Originally Posted by
Buttermaker
I'm attempting to use SkyMiles to book a hotel (Holiday Inn Express - Dubai, internet city)
When I check the rate for 5 nights on the Holiday Inn website, the total cost is about $400 USD including Taxes.
When I try to book it through the SkyMiles Marketplace it wants to charge me 77,244 miles! ... and the slider that allows you to adjust the miles-to-directpay ratio starts at 1000 pts/ $609. That's a 50% higher rate than if I booked directly (not to mention the 1000 SkyMiles).
Anyone have a similar experience or am I just doing this wrong?
Thanks.
In the last two months I have seen this happen. I used to be able to book a room for $0.01 to the mile, so a $100 a night hotel (w/taxes included, SM Marketplace always includes them) it would be 10,000 miles. Now that same hotel is marked at about 15,000 miles so the redemption rate has got a lot worse, now about $0.0067 to the mile. I will never use them again unless I can get at least $0.01 to the mile. A better deal now is to get the Amex Gift Cards and use those to pay for the room, at least they are closer to $0.01 to the mile