Trip to Italy using Marriott reward points

[Billpcti]

My wife and I are planning a trip to Italy in May 2018 using Marriott reward points. We want to spend most of our time in Florence, Lake Como, Milan and Venice. Is there any way of maximizing our points for airline and individual hotel stays given that as I know it we can't purchase a travel package. We have a substantial number of points available. Thanks.

 

[kds4]

Hi. It is my understanding that any Marriott Rewards member can purchase a 7 night travel package. However, I believe that 5 night travel packages are available only to Marriott Rewards members who are also Marriott Vacation Club owners. Have you checked your Marriott Rewards account under Use Points. There is a link to the 7 night travel packages and all of the various options that are available including the category of Marriott hotel you want to reserve as well as the number of miles you will receive depending on which airline you choose to have the frequent flyer miles credited toward.

 

[WalnutBaron]

I suggest you spend a lot of time reading posts at The Points Guy. He's made a living out of maximizing points, although I will say that he is only a recent convert to Marriott Rewards. Regardless, you can use the search engine in the upper right corner to facilitate the answer to your question.

One other thought: if you are a Platinum member, you can look for Platinum-only promotions listed on the Marriott website. Finally, by booking on the Starwood website, you can get five nights for the points price of four. Something to consider.

Buona giornata!

 

[Billpcti]

I suggest you spend a lot of time reading posts at The Points Guy. He's made a living out of maximizing points, although I will say that he is only a recent convert to Marriott Rewards. Regardless, you can use the search engine in the upper right corner to facilitate the answer to your question.

One other thought: if you are a Platinum member, you can look for Platinum-only promotions listed on the Marriott website. Finally, by booking on the Starwood website, you can get five nights for the points price of four. Something to consider.

Buona giornata!

T

 

[Billpcti]

T

I appreciate the feedback. However, we are planning on staying in 4 or 5 different Marriott properties. Doesn't that eliminate the travel package option??

 

[bazzap]

I appreciate the feedback. However, we are planning on staying in 4 or 5 different Marriott properties. Doesn't that eliminate the travel package option??

Yes unfortunately you cannot split the nights between different hotels with the Accommodation Certificates that you get with a Travel Package.
However, as the Travel Packages are the best value return when using MR Points, if there was one location you considered spending more time at than the others it could still be beneficial to get a Travel Package with 5 nights (if an MVC Owner) at one hotel and separately MR Points for the other hotels.

 

[Big Matt]

You don't have to use the hotel part of the travel package with the airline miles. You just need to have a 5 or 7 night trip planned where you can use the hotel part. You may want to see if that's feasible. Then just use points for the Italy stays. Obviously use the 5 nights for 4 when doing so to maximize the points usage.

 

[kds4]

I suggest you spend a lot of time reading posts at The Points Guy. He's made a living out of maximizing points, although I will say that he is only a recent convert to Marriott Rewards. Regardless, you can use the search engine in the upper right corner to facilitate the answer to your question.

One other thought: if you are a Platinum member, you can look for Platinum-only promotions listed on the Marriott website. Finally, by booking on the Starwood website, you can get five nights for the points price of four. Something to consider.

Buona giornata!

I didn't know Starwood did this. Marriott Rewards also offers the same 5 nights for the cost of 4. Book a 5 night stay and they will deduct only the number of points 4 nights would cost.

 

[kds4]

I appreciate the feedback. However, we are planning on staying in 4 or 5 different Marriott properties. Doesn't that eliminate the travel package option??

Yes. The hotel certificate is for a single property. You may do better making individual points reservations, remembering that you can get 5 nights in any single Marriott hotel for the price of 4 nights when booked as a single 5 night reservation.

 

[kds4]

Yes unfortunately you cannot split the nights between different hotels with the Accommodation Certificates that you get with a Travel Package.
However, as the Travel Packages are the best value return when using MR Points, if there was one location you considered spending more time at than the others it could still be beneficial to get a Travel Package with 5 nights (if an MVC Owner) at one hotel and separately MR Points for the other hotels.

This is a good idea to consider. You also don't have to use the hotel certificate and airline miles for the same trip. You can apply them to 2 different trips. So, if you want to use the airline miles and just redeem hotel points for a couple nights at many different hotels, you can. Save the 5 of 7 night hotel certificate to go somewhere else some other time.

 

[Quilter]

I suggest you get the Hyatt card from Chase. It gives you 2 free nights in any category hotel. We got beautiful upgraded room in Milan. Daughter used hers for Hyatt in Paris. I got this lead fro million mile secrets blogger.

For lake Como we stayed at this place, recommended by Rock Steve's. Pay for it with Chase Sapphire Reserve. We got on of the rooms with the large balcony with chaise lounges. Sitting out there in morning was beautiful with tower bells ringing. Sitting out there at night was beautiful watching the lights on the ferries.

Restaurant was very good.

https://www.varenna.net/ENG/hotel.html

For Florence look into the Westin. We had nicely upgraded room. I booked using cash + points. Eat at Il Profeta..

 

[pwrshift]

Starwood has Marriott beat in much of Italy. In Venice I would suggest the famous Danieli...you might feel isolated if you stay on the relatively new Marriott island. I agree with the Florence Westin Excelsior mentioned above...we got upgraded to a terrace suite facing the Arno river. The Grand hotel (SPG) facing it is nice too. I don't think there's a Marriott or Starwood in Lake Como...but the place mentioned above looks very nice unless you want real upscale at Villa D'Este. I actually liked Bellagio better than Lake Como. We stayed in the Boscolo in Milan and hated it...very modern design with uncomfortable furniture and small rooms...but there's really only the duomo, and the adjacent shopping mall, plus the Last Supper to see there...4 days at most.

We always fly biz class to Europe and to get them on points/miles you're best to book 330 days ahead.

 

[VacationForever]

We just stayed and left Florence (Westin Excelsior) using SPG points and got upgraded to a junior suite facing the Arno River. Love that property and location.

This week in Rome at Marriott Grand Flora using travel package. Highly recommend against anyone thinking of staying here. Service poor, shower does not drain, after 3 attempts over 3 days to fix it - each time they reported as fixed, but not. The latest was I am sorry from the front desk but I guess we do not know how to fix it. The check in person emphasized that guests using points are second class. She handed us breakfast vouchers and said because we used points, we could not use it for room service. In the room, the breakfast room service indicated when using a voucher, there would be an additional 10 Euros which we would have no issue paying for. Front desks staff unfriend, roof terrace staff worse. The ground floor has a bar with limited food service. A couple of the staff were great, the rest just stood around. We will just use points to stay at the Westin Excelsior in Rome if we were to return.

 

[pwrshift]

We stayed a week in Grand Flora on points several years ago and while we loved the location the room was tiny. I wasn't even silver back then. Staff was quite good to us. It was our first Rome trip. It became very difficult to get on points later so we never returned to Flora.

Stayed a week at the Rome Westin Excelsior two years ago before the merge but I had SPG points to cover it. Again we got a fairly small room, not as small as Flora, but it had a huge balcony that was poorly furnished. Restaurant wasn't great so we went next door hotel Jeramaia (?) for food as well as other places nearby. I was treated exceptionally well by the Concierge however...left my camera in a taxi and he somehow found it for me...and on the day we left there was a bus strike and no taxis to the train station, but he not only found us one he sent his assistant to help us find the right train to Milan and handle our bags and find our seats for the 330km/hour trip. I'll never forget that type of service. They were upgrading decor in the rooms then but ours hadn't been done yet. It is a special place...but not in the Florence Excelsior class at that time.

 

[Bill4728]

I also recommend staying at the Westin resorts in both Venice and Florence. We did cash and points and found it to be a much better value than using all points. if the room was free for 20K pts, with cash and points 10K pts +$180 got you a free room (discount of >$350) and the next 10 K of pts only saved the $180 discount

I would recommend flying into Venice and take a water taxi from the airport. Then take the train to Florence

We love the Westin Europa/Regina in Venice. it is on the grand canal and a short walk to St Marks but not in a heavy traffic area

In Florence the two Starwood hotels are right next to each other on the Arno river. A short walk from the train station and a short walk to the town center Great location!