Review: Preferred Hotels & Resorts Elite Upgrades and Benefits at The Coeur d’Alene Resort in Idaho

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The lakefront resort’s room is full of surprises and the resort ground is simply beautiful. Here is the review:

Booking 

The Coeur d’Alene Resort is part of the Preferred Hotels & Resorts. I was not able to find the resort on any travel booking sites such as Booking.com, Orbitz, Hotels.com, etc. The only way to make a stay reservation is to either book directly with the resort or book with Preferred Hotels & Resorts. 

If you book directly with the resort, make sure to give them your I Prefer loyalty number at check-in so that you can earn points. I decided to book directly through the Preferred Hotels & Resorts website so my I Prefer loyalty number is automatically attached to the reservation. 

The following benefits are based on availability but it really helps to sign up for the I Prefer membership to get the following benefits:

• Free Wi-Fi 
• Early Check-in/Late Check-out 
• Complimentary Room Upgrades 
• Exclusive Member Rate 

If you do not receive these mentioned benefits, let the front desk know that you are part of the I Prefer with Preferred Hotels & Resorts, and inquire them about those benefits before or when you perform your check-in. 

• If you have an American Express card, make sure to see if there are any Amex Offers available on the card. 
• At the time of this writing, there is an Amex offer available on my American Express Platinum Card: Spend $300 or more at Preferred Hotels & Resorts, and receive $60 back through December 15, 2021. 
• Sign up for the Preferred Hotels and Resorts I Prefer first to earn points from your stay. 
• Enroll through the following link and you will also receive an additional 1,000 bonus points: 
• Go to Direct Link to Enroll in I Prefer Hotel Rewards
• On the sign-up page, make sure you enter f6fe1110-b6f1-41b9-9507-29190ad4db9d in the enrollment code section to receive your extra 1,000 bonus points. 
• Once the I Prefer account is successfully set up, you can start making your reservation online. 
• Preferred Hotels will show you all the available room rates and packages for the dates that you want. 
• I like that Preferred Hotels shows a full calendar when it comes to searching for the lowest room rate available. 
• Next step, you simply follow the booking process to finalize your reservation.

Please note that The Coeur d’Alene Resort requires a one-night deposit and you must cancel 7 days before arrival to avoid the penalty of forfeiting that deposit. 

As I mentioned above, if you have an American Express card, be sure to check to see if there are any Amex Offers available specifically for Preferred Hotels & Resorts spending. 

I took advantage of the Amex Offers between two people’s cards, so we saved a total of $120 from our stay at The Coeur d’Alene Resort. 

• You need to make sure to add the offer to your Amex card before spending. 
• The Coeur d’Alene Resort requires a one-night deposit after you make the reservation. 
• Once you make a reservation through Preferred Hotels and Resorts, The Coeur d’Alene Resort will manually process your reservation along with charging you the first-night deposit to the card you provided while making the reservation. That amount will count towards your spending requirement for the Amex Offer. 
• If you still do not meet the spending requirement, wait until you complete your stay and pay your final bill with that Amex card when you check out. 
• For multiple cards, you can ask the front desk agent to split your final payment into multiple cards too when you check out. 
• The transaction will show that it’s charged directly by the resort instead of the Preferred Hotels and Resorts, but don’t worry Amex system is smart to know that the resort is part of the Preferred Hotels and therefore if you meet the spending requirement, Amex will give you the statement credits accordingly. 

A few days before check-in time, I successfully matched my Hilton Honors Diamond status (complimentary of American Express Hilton Honors Aspire Card) to I Prefer‘s top-tier Elite status.

• How to Request Status Match with I Prefer

With I Prefer Elite status, I decided to call The Coeur d’Alene Resort and to make sure I would receive the Elite benefits during my stay. Surprisingly, no one there seemed to understand what those benefits are besides the fact that the resort is part of the Preferred Hotels & Resorts. The front desk personnel was nice enough though to go check with the manager and came back to tell me that they could offer my reservation with a complimentary room upgrade and a bottle of champagne for being an I Prefer Elite member. 

On the day of check-in, one of my pet peeves is that would it hurt the front desk agent to let you know that your room has been upgraded and the special welcome amenity you receive? I had to personally ask that and the agent confirmed that was true. But really, if she could just let me know without me asking that would be great! Those are positive things that make guests feel good, so I don’t think guests mind hearing that. 

 

Our room got a complimentary upgrade to the Marina View King Room in the renovated Park Tower. I originally booked the cheapest room North Wing Double with limited views, so being able to upgrade to the Marina View was very nice. That was a jump of 3 categories of room type. 

The Marina View Room is gorgeous. It’s spacious and comes with luxurious beddings and amenities. The lake Couer d’Alene and the marina views are breathtaking. Here are some pictures of the room.

Shortly after we checked in and were settled in the room, the resort sent over a bottle of champagne and a welcome note to the room. This special welcome amenity was given because of the I Prefer Elite status I have with Preferred Hotels & Resorts. It was very nice. 

The Coeur d’Alene Resort is a destination in itself. If you are looking for a relaxing getaway with some water activities, The Coeur d’Alene Resort fits the bill. 

The resort features the following attractions and activities that you may want to check out: 

• If you enjoy golfing, there’s no doubt that you really need to check out the Golf Floating Green that’s available to guests staying at The Coeur d’Alene Resort. 
• The resort has a complimentary van or boat to take you to the Floating Green. 
• There’s also a restaurant at Floating Green overlooking the lake and the golf course. 
• For those that don’t golf, it’s still fun to catch the complimentary boat shuttle and go to the Floating Green. There’s a small secluded beach with beach chairs and an adult-only heated infinity pool there that opens seasonally only. See the photos below. 
• The resort also has an indoor pool and spa services. 
• There are quite a few restaurants and lounges at the resort. 
• The resort also has the longest floating boardwalk in America that you can walk around the lake and enjoy the scenery. If you want to walk more after the boardwalk, there’s also a nearby hiking area that you may find adventurous. 
• The resort is within walking distance to the downtown Coeur d’Alene. You can shop, eat and drink at many restaurants and bars in town. 
• The resort is a lakefront resort, so you can enjoy all the beach, water activities, parasailing, and lake cruises, etc. 

Complimentary Boat to the Golf Floating Green

The Cedar Floating Restaurant, as its name suggests, is a floating restaurant. While the restaurant is owned by The Coeur d’Alene Resort, it’s not at the resort property.  

The restaurant is a short drive from The Coeur d’Alene Resort. If you don’t want to drive, you can always take advantage of the resort’s complimentary van that can take you there. You just need to let the front desk or the concierge know. After you finish your meal, you simply let the waiter/waitress know to call the complimentary van for you to go back to the resort. 

Reservation at the restaurant is highly recommended, especially if you want ideal waterfront seating. During the cooler temperate time, they have heaters out there too! I made the reservation with The Coeur d’Alene Resort staff several days before check-in and requested the lakefront seating. The agent also made an appointment for me to be picked up from the resort to the restaurant. 

The Cedar Floating restaurant is truly a floating restaurant. As we sat down, there were a few times that the water was splashing onto the deck. It was fun but a little bit motion sick if you are prone to motion sickness. In that case, just take one Dramamine pill prior :-). Watch the video below you’ll see what I mean by that. 

We found the meal at the Cedar Floating restaurant is mediocre though. We felt like we were paying a high price meal and drinks mainly for the view and the “floating restaurant” experience itself. Overall, it was worth the one-time-only experience in my opinion. 

The Coeur d’Alene Resort has the following cancellation policy:

• Cancel 7 days before 4pm day of arrival local hotel time to avoid penalty charges or forfeiture of deposit. 

Once you make a reservation through Preferred Hotels and Resorts, The Coeur d’Alene Resort will manually process your reservation along with charging you the first-night deposit. You must cancel 7 days before 4pm day of arrival for a full refund or you’ll lose that deposit. 

The Coeur d’Alene Resort Pet Policy

It’s nice that The Coeur d’Alene Resort does allow pets. You can bring your pet for a one-time $75 cleaning fee. 

The Coeur d’Alene Resort Parking

The Coeur d’Alene Resort offers a covered parking garage for self-park and valet park:

• Self-park $19 per day
• Valet park $23 per day

For more frequently asked questions and answers (FAQs) about The Coeur d’Alene Resort, you can access the information here. 

If you have accrued Choice Hotels Privileges points, you can use Choice points to redeem for a free night stay at The Coeur d’Alene Resort. 

The Coeur d’Alene Resort requires 45,000 Choice Privileges points per night subject to availability for redemption. 

For more information on how to redeem Choice points for Preferred Hotels & Resorts, check out the following post:

• Redeeming Choice Points For Preferred Hotels & Resorts