Travel Package clarify info please

[wegottago]

My husband now wants to try to order a Travel Package using our points many of which we bought before the price went up. I've read many posts about the rewTravel Pkg and am overwhelmed mainly because of the deadline that I only learned about.
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From an early post from Dave and a summary I did not copy:
As to what should the action plan be (ordering the travel package, making hotel reservations and making plane reservations), I would go with the order that Marriott recommends:

1) Make hotel reservations first.
2) Then order the travel package.
3) Then make plane reservations.

Part of the thinking here is that the hotel space becomes available about 50 weeks in advance - a bit more than two weeks before the airline seats might first become available.

However, if your testing (pretending to make reservations for other dates with likely similar demand) indicates that the hotel reservations are more readily available, I would change the order to travel package first, then plane reservations, then hotel reservations. There is no single best answer to this dilemma.
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My questions:
1. If I do some general research to decide where I want to go within a category of hotel but am not positive, can I just order the travel package before the 14th and make a decision when under less time pressure? UNLESS I want to stay at a hotel that is changing categories? I believe then I will have to use it in 2009.

2. Is there a list of what hotels are changing categories so I could base a decision on that?

3. Is it worth it getting a pkg to go somewhere in the US (besides Hawaii) or to a Caribbean island? We live in NJ w/2 kids 10 and 8 so may be limited in options.

4. I will assume that I have to know which airline FF plan I want the points deposited into when I order the package? We have most of our points in Continental.

5. Do we have to order the Travel Reward by phone?

6. If I order something for the US or Caribbean how can I determine if it is a good value with the Reward Pkg.

Thanks for any clarification you can offer.
Lisa

 

[Dave M]

Wow! I'm not sure that there are perfect answers for some of your questions, but I'll give you my opinions....

1 - Yes, your understanding is accurate.

2 - We know what hotels will move from category 7 to new category 8.

3 - Only you can decide. The keys are that you get the hotel stay and that the FF miles are cheap, whether you use them for this trip or not.

4 - Yes, the FF miles will deposited as soon as you order the Travel Package, although it could take up to a week or so for them to show up in your FF account.

5 - You can order it online. However, if you know where and when you think you might want to stay, you can make the hotel reservation, order the Travel Package and have the hotel certificate attached to your hotel reservation with a single call.

6 - It's a good value if you think it is. Many of us would compare the cost of paying for the hotel stay and decide whether using points seems to be more worthwhile. Although some people value points at $.0125 each, the true value is what it's worth to you.

 

[wegottago]

thanks

Thanks, Dave. You helped me understand this better as always.

 

[pwrshift]

As usual, Dave has covered your answers well. Here are a few of my thoughts...

I'm quite concerned over the thought that with 8 categories that virtually all the Cat6 will become Cat 7, Cat 5 move up to Cat 6, etc. Marriott announced only the ones that go from 7 to 8 but nothing else which leaves me greatly concerned that there is more bad news to come. Thus, even more important to do your booking TODAY with owner services.

I also wouldn't suggest you have an 'open booking' on a pkg hotel - find out what's available with the hotels TODAY for points bookings as well as airline flights so you can marry them up. I would rather know that the booking is firm rather than counting on Marriott to honour what a rep verbally tells you as there could be huge differences in MR numbers.

If you can't find flights at the same time, I suggest you keep the 120 FF miles in your airline account and fly economy for the cheapest amount possible -- earning FF miles. That way you'll have the FF miles for booking future flights when you have more time to think it through for another special trip...both components of the pkgs don't have to be used at the same time and the airlines have already adjusted their FF requirements.

On the other hand, if you have enough points with Continental put your flights on hold as soon as you book the hotels and the 120k from Marriott can come later ... if you don't have enough you might lose your hold on the airline flights until the FF miles get there. I also think you can pay a fee to get the FF miles there faster.

I don't really 'value' hotel stays based on $0.0125 per MR point, but use it as a tool to see whether I should use points or pay cash (and earn pts). Sometimes you get a great saving with MR points but sometimes you don't. For instance, if you can get into the NYC Marquis for $200 a night it's cheaper 'in value' to pay cash than to use 30,000 MR points (going up when it's Cat8 btw) ... 30k pts valued at $375, so you save $175 in 'value' by paying case. However, if the rate is $500 a night using 30k MR points may be better as you save $125 per night.

The 'value' comparison is even greater when comparing hotels and the cash value of expensive business class flights to the number of MR required for packages. Hopefully, with more points required on Jan15 these value comparisons will have to be re-evaluated.

Have fun ... we probably won't see this opportunity for a number of years.

Brian

1. If I do some general research to decide where I want to go within a category of hotel but am not positive, can I just order the travel package before the 14th and make a decision when under less time pressure? UNLESS I want to stay at a hotel that is changing categories? I believe then I will have to use it in 2009.

2. Is there a list of what hotels are changing categories so I could base a decision on that?

4. I will assume that I have to know which airline FF plan I want the points deposited into when I order the package? We have most of our points in Continental.

6. If I order something for the US or Caribbean how can I determine if it is a good value with the Reward Pkg.