Originally Posted by
slpybear
We booked a few months before our stay in April. It was interesting to watch the $$$ rate, rewards availability and pts required change across the Maui hotels during that time. For a while we were going to be at the Westin Maui because no points booking were available for the Wailea. Later they became available and we booked, then cancelled and rebooked our awards redemption because the pts kept dropping.
These variable point rates cause some amount of booking churn, I had a points reservation for an extra 2 nights at a Hawaii resort but somehow didn't lock it in, so it went up to peak pricing. Still seemingly a great value at around 1.5 c per point point based on Marriott rates, but I then found a BRG which meant that I am effectively getting less than half of that. But if the points drop to standard again I will probably just go with the points, unless there is a really good promo. The BRG reservation has a 1 day cancel, so I can make the switch last minute.