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Should I Use My Points to Book Now?

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vincenzi

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I have a little over 400,000 points. Should I try to book a trip for my husband and me before January 15th? Our schedule is flexible. We are not sure where we want to go. Possibly Italy or some place else in Europe. Any suggestions?
 
thinze3

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I have the same issue. I have been planning a trip to Europe in 2010 using points for some time now. The trip I want will now cost MANY MANY more points than before.

You MUST book your hotel room before this January deadline. If you try and make changes later Marriott will want more points as per the new schedule.
 
L

Latravel

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If you are thinking about traveling in 2009, yes, I would purchase the travel packages now before Jan. 15. If travel in 2009 is not possible, you have to wait because the travel packages cannot be extended beyond Jan 2010.

If I could go anywhere, I would stay 1 week in Paris and 1 week in the Marriott in the French Riviera. Second choice would be a trip to Italy and Capri. Third choice would be Greece. Have fun planning!
 
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vincenzi

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Latravel said:
If I could go anywhere, I would stay 1 week in Paris and 1 week in the Marriott in the French Riviera. Second choice would be a trip to Italy and Capri. Third choice would be Greece. Have fun planning!
Click to expand...

Heidi, thank you for the suggestions. I am checking them out now. Any time of year that is better than others?
 
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Please note they have just added Hawaiian Air to the list of carriers. We were ablel to book tickets to Tahiti ($2400 worth from HNL) and get a cat 7 hotel for a little over 230,000 points. Have not booked a hotel yet but might do that in Europe. A few days left for that.

Sue
 
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Latravel

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Early summer is really nice in France. The big bi-annual sales are going on, too. A very nice benefit! :D

Italy and Greece get very hot later in the summer. I've been to Greece in early September and the weather was beautiful. I imagine it would be the same for France and Italy in September.
 
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S

sjnoble

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rosepointe said:
Please note they have just added Hawaiian Air to the list of carriers. We were ablel to book tickets to Tahiti ($2400 worth from HNL) and get a cat 7 hotel for a little over 230,000 points. Have not booked a hotel yet but might do that in Europe. A few days left for that.

Sue
Click to expand...

Hi Sue, which cat 7 hotel did you book? Did you book a hotel on Tahiti? I wasn't aware that there are Marriotts on Tahiti?
I was waiting for the Fiji property to open but it just disappeared from Marriott's website and I have no idea if they are still going to open.

sjnoble
 
Mr. Vker

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thinze3 said:
I have the same issue. I have been planning a trip to Europe in 2010 using points for some time now. The trip I want will now cost MANY MANY more points than before.

You MUST book your hotel room before this January deadline. If you try and make changes later Marriott will want more points as per the new schedule.
Click to expand...

We were planning the same thing. We have two Cat 7 travel packages and were going to use them for Rome Grand Flora. This is one of the hotels converting to a Cat 8. We moved the trip to Nov of this year-got 2 rooms with exact same dates. Me and DW in one. Son and my mother in the other.

Also scored 4 saver tickets BWI-ROme for 40k miles each.
 
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I was just told from a Marriott Rep on the phone (a platinum rep) who said he researched this very thoroughly, that Vacation Club owners will still be able to redeem the 7-night packages at the current rates. This is for the 7-night packages with air miles only and does not apply to the other awards.

If true, which he is sure it is, that may be our "perk" for complaining about the devaluation of our trade points. He said they are not advertising it because others will get mad. He was going to give me the codes because he said the gold lines and reg. reservations may not know about it, but they don't have the codes yet. In any case, he said when calling to ask either for a platinum elite specialist or Marriott Rewards rep and if calling at night to ask for the after hours redemption line.

This is great news if true!
 
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skifast

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abouna said:
I was just told from a Marriott Rep on the phone (a platinum rep) who said he researched this very thoroughly, that Vacation Club owners will still be able to redeem the 7-night packages at the current rates. This is for the 7-night packages with air miles only and does not apply to the other awards.

If true, which he is sure it is, that may be our "perk" for complaining about the devaluation of our trade points. He said they are not advertising it because others will get mad. He was going to give me the codes because he said the gold lines and reg. reservations may not know about it, but they don't have the codes yet. In any case, he said when calling to ask either for a platinum elite specialist or Marriott Rewards rep and if calling at night to ask for the after hours redemption line.

This is great news if true!
Click to expand...

Are you saying that after January 15th they will still have the 7 night travel packages at the same point values - with no blackout dates?
Will they still have the European sampler?
 
Mr. Vker

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abouna

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No samplers, just regarding the 7 night/mile packages. Not sure about the black-out dates or how to deal with Cat. 8 hotels, didn't think to ask. Was just happy with that news.
 
Dave M

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I would not trust someone on the phone stating that MVCI owners will still be able to redeem Travel Packages under the current points structure after January 14. The messages that Marriott has posted on FlyerTalk and on its website and on the Marriott blog about the new points structure for Travel Packages seem clear.

Further evidence is in what you were told - that they weren't announcing it "because others will get mad." How long do you think that would be kept a secret if, in fact, Marriott did enact a two-tier points requirement for Travel Packages? Not long, for sure! And the people who would have to use the more expensive tier would be the business hotel guests, the people who really make the big profits for Marriott. I can’t see it.

Further still, the rep said that he had researched the issue, but didn't volunteer that he had confirmed his research with anyone. One person countering everything that has been carefully worded in the announced program and by the Marriott rep on FlyerTalk? I can’t see it.

Bottom line: I don't believe this news for a second. There has been much misinformation generated verbally about the new points structure. This could easily be more of the same.

If you rely on this "news" in your Reward planning, be sure to remember that you were warned.
 
pwrshift

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I wouldn't wait. Most of Europe Marriotts have slim pickings now as there aren't that many, but there are a number of the UK hotels ready and willing to accept MR for reservations. You could take a week in London, get 120k FF miles for 270,000 for a fabulous week. Add in another week of visiting 3 other UK hotels with a 150k hopper certificate and you'll have two wonderful weeks of seeing history, kings and queens, castles, museums, boat tours, and more. And the inhabitants speak a form of English too. 270+150=420k MR points. Seems like free.

After Jan14 it will take a lot more MR points, maybe double, if it's even available.

Brian

vincenzi said:
I have a little over 400,000 points. Should I try to book a trip for my husband and me before January 15th? Our schedule is flexible. We are not sure where we want to go. Possibly Italy or some place else in Europe. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
 
V

vincenzi

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pwrshift said:
I wouldn't wait. Most of Europe Marriotts have slim pickings now as there aren't that many, but there are a number of the UK hotels ready and willing to accept MR for reservations.

After Jan14 it will take a lot more MR points, maybe double, if it's even available.

Brian
Click to expand...

Brian, thanks for the information. I am going to book before the 15th. The Marriott rep that I spoke with last week said I could pick a generic location and I would be given 3 months to finalize my choice. There is so much inaccurate information being given. I don't know if this is a fact. How do you know that there aren't many Europe Marriotts left? It is apparent that I don't know how to access the information that I need. My husband would really like to go to Italy. Do you think it is out of the question?

Thank you fellow Tuggers for helping me.
 
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No, Italy is not out of the question! I am finalizing my trip to Italy right now. I would recommend you call a rewards representative to help you make the plans if you haven't turned in your points before. It helped me to decide which hotels I may want to stay in. For example, the Marriott Rome Park hotel is really far out of town, but it has a pool. A rep will help you decide which hotels are a good fit for you.

Just to be safe, I would make these plans now, before Jan 15. It's not too late!
 
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vincenzi

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Heidi, thank you.

I will give Marriott a call on Monday.

I finally figured out how to use Marriott's website looking for travel packages. :doh:
 
pwrshift

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vincenzi said:
My husband would really like to go to Italy. Do you think it is out of the question?
.
Click to expand...

It depends on where you want to stay and the class of hotel. In Venice the only choice is out at the airport and I would never advise that for a city where you have to be 'there' to appreciate. The Grand Flora is the only Marriott I would take personally as it's close to everything on a very famous street. Depending on the time of year you want Milan may be a choice from which you see world class shopping and The Last Supper, and 'drive' to Venice, Dolomites, Lake Como, The Materhorn, the Italian and French Riviera and perhaps add a few days in Monaco...or a week in Milan and another one in Monaco. Take your first week in Monaco to see Cannes, etc. and your second in Milan -- then train it to Venice for 3 nights, even if you have to pay for a Venetian hotel...then fly home from there. Just some dreams for you.... :)

I prefer to be in the thick of things when I vacation in hotels ... where you can just walk out the door and see the world. The full service Marriotts usually offer that in the world class cities. Think of all the major cities in the world you'd like to visit and you'll probably find a FS Marriott there on points -- IF you hurry.

See if you can find some Rick Steves programs on these places -- you'll be amazed at what you can see in Northern Italy -- and I think the food is even better there!

Brian
 
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