BrightlyBob

This all goes with what fits into your travel plans, and what you value. Without doubt the Travel Package when used on first class flights represents the "best value" if you'd travel first class and hence really save all that money, but the 5-nights-for-4 brings excellent results on hotels you actually stay at, meaning real -as opposed to perceived- value, and more humdrum redemptions can prove real money-savers too.

I've never systematically saved Marriott points for anything, I've just used my stash whenever the value seems good, so yes, for a Travel Package redeeming for a Virgin Atlantic Upper Class transatlantic award and 7 nights at Miami Beach. And I've used the 5 nights for 4 at New York, Monaco, Moscow and more prosaically, Swansea.

Good value can however be found redeeming some hotels just for a night or two. Pricey Cat8 or 9s such as the Cat8 London JW at $600/nt, the Cat9 NYC Marquis when rates were running $550/nt and the Cat9 Champs Elysees Marriott at $750/nt are obvious but also low category hotels at more humdrum rates such as the Cat1 Houston CY at $180 and the Cat2 RI's in Harlingen and Hamilton, each at $150.

Whenever I'm booking a leisure stay I always look at the possibility of awards, for instance on an upcoming vacation to China visiting Shanghai and Beijing I chose to redeem 5 nights at the Cat3 Beijing Renaissance Wangfujing for 60k instead of paying $950 but not for my 5 night stay at the Cat4 Shanghai Marriott. However the Shanghai Marriott reduces to a Cat3 in March and I will then cancel my $850 5-night paid stay there replacing it with a 60k redemption.

In terms of value, the Travel Package made the best value at 3c/pt, the miles redeemed at about 6c each but the 7-night hotel cert only managed about a cent. As a headline the 6 cents per point from Virgin Atlantic sounds good but these kinds of values are only possible on first class seats and I'd never ever, not ever, pay that cost. I did the award and saw the value this once for my honeymoon, but I'm too tight to repeat that. I could have paid the same for Economy seats on the same flight as I paid for the taxes and fees on the redemption. I valued it for my honeymoon, that once only. On my ordinary Premium Economy redemptions the miles tend to redeem at about 2 cents each.

The 5-nights in Moscow and Monaco managed 2c with the 5 nights in NYC and Swansea making 1.5c as will the Beijing Ren and the Shanghai Marriott. But so did the shorter stays at the London JW and the Paris Champs Elysees Marriott. And it's worth remembering that the low category single nights at the Cat2s in Harlingen and Hamilton also made this value and that actually everything (except the first class flights) are beaten out by a single night at that lowly Cat1 CY at 2.2c per point!

In this way I've made my way through 2.5 million Marriott points attaining what I believe is real value all the way through...