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At 1 SPG = 3 MR, what are the arbitrage opportunities?

At 1 SPG = 3 MR, what are the arbitrage opportunities?

 
Old Sep 26, 2016, 8:19 pm
  #46  
 
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Originally Posted by hhoope01
The miles are put into your airline account of choice. After that the use of those miles are totally up to the rules of that airline's program. Marriott has no control or even visibility into how you use (or don't use those airline miles.)

You will also receive a 7-night hotel cert of which you will have 1-year to use at any hotel you choose, within the category level of the hotel cert and hotel award availability of course. Marriott will normally let you extend that hotel cert for up-to another year (essentially giving you up-to 2 years to find a hotel to use it at.)

There are no rules linking the use of the airline miles to any particular hotel or hotel award reservation. So yes, you can sit on the free nights for at least a year and usually up-to 2 years.
wow thats awesome. Its better than SPG where I would have to book it during the call.
VeryHumerus is offline  
Old Sep 26, 2016, 8:22 pm
  #47  
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Originally Posted by VeryHumerus
Its better than SPG where I would have to book it during the call.
But you should also be free to cancel without any penalty and get the points back into your account. (Note: I've never tried, but I can't see them making the booking non-cancelable.)
mahasamatman is offline  
Old Sep 26, 2016, 9:12 pm
  #48  
 
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The lately discussed Marriott deals to get discounted UA miles or discounted miles & nights seems to require that you're in RewardsPlus. However I'm not eligible for RewardsPlus as far as I can tell, since I'm no longer UA Gold (and am only Marriott gold via SPG).

Have I misunderstood how this works?
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Old Sep 27, 2016, 8:54 am
  #49  
 
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Originally Posted by Need
So now SPG Amex will give 3 Marriott Points per $ spent on everyday purchase? I think that's huge. Nothing else will give the equivalent value of 3 MR points on a $ on non-bonus category items.
Yep - noticed that too. Spend on my Ritz is going to move to SPG Amex other than when staying with Ritz/Marriott.
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Old Sep 27, 2016, 9:29 am
  #50  
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Originally Posted by rrgg
The lately discussed Marriott deals to get discounted UA miles or discounted miles & nights seems to require that you're in RewardsPlus. However I'm not eligible for RewardsPlus as far as I can tell, since I'm no longer UA Gold (and am only Marriott gold via SPG).

Have I misunderstood how this works?
This is not an authoritative answer. I was curious, so I went digging. The only thing I can see is that you have to have linked your Marriott and United accounts, not that you have to have a specific status. Here's the Marriott page on RewardsPlus.
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Old Sep 27, 2016, 11:59 am
  #51  
 
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Originally Posted by TravelinSperry
I'd suggest just sitting on the SPG points and not converting them (unless you need them to get the award ticket). 1:2 is a terrible conversion value. In the future you may stay at Starwood again and earn more, or decide to transfer to an alternate airline. The points won't go away (although make sure you have some sort of earning within 12 mos).
I'd be careful right now about sitting on too many points on either side of the program...in essence hedge your bets. I'm sure we'll know about the changes beforehand, but just in case something funny happens, best not to be caught on the wrong side of the coin.

Personally, this whole merging is working very well on my side.
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Old Sep 27, 2016, 12:08 pm
  #52  
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Originally Posted by SanDiego1K
The only thing I can see is that you have to have linked your Marriott and United accounts, not that you have to have a specific status.
I believe that's true for convering Marriott points to Mileage Plus miles, but it looks like you have to be Mileage Plus Silver to transfer in the other direction.
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Old Sep 28, 2016, 10:21 am
  #53  
 
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For me the travel packages are where it's at. I bought two 7 night travel packages (cat 1-5) for 540,000 MR pts (180,000 SPG) and received 264,000 UA miles Plus two rooms for seven nights at any cat 1-5 marriott.

That's a transfer rate of 1:1.46 SPG to UA plus i have the free hotel nights. Great deal for me as I live in the midwest and United provides me some great travel options.
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Old Sep 28, 2016, 11:21 am
  #54  
 
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Originally Posted by ZBigFam
For me the travel packages are where it's at. I bought two 7 night travel packages (cat 1-5) for 540,000 MR pts (180,000 SPG) and received 264,000 UA miles Plus two rooms for seven nights at any cat 1-5 marriott.

That's a transfer rate of 1:1.46 SPG to UA plus i have the free hotel nights. Great deal for me as I live in the midwest and United provides me some great travel options.
I agree. But unfortunately, I think if anything is "going away", the travel package will probably be the first to go...
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Old Sep 28, 2016, 12:02 pm
  #55  
 
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Does anyone have any feeling about the free transfer of points within households continuing after 2017? I have a lot of SPG miles, as does my wife. But I am still travelling and she is not. I'm thinking it might be wise to move them over to my account while the option is still there. Any thoughts?
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Old Sep 28, 2016, 12:07 pm
  #56  
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Originally Posted by Need
I agree. But unfortunately, I think if anything is "going away", the travel package will probably be the first to go...
what makes you think that? Marriott has had at least a variation of this award for decades. Probably since they started the program. I can't see them suddenly removing this award all of a sudden.
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Old Sep 28, 2016, 12:28 pm
  #57  
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Originally Posted by Vulcan
Does anyone have any feeling about the free transfer of points within households continuing after 2017? I have a lot of SPG miles, as does my wife. But I am still travelling and she is not. I'm thinking it might be wise to move them over to my account while the option is still there. Any thoughts?
Personally, I'd make the move while you can. We are in a volatile time right now. Changes are happening and will continue until the new program is in place. Given there's no advantage to delay, make use of program benefits as quickly as possible. I doubt they will be able to come up with anything better.
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Old Sep 28, 2016, 12:29 pm
  #58  
 
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Originally Posted by hhoope01
what makes you think that? Marriott has had at least a variation of this award for decades. Probably since they started the program. I can't see them suddenly removing this award all of a sudden.
Because for people like me who earn all the reward from credit card spent, now I could earn from SPG Amex and transfers 1 to 3 to use Travel Package for close to $1 to 1.5 miles with 7 nights of free hotel on everyday non category purchases. How many credit card will let you get 1.5 airline miles/$ with free hotel stays before the merge? None that I know of.

Last year I spent 100K on RC card but it was not enough points to buy one travel package. This year I am definitely switching to SPG Amex...and get me 300K MR points for the packages. I will lost Plat for 2018 but who knows what will happen to the programs in 2018 anyway.
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Old Sep 28, 2016, 12:35 pm
  #59  
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Originally Posted by Vulcan
Does anyone have any feeling about the free transfer of points within households continuing after 2017? I have a lot of SPG miles, as does my wife. But I am still travelling and she is not. I'm thinking it might be wise to move them over to my account while the option is still there. Any thoughts?
I have higher status than my husband so it makes sense to book from my account. I transferred his Marriott points to his Starwood account. That was near instantaneous. Now I'm moving them to my SPG account. He has a business SPG AMEX so earns some points every month. Every few months, I go online to request their transfer. The only time we need points in his SPG account is when he needs to transfer points to an airline for a specific award. I don't see that happening near term, so for now, the points are fine in my account.
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Old Sep 28, 2016, 7:51 pm
  #60  
 
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debating whether to transfer the 120k to alaska or american.. any thoughts on which would be a better option for couples traveling in J or F plus best bang for the buck?
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