Triangle Trip

As Captain G mentioned in his earlier post Starwood currently has a stay 2 stays get 1 weekend night promotion.  There are more reasons to take advantage of this promotion as Starwood is also offering 1000 Delta miles or 1000 Northwest miles with each stay.  The only catch here is that not all Starwood properties are participating in the 1000 Delta/Northwest miles promotion.  Here is a list of the participating Starwood properties.

Also, regarding the Priority Club free weekend nights promotion that I touched upon in my previous post, I recently read the fine print and realized the free weekend nights are in lieu of Priority Club points.  This essentially means you will not be receiving Priority Club points during this promotion period.  More reasons to stay at Starwood instead.

Before July 3rd, I am going to stay at least 10 nights at a Crowne Plaza hotel.  Why you ask?  There are two highly enticing offers that have caused to me switch temporarily from Starwood to Crowne Plaza in particular, especially if you golf:

1) Stay 2 nights at a Priority Club hotel (ie. Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, Intercontinental) and get a free night at Priority Club hotels (ie. Intercontinental). You’ll get a max of 4 free nights.  Here is the link to this offer.  See Captain G’s post regarding this offer.

2) Bonus of 1000 points per NIGHT when you use AMEX to pay for your stay at a Crowne Plaza hotel.  And along the way earn Callaway golf equipment.  You’ll get a sleeve of Callaway Golf Tour iX balls shipped to the address you have on file after the first night.  Each successive Callaway award according to the fine print will be fulfilled in the form of a Callaway Golf Gift Card.  Ten nights will give me the equivalent of a sleeve of Callaway Golf Tour iX balls, another dozen Callaway Golf Tour iX balls, and a Callaway X-Forged Wedge. The rest of the details of the offer are here.

If you are a travel expert and are familiar with Starwood hotel brands, you would always choose to stay at a Westin over a Sheraton. However if you are ever stuck at one of the worst airports in the US, you should pick the LAX Sheraton over the LAX Westin. The other SPG property around LAX is the ghetto Four Points which you should not even consider.

So why is the LAX Sheraton (known as Sheraton Gateway) better than the LAX Westin? Below is a detailed analysis:

1.  Room – The Sheraton Gateway rooms are newer top to bottom compared to the Westin LAX. The LAX Sheraton has newer bathrooms, flat screen LCD TV and newer carpets. The LAX Westin still has big old tube TV with dirty carpets and dingy bathrooms.

2.  Club Lounge – The LAX Sheraton Club Lounge offers free breakfast with oatmeal, fresh fruit, cereal, broiled eggs, coffee and juice. They also offer cocktail in the evenings. The LAX Westin has a lounge that only offers coffee and tea throughout the day. Internet is also spotty inside the LAX Westin.

3.  Food/Bar – Shula’s restaurant is inside the Sheraton Gateway. Enough said… The LAX Westin is on par with the Sheraton Gateway bar, but it cannot be compared to having Shula 347 Grill inside the hotel.

4.  Shuttle buses from airport – I think the shuttle buses are operated by the same operator but there seems to be more buses that go to/from the LAX Sheraton than the LAX Westin. Perhaps it is because the LAX Sheraton is closer to the airport. I also noticed the LAX Westin buses are more full as many people use the LAX Westin Parking facility as an alternative to expensive LAX Airport Parking but more convenient than LAX long term parking.

5.  Price – Although the Sheraton Gateway and Westin at LAX are similar in price, you would assume to get more amenities when you are at a Westin. With corporate/client discounts, the LAX Sheraton is at times cheaper than the Westin. Despite the being the weaker brand, the Sheraton at LAX will give you a better value.

The above reasons are why you will see the LAX Sheraton Gateway is a Starwood Category 3 hotel and the LAX Westin is only a Starwood Category 2 hotel.