Originally Posted by
EuropeanPete
You can stack them to your heart’s content. I’ve generally been getting free breakfast, some kind of free credit (up to €200!), a near guaranteed one category upgrade with potential for upgrades to suites on more of a throw of the dice kind of thing plus your night credit and points.
I’ve found every RC stay so far this year to be a much better deal via Virtuoso than booking direct. I happen to think that Marriott giving up all the profit with me no longer booking direct is crazy business on their part (the franchises will lose 30%+ of the value), but that’s obviously their preference.
The problem is that at a number of RC properties, there are many room categories that are only marginally different from each other, so that a one category upgrade might mean the same room on a slightly higher fare that carries a $5-10 higher rate.
Depending on the nature of your stay the $100-200 credit might not be worth much. If it's a business trip, who has time for a spa treatment, especially one that must be scheduled in advance? If you have lounge access, using the F&B credit might mean that you never eat in an outside restaurant during a brief stay. AFAIK it can't be applied toward airport car service arranged through the hotel.