We spent a night in Martha’s Vineyard earlier this week and got an outstanding value for Choice Privileges points. I was literally about to spend nearly $1,000 on a one-night hotel stay because we needed a night in Martha’s Vineyard when I quite unexpectedly discovered that the hotel I was about to book through Hotels.com was a Choice Privileges Ascend Collection property. I was thrilled when I realized that I could book it for 45,000 points, which would only require a transfer of 23,000 Citi points (alternatively, Choice points could be purchased for a reasonable price). The hotel has its drawbacks, but the room was very surprisingly nice — I’d definitely stay here again despite the shortcomings.
Edgar Hotel Martha’s Vineyard, Ascend Collection: Bottom Line Review
The bottom line on this property is that it is a fantastic value for points during summer months, when the price of accommodation on Martha’s Vineyard skyrockets. The hotel is an interesting mix: in some ways, it looks like a budget property. But it also surprised us: the room was far nicer than I expected based on the lobby and hallways. I’d rather the hotel spend money on well-renovated rooms than well-renovated hallways, so I appreciate the prioritization there.
To put the value in perspective, the best flexible rate for a 2 queen bed room with 2 adults and 2 kids was $961.40 for my date.
Booking with points was a fantastic value by comparison.
I booked the room for 45,000 points, but as you can see, a cash and points rate would have been a far better value yet. At 6,000 points plus $332, that would have been about a $600 discount over the cash rate for 6,000 points — a value of around 10c per Choice point. However, considering the fact that you can sometimes buy points for as low as around 0.6c per point (or even less in the current sale), the best move is probably just to buy the full 45,000 points when cash rates are this high.
I should note that Jennifer Yellin (of Deals We Like) wrote about this property at The Points Guy years ago, but I had missed that until after I’d booked this. I later connected with her and got some helpful tips about the area.
Service was impressive in some ways. For instance, when we arrived around 10am, I didn’t expect a room to be ready (check-in time is 3pm). As it turned out, there was a room ready, but the front desk person said it was right next to the bar and could sometimes be loud at night. Since we had kids, she thought it might not be the best fit for us. She was right; noise from the bar all night would have been a problem. I appreciate that she didn’t just assign it without thinking twice!
When we did get a room, it was on the second floor. Fortunately, the hotel only has two floors….because it doesn’t have an elevator. That was no big deal for us, but for someone who is older or has less mobility, keep in mind that getting assigned a room on the 2nd floor might be a problem (perhaps there was a service elevator for those who truly need it?).
The room itself was great. It was spotlessly clean and the beds were comfortable. It felt very bright and it was roomy. The hotel website notes that there is a grocery store right next door and that you could stock up on snacks and drinks and enjoy them in your spacious room, and they aren’t lying.
The laundry room was a big disappointment. For starters, it was coin-operated and the front desk initially only came up with $1 in quarters. Thankfully, the desk agent was able to open the washer and get the quarters I needed. Unfortunately, things got worse from there. The desk agent had warned me not to fill the washer too far because it had a tendency not to spin out if it was too full. I only filled the drum about halfway, but I selected a “heavy duty” cycle. As you can probably guess, the washer didn’t spin the clothes out. I ended up hand-wringing the entire load to put it in the dryer — and, of course, it didn’t dry the first time I ran the dryer on permanent press (I later had to use the high heat setting to get anything to actually dry). I did the second load on “eco wash” so that it wouldn’t use as much water, but it also didn’t get very clean. I wish I had skipped trying to do laundry. When you see the picture of the laundry room below, you’ll (rightfully) tell me it was my own fault for trying given the state of the laundry room on the whole.
All that said, I would (and probably will) stay here again without hesitation. It is a short walk into Edgartown, which is very cute. There are some beautiful homes, cute shops, and numerous restaurants (a couple of which are on Resy for those with semi-annual Resy credits to use). We went to Lighthouse Beach in Edgartown, which is very calm and not at all crowded. We had a great day with perfect temperature and a quiet beach. Martha’s Vineyard also has a bus that runs around the island and the bus is free during the summer.
Speaking of the bus, upon our departure, we took the bus to Oak Bluffs in order to catch the Island Queen ferry to Falmouth, Massachusetts, where we picked up an Enterprise rental car to drive back to Boston. The Island Queen ferry was reasonable ($54.50 for our family since our still-four-year-old was free) and it only took about 35 minutes. The Island Queen ferry drops off less than half a mile from the Enterprise rental car office in Falmouth, so we walked it in about 10 or 15 minutes. By comparison, the flight from Boston to Martha’s Vineyard was only a little over 20 minutes long, but the ferry and driving weren’t bad, either.
Again, I’d recommend the Edgar Hotel if you have points and you’re traveling to Martha’s Vineyard.
- Price: 45,000 Choice Privileges points (23,000 Citi ThankYou points transferred 1:2 to Choice)
- Value: Terrific during our dates. The cash rate was about $960 through Choice Privileges for a flexible rate or a bit over $1,000 through Hotels.com for 1 night at the time when we booked (and I think it was just about the cheapest place we could find at that point!), yielding more than 2 cents per Choice point, which is substantially higher than our Reasonable Redemption Value of 0.67c per point. However, note that cash rates vary by a large margin; I looked up a random day next week and the room would be $865, though a week later than that it would be $622. In the winter months, cash rates dip below $200 a night (and award rates only drop to 35K per night), so your value with vary based on your dates. In the summertime, it should almost certainly provide greater than Reasonable Redemption Value.
- Location: Good. There is a grocery store right next door where you could get a sub sandwich for $8. The hotel is about a 15-minute walk into the heart of Edgartown. The airport is 12 minutes by car or about 25 minutes by bus. The Oak Bluffs ferry port was less than 15 minutes by bus.
- Room: Surprisingly nice. The room was spacious, bright, and clean. The beds were comfortable. We didn’t have any sort of upgrade, just a room with 2 queen beds, but we were pleased with it.
- Parking: Complimentary, but we didn’t rent a car.
- Resort/Destination Fee: None.
- Internet: Speedy and reliable enough in the room and around the property grounds except for in the laundry room, which is in the basement. I couldn’t get a good WiFi signal down there and had to sit near the staircase to get a cell signal.
- Service: Very friendly, though there were a number of times when we needed something and nobody was at the front desk (we had to wait for someone a few times). Also, the front desk is not staffed from 11pm to 7am. They have a number you can call and a security person who lives nearby who can help if you get locked out.
- Turndown service: None
- Dining:
- Town MV: There is a restaurant / bar attached with cute outdoor seating. We didn’t get a chance to eat there, but prices were reasonable, reviews on Google are good (4.2 stars), and it seemed popular enough as there was a crowd at dinner time.
- Spa: None.
- Fitness Room: I didn’t see one.
- Would I stay again? Absolutely. This isn’t a fancy place, but it is a nice place in a destination that is otherwise very expensive in the summertime. It is great to have a reasonable points option in a destination that might otherwise be unreasonably expensive for many people.
Pros
- Great value for points
- Very nice, clean room that exceeded expectations
- Friendly desk staff was eager to help
- Location is good, with a grocery store next door and bus stop in front of the grocery store. The walk into Edgartown is pleasant.
- Attached restaurant had reasonable prices and gets good reviews (though we didn’t get to try it)
Cons
- The lobby and hallways weren’t as nice as the room
- No elevator, so you have to carry your luggage up the stairs if you’re assigned a second-floor room
- Guest laundry didn’t work well and wasn’t well-kept
- The location may not be ideal for those who don’t want to walk since it isn’t in the heart of town. There are a number of nearby restaurants, but if you want the shops and restaurants in the center of town, you’ll need to walk about 15 minutes (or rent a car).
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We stayed at Christopher last spring on top floor with front balcony room. Yes it was pricey and the stairs were steep and the $50 to park was annoying . We break our luggage down into backpacks so the stairs weren’t an issue. They were very accommodating and delivered a delicious breakfast right outside our door every morning which we ate on balcony with a bit of a view of the water. I feel like we saw MV pretty thoroughly so don’t know that we will return but I loved our particular room and location of inn. If I did return wouldn’t hesitate to stay in that particular room again.
We thought about the Edgar but after seeing location in person we were glad we didn’t stay there.
What a find!
WE just left Edgartowbut styed at The Christopher. Booked it and did not see any reference to the Mr & Mrs brand. It was very $$$$$. A few days later I found it was still in the Mr and Mrs but could not connect the reservation. The hotel would not connect and I called the Hyatt system and got connected to 4 different operators.. No luck.. Very disappointing stay. Arrived from Ferry (with car) at 8:30 pm.. So had to do self check-in and climb 2 long flights of steps with our luggage. Also had to pay$50 to hole a parking space… Lost a lot of points… Your experience was so much better!!!
Great find, Nick! When we’ve gone recently we’ve booked some vacasas that are reasonably priced, but they are a lot cheaper in June (our preferred month on the Vineyard before it gets crazy crowded) than July or August. I’ll have to keep this place in mind for next time!
I stayed at this property a few years ago when it was just a “Clarion” in the Choice program. I think I paid 25,000 points, which seemed quite expensive at the time. 🙂 Of course, what you are buying is location, and as you discovered, MV is very expensive in the summer. For your extra 20,000 points, it looks like they did a little more renovation, and obviously it makes sense to brand themselves as the more upscale “Ascend Collection.” There was nothing memorable about the actual hotel — it’s was totally fine for a typical Choice property — except they gave us a “free breakfast,” which was actually on the low end of Choice’s typical fare. I remember thinking “there are all these rich people here spending a lot of money, and they’re serving this barely-edible food to them?” It didn’t make sense (although, obviously, there are a lot of bad free breakfasts in American motels). I guess they solved that problem by providing no breakfast!
None of the rich people are at that hotel. They are staying at their summer homes in town, or spending a ton of money to rent a house.
Rich is relative. Everyone staying at the Ascend on MV is rich. But they are definitely not as rich as the people staying in the houses. None of these people eat “Comfort Inn” quality food in their regular lives.