Hilton’s recent incorporation of hundreds of new SLH (Small Luxury Hotels of the World) properties got us excited. One of the most attractive options is Grand Hotel Victoria next to Lake Como in Italy which Nick visited a couple of times when SLH was still with Hyatt.
Award availability there seemed to be sporadic originally, but right now there’s wide open award availability.
The Deal
- Book standard award availability at Grand Hotel Victoria Concept and Spa – Lago di Como
- Direct link to Rooms.aero dates.
Key Terms
- Standard award availability = 120,000 points per night.
Quick Thoughts
Greg spotted this award availability when using Rooms.aero. The link above shows that availability was found 17 hours ago, so I wouldn’t be surprised if some of it’s gone in the meantime. However, when checking some random dates in the coming year it was still showing the Deluxe Courtyard View room type as being bookable for 120,000 points per night.
That means you can book a stay there using free night certificates or points. If booking with the latter, you can also take advantage of Hilton’s 5th night free benefit on award stays provided there’s five consecutive nights of award availability and you have Silver status or higher in the Hilton Honors program.
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I stayed here a few years ago. Amazing in every way. Absolutely loved it.
I know Nick said that a standard room would have been able to accommodate his 2 young children in the past. For travel with older kids (tween & teen), is it best to book 2 rooms per night or will they allow all 4 of us in a standard?
I’m here right now with my family of 4 (two teens and my husband and me). You can add a rollaway (for 1 person) an additional charge but for 4 adult sized people, we went with 2 rooms. I did book under Hyatt before they parted ways with SLH though.
How much did they charge you a night for the extra rollaway? Was it 180 EUR?
We didn’t end up having a 5th person but when I inquired last August, it was 140 Euro.
I booked a stay using Hilton points with my wife and 8 year old daughter. I originally booked a combination of deluxe courtyard view and prestige park view based on availability. I emailed the hotel to confirm that there would not be any occupancy issues, and they told me that only the deluxe courtyard view could accommodate the three of us (and the prestige park view could not exceed two people in the room). They also said that it was mandatory to add the rollaway for my daughter at 130 EUR per night, even if she wanted to share the bed with us. Not sure if this matches others’ experience.
Is breakfast still being provided for Hyatt bookings?
Yes, I emailed back when I learned that Hyatt and SLH were parting ways and they confirmed breakfast was included in our booking. When we checked in they also specifically said breakfast was included.
I booked 4 nights a while ago (2 FNC + 240k). I have 3 adults. My reservation specifically says 3 adults. I emailed them to accommodate a rollaway bed for the third adult. They quoted me an extra person fee of 180 EUR a night for the rollaway charge.
I thought points bookings covered the extra person fee, but I guess not. I even opened up a case with Hilton, but they said it was up to the property’s discretion. Oh, well.
Anyway, it’s up to you to decide if you would rather pay the extra person fee or the extra points for another room.
I got 5 nights around July 4th next year using the 5th night free perk (I generated about 240k from a Hilton Business Card sub and bought the other 240k at 0.5 cents per point). Thanks for the heads up!
If I only had Hilton points. 120,000 Hilton points for 1 night. I will need to work SUB along with FNC and purchase points. I miss Hyatt.
In fairness, from a CC perspective, the new cardmember offer on the Hyatt card has required far more spend and only yielded enough points for ~1.33 nights. If you generated most of your Hyatt points at office supply stores, then that is indeed a bummer – but from a CC welcome bonus / spend for FNC situation, Hilton is well ahead of Hyatt. For instance, if you got the Hyatt card and met the $15K spend to earn 45K bonus points, you’d have a total of 60K points after spend, which might have gotten you two nights off-peak last year (and a Cat 1-4 FNC that you can’t use here). If you got the Hilton Surpass right now, the same $15K spend would get you the welcome bonus FNC, enough welcome bonus points for a second night, and if you did that whole $15K in the 6k categories, you’d have 90K from that + 10K extra points from the welcome bonus — you’d be 20K Hilton points (which can be bought for $100) away from 3 nights at a place like this.
Yes – I am generating Hyatt points at office supply stores at 5X. But you and Greg at Frequent Miler are generating the most timely and useful content out there. I look forward to meeting Greg at the Chicago Seminar Heritage edition.
and excellent reply. I appreciate the detail. With the Surpass card being AMEX, I suspect that there is lifetime language so not a repeatable process. But you have given me a strategy that I can implement.
DOC NLL Hilton – Google it – You’re welcome
thank you, much appreciated.
Hi Nick. I bet most people in this game get their Hyatt points through Ink SUBs. Getting your Hyatt points through Hyatt card SUBs is not the most efficient method of acquiring Hyatt points. Going the Ink SUB route and using referrals, Hilton is inferior obtaining these SLH nights when compared to Hyatt even with Hilton’s uncapped certs.
As you and Greg mentioned previously, earning points through spend sans SUB, Hilton is comparable to Hyatt on a dollar per dollar basis (roughly 3 Hilton points per Hyatt point), however, that’s not how most people in this game acquire their points. They are going after SUBs. I am glad Hilton got SLH’s portfolio if Hyatt could no longer have it. It could have been worse as someone else could have gotten the SLH portfolio. However, if one got their SLH nights via Ink SUBs, this was certainly a hit when SLH changed hands from Hyatt to Hilton. It’s much easier to get Ink SUBs than Hilton SUBs because Amex tends to be more stingy compared to Chase when offering SUBs.
Essentially, it will take more work and more spend on my part to acquire the same number of SLH nights with Hilton than it did with Hyatt in the past.
I agree when CJH states, “I miss Hyatt”.
Hello UrbanDweller
Preferred Hotels & Resorts are now easily bookable with Choice Privileges points. This will be my substitute for SLH. That is assuming the Preferred properties make rooms available.
Now that Preferred Hotels & Resorts are more easily bookable with Choice Privileges, this will become my SLH substitute. Except I see that Bienville House and Hotel Monteleone are not releasing point availability . There is always Eliza Jane.