I’ve written several posts recently about trying to plan an upcoming trip to Europe – probably because it’s been heavy on my mind lately. So much so, that I seem to be suffering from “analysis paralysis” in trying to plan a “perfect” trip.
(SEE ALSO: When is a “free one-way” not really free?)
(SEE ALSO: What I’m doing now that American and US Airways miles have combined!)
One option that I was looking at involved having a short (overnight but <24 hours) layover in Dusseldorf, Germany
(SEE ALSO: Stopover, layover, open-jaw? What are they and what’s the difference?)
Hotel options
We’d be arriving into Dusseldorf in the afternoon, and then flying back out around 9 or 10 a.m. the next morning. Obviously, there are a lot of hotel options out there, but I narrowed it down to two: The Hilton Dusseldorf and the Sheraton Dusseldorf Airport.
Hilton Dusseldorf
The Hilton Dusseldorf is near the city center and is a Category 8 hotel, which means that it costs 40,000 – 70,000 Hilton HHonors points. For the date I was looking at, it cost 50,000 points.
Sheraton Dusseldorf Airport
The Sheraton Dusseldorf Airport is right at the airport, and is a Category 4 hotel, which means that it costs 10,000 SPG points / night.
So which one to choose?
Which one would you choose? The reviews seemed pretty similar. I have no elite status with SPG, while I am a Hilton Gold, which means that I should get free breakfast at the Hilton.
On the other hand, if we were at the airport, since we’d be flying business class we would have access to the lounge at the Dusseldorf Airport, where we could eat our meals.
Location-wise there are advantages to both. Being at the airport is nice since it would let us sleep in an extra hour or so in the morning. On the other hand, if our hotel was at the airport, I could see us just not managing to go into the city at all, which would be kind of a waste.
Points-wise, I just recently did an inventory of my points. Using Award Wallet, I see I have about 175,000 Hilton points and 30,000 SPG points, so enough to book at either place.
It’s hard to compare the value of points across different hotel chains (or airlines), but some prices that I have seen are about 0.4 cents for a Hilton point and 1.8 cents for a SPG point. That makes the value of the points I’d spend the Hilton worth about $200 and the SPG points about $180, so again, pretty similar.
Of course for me, it’s all moot anyways as the flights I had my eye on connecting through Dusseldorf are no longer available anyways… 🙂
What would you do?
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
Hilton, definitely.
As of the time I’m typing this, the average point value of the search results on the Wandering Aramean’s Hotel Hustle site is 2.109 for Starwood and 0.463 for Hilton, making Starwood points worth around 4.56 Hilton points for hotel redemptions alone. That would make the decision close. But considering the option value of using Starwood points for airline transfers vs the horrendous airline transfer options on Hilton, I would increase the ratio to 6 to 1 and still not be sure I’m giving Starwood its due. So 10,000 SPG points are clearly more valuable than 50,000, at least to me. SPG points are very hard to get and should be guarded jealously.
For me, this is an easy one: Go with the Hilton. You’re going to get free breakfast and be in the middle of the city. That’s so much nicer than being out at the airport. Though that may be negated by the fact that you’re flying out so early the next day. Hmm… I’d still do Hilton since I trust that loyalty program less and like being in the city more.
We stayed at the Sheraton at the airport last July, it’s a decent hotel and we would stay there again. We were able to take a train into the downtown main train station area as the airport station is just downstairs near the hotel entrance. I believe it was about a 15 minute ride.We did some walking around the city and a short Rhine cruise. There is also a supermarket in the airline terminal there, so you could stock up on food there if you wanted to save a little on meals.
Which points are otherwise more useful to you? Do you tend to use SPG points for your typical travel or Hilton? Whichever is less useful to you normally, use those.
Hilton points are much easier to replace, so I would go with the Hilton.
Sheraton. Starwood is reliable and has a great point system.
Hilton, hands down. You have the breakfast perk + city center location, and I can’t imagine that heading out for a 9 a.m. flight out has you getting up that brutally early.
In my book the “value” is equal, but I value Hilton points at 0.5 cent each and SPG at 2.5 cents+. If you’re getting 1.8 cents per SPG point, you’re doing it wrong.