How to use our points - Ideas please!

[dmharris]

Sign in to MVC, click Use Points, click Cruises Hotels and More, click Explore Hotels and Luxury Residences, and from there you can sort by country and city. As an example, for London, at St. Ermin’s, the Abound points range from 1150 to 1875 per night, based on room type.

Not sure what the cash rate is there, but something tells me if you rented out your points at 70+ cents a point, you could likely get 2 nights using your proceeds to pay cash, for every 1 night reserving with Abound points.

This is great advice. The actual best way to use the opportunity for the best value. Thank you. England is 1 pound = 1.22 dollars

 

[dmharris]

Electing MVC/Abound points?
There are no Abound TS properties in those areas, which is the best use for those points.
Do you have bonvoy points?
You might not want to elect your 2024 week to points and instead deposit the week into II so it will be good for 2+ years.
Or you could elect the points and bank them for the next years trip to an abound property. I can recommends the gardens on Kauai!

Thank you. We've been to Kauai. We have decided England, Holland and maybe France. I don't want to spend a week at a resort. This is more a few nights at different places. In my original post I stated I have 350,000 Bonvoy and about the same american express points. Plus miles on Delta and American.

 

[jmhpsu93]

Thank you. We've been to Kauai. We have decided England, Holland and maybe France. I don't want to spend a week at a resort. This is more a few nights at different places. In my original post I stated I have 350,000 Bonvoy and about the same american express points. Plus miles on Delta and American.

So AMEX points transfer directly to Marriott Bonvoy 1:1 so you could have about 700K in Bonvoy points. You likely could get three, five-night stays with that amount of points in some decent hotels (not like St. Regis or anything, but maybe the primary Marriott or Westin hotels). Or do some combination of a stay at an MVC resort in Spain or France and then nights using Bonvoy elsewhere.

 

[Pamplemousse]

Thank you. We've been to Kauai. We have decided England, Holland and maybe France. I don't want to spend a week at a resort. This is more a few nights at different places. In my original post I stated I have 350,000 Bonvoy and about the same american express points. Plus miles on Delta and American.

Yes sorry I missed the Bonvoy on my read before replying.
So seems like it’s just a matter of looking for hotels and running the numbers to see if you get the most value using Bonvoy or Abound points for your hotels (or using up the abound before they expire if you don’t have another use for them/don’t want to rent).
Remember if you book 4 nights with bonvoy points you get the 5th free if you stay in one place long enough for that to be of value. You could consider using some abound points at MVC d’Ille de France in Bailly-Romainvilliers- I believe that is about 2 hr from Giverny and an hour from Paris by the very convenient train.
I also check/search the Marriott Bonvoy insiders page for info on hotels. You can find it under the about Marriott Bonvoy tab on the Marriott website.
Sounds like a great trip- enjoy!

 

[Hindsite]

Thank you. We've been to Kauai. We have decided England, Holland and maybe France. I don't want to spend a week at a resort. This is more a few nights at different places. In my original post I stated I have 350,000 Bonvoy and about the same american express points. Plus miles on Delta and American.

Excellent. If you don't already know, you can get the Eurostar from London to and from both Rotterdam and Amsterdam. We found Rotterdam surprising good for a 5-night trip and used public transport only while there, also recommended. We didn't enjoy Amsterdam as much.

 

[craigc]

We enjoyed Club Son Antem on Majorca in 2019 but being an island, it is flight from the mainland but, there are amazing places to visit on the island.

In April ’24 we are going to fly into Seville where our daughter will be doing a study aboard program. We will be using Bonvoy points to stay at Querencia de Seville, Autograph Collection. We will then take the train down to Malaga and stay at MVC Marbella Beach Resort.

Then we will fly to Porto Portugal and stay and a small boutique (non Marriot) hotel before heading down to Lisbon where we will stay at the Sheraton Lisboa Resort and Spa using Bonvoy points. Three 3 weeks in total……all but 5 nights using MVC / Bonvoy points.

In ’25 my wife wants to go to the French open so we will stay in Paris using Bonvoy points in a hotel close to the Roland Carros stadium. Then head over to Village d'Ile-de-France before heading down to the French Riviera. All on points but, my Bonvoy points are starting to dwindle and since I no longer work / stay at Marriot’s weekly. I believe they will dry up soon

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[dmharris]

We enjoyed Club Son Antem on Majorca in 2019 but being an island, it is flight from the mainland but, there are amazing places to visit on the island.

In April ’24 we are going to fly into Seville where our daughter will be doing a study aboard program. We will be using Bonvoy points to stay at Querencia de Seville, Autograph Collection. We will then take the train down to Malaga and stay at MVC Marbella Beach Resort.

Then we will fly to Porto Portugal and stay and a small boutique (non Marriot) hotel before heading down to Lisbon where we will stay at the Sheraton Lisboa Resort and Spa using Bonvoy points. Three 3 weeks in total……all but 5 nights using MVC / Bonvoy points.

In ’25 my wife wants to go to the French open so we will stay in Paris using Bonvoy points in a hotel close to the Roland Carros stadium. Then head over to Village d'Ile-de-France before heading down to the French Riviera. All on points but, my Bonvoy points are starting to dwindle and since I no longer work / stay at Marriot’s weekly. I believe they will dry up soon

​

I love hearing the details! Thanks for sharing! I too no longer travel for work; I'm a Realtor in my 2nd career. But honestly, I've traveled so much that I'm fine if I leave this planet after this next European excursion. Hopefully I'll be here longer but I'm content. (Those were my mother's last words to me, "I'm content" and it hit me very profoundly that that is what I should try to achieve in life, Contentment. We can't always be euphoric so I'm content.

 

[dmharris]

So We decided to take points for 2024 and see what happens. It affords us more flexibilty and I need time to plan. I'm up against the clock with this Sept. 30 deadline, so points it will be. Thank you all for your enormous help.

 

[dmharris]

Excellent. If you don't already know, you can get the Eurostar from London to and from both Rotterdam and Amsterdam. We found Rotterdam surprising good for a 5-night trip and used public transport only while there, also recommended. We didn't enjoy Amsterdam as much.

What didn't you like about Amsterdam? We're thinking of a day trip to Brussels as well. My husband adores Chocolate!

 

[Davey54321]

We have been to the Disney Paris, and Marbella DVC properties/locations as well as to Mallorca on a cruise and would return to any of these these three in a heartbeat. I took a quick loook and there is points availability at any of these locations in the late September into early October. A week at any of these DC locations would pair well with a river cruise or better yet IMHO a Bonvey stay in a nearby area (Paris, Provence or Lisbon, Algarve, Madrid, Barcelona). Good Luck and do let us know what you decide! Reviews, trip reports please!

 

[Hindsite]

What didn't you like about Amsterdam? We're thinking of a day trip to Brussels as well. My husband adores Chocolate!

I think we went to Rotterdam with low expectations and found it to be very nice, and we went to Amsterdam with high expectations and found it to be fine. Nothing specific wrong with Amsterdam, just not as good for us as it is hyped as.
If you like art museums Amsterdam is probably better.

 

[Hindsite]

duplicate

 

[4TimeAway]

Votes for:

Barcellona- there’s nice church there. Oh, and the Mediterranean.
Azores- Furnas, Gardens/Mineral Pools
Porto- mosquitoes, great food, Port/Wine
Evora- Church with bones, roman ruins, the typical but oak trees and great food
Algarve- Water is cold, but nice.

Lisbon- Castles

 

[DRH90277]

Travel log with lots of ideas, but no conclusion. Were any of these of interest?

 

[Pamplemousse]

Travel log with lots of ideas, but no conclusion. Were any of these of interest?

Post 16

 

[Big Matt]

I think your best use of points is to stay at the MVC in France as one of the week anchors. You can see a lot of the countryside and also train into Paris if that's your cup of tea. If it were me, I'd go to Belgium, Holland, or Switzerland via train and see how much you can get out of your Bonvoy points given what you want to see. Paying cash for some of the trip wouldn't kill you. You could also go to Italy via train from Paris and focus on Florence/Tuscany/Venice and not go too far south.

 

[chunkygal]

We are currently at Marbella. I wrote a review. An unexpected treasure. I wanted to go to Majorca, but wasn't available. The key is to plan, plan, plan. Didn't used to as necessary as it is now. Not go too far South in Italy and miss Amalfi?

 

[Big Matt]

We are currently at Marbella. I wrote a review. An unexpected treasure. I wanted to go to Majorca, but wasn't available. The key is to plan, plan, plan. Didn't used to as necessary as it is now. Not go too far South in Italy and miss Amalfi?

Amalfi is wonderful. Hot in summer, but my point was to avoid more travel time depending on what airlines are being used.

 

[claraj]

Amalfi is wonderful. Hot in summer, but my point was to avoid more travel time depending on what airlines are being used.

I was in Italy and visited Milan, Florence and Naples all via high speed train. I highly recommend it.

 

[bobpark56]

You should look into the MVC locations in south Spain (Marbella, Playa Andaluza) - nearest airport is Malaga/AGP. In particular, I'd do it just outside the ultra-busy ultra-hot July and August seasons, like May, June or September. Great locations with plenty of things to do in the area for day trips like Alhambra, Seville, Gibraltar, and even a day trip to Morocco via ferry. If you have two weeks, you can easily spend 7-9 days in that area and the remaining 5-7 days in a large city in Europe a short flight away like Barcelona, Madrid, or Lisbon.

We have been going to southern Spain every year...from late Feb through March. The weather is just fine, albeit a bit cool for swimming. Car rentals, apartment/home rentals, and timeshare availability are much better than after mid-March, when the northern Europeans start arriving.

 

[goodbadugly]

Rent out your points or weeks on Redweek and go where you want without limitations. There is a whole other world out there not tied to Marriott. We just came back from a 12 night stay in the Amalfi Coast in Italy and hopefully we are going to the southern Portugal in 2024. We are also booked in St. Martin with a weeks trade in January and Grand Chateau in June.

Davemy is absolutely correct on this. For example if you select a Collette tour through MVC you will will pay a 35-40% premium using points. Reserve a week with your points and rent it out on Redweek. Then use the cash for a tour or cruise or whatever!

 

[dmharris]

Thank you all. We're going early May 2024 to Holland to see the tulips, then to France to Giverny to see Monet's garden, then to London for the Chelsea Flower Show. It's all about Flowers this time. Everything I've always wanted to see. I'll start to figure out how to do this soon. We've had a busy and sad October with two family deaths, our 17 year old Bichon and my only sibling (brother), so I'm hoping for time and head space to plan in November.