In honor of my 100th night at Starwood this year, and at the suggestion of several readers, I thought I’d put together a summary of best and worst Starwood properties – in my opinion. \u00a0And to make the celebration even more fun, I’m giving away more Starpoints! \u00a0That’s right, you can win 3,000 Starpoints. \u00a0Just check out the contest rules at the bottom of this post.<\/p>\n

So here it goes…<\/p>\n

The Best<\/h1>\n

The Best of the\u00a0United States:<\/h3>\n

Arizona –<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The Phoenician Scottsdale<\/p><\/div>\n

The Phoenician Scottsdale\u00a0<\/a>– I love the Phoenician you can read my review here.<\/a> \u00a0The property is beautiful and the hotel is a great place for a family get-a-way or a soul-searching, self-indulgent weekend of\u00a0serenity. \u00a0The restaurants are wonderful. \u00a0J&G Steakhouse is spectacular! \u00a0The spa is a great escape and worth a visit. \u00a0Hotel Website<\/a><\/p>\n

The W Scottsdale – The W is a trendy and modern hotel where everyone who wants to be seen can be seen. \u00a0Of course I love this hotel because there is a BlissSpa! \u00a0The sushi restaurant is also quite good! \u00a0Don’t visit the W if you want low key holiday..but if you want a party, this is your spot! Hotel Website\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

New Orleans –<\/p>\n

W New Orleans French Quarter – I love the W NO French Quarter. It’s such a cool hotel right in the heart the city. The pool is a great place to hang out and the service is always wonderful! \u00a0Hotel Website<\/a><\/p>\n

New York –<\/p>\n

Le Parker Meridien – What an absolutely great hotel. \u00a0The l0cation is great for any NYC trip and the the hotel has two of my favorite restaurants – Norma’s and The Burger Joint. \u00a0The rooms are modern and many have spectacular views. \u00a0You just can’t go wrong with the Parker Meridien. \u00a0Hotel Website\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The St Regis New York – I knew I wouldn’t be disappointed by the St Regis NY and I wasn’t. \u00a0This could easily be the best Starwood property in my mind. \u00a0The location is great. The service is stellar. The rooms are amazing and the restaurants are delicious. \u00a0Staying at the St Regis is like a dream come true! \u00a0Hotel Website\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

The Best of Australia –<\/h3>\n

The Westin Sydney – what a gem of a hotel. The hotel is in a great building that is both modern and historical and is so charming. \u00a0The service is great and the bathtubs, well, they’re amazing! Hotel Website\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Turndown service at St Regis Bangkok<\/p><\/div>\n

The Best of Thailand –<\/h3>\n

The St Regis Bangkok – This was my introduction to the St Regis brand and needless to say, it was love at first stay. The St Regis is awesome! \u00a0You have to check it out yourself some day to really get a feel for the difference. \u00a0Hotel Website\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

The Le Meridien Bangkok – Modern, trendy, hip…all the things a LM should be. \u00a0I fell in love with the Jean George eye openers here and was so impressed by the breakfasts. \u00a0LM Bangkok sets the bar! \u00a0Hotel Website\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There are many other great Starwood hotels that get honorable mentions – the list is really quite long! \u00a0But the ones above are the ones that I’ve deemed the best. \u00a0 This list will always grow as I stay at more and more Starwood hotels.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Worst –<\/h2>\n

luckily this is a short list because I’ve had really good luck and good experiences with Starwood which is probably why I’ve stayed 100 nights this year alone! \u00a0 I really could only come up with two bad hotels in all my Starwood nights (which lifetime to date is almost 500!)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Dust under the desk<\/p><\/div>\n

Element Arundel Mills – I’ve never been to a dirtier hotel. The amount of dust under the desk was appalling. It was so bad, infact, that the housekeeping manager held her daily meeting in my room to show the team. \u00a0Nothing was really as clean as it could have been and so, \u00a0I could never return after that experience (Pictured Right)<\/p>\n

The Sheraton Parsippany – I stayed at this hotel for about 30 nights last year (2011.) The hotel will go down in my history books as one of the most cursed hotels. Every week was something new – pipes broke and there was no water, hot water tank broke and there was no hot water, air conditioning was broken…you name it and I’m sure it broke while I was there. \u00a0To make matters worse, the hotel was in desperate need of renovation – they started renovations just as my project there ended. \u00a0Service was terrible too – I can count at least three\u00a0occasions\u00a0where I was given keys to a room that was already occupied. \u00a0I wasn’t the only one this happened to, it regularly happened\u00a0to my colleagues too. \u00a0For this reason, I can’t go back.<\/p>\n

Your turn\u00a0Contest now closed\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

Want to know who won? \u00a0Check out this post<\/a><\/span><\/span> to see who won the 3,000 Starpoints!<\/span><\/h2>\n

Who wouldn’t like a few thousand extra Starpoint? \u00a0You can enter to win 3,000 Starpoints (enough for a free night at a category 1 hotel or an upgrade at a category 1 or category 2 hotel).<\/p>\n

To enter, leave a comment with a Starwood hotel that should be added to the best or worst list. \u00a0You have to provide a reason why it belongs on that list. \u00a0 The winner will be selected at random on Friday Aug 17 at 5pm EST. \u00a0Good luck!<\/p>\n

Rules<\/p>\n

    \n
  • You must be a resident of the United States of America \u00a0– I am unable to administer contests in other countries. \u00a0(sorry, it\u2019s not my rule! Complain to your government, not me.)<\/li>\n
  • You must be at least 18 years of age.<\/li>\n
  • Contest ends at 5pm EST Aug 17 2012 \u2013 \u00a0all entries submitted after that time will not be eligible .<\/strong><\/li>\n
  • You must be a member of Starwood Preferred Guest for a minimum of fourteen days before being able to receive Starpoints<\/li>\n
  • You may register for free to become a member of of Starwood Preferred Guest and you can register on the same day that you claim your prize if you\u2019re not a member<\/li>\n
  • A Starwood Preferred Guest account may receive up to a\u00a0maximum\u00a0of 20,000 Starpoints per account per calendar year, whether purchased by the member or received as a gift from another member or source. \u00a0If you have already purchased or received 17,000 points or more this year, you are not eligible (sorry, Starwood\u2019s rule, not mine)<\/li>\n
  • Starpoints you purchase do not count towards preferred status<\/li>\n
  • There is no affiliation between Starwood and VeryGoodPoints<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Contest now closed\u00a0 In honor of my 100th night at Starwood this year, and at the suggestion of several readers, I thought I’d put together a summary of best and worst Starwood properties – in my opinion. \u00a0And to make…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[742,22],"tags":[745],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Best and Worst Starwood Hotels - Enter to Win 3,000 @SPG points! #TravelTuesday #SPGLife @StarwoodBuzz - VeryGoodPoints<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/first2board.com\/verygoodpoints\/2012\/08\/13\/the-best-and-worst-starwood-hotels-enter-to-win-3000-spg-points-traveltuesday-spglife-starwoodbuzz\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"The Best and Worst Starwood Hotels - Enter to Win 3,000 @SPG points! 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