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Marriott in Bangkok

turkel

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Which Category 5 Marriott in Bangkok would you recommend booking for a 5 night travel package. ( the JW is category 6 )

Renaissance Bangkok Ratchaprasong
Courtyard Marriott Bangkok
Bangkok Marriott Marquis Queen's Park
Bangkok Marriott Hotel Sukhumvit

We will arrive after 9 pm the first night have 3 full days to explore then fly down to Phuket for our 2 weeks at the Phuket Beach Club.

Using the miles from the travel package with miles I already have will help us fly Business class from LAX.
 

Mr. Vker

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Are you gold or plat with Marriott? If so, def exclude the CY. You want a place with a lounge. The Thailand lounges are simply outstanding. If I understand correctly, you aren't going to stay the 5 full nights-correct? I would consider paying vs using a certificate. The rates on your list run about $100/night. You can probably find a better use for that certificate elsewhere. But, if you want to use the cert, I suggest Sukhumvit or the Renaissance.

You can also (if you have points) call MR and have them upgrade your cert to a cat 6. You have to pay the point differential. The JW is our favorite place in BKK.
 

turkel

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Currently Gold and that should remain through out our trip next Nov-Dec. We are planning on the 5 nights. My point was the first night we won't be able to do much and the final day we will leave to go to PBC. So I think we will only have 3 full days to explore. If we upgrade to the JW is the value there for the certificate? Points wise? Its very hard to find to find a category 5 that is decent since we tend to travel far on our vacations.
 
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bazzap

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It is an excellent Courtyard in Bangkok, but as Mr. Vker says you really want to choose one with a lounge as you are eligible.
If you had spare MR Points to upgrade your accommodation certificate to Cat 6, I would do that and stay at the JW.
If not, I would choose the Renaissance, a very good hotel located centrally and well for getting around Bangkok.
 

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The JW is excellent. I know you said cat 5 but maybe you should know that the JW serves an excellent breakfast in the lounge AND they serve several dishes in the evening. That means you probably will have little or no food costs. So that may make it more economical than it might appear.
 

Mr. Vker

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Currently Gold and that should remain through out our trip next Nov-Dec. We are planning on the 5 nights. My point was the first night we won't be able to do much and the final day we will leave to go to PBC. So I think we will only have 3 full days to explore. If we upgrade to the JW is the value there for the certificate? Points wise? Its very hard to find to find a category 5 that is decent since we tend to travel far on our vacations.

OK, now I understand... I would either upgrade to Cat 6 or pick the Marriott or Ren. The lounges are so top notch, we rarely have to eat elsewhere.
 

turkel

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Thanks everyone. Am I guaranteed lounge access since I'm Gold? Or do I have to hope to be upgraded? Category 5 to 6 with the 5 night package is only 15k points so it sounds like everyone here thinks that's a good value. Just transferred 50k of SO points for free to meet the category 6 level then couldn't pull the trigger cause I am not sure if my AA # has O's like Oh or 0 like zero. Marriott Rep said if we were wrong it would take months to retrieve the points and AAadvantage is closed today.
I am obsessed with planning our honeymoon sigh . SO has me watching endless utube videos on Thailand with my new Amazon fire stick. It is what got me going on adding Bangkok to our trip, just wish we could squeeze in Chiang Mai too but 19 days will have to do.
 

bazzap

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Thanks everyone. Am I guaranteed lounge access since I'm Gold? Or do I have to hope to be upgraded? Category 5 to 6 with the 5 night package is only 15k points so it sounds like everyone here thinks that's a good value. Just transferred 50k of SO points for free to meet the category 6 level then couldn't pull the trigger cause I am not sure if my AA # has O's like Oh or 0 like zero. Marriott Rep said if we were wrong it would take months to retrieve the points and AAadvantage is closed today.
I am obsessed with planning our honeymoon sigh . SO has me watching endless utube videos on Thailand with my new Amazon fire stick. It is what got me going on adding Bangkok to our trip, just wish we could squeeze in Chiang Mai too but 19 days will have to do.
Gold definitely guarantees you Lounge access.
 

Mr. Vker

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As Barry said, you are guaranteed lounge access-a huge benefit in the Asian properties IMHO. You may not be on the lounge floor though. Just to clarify. Your key will still allow access anytime the lounge is open.

AA can't verify your Aadvantage number on the weekend? I am surprised to hear that!
 

bazzap

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And as you say Todd the spacious suite on the lounge floor is a great result if you can get it, but the lounge access is the benefit you really must have.
 

bizaro86

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For the oh vs zero conundrum, simply copy and paste the number from somewhere (AA email or online account?) Into excel and then try to use it for math. If it's an oh you'll get an error.

Alternatively, try to log in on their website both ways, only one will work.
 

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I have been to Bangkok 5 times in the last 5 years. I have extensive posts in the "International Timesharing" forum below. Plan on using the BTS (above ground subway? LOL) Then plan on using the river for cheap travel North and South. Use the regular transportation boats- not the tourist trap river tours. It's like 20 baht to travel the river- less than a dollar. Also unless you have a Schwab account, I would get some money in TRAVELER'S CHECKS". YES, TRAVELER'S CHECKS. ATM's in Bangkok have a substantial fee while Traveler's checks are easy to redeem and are actually redeemable for rates better than cash. Don't miss the Siam Center for shopping and go across the street to MBK center- the fourth floor has every phone item you can imagine and some you can't. It probably has 200 venders. I think it is the 5th floor of the Siam Center that has a Bentley and Lamborghini sales outlet LOL.Just take your time and wander around the whole area. Watch out for scams. Mister Mister! I will take you to a place where the prices are sooooo cheap! Don't buy it!!! Keep walking or tell the tuk tuk driver to forget it and get out if necessary.
 

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During one stay at the JW I was upgraded to a suite. It was bigger than most TS. It had a full kitchen, dining room, living room and 2 bathrooms. If you have specific questions i will try to answer them if you send me a PM.
 

turkel

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That sounds fantastic. I am just excited to have access to the lounge. I thought it was silly AA was closed for the weekend too. I should have asked about my number when I had them hold our reservation on Friday. I assumed my number would be verified easily. I still have until the 22nd to complete the reservation so I have time.
 

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For our next visit to Bangkok we plan to stay at the new Queens Park Marquis. We stayed there some years ago in its former management and were upgraded to a suite both times. We recently stayed at the sister hotel in the ownership the Nai Yang Marriott Resort and Spa in Phuket - excellent but no Lounge as it is not a business hotel. In the past we have found the JW not generous with upgrades and generally I would recommend the Renn for availability of room upgrades and the lounge is pretty good. I would not use the courtyard even though it is better than the average courtyard anywhere in the rest of the world.

I never pay for a room upgrade either with points or cash since in Asia room upgrades are pretty common for gold and Plat members - especially if you are Lifetime elite.
 

bazzap

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P1030514.JPG
That sounds fantastic. I am just excited to have access to the lounge. I thought it was silly AA was closed for the weekend too. I should have asked about my number when I had them hold our reservation on Friday. I assumed my number would be verified easily. I still have until the 22nd to complete the reservation so I have time.
This was the lounge area of our suite at the JW on our last visit, offered as a Platinum Elite upgrade benefit.
 

Mr. Vker

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That sounds fantastic. I am just excited to have access to the lounge. I thought it was silly AA was closed for the weekend too. I should have asked about my number when I had them hold our reservation on Friday. I assumed my number would be verified easily. I still have until the 22nd to complete the reservation so I have time.

Sounds like the issue is you have to transfer the points then have them post to AA then ticket-all by the 22nd. That could be tight. If I were you, I would try to create an online profile with AA using your Advantage number. It will only take the correct information. Try zero first. As another poster said, they have zero in their advantage number. I have two zeros. You can also call American reservations and ask them to try and look up that number. The FF dept may be closed, but reservations is opened for sure.
 

turkel

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They were zero's. My iPad stores my passwords so I couldn't be sure which one I was getting wrong the ff# or my password. ( too many passwords these days with different requirements, it doesn't help that I am tech inept). So I will call Marriott again today to book.

Some how a flight from Phuket to lax has to come up, currently we would have to make it to Hong Kong on our own before flying home a day early
 

Mr. Vker

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Excellent. Hope the booking experience goes well. I actually really enjoy that part. Great fun. One thing you will want is the record locator for both the airline you are using FF miles for and the actual carrier. That way you can login and select seats etc. For example, we booked our trip via AA miles for travel on Cathay Pacific. We have both record locators and were able to login to Cathay to choose seats etc
 

turkel

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Thanks for the tip. Were you able to get descent fights arriving and departing on the dates you needed. We haven't been able to get a flight out of Phuket with miles but a flight a day early out of Hong Kong. Not sure if I should book that one just to have something and pay for the leg from Phuket to Hong Kong.
 

BigMac

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Thanks for the tip. Were you able to get descent fights arriving and departing on the dates you needed. We haven't been able to get a flight out of Phuket with miles but a flight a day early out of Hong Kong. Not sure if I should book that one just to have something and pay for the leg from Phuket to Hong Kong.

Surprised you can't get Miles out of Phuket back to LAX. United usually has many although tend to be China Air. Have you tried BKK to LAX. Cheap flights from Phuket to BKK. As someone noted, the rates at the Renaissance are about $100US. Not worth using Reward certs just pay using your Marriott card.
 

Mr. Vker

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Thanks for the tip. Were you able to get descent fights arriving and departing on the dates you needed. We haven't been able to get a flight out of Phuket with miles but a flight a day early out of Hong Kong. Not sure if I should book that one just to have something and pay for the leg from Phuket to Hong Kong.

Yes, we were able to get the dates we wanted. Try Bangkok instead. Hard to tell which leg is the problem. As suggested, you can add a short, inexpensive flight on Thai from HKT-BKK. We went with One World though. Seems you are on * Alliance?
 

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Yes log into their website. I would bet it is zero. Everyone I know has a 0
I wonder if they even use the letter "O" because of this type of ambiguity. And by the way, I do not have a zero (or the letter "O") in my AAdvantage number.
 

rickxylon

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We've stayed at the MVC location (Empire Palace) and it was very nice. No lounge, but very nice and the location is great.
 
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