Originally Posted by
jamflyer
Now I am paying attention. Having stayed in a villa (actually two nights left in current stay) with family - I find it somewhat difficult to go back to just a room for vacation. I have an award stay (standard room) booked in Hawaii and am considering cashing in 270k in points to get the $2,000.00 to use towards a one 1 bedroom villa starting July 3rd ($2,800 for 7 nights).
Having a hard time deciding if getting the villa and using the E195 award is really a good use of points. The out of pocket cost would be about the same but the benefits of a villa (758sf vs 425sf)
Now only if I can get one of those anniv double points promo
Wouldn't you be better off redeeming a 7-night 1-bedroom villa award, even if you have to redeem a Stay Anytime award? I forget the exact points...something like 125k for a 1-bedroom, plus another 62.5k if you have to go the Stay Anytime route.
My take is that the 7-night Travel Package with 120k AA miles is the best value in the system. On that award, I figure I'm getting around 1.25 cents per Marriott point using somewhat conservative valuations. Maybe up in the 1.75 cent range if I play a Cat 7 award very well.
But..."cash-out" type awards always have a lower value-per-point associated with them, and compared to what some other programs do to you, the $1000 Marriott award is not bad. If I were a road warrior with millions of points in the bank, this is probably how I'd burn them off. I would imagine that the acceptance on various rates might vary by state/country as some locales have pretty strict rules regarding what a merchant can do with gift cards and certificates. (In other words, some states may require that the merchant accept the card on any business done with it - and not limit the card/certificate to "full price" merchandise.)