Richmond Savers
  • Blog
  • Free Disney Trip Plan
  • Guides
  • Top Credit Cards
  • About
  • Contact

How To Get 5 Star Treatment On Your Honeymoon

September 23, 2015 by Harry Campbell 6 Comments  Richmond Savers has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Richmond Savers and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.

Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities. Disclosures.

Although traveling for nearly free with rewards points never gets old, there are always times when it feels good to be pampered.  When we travel, we normally fly economy and stay in 3 star hotels but for our honeymoon we wanted to do something special.  After all, a honeymoon really is a once in a lifetime event and for most of us, it’s the only time where we can justify living it up a little bit.

So with that being said, we booked some nice properties in Europe and ended up paying for 2/3 of our trip with miles and points.  This was a huge windfall for us since we never would have been able to take this kind of honeymoon without all those credit card bonuses.  But regardless of whether you pay with cash or points, today I’m going to give you the full scoop on how to get the royal treatment when you’re on your honeymoon.

What Can You Expect?

Westin Excelsior Rome - Welcome Gift

Westin Excelsior Rome – Welcome Gift

Any time you travel, it’s important to keep realistic expectations.  If you expect a first class bump and free suite upgrades, then you’re going to be in for a lot of disappointment.  But if you’re polite and courteous and don’t mind mentioning that it’s your honeymoon, you’ll definitely have some nice treats at most stops.

Most hotels will leave a bottle of champagne on ice for you and some will even throw in something to eat if you’re lucky.  We stayed at 5 different hotels during our honeymoon and got a bottle of champagne at four of the five.  My favorite welcome gift though was from the Westin Excelsior in Rome since in addition to a bottle of champagne, they also gave us these little Italian pastries that were to die for!

This was really the first time I have ever traveled for a special occasion and I couldn’t believe how much I enjoyed checking into a new hotel and sipping on a glass of champagne.  It made us feel really special and it was just another perk of getting married 🙂

How To Get These Benefits

So now that you know what kind of benefits await, you’re probably wondering how you can get them.  It’s actually a pretty straightforward process but the reason why most people don’t know about this special treatment is because they assume that these hotels will somehow know you’re on your honeymoon.  The only way to get this type of 5 star treatment is if you tell them.

That might be a little awkward for some people but I can tell you it’s well worth it.  You don’t have to make it seem like that’s the only thing you’re after either.  Before our trip, I e-mailed each of our hotels and stated the following:

Dear X Hotel,

Our visit is just two weeks away and we are beyond excited to stay at your lovely hotel.  My wife and I will be celebrating our honeymoon and I just want to make sure everything is in order with our reservation.  I want this trip to be perfect in every way so I really appreciate all of your help.

This type of e-mail is probably a good idea anyways but it also lets them know that you’re coming for your honeymoon.  Any good customer service agent will take a note of this in your file and make sure that there is a nice surprise waiting for you in your room upon arrival.

(Brad’s note:  If you can find the email address for the hotel’s general manager through Google (search for something like “hotel name general manager email address”), let them know about your honeymoon and that you picked their hotel for your special vacation. They might be able to give more than a standard customer service agent; we had luck with this when we visited a top-tier Hyatt in NYC)

Social Media Is Your Friend

A lot of airlines and hotels now have some of their best and most helpful staff on their social media teams.  In addition to e-mailing, I also made sure to tweet something similar to each hotel brand.  Clearly, I didn’t want to take any chances with our welcome gifts and it worked.  I got 3 out 5 to respond to me on Twitter and they all assured me that everything would be in order for our stay.  We were especially impressed with the Hyatt Concierge twitter account and recommend that you ping them if you need assistance with any Hyatt hotel bookings

It Pays To Be Genuine

The only thing you’ll want to watch out for is being too demanding.  Hotels and airlines offer this treatment as a perk so it should never be expected.  Obviously it’s a nice surprise when it does happen but you never want to approach the situation as if something is owed to you because you’re on your honeymoon.

I think the best example of this came on our flight from LAX to Rome.  Since I work in the aerospace field, I always find myself chatting it up with the flight attendants and talking about airplane stuff.  On this particular long flight, I was in the back waiting to go to the bathroom and I started talking to two male attendants.  We chatted for a solid 10-15 minutes and eventually I mentioned that I was on my honeymoon and they congratulated us, offered us some complimentary food; I passed but said how thankful I was.

About 30 minutes later, the attendant came to our seat and handed us two warm chocolate chip cookies and a bottle of champagne.  It was an awesome treat and the best part was that I wasn’t looking to get anything out of talking with them.  I was just genuinely interested in chatting with them and they did us a really cool favor by hooking us up with cookies and champagne.  Those were two awesome AA flight attendants and it was only the beginning of a great honeymoon!

Readers, have you ever experienced 5 star treatment like this while traveling on your honeymoon or for another special occasion?  Are there any tips or tricks that you would use?

About the Author: Harry Campbell is a 28 year old retired aerospace engineer and full time blogger. He runs a blog for Uber/Lyft drivers over at The Rideshare Guy but has been passionate about travel since an early age. Harry loves to write about using miles and points to travel and over the past 5 years he’s racked up over 2.5 million points!

Get Our Best Tips Sent to Your Inbox

We'll Help You Slash Your Budget and Travel for Free

Richmond Savers has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Richmond Savers and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.

Filed Under: Travel Tips

Take Your Family to Disney for Pennies on the Dollar!

We did it, and you can too. Our step-by-step guide to using rewards points to take a Disney trip for nearly free will show you everything you need to know.

Comments

  1. Dee says

    September 23, 2015 at 9:55 am

    The St. Regis Hotel Shanghai in Pudong made my daughter’s 11th birthday extra special. I was teaching at a university in China for a semester and timed a visit to my daughter’s birth city to coincide with her birthday. I sent the hotel an email telling mentioning this. They wrote back and asked what kind of fruit and cake she liked. All three days we were there the hotel left her surprises: a teddy bear with a birthday greeting, a chocolate cake, a platter of kiwi, and a bouquet of roses. The hotel was marvelous, with a lovely room and the most luxurious bath. An extravagant complimentary breakfast was served each day in the library on an upper floor with a grand view. I’ve stayed in many hotels over the years, but the St. Regis Shanghai is still my favorite.

    Reply
    • Brad says

      October 1, 2015 at 1:20 pm

      That’s incredible service Dee and smart move to email the hotel!

      Reply
  2. Vawt says

    September 23, 2015 at 3:43 pm

    It seems like common sense to say “just be nice” because you would expect people to act in a kind manner, but I see how rude people can be when they feel entitled to something. Those in customer service roles will usually reward the patient and polite customers over the rude ones nine times out of ten.

    I missed the chance to take advantage of this on our honeymoon, but I always try to talk to gate agents, concierge, front desk people, etc with a smile on my face and making eye contact. I also try to say thank you and mention it to the general manager when I received great service.

    We had excellent service at the Ritz in San Francisco a couple of months ago. That will be my gold standard to compare to from now on, as they really make it a focus. It made me feel like I was their priority at all times and they did some extras for our kids (instead of ignoring them like many places do).

    Reply
    • Brad says

      October 1, 2015 at 1:23 pm

      I think being nice is a great strategy for life! I try to be aware of how difficult many customer service jobs are and go out of my way to be friendly and courteous. They deal with enough jerks already, and that type of behavior will generally get you nowhere

      Reply
  3. ashley says

    September 28, 2015 at 11:53 pm

    Some friends of mine worn matching shirts that said something about them being just married/on their honeymoon and got special treatment. They didn’t even have to say anything, people just saw the shirts and asked them about it.

    Reply
    • Brad says

      October 1, 2015 at 1:28 pm

      That’s very cute and a smart strategy!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

CommentLuv badgeShow more posts

Welcome to RichmondSavers.com

Our Family Picture

We're Brad and Laura Barrett and our entire family wants to thank you for visiting!

We love saving money and we found an easy way to save $4,000+ on our Disney World vacation using credit card rewards points.

Read the step-by-step plan that's been featured by the NY Times, NBC, CBS & ABC:

Most Popular Articles:

  • Take your family to Disney World (nearly) for free: Step-by-Step Instructions
  • The Essential Rewards Credit Card: Chase Sapphire Preferred
  • AMEX Waives Annual Fees for all Active Duty Military Members
  • Booking with a Travel Agent: Save Big by Using the Right Credit Card

Disclaimers

This content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuer. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of the credit card issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuer. This site may be compensated through the credit card issuer Affiliate Program. RichmondSavers.com makes no representations as to accuracy, completeness, currentness, suitability, or validity of any information on this site and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries, or damages arising from its display or use. All information is provided on an as-is basis. Richmond Savers does not include the entire universe of available financial or credit offers.

RichmondSavers.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Copyright © 2021 RichmondSavers.com | Privacy & Terms | Contact