Lufthansa 1st class to Sweden: The planning & changes – Part 1
Lufthansa 1st class to Sweden: Outbound from South Bend – Part 2
Lufthansa 1st class to Sweden: The Westin Chicago & UBER Black & SUV – Part 3
Lufthansa 1st class to Sweden: Outbound from Chicago & United Global 1st lounge Chicago O’Hare International Airport – Part 4
Lufthansa 1st class to Sweden: The brand new and amazing Boeing 747-8 & 1st class seating & experience – Part 5
Lufthansa 1st class to Sweden: The 1st class terminal in Frankfurt – Part 6
Lufthansa 1st class to Sweden: A Porsche ride & domestic business class – Part 7
Lufthansa 1st class to Sweden: Outbound from Gothenburg Sweden & business class to Munich Germany- Part 8
Lufthansa 1st class to Sweden: A Mercedes ride and the 1st class lounge in Munich – Part 9
Lufthansa 1st class to Sweden: The Airbus A330 & 1st class experience – Part 10
Lufthansa 1st class to Sweden: An overnight in Toronto Canada at the SPG Four Points by Sheraton – Part 11
Lufthansa 1st class to Sweden: The Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge- Part 12
Lufthansa 1st class to Sweden: United business class back to Chicago & South Bend Indiana – Part 13
Lufthansa 1st class to Sweden: Final thoughts & Delta comparison – Part 14

One of the downsides of award tickets is sometimes you have to fly, let’s just say, not the most direct route to get to where you are going. This tends to turn many folks off of points. I mean, our return trip could have resulted in a comment like this:

“You mean you had to get up at 4AM in Gothenburg, take a taxi & then fly to Munich. Then a long layover before flying to Toronto Canada, overnight at a hotel that you had to pay for, then an early morning flight to Chicago before at last getting back to South Bend? – No thanks!”

Well to each his own, and I think if you peek at how much fun we have had on this adventure the journey was truly a blast and worth the extra effort. Oh, and other than getting up at 4AM (yeah that stinks) I paid for the taxi with my Barclay’s Arrival+ card and then paid myself back with points, I enjoyed both the lounge in Gothenburg and in Munich very much, and I paid for my overnight in Toronto on SPG points. But let’s get back to the hotel review.

I had originally booked a room at the Radison Blu for 38,000 Club Carlson points, but for just 4k SPG at a CAT 2 weekday redemption I switched to get the extra stay credit I will need to re-qualify for SPG Platinum again this year (it takes 25). Now this hotel is nothing like the Radison Blu, but all we were going to do was shower, sleep and go right back to the airport. Four Points hotels work just great for that as did this Four Points Toronto.

We got a standard King room and I have found the beds to be decent at Four Points.

Not as nice as a Westin heavenly bed, but for a night or two just fine.

You would think a desk is nothing special but for a budget hotel to have power accessible (plug in the lamp base) is important and to me an adjustable chair is a must (it was). Not being able to get the right height can may working most uncomfortable.

One thing I really like that was lacking here is a sink area outside the bathroom. For a single no big issue, but for your +1 it is nice to have an area where you can avoid the steam of the next one showering and still have access to water.

The bathroom was clean, bright and fine (man, the Lufthansa ducks are everywhere, right). The towels were also clean and plentiful. What else could you need for an overnight.

The airport shuttle ran often and pickup and drop-off worked great. This can really be a spot that budget and not so budget hotels miss just how important a feature it can be to a guest. No issues here.

The only downside for my stay was an ongoing theme of this trip, that was getting to the airport too soon for things to open.

This time it was customs to be pre-cleared into the USA at the airport in Toronto. I had never done this before and it was strange to me, but I have been told you can do this at most Canadian airports as well as some train stations. Neat! The last step was “digitally” claiming our luggage and confirming they were going to our final destination South Bend.

The perk of being one of the first in line, as well as Global Entry, was a quick transition through customs – 15 minutes – and more time in the Air Canada Maple Leaf lounge. More on that next! – René

Editorial Note: Any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any card issuer.

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