ED Hotels
As experienced European travellers, we seriously considered the 'roll-your-own' option for our trip this summer (2008) to pick up the new C300.
After comparing the Euro/Dollar conversion rates on some nice hotels (I get to drive fast, she wants to sleep in nice accommodations, fair trade!), we decided the MB plan was reasonable -- the daily rate works out to $325, or EU 205 at the rate on 31 March, 2008, which includes dinner.
I knew we wanted to drop the car in Munich, and as we only had a week, decided to focus on the German Black Forest/Austrian Tyrol region. My wife doesn't want to spent all day every day in the car, so we settled on a route using MB's BFA rally hotels, staying 2 nights in 2 locations, one night in the third. The MB hotels have good reviews, and tend to be 5 star rate luxury properties. The cost is $1300 for five nights (including the free night you get as part of the ED package), which you pay to the dealer. Only 6 of the hotels on the ED program participate in the BFA package:
Steigenberger Graf Zeppelin, Stuttgart
Schosshotel Buhlerhohe, Baden-Baden
Parkhotel Adler, Hinterzarten
Interalpen Hotel, Telfs, Austria
Hotel Zur Tenne, Kitzbuhel, Austria
Hotel Bayerische Hof, Munich
The Adler, Interalpen, and Zur Tenne include dinner and breakfast for one or two for the same price, the others only breakfast.
We pick up in Sindelfingen on 30 June, drive to Hinterzarten in the Black Forest. We spent Christmas near there (Titisee) 30 years ago, want to do some hiking in the summer.
After 2 nights, we drive to Telfs, Austria. We're still planning that day, but we plan to see Mainau Island on the Bodensee, Lindau, Bregenz, and the Arlberg Pass -- depends on the weather.
We'll have 2 nights in Telfs, then a quick trip to Kitzbuhel for one night.
On Saturday, 5 July, we'll drop the car in Munich. We been emailing with the shipping agent, and they have an arrangement where we can drop the car keys at the Bayerische Hof hotel with the concierge, and say, 'ship it'. They'll collect it on Monday and we'll see it in six or eight weeks. Hopefully!
We're staying with family in Munich, so we won't be at the BH, which is supposed to be quite nice.
We'll post an update when we get back. If anyone has any knowledge of the areas we're traversing, I'd love to hear it!