And Then There Were 2…Le Meridian Dead Sea Leaving Starwood In 2012.

42
DDMS IconNever Miss Another Deal - Follow DansDeals on Facebook

Update: The hotel has changed their mind and will not be leaving Starwood on 12/31 after all!  The “leaving Starwood” notice has been taken off SPG.com and a Starwood rep says that they are “staying for the moment”…whatever that means.  Other reports have them staying at least through 2012. If you want to book 2012 reservations do it while they are still a category 1 hotel as they’ll very likely be going up in category when next year’s category changes are processed.

Originally posted on 11/03/11:

I went with 2 of my brothers to Israel in 2007 and traveled from Nimrod’s Fortress in the Golan Heights down to Eilat and everywhere in between for a month.  We lived it up at Starwood properties.  There was the category 1 Le Meridian Haifa, the Le Meridian Dead Sea, the category 2 Sheraton Tiberias, the category 3 Sheraton Jerusalem Plaza located just minutes from the old city, and the fabulous category 3 Herod’s Vitalis Spa in Eilat where for 2,800 points and $45 as a Starwood Gold member we were upgraded to an incredible ocean suite with 3 balconies and relaxed under their hot and cold waterfall massage fountains.  Those Starpoints must have been worth over 50 cents each in that suite, an astronomical figure considering you get a Starpoint or 2 for every dollar you spend on the Starwood card. Between the hotels on that trip and flying in Continental’s BusinessFirst I knew I would be in the points and miles game for good.

We never could have traveled like that if was had to pay the asking price of hundreds of dollars per night, but I had no problem swinging for a few thousand points a night.

All of those hotels are now gone from the SPG program.  Perhaps they realized that people would stay there without having to pay royalties to Starwood?  Perhaps Starwood got tired of the games they were playing with how difficult they would make it to use Starpoints for rooms?

At any rate as of 01/01/12 the Le Meridian Dead Sea is gone from SPG as well.  Their base rooms on spg.com are $480 and they are a category 1 property, meaning that rooms cost only 2,000 points on weekends and 3,000 points on weekdays (or even less if they’ll open up cash and points availability for you as DansDeals Forum members have been able to do).   I had no idea why they were a category 1, but odds are that Fattal, the management company that also yanked other properties from SPG didn’t like it and now they’re gone.  They were never a great hotel, but it was nice to have the option.

All that’s left now for Starwood in Israel is the category 4 Le Meridian Eilat, which is also under Fattal and likely not too be around for too much longer, and the category 5 Sheraton Tel Aviv Hotel and Towers.

A true shame, but at least people that were hoping to use Starpoints for hotels can still use them to travel to Israel by transferring them out to airlines like AA for travel on El Al or any OneWorld carrier, to USAirways for travel on any Star Alliance carriers, or to Delta or Flying Blue for Skyteam travel.

Leave a Reply

42 Comments On "And Then There Were 2…Le Meridian Dead Sea Leaving Starwood In 2012."

All opinions expressed below are user generated and the opinions aren’t provided, reviewed or endorsed by any advertiser or DansDeals.

BEM684

I thought the Sheraton Towers looked nice but I saw a lot of hating in the online reviews. Your thoughts Dan?

twentie4hrs

wow!

na nach

i was there last week and i mentioned to them about leaving in january and no one from the hotel staff seemed to know

yehuda

They r a terrible hotel with a nasty staff that’s unknowledgeable and knows nothing about the spg program

Yaakov

My theory is that because so many Yeshiva guys frequent SPG hotels in Israel, and Yeshiva guys always try to finagle as many points as they can, they call SPG to complain (not always justifiably) about the hotel hoping to earn a thousand points, and after SPG received so many complaints about these hotels they say “Hey, these Israeli hotels are not living up to our standards, let’s ax them.” So, ironically, it is the Yeshiva guys and Dansdealers who chased SPG out of Israel.

jack

agree with #5!

Srulie

Dont quite understand.Im going to Israel in November and it says it’s 3000 spg points for a free night. It also says i can buy 3000 points for $85. So am I to understand I can buy these points and stay for $85 per night?

mosie

now that my spg are worthless being that i live in israel, is there anyway i can transfer them to ultimate rewards(chase)? thanx

Dan

@BEM684:
Never stayed in Tel Aviv.

@yehuda:
Yup, it’s not a great hotel, but it still hurts to lose.

@Yaakov:
My understanding is that Fattal isn’t interested in paying a percentage of all revenue to Starwood and they definitely don’t like being a category 1 hotel.
I doubt this was Starwood’s decision.

@Srulie:
That’s right!
Or open up a Starwood card and get many more points than that.

@mosie:
Worthless? Do you never fly anywhere? There are dozens of airlines to transfer to, most of them at very favorable ratios.

jack

hi dan how r u ??? thanx for all ur good help in everything ur the best…. i need to book a flight to lax airport from nyc to lax dec 21 cmg back on the 26 of dec wats the best way and cheapest way to go

Srulie

Thanks Dan transfered some amex miles and booked for the night I wanted. Tried to do it for a friend for the same night and the availability dissapeared. Do they ever free up more inventory once a date is sold out?

Dan

@Srulie:
Call them up.

crip91

Hi Dan
i live in Israel and go back to visit my parents usually once a year. i wanted to know what you think is the best card for someone like me. the spg card has a foreign fee is it still worth it for the points or are there better cards out there? (love to see an article about this-many people have this question.)
thanks
your site is very helpful
crip91

Dan

@crip91:
Sapphire Preferred may be the card for you:
http://www.dansdeals.com/archives/16120

crip91

hi
better then the freedom card
never sure if the annual fee is worth it or not
spend around 20 g on the card a year
thanks dan
always a help

Dan

@crip91:
The first year is free. Get it and see if you get enough value out of it to make it worth keeping for $95 the next year.
You can always downgrade Sapphire Preferred to a free card or call retentions to see if they’ll waive the fee.

Freedom charges 3% on foreign transactions, Sapphire Preferred charges nothing.

crip91

since you seem to know all the math, what would make it worth it to use the sapphire card, how many points?

Dan

@crip91:
That depends on many factors, including how much you spend overseas, how much you spend in categories that give 2.14 or 3.21 points per dollar on the Sapphire Preferred card, how much you spend on Freedom’s rotating categories, etc.

It also depends if you have a chase checking account that would improve the Freedom and Ink Bold cards, but not make a difference on the Sapphire card.

Finally if you just have a Freedom card and don’t know anyone with a Sapphire Preferred or Ink Bold card then you won’t be able to transfer the Chase UR points into miles.

crip91

do you know if chase separates between the categories in israel or not
have a chase savings and checking account

Dan

@crip91:
Not sure what you mean by “separates between the categories” but the 2.14/3.21 categories apply worldwide.
Chase checking bumps Freedom up to 1.1 points per dollar+10 points per transaction and bumps Ink Bold up to 1.2 points per dollar.

crip91

i mean do they know when i buy at the makolet here or not
sometimes they give more points when you buy at a supermarket
same here
thanks

crip91

same with eating out here

zvi

where can i stay in eretz which hotels can i go to under which program

arch

Dan, are there any hotels left in jerusalem that are bookable with rewards? Thanks!

anon

Just stayed at the LeMeridian last month for the 2nd time and it was fantastic! Such a shame it’s leaving the program.

dave

@yaaakov. Its true. Having just stayed there last week, we complained and complained and complained. Typical buchorim.

marcus

I have tons of starwood points how can I get a gold or platinum status

marcus

Also can I book a night today for after january 1st will that work

Alan

what should i do if i want to use cash+points for the hotel for 1200spg + 25 USD? for a weekday stay? contact spg or contact the hotel? thanks.

chaimg

Hi, my wife and I wanted to stay at Le Meridian Dead Sea for channukah this year. Apparently they blocked out all points rooms although under spg requirement a certain amount have to be available. Called spg platinum who did an override to book 3 deluxe rooms (3 nights, 7,000 points per room = $240!) however the override was not working. He was on the case for a couple hours then called to inform me the hotel would not comply. He offered me to open a corporate complaint. About a week later and many calls to the hotel I had 3 rooms with points!

Anonymous

@chaimg:
Interesting – the hotel did not have to override at all. First of all they are a resort (and they dont ahve to override), and even if they did, it should have been at the rack rate.

Anonymous

@Anonymous:
if anybody has large amounts of SPG points they would want to trade for Matmid, let me know.

ruben

Dan how do u get cash and points if it says u can’t ??

Shif

I had moved enough SPG points to earn me 240k aeroplan points. did not realise they would charge $700 fuel charge per ticket. what to do now? help me and and my 2 kids get to israel. will pay pal you $100. Thank you

goldy

hi Dan thanx for all your helpful advice. just wanted to know if you or anyone here knows when they are changing the class level for le meridian dead sea? and to which level are they upgrading it to ? thanx

isac

@shif
book on partner like swiss (stopover)

aaron

what type of place is the Le Meridian Dead Sea – is there food with a mehadrin hechsher? how far form separate beaches? is it convenient to masada or ein gedi?
Thanks

Morris

I tried various dates on line and it does not seem to work

hey

dan , why do you say they’re going up in catagory?

Bee

@Aaron: The Le Meridian Dead Sea is not mehadrin. It’s about a 10 minute drive to the separate beach and 45 minutes past Ein Gedi and Massada.
We enjoyed our stay there this past summer. We rented a car so driving to the separate beach (which is brand new and gorgeous!) was not a big deal. We brought food with us and bought some things in the 2 small supermarkets near the hotel.

Gabbai

We stayed at the LeMeridian in November and it was fantastic value – only 300 points a night. It is not mehadrin but the mashgichim are extremely helpful and there was plenty to eat. The breakfast cook on seeing me offered, unasked, to let me crack the eggs to check them! I spoke to the head of PR who certainly knew that the hotel was leaving the SPG group on 12/31 but said they were outed by Starwood, the hotel wanted to stay. She asked me to contact Starwood and tell them what a great hotel it is. For the points it is superb. Looks as though Starwood have had a change of mind. Unfortunately the behavior of many frum looking yidden leaves a great deal to be desired in hotels and when in the air. It is no wonder we are not on any hotel or airlines list of favorite customer groups.

Gabbai

#43 sorry typos – 3000 points a night at Le Meridien.

wpDiscuz