Best European Hotel Discounts

The dollar is getting killed by the euro but did you know you can book double rooms in three and four-star hotels in many of Europe’s major cities for as little as $60 per night.?

It’s being done every day and you can do it, too. You just have to be willing to pay in full in advance. You also have to commit to the deal without knowing the name of the hotel where you’ll be staying. But fear not, it’s worked for me a couple of dozen times without a single hitch.

Of course, I’m talking about Priceline, where you bid online for a certain class of hotel in a specifically defined area of your destination city. You don’t know the name of the hotel until your bid is accepted, but I’ve always wound up in Sheratons, Marriotts, and Hiltons. The deal is then nonrefundable and can’t be changed. This may sound a little adventurous, but it really isn’t. You have a geographic guarantee and if you restrict your bid to four or even three-star hotels it’s virtually impossible in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland to get a dud.

Here’s how it works. Major multi-national hotel chains frequently have empty rooms, especially on weekends, and especially in cities that often have more hotel rooms than visitors. Guided by the principal that it’s better to get a few euros rather than none, the hotels are willing to drastically cut the price of those rooms. But they don’t like to advertise such huge discounts. That’s where Priceline comes in and where the opportunity is for travelers like you and me.

Today, for example, Marriott’s booking site is quoting from 129 EUR ($204) to 255 EUR ($403) for a double room in May at the Renaissance Munich Hotel in the Schwabing district. At the website BiddingForTravel.com (BFT) I see there has been a successful bid of $78 for an April stay at this hotel. Since hotels often don’t release rooms to Priceline until the last minute, it’s probably too early to bid for May. But by continuing to monitor BFT, I’ll get an idea not only of successful bid prices and which hotels are accepting bids, but when to start bidding. Since you might have to wait until only a few days before your planned visit to make a successful bid, BFT recommends reserving a cancelable backup (hey, when the dollar is like this it’s dog-eat-dog out there). Before bidding for a hotel, I strongly suggest you spend some time reading the useful bidding strategy advice on BFT. If you have a question you can post it and expect answers from experienced bidders.

Here, from BiddingForTravel, are a few recent successful bids:

Amsterdam, Mövenpick, July, $126
Berlin, Courtyard Marriott, April, $57
Berlin, Marriott Berlin, April, $102
Berlin, Marriott, May $100
Brussels, Marriott, March, $110
Brussels, Hilton, April, $!29
Budapest, Marriott, April, $80
Budapest, Ramada, April, $70
Cologne Marriott, February, $76
Dusseldorf, Renaissance, March, $62
Florence, Hotel Kraft, March, $131
Frankfurt, Mövenpick, March, $52
Hamburg, Renaissance Hotel, April, $62
Hamburg, Renaissance Hotel, July, $58
Hamburg, Renaissance Hotel, May, $76
Milan, Hotel Mediolanum, April, $109
Munich, Renaissance, April, $78
Paris, Hotel Concorde Lafayette, Aug, $126
Paris, Sofitel Bercy August $139
Prague, Hilton, April, $75
Rome, Sheraton, March, $100
Salzburg, Renaissance Congress Center, May, $75
Venice, Hilton, March, $135
Vienna, Renaissance, April, $70
Zürich, Marriott, February, $90

Linz is “Culture Capital” '09

Linz, Austria’s third largest city behind Vienna and Graz has been designated European Capital of Culture for 2009 (www.linz09.at). The signature event in the year-long schedule of more than 30 diverse programs and activities is September’s Klangwolken (Clouds of Sound) which is expected to draw huge crowds to Danube riverbanks for fireworks and orchestral music.

Other culture-year exhibitions are planned for Linz’s Lentos Modern Art Museum and the futuristic, interactive Ars Electronica Center. Audiences anticipate Brucknerfest (Sept. 14-Oct. 8) in the world-class Brucknerhaus concert hall, followed by a Vienna Philharmonic guest appearance on Oct. 26.

Walking Tours: Germany

Deborah Lewis of Bredeson Outdoor Adventures will lead a walking tour entitled “Hiking Austria and Bavaria: From Tyrolean Mountain Huts to a King’s Fairy Tale Castles” June 21-28. The land cost of $2700 per person, double occupancy includes four and five-star hotels (one a Relais & Châteaux property) and most meals. Email info@gemut.com for full details.

Euro-Beaters: Baltic Hideaway

With our infirm dollar, it may be time to steer clear of Europe's big cities where costs are high. Explore instead the smaller towns and the countryside, where the pace is slower and the prices less. But getting away from more familiar paths requires some research, a little savvy and a willingness to stick your nose a little deeper into a different culture. In that respect, we can all take a lesson from long-time Gemütlichkeit subscriber, Nelson Helm, a retired city planner and thoughtful traveler.

The former East Germany is well off-the-beaten-track, but that hasn't stopped Nelson and his wife, Sharon, from making an attractive corner of it their part-time summer home. For several otect against wind, rain, and sun. From here they socialize, sunbathe (it’s sans sunbathing attire on some sections of the beach) read, and make occasional forays into the 70-degree Baltic water. They’ve made many German friends and, it’s so unusual for Americans to adopt this Baltic beach culture, that the Helms have been featured in the local newspaper and been interviewed on TV. Last week, when I spoke to Nelson he and Sharon were just back from a few weeks in Hawaii but already planning their next Germany visit. ”Kaui was great but I doubt we'll get back there,” he said. “It doesn't cost any more to go to Warnemünde, and we prefer the different culture”

A quick web-check reveals dozens of affordable rentals in and around Warnemünde. Villa Patricia, at from $400 to $600 per week, is one attractive example.

Europe is full of charming little outposts where the livin' is less. In the days, weeks, and months ahead we'll be telling you about more of them. In the meantime, let us know about yours.

Save 3 Percent on European Travel

Rick Estrin, the hilarious singer/songwriter for one of America’s best blues bands, Little Charlie and the Night Cats, can always count on his Dump that Chump to get the crowd fired-up. The tune’s lyrics, of course, refer to a cheating boyfriend or husband. In my case, however, it’s time for the “chump,” me, to dump my Citibank credit card. I pay $80 a year for the privilege of earning what I’m coming to believe are worthless miles with American Airlines' AAdvantage program—miles I’m finding almost impossible to use to travel to Europe.

Beside the questionable value of accumulated miles, what’s pushing me over the edge with Citibank is the 3 percent charge they add to every transaction made outside the USA. Last year I spent two weeks in Canada and almost four in Europe. Let’s assume my wife, Liz, and I averaged $250 per day for 38 days on food and lodging charged to the card. That means I paid an additional $285 in foreign transaction fees to Citibank (it’s more when I include fuel, gifts and other charged items). And what service was provided for that approximately $300? None. That such charges are a useless rip-off is demonstrated by the fact that Capitol One is able to offer a credit card that treats foreign purchases the same as those made in your hometown. It doesn’t charge extra for them.

Keep your frequent flyer credit card if you must (you can always use the miles for magazine subscriptions), but don’t be a chump the next time you go abroad. Avoid that extra 2 or 3 percent by carrying a credit card that charges no foreign transaction fees.

Book Daytrips, City Tours Prior to U.S. Departure

Want to book a concert or city tour in Europe before you leave the USA? It's now a simple matter to arrange for excursions, daytrips, wine tastings, walking tours, city tours, concerts, dinner cruises, and even purchase city public transportation passes. prior to departure from the U.S.—not only in Europe but throughout the world...and in U.S. dollar-guaranteed prices. Don’t waste precious vacation time searching these things out; hit the ground running. Click “Book City Tours” at Gemut.com.

Here are just a few examples of the thousands of overseas travel products you can book immediately:

• Tour Bavaria's Royal Castles while visiting Munich. (from $42)
• Dachau Concentration Camp tour from Munich (from $32)
• Bavarian Food and Beer Tour (from $33)
• Hop on, Hop Off Tour of Munich ($20)
• Budapest Day Tour from Vienna (from $149)
• Vienna Woods and Mayerling Tour (from $65)
• Viennese Wine Tavern Serenade with Giant Ferris Wheel (from $99)
• Mozart Concert at the Musikverein (from $59)
• Evening at Schönbrunn Palace: Tour, Dinner, Concert (from $113)
• Berlin Welcome Card (from $24)
• Potsdamm and Sanssouci Palace Tour from Berlin (from $56)
• Berlin Tour incl. Berlin Wall & Checkpoint Charlie Museum (from $38)
• Berlin Sightseeing Cruise on River Spree (from $24)
• Charlottenburg Palace Dinner and Concert (from $89)

Go here for hundreds more. If you don't see the city on the list type it in the Keyword Searchbox.

Swiss Business Class Sale

Dreading those 10-hour overnight flights across the Atlantic from the West Coast, I always have an eye out for business class deals. Swiss Airlines has just announced discounted summer business-class fares to “selected destinations.” What “selected” means is that Zürich is not included. You have to fly to such cities as Paris, Athens, Rome, Milan, Barcelona, etc. You’ll go through Zürich, but you can’t get off the plane. Gemut.com’s air department can sell you a business-class ticket from New York to Paris on Swiss for travel in July for around $3300, depending on taxes. That’s a pretty good price until you go to Orbitz and find out that you can fly nonstop to Paris from New York on Air France for about the same money. Now I prefer Swiss to Air France but not enough to change planes in Zürich. Swiss flies from New York, Boston, Chicago, Miami and Los Angeles. These sale fares range from about $3000 to $3500, not including taxes; are for travel from July 1 to August 31, and must be booked and paid for by April 30. Get a fare quote online or call 800-521-66722x2.

P.S. Word is that transatlantic air bookings by Europeans coming to the U.S. are so strong that foreign airlines are switching inventories to Europe from the U.S. market. An industry source told me that some airlines have re-allocated to Europe some 15% of seats formerly earmarked for sale in the U.S. This is putting a big squeeze on low-priced tickets in the U.S. North American ticket buyers who have delayed their purchase in hopes of a sale may wait a very long time.

Finding a Hotel for your Last Night in Europe

Perhaps the question I've been asked the most in 22 years as publisher of Gemütlichkeit, The Travel Letter for Germany, Austria, & Switzerland is, "can you recommend a hotel near the airport for my last night in Europe?" It’s a question that covers a lot of ground; there are many airports in Europe. Mostly we fly in and out of Zürich; or once in a while Frankfurt where I like the family-run Birkenhof in Hanau about 20 minutes by car from the airport—though with price increases and the collapse of the dollar it’s gotten expensive. A little closer to the airport, in Langen, is the Hotel Dreieich. It has been a “last night” choice for three generations of Bestors over the last 30 years, though now it has acquired the impersonal aura of corporate ownership. Not long ago we paid 70 EUR for a junior suite there—Dreieich has never been fancy. In Zürich, the airport is so user-friendly and easily reached by public transport that we usually stay downtown and take the train.

But, since there are many airports and thousands of airport hotels, let’s get back to that frequently-asked question: “where do I stay on my last night?” My response these days is to send people to hotel booking engine at Gemut.com. Its many features include a way to quickly locate hotels at European airports—and when you find one that suits your pocketbook, you can book it immediately. Here’s how to do it. Let’s say you need a hotel near Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris. Go first to Gemut.com. In the center of the page, under the beautiful photo of Hallstatt in Austria, in the Booking.com box, click “Browse Destinations.” Next choose France from the list of countries, and then select “Airports in France.” From that list, click “CDG, Charles De Gaulle.” Now type in your dates, click the 'show only available hotels' checkbox and you’ll soon see a list of available hotels from a database of some 55 hotels near CDG. For the dates I picked in early May there were 48 availabilities, ranging in price from 32EUR for a double room to 335EUR. Most were under 100EUR. Each listing carries a 0-10 numerical rating based on reviews of past guests, as well as the standard hotel industry one-to-five-star rating. There is a description of each hotel’s facilities, services. and location, plus photographs, maps, and such basic info as check-in/check-out times, cancellation policies, extra bed costs, availability of airport shuttle, and, of course, rates—many of which are discounted. You can sort the hotels by a variety of categories such as price, popularity, guest review rating, star rating, and others.

Here are some attractive prices for double rooms at some major airports:
• Amsterdam: Tulip Inn Amsterdam City West–99EUR
• Berlin: Mercure Hotel Airport Tegel-69 EUR
• Frankfurt: InterCity Hotel Frankfur Airport–68EUR
• London Heathrow: Thistle London Heathrow-65BP
• Milan: Ascot Malpensa-99EUR
• Munich: Gasthaus Hotel Ostermeier-86EUR
• Paris: Suitehotel Paris Roissy–115EUR
• Rome: Aris Garden Hotel-89 EUR
• Vienna: Airport Hotel das Reinisch-95EUR
• Zürich: Welcome Inn–CH180

Subscribe here to our monthly newsletter, Gemütlichkeit, The Travel Letter for Germany, Austria & Switzerland, and visit our website, www.gemut.com, for more good European travel advice, as well as special Lufthansa consolidator rates, Travel Guard insurance, the lowest European car rental and rail pass prices, and discounted rates at more than 30,000 European hotels.

Vienna Exhibitions in '08: Tutankhamen & Expressionism

Monet to Picasso: The Batliner Collection, is a showing of mainly French and German Expressionism at the Albertina through April 6, 2008. It includes masterpieces by Monet, Renoir, Cézanne and Matisse; German artists Kirchner,
Feininger, Kandinsky and Nolde, plus Austrian Expressionist Kokoschka and the thin, elongated, figures of Swiss sculptor Giacometti. Also displayed are 10 paintings, 15 drawings, printed graphics, and eight ceramic works by Picasso, never before seen in public. Albertina, Albertinaplatz 1, tel. +43/01/534 83-0.

Golden Treasures from the Tomb of Tutankhamen. Burial gifts made of gold, silver, and bronze for the youthful pharaoh are featured at the Museum for Ethnology through September 28, 2008. Over 150 objects lend a glimpse of the ancient Egyptian civilization on the Nile. The high point of the show is an exact reconstruction of the burial chamber discovered in 1922. Museum for Ethnology, Hofburg, 1 Heldenplatz, tel. +43/01/525 24-0.