ManInASuitcase

Hello everyone!

Just looking to get some of that sweet FT insight on another travel dilemma.

I have a sizeable amount of points (~300k) that I am looking to use on a vacation this year. I wanted to know if anyone has any information or suggestions about using rewards for a full trip (either hotel + airfare or an all-inclusive resort). Also, any other cool suggestions are welcome!

Thanks!

TravelingJoel

There are plenty of good places to go to, but you just missed the cutoff for using points before the increases in redemption values (15 Jan 09). I recommend you read the 2009 program changes thread and the Point Burner's guide thread.

If you have made any reservations before 15 Jan, you'd be in great shape, just don't delete them! If not, you're probably stuck with the new points redemption amounts. Still and all, there are lots of great places to go!

joshua362

Are those travel packages still with us, but at a higher cost than 270K? I can't find a straight answer. Thanks

TravelingJoel

travel packages (with 7 night stay plus airline miles) are still around. The hotel samplers are no longer.

However, with the new 5th night free, it's hard to say whether the travel packages are a good deal on the hotel portion. Certainly not as good as they were, but then again, it seems like most FTers do the travel packages so they can get the miles, which is still a 1 for 1 trade, and as such and the fact that hotel points are relatively cheap to accrue, a great deal.

Mile High Club

several of Carribean properties have an AI option that covers food and drinks for 2 adults and all kids under 12, plus some kids club activities for 90K for 7 nights. The package code is C17. I've booked it for Aruba for Thanksgiving 09. It is a very good deal, actually gets you better yield for the points (cent/point) than the hotel redemption. In general, you can eat at almost all the hotel restaurants (in Aruba, can't eat at Ruth Chris stakehouse and the other restaurants that cater to time shares). But considering that you can easily blow $200 on dinner (lobster is $40+ a plate), you should be able to garner $3K worth of value from the meals, drinks and activities from 90K points > $.03 per point. Just make sure you do your due diligence on the particular property to determine exactly which restaurants are excluded. I was shocked to learn that the sushi restaurant in AUA is INcluded in the program and I plan to make use of that !! It's especially good if you have kids and if you have >2 (we have 3 and everywhere you go, if they have kid deals, it's usually 1 kid per 1 paying adult -- here you can bring >2, and they're covered as long as they are under 12).

I think you can also convert MR points to miles, but the yield is pathetic, so don't burn the points on that. Best bet, as far as I can tell is try to find friends who will join you on the vacation and barter their AI food for your tickets (i.e. people that don't travel but have ton of AMEX membership reward points will be happy to burn their points on your airfare if they get $3K worth of food/booze from you)... Just a thought, takes more manuevering to accomplish, but could get you better yield for your MR points.