Looking back, I’m glad I didn’t check prices because I don’t think I could have rationalized how much I spend and may have skipped the trip altogether.
TPOL’s Travel Philosophy is to stay in a city for 3 to 4 days. Accordingly, there’s no reason to change the plan. Worst case, I’m stuck in Sardinia looking at beautiful yachts for an extra day, or I’m stuck in Marrakech eating goat brain one more time.
There are four Luxury Collection hotels in Sardinia. At 700 euros a night, Hotel Cervo is the most affordable of all them. If you don’t have the stomach to pay that, for 60k Bonvoy points, you too can stay in the city center.
New York should stop scamming tourists and business travelers by charging extortionate prices for standard rooms and pretending it’s a function of supply and demand. In the end, a vodka soda is a vodka soda. It’s not champagne.
In need of a hotel, I momentarily asked myself if it is worth paying $700 for the Aloft Brooklyn when I have stayed there for $100. I almost conned myself into believing that for $700 the Aloft will be seven times greater than it was when I paid the cheap rate. It’s the same as when I was in Porto Cervo, Sardinia and I tried to convince myself that $20 for a vodka soda was going to be more potent than a dive bar vodka soda for $5. I stared at the bartender pouring my drink and was traumatized by any splash of vodka that bounced off the ice onto the bar. Those precious milliliters were going to waste!
While I can rationalize a $20 drink, I refuse to be ripped off by basic hotels for basic rooms. The hotels say that the price is in line with the demand for this week as many foreign dignitaries are coming to NYC. First, there aren’t tens of thousands of dignitaries. Second, they aren’t staying at the Aloft Brooklyn.
The worst part of this is that I may have to use points. Points should not be used for work trips because they are intended for aspirational vacations and because I can’t write off points as a business expense. At the same time, since I am a sole proprietor, I wouldn’t want a $700 hotel bill impacting my bottom line even if it is tax deductible.
In short, New York should stop scamming tourists and business travelers by charging extortionate prices for standard rooms and pretending it’s a function of supply and demand. In the end, a vodka soda is a vodka soda. It’s not champagne.
Does this look like a $700/night Aloft or a $100 a night one?
TPOL’s Guns & Butter Travel Guide is the best way to see as much as you can in as little time as possible. Here’s how it works – A trip is composed of two factors: Labor And Lazy. The opportunity cost (what is given up) for relaxing and being Lazy is gained by being adventurous in the form of Labor and vice versa. The guide includes inefficient activities i.e., tourist traps that should be avoided and aspirational activities that are worth doing but may be impossible to see given the constraints of time and resources.
Before going to Sardinia, decide if you want to go to Porto Cervo or somewhere else on the island. Porto Cervo is different from the rest of the island. It is the most expensive. It is the most exclusive. And, if you’re looking for parties, it is the most fun.
Hotels
If Porto Cervo is your choice, do yourself a favor and double check that you can find reasonable accommodations there. Don’t do it like I did and scramble to find a hotel while taking off (see Travel Planning: Check Prices Or Just Go?).
Two choices I recommend are Hotel Cervo for points and Hotel Luci di la Muntagna for cash. The former is part of Bonvoy, and the latter is a great value of a luxury hotel without the sticker shock.
I can only imagine what it would be like to be on a yacht and cruise from beach to beach.
Beaches
Sardinia is not short of beaches. To relax, I went to the private one for guests of the Hotel Cervo.
Private boatPrivate beach
Two trendy options are Nikki Beach or WHITEbeachclub.
Nikki Beach Marina Bar, not to be confused with Nikki BeachWHITEbeachclub
WHITEbeachclub
Getting There: Rely on your hotel concierge to book a taxi to the port. That is 40 euros each way. From the port, take the dingy boat which was 20 euros roundtrip (after negotiation).
The hotel tried to make a chair reservation at WhiteBeach, but they were sold out. I went in person and was given a chair for 10 euros. It wasn’t in the community section of chairs, and it didn’t have a mattress. The towel was an additional 10 euros. This was one of the best deals in an otherwise cost prohibitive island.
The yacht with a slide that I could afford.
Food on the Beach
In its smugness, WHITEbeachclub said their restaurant was booked solid, even for one person. Fed up, I walked to the one next door. It was the right choice. I felt like I belonged when I ordered a glass of rose and the lobster pasta. Again, the price was not outrageous.
Drinks
Make no mistake, Porto Cervo is for partying.
For music, I went to Just Cavalli two of the nights. Billionaire is also famous.
You can pay $20 for vodka soda or if you’re adept like TPOL, you can make friends and drink Dom instead.
For a more casual atmosphere, I went to Canteen where I found margaritas and reggaeton. Glad I left PR to spend 15 euros on what I get for far less at home.
For a sunset party, I went to Phi Beach. It has a nice view of the sea, but it was a bit pretentious for my taste. Also, there were too many kids.
Food
Guns and Butter is about what you can do given limited resources. I spent a disproportionate amount of my time drinking. Apart from breakfast two times, one cheeseburger, and the lobster pasta, I did not eat much for the 4 days I was there (see Travel Anxiety Sucks: Can It Be Prevented?). There was no shortage of fancy restaurants in Porto Cervo, and I can imagine the food would have been great.
Cafe du Port was recommended by Hotel Cervo.
Taxis
If only you could avoid taxis, you would find that Porto Cervo is not that expensive. Some may suggest renting a car, but that doesn’t solve the designated driver problem. Taxis are a necessity that must be endured. Prepare to spend 20 to 30 euros minimum going anywhere, no matter how close.
Overall
I liked Porto Cervo. For as upper class as it is, I found everyone to be down to earth. You don’t have to be a millionaire to go there, but this guide would be much crazier if I were one.
TPOL is out of the office, sort of. By office I mean opening my laptop to blog. I have a good excuse. I’m traveling in Bhutan and Nepal for the next two weeks. I was supposed to have programming scheduled while I was gone. Next time, I hope to plan for this laziness by following through on my promise to post everyday at 10:07AM EST.
Believe it or not, TPOL isn’t at home, please leave a message at the beep. I must be out or I’d pick up my phone. Where could I be?
I typically don’t review non-brand hotels because there are so many of them and this is a points blog. I also do not receive upgrades at non-brand hotels and typically come away thinking that I overspent and received nothing more than a bed (see Frontier Hotel Darwin: My Case for Hostels). Finally, I skip writing a review of non-brand hotels because it is the one break I have from my blog duties that require me to take a picture of the pillows and the toilet.
Having said that, I decided to write a review of the Hotel Luci di la Muntagna. I am doing this not to show you the photos of my double room dungeon, but to private a reasonable alternative for those in need of housing in Porto Cervo who do not have the means for a yacht (see Sardinia: The Isola of Expensive Taxis) and aren’t crazy enough to spend thousands a night.
Price
I spent 500 euros for two nights. I showed the front desk the booking.com rate which was 523 and they beat that price.
Negroni
Not in blog documenting mode, I didn’t take photos of the bar. Fortunately, I have my priorities in order and did take a photo of the best negroni I have had in my long time on this earth (see Negroni! Social Drinking in Milan). TPOL will be researching the best gins for making negroni for when you are invited on my yacht.
Breakfast
Usually when you read that breakfast is included, you should expect to be disappointed (see again Frontier Hotel Darwin: My Case for Hostels). Here, the food was good but the view was even better.
Concierge
Like the Hotel Cervo, the concierge here was very helpful. She planned my trip to WHITEbeachclub (see Porto Cervo Travel Guide) which included a taxi to the port, transportation to and from, and the pick up ride with my final stop at the airport. The stress of logistics was finally handled by someone else.
Pool
There are days you don’t feel like exploring. That is forgivable. Those days are best spent at the pool.
Wi-Fi
Non-brand hotels don’t always have great Wi-Fi. Here, it was seamless.
Shower
The room wasn’t great but the rain shower was. Again, my non-brand experience is usually a pathetic shower with no pressure and intermittent hot water.
Location
And the final reason you should stay at Hotel Luci di la Muntagna is the location. It’s within walking distance to the city center, and it’s near all the bars and restaurants.
Overall
I should’ve taken more photos because I ended up writing a post despite having no intention of doing so.
There are four Luxury Collection hotels in Sardinia. At 700 euros a night, Hotel Cervo is the most affordable of all them. If you don’t have the stomach to pay that, for 60k Bonvoy points, you too can stay in the city center.
City Center
Hotel Cervo is literally situated in the city center which is a small semicircle of restaurants and bars.
As upscale as Porto Cervo is, there’s nothing presumptuous about the Hotel Cervo. At check in, I was told that I was double upgraded to one of only four rooms with a view of the marina and city center.
Room
An appropriate way to describe my room is “charming.” It looks like an apartment from the movies.
View
And there it was, the city center and the marina. That’s as good a location as you’ll get if you want to boast that you are staying in Porto Cervo.
And by night
Bathroom
The pink tiles were a nice touch but I didn’t care for the bathtub shower.
Concierge
The concierge was fantastic. They recommended where to go out and helped me compose my Porto Cervo Travel Guide.
Phi Beach was a solid recommendation
Private Beach
Visitors to Sardinia quickly learn the best way to see Sardinia beaches is by having a boat. I did not have one. The hotel did and it whisked me away to its own private beach. It was a great place to spend a day after a long, long evening out.
My boatTheir boat
My homeTheir home
Hotel Bar
Just to be part of the action and appreciate how close I was to the city center, I had a glass of wine at the hotel bar. The price of the piña colada was ridiculous.
My room on the left above the bar
Overall
I couldn’t afford to pay cash for the second night and believe I came out ahead in terms of points value by only staying one night.
I am a self-proclaimed celebrity. I like to believe that everyone knows my blog. This delusion of grandeur is not completely fictitious. Over the years, I have met up with readers around the globe. Once I met with a reader in Guangzhou. By coincidence, I shared a ride from the airport with a reader in Tahiti. Another time, I met a reader in the Cathay Lounge. At the Hyatt Regency Mexico City, I shared drinks and points stories with a reader. At the Aloft Bangkok, I traded MS secrets with another reader. Yet another time, I met whom I thought were nice people at a Centurion Lounge, only to have them talk shit about me on Twitter following my CNN interview with Richard Quest. My favorite is running into a fellow Michigan grad on my home golf course in Puerto Rico.
If you are a TPOL fan, follow me @thepointsoflife on IG or @thepointsoflife for Twitter and I’ll follow back. That way if we are at the same place at the same time, we can meet up. If you’re not a fan of TPOL, do the same. I would love to meet the angry trolls as well. I doubt they can keep up the act in person.
Be sure to Tweet, leave a comment on a photo, or send a DM, so I know you’re not a bot!
Nice try buddy, we are Delta and we can do whatever we want i.e., we don’t guarantee bookings until they are ticketed. Sorry you foolishly transferred 28k Amex points to top off your worthless Delta account.
The United Polaris lounge is a solid lounge for spending a day. It is far better than any Centurion Lounge, and besides the cutlery and Krug in AA Flagship, it is better than the AA Flagship. Since Delta Sky Clubs are unimpressive, United wins the award for best US carrier lounge by default.
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