Cash Vs. Points: Choosing Between Hotel Die Swaene and Crowne Plaza Brugge

This is the next installment in a series of posts on my recent trip to Europe. See my previous posts: Back from another  family reunion: galloping through Europe and driving my husband crazy , 24 hours in NYC with kids (plus review of Hyatt Place New York Midtown South) , Our JFK-BRU economy flight on Brussels Airlines: ok, not great and Our two nights in enchanting city of Bruges, plus day trip to Dunkirk

The main reason I appreciate miles and points hobby is the ability to save cash on travel I plan to do anyway. However, when it comes to hotels, using points often involves some sort of compromise. This is especially true if you are visiting Europe. I don’t know about you, but the last thing I want to do in Rome is stay in a soulless chain hotel located “only” five kilometers from the historic center. Of course, there are exceptions, and SLH partnership with Hilton is one example where you can often get the best of both worlds. Choice program is also highly underrated in Europe and often flies under the radar in this community.

When I started researching our lodging options in Bruges, I found one such exception: Crowne Plaza Brugge The location of this hotel is just about ideal, smack in the middle of the historic center. The cost for our dates was 34k IHG points per night/per room. As is the case in most European hotels, the hotel has  double occupancy policy, so we would need two rooms for our family of four.

I happened to have only 40k IHG points, enough for one night.  I also recently used three IHG certificates for Orlando hotel, since we planned to take our kids to Disney. One of the certs belonged to my MIL, but since I added myself as an additional guest, I knew it would not be an issue. I was seriously thinking about canceling the reservation and rebooking it with Wyndham points. That would give me enough to cover a two-night stay in Bruges and save precious cash.

However, there were two issues. One of the certificates was set to expire only a month after our trip to Europe. Another problem  was the fact that one certificate was in my MIL’s name. While it’s not normally a problem in US, using it internationally can be dicey. Reaching out to hotel first is always prudent. I have a policy to use up certificates first (for planned stays) without trying to extract maximum value. They have a hard expiration date, and bird in a hand is better than two in a bush.

I would also need to buy an additional 15k Wyndham points for our Orlando stay, so there would be some cash outlay regardless. I was still tempted to go this route, but then I came across hotel Die Swaene  listing on Booking.com I seriously fell in love with it and was looking for a way to justify spending $660 on two rooms for our two-night stay. That was before I found out than Napoleon Bonaparte himself has visited this hotel and signed some treaty in the conference room.

But we had several major financial setbacks in the last year, and our emergency fund was severely depleted. How could I justify spending that much cash? Well, a perfect excuse has presented itself, namely Booking,com/Lufthansa promo from last December(now dead). I was planning  to take advantage  of it for apartments in Poland anyway, and booking hotel Die Swaene would give me an additional 19k miles.

While I wouldn’t pay much for this currency, I certainly can’t say it’s worthless either. Right now I have almost enough Lufthansa miles for two one-way  tickets to Europe, and using them on carriers like Lot Polish and Turkish airlines comes with relatively low fuel surcharges. Plus, it would allow me to use up my IHG certificates many months before they are set to expire. Hotel Die Swaene it is.

A few thoughts on Crowne Plaza Brugge

My sister-in-law’s husband has to fly to Belgium for work once a year, so he coordinated with us and booked Crowne Plaza Brugge after he was done with his assignment. The reason? He mainly stays in IHG properties for work and has a ton of points. It was a total no-brainer, and that’s what I would do in his shoes. Plus, as a Diamond member he was supposed to get free breakfast for two. Weirdly, the manager said he was only entitled to a discount. My in-laws didn’t pursue it further and didn’t let it ruin their stay. It’s clear, however, that the property didn’t follow the rules.

Otherwise, they were very happy with their stay and let me take a few photos of the room. As I’ve mentioned earlier, the location is excellent and you get to stay in a historic building.

There is a pretty square nearby:

The rooms are fairly small/basic and have a modern decor:

 

Obviously, the room was in use at the time  I  came  in.

It’s nothing fancy, but you have everything you need for a comfortable stay. There is an indoor pool, though I didn’t get a chance to look at it. We arrived at noon and they let my SIL and her husband check in early, a nice gesture. I’m not sure if it was due to his status, but likely not.

They do have rooms with two single beds, which is what I would book if we chose to stay here with our children. It doesn’t look like they have any connecting rooms, though, so we would each have to take a kid.

Review of hotel Die Swaene 

After I booked two rooms, I reached out to the hotel to request units with two single beds. My daughter is a violent sleeper, and I do everything I can to avoid sharing a bed with her. I’ve been hit in the face and pushed off the mattress  before. Needless to say, she always gets a separate bed now.

Anyway, it turns out the hotel only has two rooms with this bedding arrangement and they are on separate floors. Not ideal, but we’ll make it work. As it got closer to our flight, I also decided to reserve one of the rooms for the night before, so we could have a place to shower and nap. You see, if our flight from JFK was on time (it wasn’t) and if Brussels immigration was quick (it wasn’t) and our checked luggage came (it didn’t), we would arrive around 9 AM. That’s five hours before the official check-in, and I was told they are quite strict on it, though we could leave luggage in the reception area.

I hated the idea of spending an extra $165, but since we flew in economy, it seemed like a worthy  splurge. We could clean up, get into fresh clothes, which sure beats exploring Bruges filthy for several hours. As it was, we got to the hotel close to noon, and the kind receptionist let us have both rooms since I paid $165 for basically two hours. So, it wasn’t a complete loss and we did get cleaned up before going to lunch. This is one area where chain hotels win, hands down. I would be much more comfortable rolling the dice on early check-in if we were staying at Crowne Plaza instead. Oh well.

The hotel was built in the seventeenth century and originally belonged to a wealthy merchant.

It’s located on a beautiful canal, and some (more expensive) rooms have views of the water.

The small lobby is beautiful and I was impressed by the fact that they have fresh flowers.

 

Everything is simply exquisite, including some antique pieces on display.

Fear not, there is a tiny elevator available. To me, one of the selling points was the fact that hotel has a pool and sauna:

I used it both nights and thoroughly enjoyed it.

The rooms are filled with antique furniture, and the beds are quite comfortable. Free bottled water is provided, no status needed. There is a coffeemaker and a small fridge.

The view of old town from my husband’s room (the sheep are not real!)

 

My daughter and I stayed in the attic room and I was surprised to find that only bathtub was available, no shower.

My daughter and I made it work, but it would be a deal breaker for my  MIL who has bad knees.

Btw, this was not stated in the room description. But that’s how it goes with old boutique hotels. You are dealing with a historic property converted  to modern standards as well as can be expected. There will be quirks, for sure. Speaking of, the A/C unit in my husband’s room wasn’t working and we reported it to the front desk. We were assured that it was  fixed when we got back from lunch, but it stopped working again fairly quickly. Fortunately, the weather in Bruges was relatively cool, so my husband simply opened the window at night. He said it was quite comfortable.

This would be a problem during heat wave, and  they only have two rooms with single beds, so switching would be problematic assuming other units are even available. Again, it’s a very small hotel, the opposite of  a chain property. I was looking forward to hanging out in the gild hall visited by Napoleon, but turns out the room was flooded a few weeks before our stay and currently under renovation. Not a huge thing, but a bit disappointing.

Breakfast in the hotel costs 25 euros per person, which is a lot. However, as I found out earlier, restaurants in Bruges open relatively late, and we had to catch a bus to Brussels Charleroi airport early in the morning. I thought about buying pastries the night before, but the problem  was, we would likely not get any food until 1:30 pm or later.

So, reluctantly, I paid 100 euros for my family of four and happy I did. I’ve instructed the kids to load up on the buffet like their lives depended on it. We actually didn’t end up eating in the airport lounge until closer to 2 PM, so splurging on hearty breakfast was money well spent.

Plus, just look at this cute dining area:

Some photos of the small buffet:

Everything was delicious. In addition to what you see here, made-to-order omelet or other egg dish was included. Coffee, tea and juices were also complimentary. I give this buffet thumbs up, though again, 25 euros is a lot. But in our case, it was honestly the best option. You do have to notify the receptionist the night before, since they have to plan ahead on how much food to put out. This makes sense, since it’s a small hotel with maybe twenty rooms total.

A special note on the receptionist Marijke. She was an absolute delight, going out of her way to help us with recommendations etc.

Final thoughts 

My review of  hotel Die Swaene  may give an impression that we didn’t enjoy it as much as I hoped we would. Nothing could be further from the truth! I loved it and would stay again in a heartbeat. My daughter (who loves antique furniture) still talks about it three months later. She told me it’s her favorite hotel to date. None of the things I’ve mentioned were deal breakers to me, not even close. That said, if you want everything  to run smoothly 100% of the time, you will have a better chance with it at a chain hotel like Crowne Plaza Brugge. Ditto for the odds of early check-in.

When I told my SIL about some quirks and issues we’ve experienced, she said she was very glad they chose Crowne Plaza, which is fair enough. In fact, if I happen to have a lot of IHG points or certificates that are about to expire, you better believe I’ll book that property.

But when using cash, it’s hotel Die Swaene for me every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

P.S. Chase currently has some different offers on IHG One Rewards Premier Card (5 free nights) and the IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card (up to 200k points). These are non-affiliate links.