Originally Posted by
frankhi
I absolutely agree with craz, that using marriott pts for airfare is not the best deal, its just one pt = one mile, no bonus (like getting 7 30k nts for 150k). Plus, airline miles are so easy to get just by applying for CC. For example, get a usair master and a usair visa and you have 50000 miles, more than enough for a trip to HI (35K)or enough for Europe (50K). I like the european sampler 14eh, for 150000 pts you get a 3nt, and two 2 nts cat 7 cert for europe.
Cashing 120K of marriott points for 120K of airline points (in my case, AA) on a 1 to 1 ratio is absolutely a good deal. Those miles have paid for 1 first class intl seat valued at 7K and 2/3s of 2 business class intl seats valued at 6-7K. I think that exceeds the value of 120K marriott points used for a hotel stay, even a 150K 7 day stay at a category 7 property. Maybe, if you got a suite but you don't get that with an award.