Originally Posted by Ripley62

I have seen a 48K reward night, a 5th night free redemption but I've rarely found those that you can't purchase for much less than $2,400. And if you can' then there is very likely not 5 night block of available redemption rooms. I've alway have gotten more than $2,400 value out of transferring 240K points to airlines. That's a 100k airline miles, or 2 transatlantic in J or 8 main cabin transatlantic or 2 transpacific in J or 4 domestic F transcon tickets. Sure you get those at times for less than $2,400 but its not easy especially the premium cabin tickets.

The UR partners have more expensive charts than the SPG/ Marriott charts. For example for comparable longhaul flights BA often needs twice as many miles as AA or AS. Delta is normally twice and sometime much more than what AA is in miles. UR loosing Korean makes Transpac much more expensive, in points, then what's available via Marriott and was available via SPG. Every time I search on Delta or United its ends up being a lot more points than what I transfer into from Marriott. Yes its easier to earn UR and MR with bonus categories.

A couple recent examples I just got two Cathay J tickets IAD-BKK for 100k AS points that was 240K Marriott points. That's a $10,000 in tickets. yes, the RT would have been nearly the same dollar cost but twice as many miles. I already had the return flight and just need two oneway to SEA. Now that's a extreme example. Another is a transcontinental RT ticket in First/biz is 50K from my local airport that's at a minimum $1,200 ticket, a drive to BWI/IAD/PHL/EWR if I'm lucky might cut that in half. That's 120K Marriott transferred. Sure there are occasions where a 60K night cost over $500/night all in but for personal travel that's very rarely the case since personal travel normal is pretty flexible.

That same 240K points also reserved a 5th night free at the StR Florence, obviously a different trip, and a very high value redemptions as the rooms are often close to $1k. I canceled the reward stay last week because the current Member Luxury offer rate was US$502/night with $50 credit per night plus on that I'd earn around 12K points a night as a PPE with 23.5x/$ points. So the real cost of that rewards over buying it was 240K + (12x5)= 300K points. Also the benefit is 5 night was too long but for my best scheduling I really only wanted 3 nights in Florence. The 5th night free rewards are the only ones I've seen that even comes close the value of transferring to Airlines. That trip started by my looking at the current Cat 7 properties that will move to cat 8 likely and cost much more under SPG, ie the StR in Florence and Gritti in Venice. Well, I found a US$250 rate at the JWM Venice and last week found the deal on StR Florence, its since gone down a bit further.

Another hotel redemption example. The StR in NYC is 60K and most of the rest of this month its lowest is around $700, which is a good redemption of 60K Marriott points. Its often a $1k/night hotel room. But not far away is the JWM Essex house, not quite as nice but a good hotel for $320/night almost every weekend night. The Edition is $285-384/night. But to be honest I'd more likely stay at the Marriott East side for $135/night. And that's pretty typical of my pleasure hotel searches. When I'm not flexible is almost exclusively a night I'm reimbursed for which I wouldn't use a reward night in the first place. The other thing sure Bora Bora would be a great redemption but arability isn't exactly plentiful just like you're not going for availability on those $1k night in the RC or StR in NYC.