Unfortunately, I had to make a last minute cancellation and find myself with some points in holding that are soon to expire. So I thought I would give Hello Hotels a try and learned a few things. You first enter a date on the MVC website (though not a location) so MVC can tell Hopper how many points you have to use and then a new Hopper window appears.
There you enter location, dates, and number of guests and Hopper then shows both a list view and a map view with prices...but the information presented is more of a ballpark guess than reality. I searched a couple of locations and a bunch of dates and only about half the time the list/map info was accurate with most of the rest having slightly higher or lower prices. But there were two standout exceptions. One was a hotel that always appeared on the list/map view but simply doesn't accept hopper reservations (once I saw that none of the dates I wanted worked I tried about a dozen others and 'sold out' always appeared). The other is that the list/map view only uses the guest number to filter out hotels that don't have rooms that accept 3 or 4 guests but the prices shown don't reflect the price of rooms that hold 3 or 4 which ranged from substantially higher to triple the price.
In the end I found that the prices were consistently in the 30 to 34 cent per point range. The problem for me is that the price per point is calculated using the member rate and since between AAA and AMEX Business I was getting more like 24 to 29 cents per point. Since I found that I can still use resort credits for RC or JW charges at Lakeshore Reserve (see other thread) I won't be using Hello Hotels.
The other interesting tidbit I found is that while Hopper says, "Hotel reservations via Abound by Marriott Vacations are not eligible to receive Marriott Bonvoy benefits...", the MVC website says, '[P]articipating hotels based on availability will honor Elite status recognition..." Which may explain why I've read different answers to the question of Elite benefits on Hello Hotels reservations.
There you enter location, dates, and number of guests and Hopper then shows both a list view and a map view with prices...but the information presented is more of a ballpark guess than reality. I searched a couple of locations and a bunch of dates and only about half the time the list/map info was accurate with most of the rest having slightly higher or lower prices. But there were two standout exceptions. One was a hotel that always appeared on the list/map view but simply doesn't accept hopper reservations (once I saw that none of the dates I wanted worked I tried about a dozen others and 'sold out' always appeared). The other is that the list/map view only uses the guest number to filter out hotels that don't have rooms that accept 3 or 4 guests but the prices shown don't reflect the price of rooms that hold 3 or 4 which ranged from substantially higher to triple the price.
In the end I found that the prices were consistently in the 30 to 34 cent per point range. The problem for me is that the price per point is calculated using the member rate and since between AAA and AMEX Business I was getting more like 24 to 29 cents per point. Since I found that I can still use resort credits for RC or JW charges at Lakeshore Reserve (see other thread) I won't be using Hello Hotels.
The other interesting tidbit I found is that while Hopper says, "Hotel reservations via Abound by Marriott Vacations are not eligible to receive Marriott Bonvoy benefits...", the MVC website says, '[P]articipating hotels based on availability will honor Elite status recognition..." Which may explain why I've read different answers to the question of Elite benefits on Hello Hotels reservations.
