New dynamic pricing at hotels is confusing

[Quilter]

I tried using my Visa certificate at hotel. Senior rate is $180 +tax ($625/3 nights). It would have been 74K/night or 1 certificate + 49K points. I ended up going cash price.

did I do the right thing?


I'm editing this to clarify a mistake.

I was under the impression that the daily price of $180 was the counter price to 74K points. After reading through this thread it just didn't jive so I looked again. The 74K was the total for the 3 nights. The breakdown then became .08 cents. which is more in line with what others are quoting. I'm still going with cash since I've already used my certificate on another reservation. However, I may change my mind and use DH's certificate on this reservation.

The part about not being able to use more than 15K extra points is also in question because when I went through the steps online I'm pretty sure it gave me the option to use the certificate and the extra 49K points. I'd have to run it through again.

This thread has given me a better understanding of using the new dynamic pricing. Thank you to everyone who responded.

 

[VacationForever]

You can only add 15K to your cerrtificate. Visa cert only goes up to 35K. You won't be able to add 39K points to it. Yes, cash is the way to do this one.

 

[jmhpsu93]

I try really hard to get at least a penny a point for Bonvoy / certificate redemptions. You'd be getting like 0.003/point so I'd pay cash for sure.

If you have an expiring certificate (which as noted you wouldn't be able to use anyway) of course I'd use that. Ditto if you never use hotels and have tons of points to burn.

 

[melissy123]

Is it really possible to still get that value from Marriott Bonvoy points (a penny a point). I do not use the hotels that much.
For an upcoming stay in Edinburgh best I would get is .6 cents per point and that’s only because I’m staying five nights.

 

[VacationForever]

Is it really possible to still get that value from Marriott Bonvoy points (a penny a point). I do not use the hotels that much.
For an upcoming stay in Edinburgh best I would get is .6 cents per point and that’s only because I’m staying five nights.

It is closer to .7 cent a point, according to the Points Guy.

 

[bizaro86]

Is it really possible to still get that value from Marriott Bonvoy points (a penny a point). I do not use the hotels that much.
For an upcoming stay in Edinburgh best I would get is .6 cents per point and that’s only because I’m staying five nights.

Maybe on edge cases for people who travel a great deal and aren't willing to try non-Marriott alternatives. If you're willing to shop altertive brands and use that in the comparison I think its very rare. Naturally someone will respond to this with an example of some 35k redemption that was listed on Marriott.com for $350/night, but that is far from the norm and likely substitutable for another brand at lower cost, or at the very least a very peak night. I think dynamic pricing will kill even that possibility once they get it fully rolled out.

The points guy values them at 0.8 cents, and they over value everything. That makes sense from their perspective, because their business is getting people to sign up for credit cards to earn points. The more people think the points are worth the more commissions Points Guy will get.

 

[bnoble]

they over value everything

This is useful to remember. I sometimes get caught in the trap of “I can’t use my points on that, the redemption value isn’t high enough!” But, points are for spending and their value only goes down with time.

 

[bizaro86]

This is useful to remember. I sometimes get caught in the trap of “I can’t use my points on that, the redemption value isn’t high enough!” But, points are for spending and their value only goes down with time.

I also think it's very relevant to remember that points are not free. Ones earned by turning in a TS cost what you could rent that TS for. Points earned by credit card spending cost the cash back given up by using the card.

Take the Bonvoy brilliant and compare to Amex Simply cash (which gives 2% cash back). Most categories you get 2 bonvoy per dollar. So if you aren't getting 1 cent per point you're losing both money and flexibility by using the bonvoy card instead of the cash back card. Even the 3x bonus categories (flights/dining) require you to get 0.66 cents per point just to break even compared to (more flexible) cash. If you have a lot of Marriott spend that bonus is obviously worth using the card.

I think very few people are easily getting 1 cent per point for bonvoy any more, which means that almost everyone should use a different card for day to day spending.

 

[ljmiii]

Is it really possible to still get that value from Marriott Bonvoy points (a penny a point). I do not use the hotels that much. For an upcoming stay in Edinburgh best I would get is .6 cents per point and that’s only because I’m staying five nights.

Oh yes. At least domestically, cash prices have shot through the roof so the slight increase I'm seeing in points redemption cost is more than made up for by the 'value' compared to cash.

 

[melissy123]

I guess if I look at the bright side, I’m getting access to the club lounge as a titanium member (which I would have access to whether using cash or points) but that adds value to staying at a Marriott property.
i really don’t use my Marriott credit card for much. Only for paying Marriott expenses. I have my Chase Sapphire Reserve for everything else.

 

[ljmiii]

It is closer to .7 cent a point, according to the Points Guy.

After the recent 'devaluation', TPG actually bumped Bonvoy points up to 0.84 cents each. As much as people complained about no longer getting Ritz-Carltons or the Maldives on the cheap, the value of points compared to cash at 'everyday' properties has increased.

 

[Quilter]

Ok, on to another town and another reservation.

The senior rate with tax was $367. Points required 38K. So a certificate + 3K points. Makes points value $.00965789. Looked close enough to $.01 so I booked with certificate/points.

I get confused where to put the decimal point.

I should say this is at a full service Marriott. No lounge but I was told we’ll get breakfast voucher for Titanium level.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I should re-evaluate our stay in Vancouver for the two of us next month. If I can pay cash instead of using points, I will do that with Rick's credit card and get my points back to use at a later date. He has status that will give us free breakfast and lounge access. Our kids are going as well and they have the benefits that Rick has, while my Gold status is doing nothing for me (even though I pay an outrageous amount of money for that Brilliant card).

 

[Quilter]

After the recent 'devaluation', TPG actually bumped Bonvoy points up to 0.84 cents each. As much as people complained about no longer getting Ritz-Carltons or the Maldives on the cheap, the value of points compared to cash at 'everyday' properties has increased.

Would you please clarify this with an example? I learn so much better with examples.

 

[ljmiii]

Would you please clarify this with an example? I learn so much better with examples.

I can't really speak to the Maldives other than to say that in the Marriott Insiders group in another forum it is/was a frequent aspirational points destination and by all reports the points cost increased significantly.

In my own experience, Marriott did make it easy to go through your reservations, compare pre-post point costs, and rebook if the new price was cheaper. The new price was cheaper for about 2/3rd of my upcoming reservations. I saved around 40K points total - saving points in England, St Kitts, and a handful of places in the US.

That said and while I've been making cash vs DP vs MRP/BP choices for years, a lot of my more recent comparisons come from a pair of hotels north of NYC at which I've stayed relatively frequently the past couple of years. Thankfully, I have the luxury of flexibility and can look at the calendar a month or so in advance to pick the best rates (either cash or points). During the depths of COVID I could get rooms at $99/nt at the less expensive one and $150-ish/nt at the more expensive one. The cash prices were so low that points were a terrible value.

By the fall of last year things were picking up and prices were more in the $180-$300 range while points ranged from 15K-35K. I'm guessing I stayed on points half the time...basically whenever I could get a penny a point or better. This lasted until late spring of this year when cash prices skyrocketed. Now, while points have increased to 20-30K and 30-40K per night, the cash rates are $200-400 and $400-$700+ per night. I haven't made a cash reservation in months.