Eurotrip Vacation Review: Zurich

Our first stop on our Eurotrip/Memorial Day extravaganza was Zurich, as that was the cheapest route to get to Europe using Skymiles. 40k miles apiece got us direct flights from ATL>ZMH, which proved to be just fine for the price. The slight added legroom was cluth, although neither of us got much sleep. The flight departed around 5:30 PM and arrived around 8:30 AM (both local times)/

As far as places to go and things to do, we did a little bit of research upfront and knew that we would want to explore key areas such as the old town, the lake, among others. A few of our favorite spots:

  • Widder Hotel:A great hotel/bar that you can head to (regardless if you’re staying there), in “District 1” (which was across the river from us, just south of the train station which we arrived at).

  • Café Balliser Keller:The BEST fondue we’ve ever had, in addition to a personal service of the much-anticipated racelette. Both dishes were absolutely outstanding, and made us wonder why we ever even try to recreate them at home. Added bonus: the chocolate fondue was dynamite, and was served with a very playful preparation:

  • Old Crow Bar:Albeit expensive (20-25 Swiss Franc per drink), this bar was one of the coolest and most interesting environments we’ve ever enjoyed a cocktail in. Kay had a Mezcal drink (called Solanum – Mezcal, Hibiscus, Sugar, Bitters, Champagne), and I had a Wihskey one (called Café Eccosais – Highland Single Malt, Espresso, Chili-Honey Syrup)

For our hotel, we stayed in the Marriott Zurich, as we got a great rate with points. The hotel was pleasantly nice, and located in a fairly advantageous spot for us to be in close proximity to several of the things we wanted to do. We were never more than a 15-20 minute walk from the areas we ended up visiting.

Til Next Time,

Michael

Marriott Buys Starwood

marriott-starwood

This news will certainly rock the travel and loyalty industry, so I figured I’d share the news on here. In a deal valued at $12.2B, I was actually surprised at the price. Seems really low for a chain and loyalty brand/cult that is much stronger, especially at the premium luxury levels. I think SPG brass probably had deal fatigue by this point since they’ve effectively been on the market since earlier this year. Either way – it will be interesting to watch and see how the chains start to fold in together (crossover rewards, earning/redeeming points, loyalty tier matches, etc). Seems like the acquisition is pended for completion in mid-2016 with the operational merger and loyalty brand assimilation to follow shortly thereafter. Fingers crossed that this may mean something good not awful for SPG Platinums like me!

The Points Guy reacts to the acquisition here.

Til Next Time,

Michael