rahmanbar

In terms of the "buying power" of points it depends on what an award will "cost."

Marriott properties are classified 1 thrugh 7 as to "category"

Point requirements for "1s" are significantly less than for "7s"

Per night cost drops the more nights booked (with the proviso that if you need an award for more than 7 mights it will require 2 awards - a 7 nighter and a 1 nighter.

There are three award categories:

Standard (essentially capacity controlled/blackouts a factor)
Anytime (about 150% the "cost" in points of a Standard Award) that *generally (but not all of the time) overrides capacity controls/ blacked-out dates.
Point Savers essentially limited "specials" whierein the "cost" of an award is one notch lower than the property's assigned "category".

This matrix should help a bit in terms of understanding the concept.

There's a dropdown attached to it to see listings of properties by category and each property's home webpage on Marriott.com also contains its category.

*High Elite MR status may help even if a "Stay Anytime" award won't negate a blackout date.

aaupgrade

The best return on your points for hotel stays is going to be for 7-night stays. For example a category 6 for 2 nights is 55K points, 3 nights is 78K, and 7 nights is 130K. Much better return on longer stays. If you can’t find 7 nights in a row you can spread them out during a contiguous stay. Let’s say you want to go to Vail skiing for 7 nights and standard rewards are only available on Sunday through Thursday nights. Well you call up MR CSR and book Sun-Thu nights reward, Fri-Sat nights paid, and Sun-Mon reward and then use a 7-night certificate for the 7 reward nights and you just extended your vacation to 9 nights - an added plus IMO. Here is the Standard Hotel Reward chart. If standard rewards are not available then you can book anytime rewards for 1.5 times the points. This year stayed at Vail for 3 standard reward weeks, but next year they only have anytime rewards available so far. More on that later.

The best return on your points for miles are the Hotel & Air Travel Packages which require a 7-night standard hotel reward stay. The way it works is you call the reward desk and request a Hotel & Air Travel Package reward. For example a Category 6 Hotel and 120,000 miles. 250,000 points are deducted form your MR account and 120,000 miles are deposited in your airline of choice, the MT CSR will ask what airline you want the miles to go to (I am assuming AA in your case), and a 7 night 087 electronic reward for a category 6 hotel will be your account and is good for a year, although we have been told electronic certificates do not expire. The miles do not have to be used in conjunction with your hotel reward.

You can also exchange points for miles directly but it ranges from 5 points per miles for small exchanges up to 2.5 points per mile for large exchanges. Not very good compared with the travel package exchange rate of 1x1.

I also do not use points for most hotels, even ones that I consider a bit high under normal circumstances (JW Ihilani in the example below). This varies by individual, what they are willing to spend, how often they travel, and if there are the high return hotels in locations they wish to travel. Some of the locations where I personally find excellent returns are in London and Paris (probably other hotel in Europe also) where hotel rooms go for $500-600/night, JW Marriott Hong Kong, Sydney Harbour Marriott (although this debatable since most of their rewards require a co-pay), and my favorite right here in the US, The Vail Marriott Resort and Spa which at $500/night for a Cat 6 makes for a good use of points even if it is a stay anytime reward.

Examples

Vail Marriott – Category 6
$459/night plus 11.4% tax = $511.33
7 nights stay = $3579.28
Standard reward: 130000 points – 2.75¢/point
Anytime reward: 195000 points – 1.84¢/point
With loss of earned points taken into account
Standard reward: 130000 points + 55000 lost points for not paying = 185000 points – 1.93¢/point
Anytime reward: 195000 points + 55000 lost points for not paying = 250000 points – 1.43¢/point

London Renaissance Chancery Court – Category 7
$570/night plus 17.5% tax = $669.75
7 nights stay = $4688.25
Standard reward: 150000 points – 3.13¢/point
Anytime reward: 225000 points – 2.08¢/point
Standard reward: 150000 points + 68000 lost points for not paying = 218000 points – 2.15¢/point
Anytime reward: 225000 points + 68000 lost points for not paying = 293000 points – 1.6¢/point

Hawaii – JW Marriott Ihilani – Category 7
$309/night plus 11.96% tax = $345.96
7 nights stay = $2421.72
Standard reward: 150000 points – 1.61¢/point
Anytime reward: 225000 points – 1.08¢/point
Standard reward: 150000 points + 37000 lost points for not paying = 187000 points – 1.3¢/point
Anytime reward: 225000 points + 37000 lost points for not paying = 262000 points – 0.9¢/point

Lost point values above are calculated on the room rate x 7 nights x 17 points and therefore assumes a Marriott property that gives 10 points per dollar spent, at least Silver a status 20% bonus – 2 more points) and use of the Marriott Rewards Premier Visa (5 points per dollar spent). Values are rounded up to the next 1000.

Now, if these were all locations that I wanted to visit (and they are), then I would be paying for those Hawaii stays as my points are much more valuable for the Europe or Skiing holidays. If on the other hand there are those who have no desire or plans to visit Europe and don’t ski then perhaps Hawaii would be a good return for my points. Like I said at the beginning, it all depends on the individual.

I generally do not use points for anything other than Hotel & Air Travel Package or 7-night stay rewards with a 2¢/point or better value (although this may come to an end as I currently have Vail Marriott Anytime reward reserved for next year – still hoping those standard rewards show up though).

Other tips

1. After changing your earning preference go register for the new Spring Mega-Bonus Promotion. Promotions are almost always restricted to those earning points. Another reason to earn points vs. miles.

2. See the thread new to program (question about benefits) for info on Marriott Rewards Premier Visa or check the link out on Marriott.com.

majikTib

wow. what a vast amount of information from the two of you. I've been reading several posts in various threads the two of you have contributed to. Extremely helpful. I was trying to find that points schedule but was having difficulty. (The flu is affecting my ability to comprehend).

---let me see if I can apply this---

So for that hotel + air package....
I'm staying at the Marriott Curacao, Cat. 5.
(assuming I had the points available) I could choose to:
. .Spend : Receive
165k pts : 50k miles
185k pts : 70k miles
215k pts : 100k miles
235k pts : 120k miles

So, let's say I "purchase" a 7 night stay at the Marriott Curacao for 185k points... I'll receive 70,000 AA miles (which would pay for the 2 plane tickets, plus I'd have 10,000 remaining miles).

Marriott gives 10 pts per $1 spent on their hotels? So I would have spent $18,500 at Marriott resorts. Having put that on my AAdvantage card, I would only have 18,500 miles (instead of 70,000).

Now, if I had the Marriott Rewards Premier Visa Signature Card, I'd receive 5 ADDITIONAL points per $1 spent AT hotels, and 1:1 on everything else? Giving me 92,500 ($18,500 * 5) more points assuming I used my Marriott Rewards Visa to pay for the hotel stays (bumping me up from the 185k to 277,500 pts accumulated).

Am I right so far? Your other posts seem to encourage the Premier Signature Card.

So, regardless of what credit card I use for my trip to Curacao, I'll receive 10 Marriott pts. per $ for my total room bill, but if I sign up and use the Premier Signature Card, I'll have Silver status and earn 15 pts. total instead of the 10 for every $.. right?

$1500 @ Marriott paid with AAdvantage Citi Card = 15,000 marriott pts & 1500 AA miles
$1500 @ Marriott paid with MR Premier Sig. Card = 22,500 (1500*15) marriott pts & 0 AA miles

rahmanbar - excellent reviews posted on the Marriott Curacao ^
aaupgrade - thanks for so much information. I've been searching and reading as much as possible before posting, but it'd take days to get what you've posted from just searching and reading various threads. I appreciate your time ^^

aaupgrade

Yes.


Yes, except for the following:

Marriott Rewards Premier Visa Signature Card, you will receive 5 ADDITIONAL points per $1 spent AT Marriott, 2 points per dollar spent on airline tickets, rental cars, and dining, and 1:1 on everything else?

Almost right, except as Silver elite you receive an extra 20% bonus on your base points, so as Silver and paying witht the MR Premier Visa you would earn 17 points per dollar spent. But depending on when you get the Visa, you may not be Silver by the time of the Curacao visit. I think the 15 nights that results in the Silver status are credited to your Marriott Rewards account after your first Visa bill that includes at least 1 purchase. You will have to do a search to research the timing experiences of others as it was a while ago for me.

IndigoEyes

Hello,

We stayed at the Curacao Marriott in Feb '05 for 6 days, using Marriott Rewards. While the rooms/hotel/pool/beach isn't/aren't as nice as the Aruba Marriott & Stellaris Casino, the service there is excellent.

Here is my review I posted on TripAdvisor at the time which points out other local items of interest near the Marriott:



We stayed for 6 nights at the Curacao Marriott, last week in January 2005. The staff could not have been friendlier or tried harder to please us.

When we arrived we were booked into a smoking, 2 double bed room...Jaime at the front desk (on a very busy Saturday night) immediately took care of us and booked us into a King Non-Smoking (even though we were using Reward Points). Though there were no ocean front rooms available, he offered to switch us the next day when one became availalble. It did, and when we saw it, it turned out we liked our original room better (pool/courtyard view, closer to the lobby), so we kept it. The maid/staff brought us both a crib for our toddler, and also chairs for our balcony, and even allowed us to stay in our room one day while they cleaned, as our daughter was sick.

All of the staff, especially Jaime, but also including Sue Ellen at the front desk and Elvis at the Seabreeze bar were very friendly, helped with directions and itinerary planning, and gave us insight about the island.

The beach out front is pretty good, we had no problem getting umbrellas and chairs...there are plenty of rocks in the shallow water so bring water shoes. Great snorkeling available in front of the hotel around the rock formations near the dive shop.

Around 6:30 PM there is an absolutely gorgeous sunset, and it happens quickly, so have your cameras ready (thanks for taking the pictures of our family in front of it, Elvis). Be sure to order the Marriott Colada from the Seabreeze bar, there is a happy hour every night at 4:30 PM....and try the 'Yucca' Fries along with the bacon cheeseburger, they're excellent if you're into that kind of food.

As we had our 2 1/2 yr old daughter with us, we did not do much at night on the island, just went to Willemstad a couple of times for dinner. We would recommend going to the SeaQuarium if you have small children; definitely rent a car and drive north to the 'Playa Knip', the best beach we saw (much more scenic than the Marriott beach-Thanks again for that tip Elvis). You can skip going to the Curacao Liqueur tour at Landhuis Chobolobo, the Bounty Snorkel tour. Be sure to load up on beer at the local Grocery store near the hotel (on the way to the aiport).

Everyone else on the entire island was very friendly to us and we did not feel unsafe at all, ever. The only bad experience was the air travel round trip...but that is another story and not a bad reflection at all on Curacao or the Marriott. Overall a very enjoyable trip. Thanks again to Jaime, Elvis, Sue Ellen, Noelia, and all the staff at the Marriott.

jamflyer

You may want to swith to the Amex Starwood CC, where you would get an additional 5,000 points for every 20,000 points transferred to AA. I use three cards, Marriott Visa for all travel and restuarant related charges, Amex Starwoods for all other purchases and AA World Mastercard - for reduce mileage, trip interruption etc.

rahmanbar

Our week in the Curacao Marriott was in August of 2004.

Regarding a paid stay -

I would agree regarding taking advantage of the island's restaurants as opposed to going the "all inclusive" route. (If you were a family w/kids that might be a different story.)

In terms of eating in the hotel our experience was that getting a B&B-type rate might make sense. The idea of shleppling around for breakfast wasn't appealing to us and we found a rate on the *Marriott.com webside ("Sand Dollar" I believe it was called) that gave us breakfast + one no-charge night after some minimum number of paid nigths (which I believe was five).

Regarding meals at the hotel - breakfasts, as I mentioned. There's a good burger served at the Seabreeze Bar (when we were there, even though it was not on the dinner menu they were happy to serve it at dinnertime on the deck which is beautiful as the evening approaches.

We also fiound the "Voila Deli's" sandwiches and pizza quite good for a quiet dinner on on our balcony.

Lastly, once or twice a week they've got a beach barbecue with a nice buffet (something a bit under $50. for the two of us back in '04).

*Besides checking out the hotel's homepage on marriott.com you should also check another Marriott site - ParadiseByMarriott

It is a Marriott Interenational website concerned with all the Caribbean propeties and a source of additional information on those hotels (including, of course, the Curacao Marriott).

As I recall you can order brochures via it and there's also an 800 Number specific to these properties.

hnewman

Marriott Curacao Resort and Emerald Casino

We just returned from 8 night stay and I believe this is the best Marriott in the Caribbean by far. The resort is not without some need for work but by far exceeds St. Kitts, and Aruba. I will not even go into how bad I think Grand Cayman is.

We were greeted and my Platinum status was acknowledged. Here are some comments:

1. Do not use the dive shop located at the Marriott we found at most places the diving is better by using shops at dive hotels. We liked Ocean Encounters at the Aquarium
2. Portofinos Italian food was ok not great. Breakfast buffet is a bargin
3. Boardroom Beach Bar do not expect service in a timely fashion or getting the right order. They were 0 for 4
4. Seabreeze expected pool food good Cuban sandwich.
5. Emerald Lounge Seafood Beat- Good ceviche when they have it except they did not have conch ceviche which we love. We determined why we thing. One night we got oysters and it came with some what I thought was relish. It was not. They were Madame Jeanette peppers and they hurt more than habanero. If they make the conch with it the conch is likely inedible for most Americans. Be warned.


They are building are Renaissance downtown next to the cruise ship dock. It should be opened in Dec. 2007

Let me know if you have questions.

marlin

Is there offshore snorkeling? What is the beach like there? Did you enjoy the island as a whole, comparing to Grand Cayman or other Caribbean islands you've been to?

Thanks

hnewman

Did not snorkel near the Marriott as we were diving but many were. The beach is nice. Much much better than Grand Cayman. No fighting for chairs at the pool or beach. I would say Curacao is the best big island we have been too. We very much like Saba and Culebra but they are very small.

hnewman

Did not snorkel near the Marriott as we were diving but many were. The beach is nice. Much much better than Grand Cayman. No fighting for chairs at the pool or beach. I would say Curacao is the best big island we have been too. We very much like Saba and Culebra but they are very small.

marlin

Good news on the snorkeling. I am really considering this trip. How did you manage getting there from MSP? It's not easy from here-DCA

Can I ask your rate at the Marriott/Did you use BBs or other discounts? Prices on food at the restaurants?

Thanks again!

hnewman

NW to MIA then AA to CUR and back. A long day. My rate was MR points so I got nothing.

Ken_Miller5

Thanks for the report I will try it next year

aaupgrade

Same opinion as OP, my first choice in the Caribbean. But we did use the on-site dive operation and they were great. Not that they get credit for it, but we saw a whale shark up close and personal. Snorkeling in front of the hotel, actually over by the dive shop, is great.

Astro-Lab restaurant at Kura Hulande (sp?) is great.

Side note: I got certified by Gene Thomas in Culebra. I did my AOW out of Fahardo (sp?).

Regarding Cayman, Westin is my choice as the Marriott there is not worth it IMO.