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Points

cp73

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Reading all the posts on this board about points and their value, plus based on my own experience in having a Marriott Credit Card and earning and using points I have concluded the following:

That in order to get the most value out of points you must use the 7 day travel packages and preferably the ones with air. Any other use of Marriott points for stays less than this yield results valuing the points at about $.01 or less.

Has anyone found anything to the contrary on this or another way to exceed a $.01 per point value without using extended stay travel packages?
 
I think you are on the ball regarding points.

Where you may find a lot of value with the hotel points is when you can get a regular points redemption in places like New York City where rooms approach $450 per night. Spending 150,000 points in a category 7 for five nights with a value of about $3000 is an example. The same thing is true in Europe for the high end hotels.

Your greatest value is being able to get a very high end hotel and business class air using the package. Traveling with more than two people makes it tough given the amount of airline miles needed.
 
I think there is one more instance where points are valuable. I agree with all of the previously mentioned uses. The other use of points that I find personally valuable is using points for hotels in areas where no acceptable timeshares exist or when I wish to stay less than a week. Even though the room rates are less, making the value of points less, the convenience of using points is a plus.
 
Chris,
We travel to visit my DD in Fort Worth a couple of times a year and stay at the CY nearby. It has inched up in cost the last couple of years and is now $189/nt on the weekends we usually go. This totals a over $400 for a two night stay.

I use points each time we go because it takes only 19,000 points for two nights (cat 2). Each time I make a Marriott branded reservation, I check the points total required for the same stay. Most often is doesn't work, but in FW it does.

Terry :D
 
I agree with you, Chris, that the best value is in the air-hotel travel packages.

In addition to the expensive hotel examples, there are a few others that can generate value in excess of one cent per point. A good example is a 7-day Alaska cruise for two in an outside cabin on Holland America. In July 2009, that would cost about $2,500 before considering the taxes and port charges that have to be paid with a Marriott Reward.

At 165,000 points, that works out to a little more than 1.5 cents per point.
 
Buying points

I have a question about buying points. If you and your spouse each buy 50k points can you then combine those points for a 100k hotel package? I'm pretty certain you can't but so many posters give this as an example of how to accumulate large amounts of points w/o buying direct that I'm wondering if I have it wrong.
 
I have a question about buying points. If you and your spouse each buy 50k points can you then combine those points for a 100k hotel package? I'm pretty certain you can't but so many posters give this as an example of how to accumulate large amounts of points w/o buying direct that I'm wondering if I have it wrong.

According to these rules you can buy 50K points and then 'gift' them to another MR member.
 
However, each MR account can only be credited with 50,000 points per year.

"A member may purchase or receive as a gift a combined maximum of 50,000 points per calendar year."


http://www.marriott.com/rewards/terms/earning.mi

When you are ready to redeem a reward, you can transfer points from one spouse to the other.

"Immediately prior to redemption, a member may authorize the transfer of the necessary number of Marriott Rewards points into the Marriott Rewards account of his/her spouse or domestic partner, in order to qualify for a specific reward."
 
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