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Best way to book using reward points

T

travelinmom

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 11, 2005
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Location
Cleveland, OH
We will be taking a car trip out west and staying in several hotels for a night or two. Is there a better way to book these using reward points or do I just have to make each reservation separately? Thanks in advance for any help anyone can give!
 
You will really just need to book individual nights. Though unfortunately booking single nights with points is not a great use of those MR points. Also, depending on where you plan to stay you may find that booking the cash rate is a better deal. Unless you have gobs of points to burn through, i would save the points for a 7 night travel package.
 
Or...

dioxide45 said:
...save the points for a 7 night travel package.
Click to expand...
Or, maybe preferably, a 5 night travel package with maximum frequent flyer points. You may find the one-for-one MR to FF point conversion is a good value. ymmv...
 
You can also try looking at a combination of MR points and cash for individual nightly reservations.

Also, use AAA rate is you are a member. They give pretty good discounts at times for nightly rates.
 
Lately I've been finding the cash rate which earns stay credits and MR points is often a much better deal than using points for individual nights. To figure it out, look for the lowest rate you can get, AAA or Senior, and compare it to Marriott's price for buying points.

Example: if they want 20,000 points for a night you could buy them or $250. If the best cash rate is close to that, or less, I'd pay cash and earn points/stays. If the best cash rate is $350, reward points would be a better choice if available.

As mentioned, however, depending on how many points you've already got, the best possible deal is using them for air+hotel trips...5 or 7 nights.

Brian
 
Yes, but...if your goal is not to spend the cash, then use the points. We are doing a road trip from Maine to SC and didn't want to have to pay for the nights. We each have different needs. Nkn
 
We do this every year. We spend two nights on the way north and one on the way south, usually all on Marriott points. This year I waited too long to reserve one of the nights and was forced over to a Hilton. Luckily, I had a few points there as well.

For Marriott this year, I had enough free night certs from their various promotions to cover the nights. I still have one more to use by sometime in December.

We seldom make long stays in a Marriott, since we have plenty of timeshare weeks to exchange. The only exception is for the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque. That is a 10 night stay on points.

Sheila
 
NKN said:
Yes, but...if your goal is not to spend the cash, then use the points. We are doing a road trip from Maine to SC and didn't want to have to pay for the nights. We each have different needs. Nkn
Click to expand...

I would agree. If you want the nights to be free then points is the best option. However, if you have scrimped and saved over 5 years to save those points I wouldn't consider it a good deal to burn those points for hotel stays that may only cost between $99 and $125. Again, if you have tonnes of points and no other use for them, then go for it. But, if you are going t oonly be saving a few hundred dollars and burning through 100,000 points at the same time, it simply is a bad deal. Spend the cash.
 
If, after reading all the good advice posted above and then opt to pay cash (not use points); I would look at priceline.com to book my lodging. The "name your own price" feature is a great way to save money. I have booked several trips this way and have never been disappointed.
 
mjbaran said:
If, after reading all the good advice posted above and then opt to pay cash (not use points); I would look at priceline.com to book my lodging. The "name your own price" feature is a great way to save money. I have booked several trips this way and have never been disappointed.
Click to expand...

No rewards points are earned for the room rate when doing this.
 
I just booked Westfield's Marriott for July 27 for $89. Nice full service hotel near Washington Dulles.

If using points it takes 15,000 MR points ... Marriott sells them for $187.50, so that's the value.

Why would I pay $187 worth of points for something I could get for $89 cash and earn a stay credit and more MR points?

Brian
 
Hi,
Also, with summer bonus time staying at two different places gets most members a free night.
 
Where can you find the 5 & 7 day travel packages that you can get with points on the Marriott Rewards site?
 
There are a few things that I consider when booking rooms with MRPs. Not everyone uses MRPs for swank hotels or exotic vacations within the system. I seldom do. My stays are like the OP's. At cat 1-4 Marriotts where no timeshares are available or have less than five night stays. Usually some kind of a road trip.

For longer stays I try to find primarily a business hotel and use the points during the week when the cash price is high. You get a free night with a four night stay using MRPs. I pay the two weekend nights because the cash price for the weekend nights at a business hotel are usually low. This approach may also qualify for the two for one bonus that Marriott usually offers. So, you get a free night for a future trip.

Saving for a travel package for a specific purpose is a worthwhile thing to do if you have a goal in mind. I used to carry about a 500,000 MRP balance at all times. I stopped that after several of Marriott's devaluations and now carry only a low to medium five figure balance. Even bought a TV set to lower the balance. Instead of "counting beans" I believe it's better to consider convenience. If you want to pay cash do it. If you don't want money out of your pocket then use the points anytime you feel like it. You're not losing anything.
 
DCBoy said:
Where can you find the 5 & 7 day travel packages that you can get with points on the Marriott Rewards site?
Click to expand...

This link should bring you to the marriott.com page for the 7-day Travel Packages; the telephone number for booking is on that page.

5-day Travel Packages are available only to Vacation Club Owners through Owner Services (not Marriott Rewards.) The info used to be on my-vacationclub.com but was removed some time ago - see this TUG thread.
 
SueDonJ said:
This link should bring you to the marriott.com page for the 7-day Travel Packages; the telephone number for booking is on that page.

5-day Travel Packages are available only to Vacation Club Owners through Owner Services (not Marriott Rewards.) The info used to be on my-vacationclub.com but was removed some time ago - see this TUG thread.
Click to expand...

The 5-night is still an option but you have to call? I wonder why they removed it. I was looking for it a month ago and couldn't find it.
 
Saintsfanfl said:
The 5-night is still an option but you have to call? I wonder why they removed it. I was looking for it a month ago and couldn't find it.
Click to expand...

It was removed when the category changes were announced this year presumably to be updated to include the new Cat 9.

I just checked again, should have done it earlier because the update is now posted on my-vacationclub.com. This link should re-direct on sign-in to the page. If it doesn't, sign in then click on "Program Changes" in the column on the right under "Marriott Rewards."

Moderator Note: I posted the new info in the previously-linked 5 day travel package [Marriott Rewards] thread. Please continue the discussion about Travel Packages in that related thread, rather than this one in which the OP is questioning Marriott Rewards usage for fewer nights. Thanks!
 
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Somehow it seems there's confusion between "travel packages" and the get "5 nights for using four nights of MRPs" at any Marriott hotel facility. Aren't they two distinct programs? I believe some of the confusion is due to the idea of buying a travel package with points, stripping off the air fare component and using the hotel portion for a vacation. Or, simply getting a hotel only travel package. Here's the link to the Marriott Hotel chart.

http://www.marriott.com/rewards/pointsGridPopUp.mi?awardType=Standard
 
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