I made my first three reservations today with Vacation Miles for Marriott stays. So far everything seems fine.

The Vacation Miles offer can be used on all Marriott properties, not just the Marriott hotels. This includes the Courtyards, Fairfield Inns, Renaissances, Residence Inns, etc. I made reservations at a Marriott, a Courtyard, and a Renaissance. The Courtyard was only $59 a night before the $50 voucher.

Vacation Miles makes the reservations, gives you the confirmation numbers, and mails you the vouchers. They are sent by certified mail; that's the reason for the lead time. They like to have three weeks but it sounds like they will do it with a lead time of two weeks if you ask nicely.

The only trick on the rates is that they have to be commissionable. In other words, while my $59 Courtyard rate was a standard rate (and Vacation Miles will get their standard 10%), some other rates (government rates and some of the pay at reservation time noncancellable specials) don't apply.

As I said, so far so good. I figure that in these three cases I got the lowest rate that I could find out on the Marriott web site less the $50 discount so I'm already ahead by $150.