Choice Privileges

Review: Grand Cayman Comfort Suites & Resort

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Upon booking 6 nights at the Holiday Inn Resort Grand Cayman, we elected to “save the best for last” with two nights at the Grand Cayman Comfort Suites & Resort.

We had used up some old points via a US Bank credit card promo, and secured our nights at roughly $250 per night. What is ludicrous is that you can get a room for closer to $150 per night when booking on your own, though there are other charges like resort and energy fees that get tacked onto the rate, bringing it back up in cost. Considering that the Holiday Inn was only around $110 per night (plus resort and energy fees), it was quite the splurge to stay at the Comfort Suites.

The Comfort Suites is located along Seven Mile Beach, but is not beach front, as there is another hotel directly in front of it.

We had ordered a two queen bedroom for our stay. Since we were checking out of the Holiday Inn and into the Comfort Suites, we arranged with them in advance to allow us an early check in around 11:00 am, which was incredibly generous of them, and helpful to us since we had milk and some other items we needed to get into a fridge.

The staff was incredibly nice and helpful at the Comfort Suites on many instances. However, as soon as we entered the room, we had regretted our ever leaving the Holiday Inn.

What the Comfort Suites has on location, they are lacking in every other regard.

Our room was located on the first floor adjacent to the gym, which was no big deal, as it made access to the pool incredibly easy. Plus the hotel really does not have any “views” worth upgrading to since the ocean view is blocked by another hotel.

However, the room was incredibly small, at least compared to what we were used to over at the Holiday Inn. There was old carpet in the room, the “suite” aspect was completely lost apparently as there was a small bar area with sink and mini fridge, but that was about it. The furniture was incredibly cheap and dated, with a horrible layout, making it next to impossible to get into the second bed without crawling up into it.

150706 Comfort Suites Grand Cayman (1)

150706 Comfort Suites Grand Cayman (2)

150706 Comfort Suites Grand Cayman (3)

The bathroom was just as pitiful with the door practically hitting you in the knees when using the toilet, a very basic shower, and horrible water pressure.

I am not sure if the reason our room might have been so poor was because we got such an early check in and it was the only room available; however, in talking to a worker who was cleaning apparently the workers suite across the hall, lots of the room looked like ours.

Our family had never stayed in a Comfort Suites prior, and this experience was certainly good enough reason to never stay in one again. While we traditionally stick with more budget friendly hotels like Holiday Inns (IHG), Hampton Inns (Hilton), and even Club Carlson, the Comfort Suites was definitely a step down in room quality.

What was surprising though is that the rest of the hotel was rather nice. The hotel offered a free breakfast, which was good, and money saving. The outdoor pool area and landscaping were beautifully maintained and serene. There was easy beach access with lounge chairs and umbrellas. The food at the onsite Stingrays restaurant was good. It is just that the rooms were terrible!

150706 Comfort Suites Grand Cayman (4)

Not to mention, after requesting a crib in the room on the reservation, stopping in the day before our visit, and twice the day of checking in, we still did not get a crib in the room. It was only after I went down and requested one a fourth time was I told there would be a $15 per night charge for a crib. What? No where did we ever see this supplemental charge when booking, or the number of times we previously discussed about needing a crib. Let alone this was the first hotel I was ever being told we were going to be charged for needing a crib. What is also surprising is their website states “children 14 under stay free when with a paying adult.”

Fortunately, about questioning it, they waived the charges. Otherwise, we might have just checked out then and headed back over to the Holiday Inn.

The other pro of actually staying at the Comfort Suites is it was booked with lots of other families, which made it really easy for our kids to enjoy the company of others.

They also offer an easy towel service, allowing you to get towels, use them, and swap them out as needed.

I am sorry to say, while there are pros of being so close to the beach, especially for those without a vehicle, the Comfort Suites sadly was not well received by our family. Maybe it was because we were granted such an amazing stay over at the Holiday Inn, but surely when guests are paying a premium to be located over on Seven Mile Beach, the room should be adequately appointed, even for a “budget” hotel.

Sadly, we do not recommend staying at the Comfort Suites Grand Cayman unless you are without a vehicle and/or need to have immediate access of Seven Mile Beach. For our family, who was out exploring the island for the majority of the trip, the Comfort Suites was a major disappointment when it was expected to be the surprise ending.

141221 Cambria Suites Avon, Ohio

Cambria Suites, Avon, Ohio

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Our family’s passion for travel means we spend a good deal of time throughout the year in hotels. While we live in a nice home in a residential suburb of Cleveland, and have a shared development Olympic size pool, our kids love the adventure of not only new travel locations, but also new hotels.

As soon as we get to the doorsteps of a new hotel, our kids favorite thing to do is grab a luggage cart and ride along with all of our belongings to our room. It then is only a matter of time when our family is all in our bathing suits and headed down to the pool.

So it came as no surprise when our middle son was turning 3 years old earlier this year, and requested a hotel pool party with the family. Our family used points to rent a room at the Staybridge Suites near Akron, Ohio, and had a great time entertaining family and giving our son a great time.

Since that time, we have now had countless requests to have another hotel pool party in 2015. So we have been keeping an eye on what options we have within a reasonable vicinity for our families to meet.

As luck would have it, a brand new Cambria Suites recently opened in Avon, Ohio. So I recently paid them a visit and arranged a private tour of the property to check out the rooms as amenities.

Most important amenity for our family is the pool. The hotel features an indoor pool and jacuzzi, adjacent to a fitness center.

141221 Cambria Suites Avon, Ohio

Next, we took a look at four different room types.

First, was a corner room king bed suite. Most of the rooms we saw were brand new and had yet to even have anybody stay in them. The bedroom was separated by a small wall with a small sitting area. Both rooms featured flat screen TVs. The bathrooms were large and modern with walk-in showers. The room also featured a small kitchenette area with fridge, sink and microwave.

141221 Cambria Suites Avon, Ohio

141221 Cambria Suites Avon, Ohio

141221 Cambria Suites Avon, Ohio

141221 Cambria Suites Avon, Ohio

141221 Cambria Suites Avon, Ohio

The next room was also a king bed suite, though this room was ADA accessible and featured a lot more open space. In lieu of a walk-in shower, these rooms featured a tub with shower chair.

141221 Cambria Suites Avon, Ohio

141221 Cambria Suites Avon, Ohio

141221 Cambria Suites Avon, Ohio

141221 Cambria Suites Avon, Ohio

141221 Cambria Suites Avon, Ohio

The third room we saw was a standard 1 bedroom king suite. This room was the same format as the prior rooms. The only difference was the kitchen area was smaller with no sink.

141221 Cambria Suites Avon, Ohio

141221 Cambria Suites Avon, Ohio

141221 Cambria Suites Avon, Ohio

141221 Cambria Suites Avon, Ohio

The last room was a double queen room. Again, same amenities as the standard 1 bedroom king suite.

141221 Cambria Suites Avon, Ohio

141221 Cambria Suites Avon, Ohio

All rooms featured a pull-out sleeper sofa, though our boys would see the “L” shape design of the couch and likely sleep on it as is.

Overall, I was really impressed with the rooms and thought they could be an excellent property to evaluate in the future.

Adjacent to the main lobby was a large foyer/sitting area, business center, bar, and restaurant. Breakfast is not included in the nightly rate, so plan accordingly.

Cambria Suites Avon is part of the Choice Privileges rewards program, with rooms currently starting at $99 per night or 16,000 points.

While the hotel soft opened on December 14, 2014, the grand opening of all the rooms is scheduled for January 15, 2015.

Save Money, Travel More!

Source: InACents

Mileage and Point Reward Status (June 2011)

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This is my monthly recap where I look at what reward programs we were able to add miles or points to over the previous period. This month will not be too impressive only because last month we had a stellar amount of bonuses show up, as well as we purchased a new home and are still trying to sell ours, so that has been keeping us really busy.

[easychart type=”line” height=”300″ width=”350″ title=”Mile/Point Status (As of 6/30/11)” groupnames=”Delta,United,Continental,USAirways,American,Hilton,Intercontinental” valuenames=”Jan2011,Feb2011,Mar2011,Apr2011,May2011,June2011″ group1values=”69447,69447,70447,70947,70947,70947″ group2values=”100043,100043,108043,108059,108059,109059″ group3values=”67333,67333,67333,67333,67333,67433″ group4values=”8018,8020,11759,13778,13778,13899″ group5values=”0,300,600,600,600,4600″ group6values=”11679,11679,21979,24479,24479,26297″ group7values=”29271,29271,29271,29271,167571,169571″]

Since January, we have amassed quite a bit of points and miles, and I contribute the big part of that to this blog as it has kept me accountable to finding the latest offers and promotions.

The following is a brief summary of the things we have done in the past month to build up our accounts.

Delta SkyMiles– No changes

United Mileage Plus- In November 2010, my wife received an email to earn 1,000 free miles to opt in for emails. After several emails to United, she was finally given her miles. I am not sure why I never got invited in this promo though.

Continental OnePass- 100 points earned from our miles and points stay at a Hilton in CT.

US Airways Dividend Miles– Dining rewards and toolbar use added 121 miles

American Airlines AAdvantage– We all opened our accounts with the HIS10 promotional code, and were each credited 1,000 miles. We are still waiting for our miles earned from the LAX fortune cookie promotion from months ago, and I initiated a credit this week with AA.

Hilton HHonors– added 1,818 points from our stay in CT.

Priority Club Rewards- After contacting Priority Club again, I finally was given my 1,500 bonus spin-the-wheel (local promotion) points from our stay in the Finger Lakes. I also used My Coke Reward points to purchase a special Wednesday only deal of 500 points.

Note, we also have reward accounts with AirTran, Southwest, Choice Hotels, and Wyndham Rewards, but since we do not really use them, there is no point in including them in this list. I debated about including Southwest Airlines, since we do have some of the old credits from the previous Rapid Rewards program; however, after looking at what we would need to earn in the new point system to receive an award before they expire (old points still appear to expire), makes it unlikely that we will ever get anything out of the system.