Originally Posted by bangkokiscool

I think the points value for this hotel raises some interesting comparisons of paid vs points stays. For example, with the "Live Unforgettable 7" promo, a 7 night stay in an overwater villa comes out to around $13K. Not chump change. But, that includes yacht transfers, breakfast and dinner, and for an Aspire member, about 575K points haul with the 54x promo. If someone starts with 0 points and purchases enough points for a 120K or 150K per night redemption, that works out to 600 or 750 per night. And yet, with the Live Unforgettable paid rate, the nightly rate comes down to about 900-1000 per night, depending on how much you value the breakfast and dinner benefit. And of course, with a paid rate you don't have to hunt and peck and cobble together nights when there are standard rooms available -- just book the dates you actually want. I know, a lot of variables come into this including how much the half board benefit actually saves money, number of people in the yacht transfer, how many points and free night certs you start with, fifth night free if you can find five nights in a row of standard rooms, etc. And the thrill of the hunt of scoring a bargain redemption! By my math I'd rather pay for a stay at WA, and use the huge points haul for CKS at 95K per night with a lot more standard rooms available (standard rooms are villas with pools).