Jennifer Strbac

The question

sdcarver

I am of the same opinion as you with booking directly with MR for hotels--The better deal in my opinion is to transfer to SPG, Hilton HHonors or Priority Club. For instance 20,000 points would get you 40,000 in HHonors laundered through Hawiian Airlines which would get you into one of their best hotels for 10,000 less points(1/3 less).
I have heard there are some great deals buried among the 100s of Hotels in MR, I have yet seen any myself. Personally I see Hotel Programs and especially Airline Frequent Fliers as the best transfers (for instance 40,000 points for a Virgin Airlines USA gateway to London)

sdcarver

sdcarver

sdcarver

the 40,000 points was for a certificate not a points transfer... I wonder if by using the certificate you can get miles for your journey...?

sdcarver

best

Not really.

Tsukiji

I think it all depends on the type of travel you do. For me - I use the points primarily for hotels or giftcards. I have another card that racks up skymiles on Delta so I really don't need more miles.

For example, my family and I are staying at the Key Biscayne Ritz Carlton, Club level room over Thanksgiving. The cost is 65,000 points per night. Current rate for a similar room paying cash is $550.

So that saves me $3k. Granted I do accrue more miles than the average account holder, but I find the hotel package to be quite good for me.

christianj

IMHO the AMEX MR program isn't a good option for claiming direct hotel rewards as others have stated.

Transferring to various hotel partners is the best option but it still doesn't offer the best redemption values you might be able to squeeze out of the program UNLESS you are lucky enough to transfer during a promotion. (This is IF AMEX finds you worthy enough to actually target you with a promo!!! Scumb bags have really been on the targetting wagon lately and I haven't gotten any of them!) Don't get me started on the targetting thing because I really think this has diluted the whole program even more in the recent past.

Omni and Hyatt Hotel Certificates can be an okay redemption value if the hotel that accept the vouchers are in areas that you are looking to travel to and if the rates at that time are high. Other than that I would go the Hawaiian to Hilton route that was mentioned above. At least 20k gets you one of the best Hiltons around while the Hawaiian option still exists. I personally would not use the Ritz Carlton option mentioned before since it gives you less than $0.01 per point.

mbreuer

Ouch. I've got rooms reserved in SJU at the Westin - using 10k starpoints per night (if xfered from MR would be 30k) for rooms that are going for over 600/night. Did you look at transferring to a hotel program and then using the points? As to using MR points directly, 105000 points = 3 r/t tickets (late Aug)which if purchased would be about $850 ea). 65,000->550 seems pretty steep.