Marriott Honeymoon
 

Hello FlyerTalk community! I am new to posting and this site in general, but everyone seems to be wonderful and very open to sharing. So thank you in advance!

I am now engaged to be married on August 4th 2011 and have two questions:
1. I have about 500K Marriott points (and willing to spend most). What are the best resort/beach front properties around the world for Marriott? I want something with a close beach and the ability to get a suite or room on the water (or something similary - just not a regular courtyard room I am used to).

2. Also, is there a good time to make sure these are booked in by? Should i make sure I have booked it 3 or 6 months ahead of time?

Appreciate everyones help!

hotels in high demand areas are just that - high demand hotels, I'd strongly encourage you to book as far out as possible, if you can book 12 months out then do it...but I certainly wouldn't risk waiting until 90 days out

There's no risk to booking in advance as award reservations cna be cancelled with no penalty.

Ummm, did I miss something? Did you make it to the wedding? :confused:

WOW, What an error... Should read 2012!!! Wedding comes next year! Thanks for pointing that out!!

Thanks for the responses, I think that booking early is a great idea considering there is no cancellation fees...

Congrats and good luck on deciding which beachfront hotel is best for you.

If you have not already seen this then I want to mention the best use of miles in my experience is the "travel packages" a 7 night hotel stay and airline miles

If you want you can just use the hotel stay and leave the miles in the account for whichever airline

Having just returned from a spectacular honeymoon using my points, the only piece of advice I can give is to book out as far out in advance as possible.

I would suggest you start every conversation with "I'm on my honeymoon". Hotels and Restaurants generally love honeymooners and will take great care of you. My wife made us wear "Bride" and "Groom" t-shirts when we flew out for our honeymoon and I was amazed by the response we got.

Curacao Marriott Beach Resort. Stayed once for business and then brought my wife back for a week. Great property, even better staff. It was much better with the all inclusive option, but some genius just decided to end the program. It's slightly dated, but IIRC they're going to start refreshing the rooms.

IMHO this is one of the blandest Marriotts--and it takes a LOT to be one of the blandest Marriott, with fierce competition from all the other bland Marriotts worldwide....

Do a search--there are many great threads on this topic.

But my short answer from personal experience: JW Marriott in Phuket.

Having said that--with your 500K points--Ritz Carltons are an option for you--and I have rarely stayed in Ritzes. But I get a sense that the new Ritz Carlton Reserve in Krabi, Thailand, is over-the-top-spectacular.

And congratulations on your forthcoming marriage!!!

travel packages
 

Check out the travel packages if you plan on staying 7 nights.
The best value is 7 nights in a cat 5 hotel plus 120000 frequent flier miles into the program of your choice for 270,000 Marriott points.
If you want a hotel that is a cat 6 or 7 or a ritz property you can kick in the additional points.
Another option would be redeeming for Marriott gift cheques and paying with those depending on the rate for the hotel. Current rate is 135,000 points for 1000 if gift cheques, since you will earn points on the room with those they can sometimes be a better value.
Make sure you contact the hotel and tell them it is your honeymoon as that can never hurt.

In short tons of great Marriott options, are you limiting yourself to the us or anywhere in the world.

Do lots of reading on this board, as this topic has many threads.

* First thing I'd suggest is geographic - U.S. vs. non-U.S. Time zones: anything west of Hawaii or East of Bermuda/Caribbean is gonna mess with your body clock, and works best if you have 7-10 days or longer for the trip. Also depends upon whether you're West or East Coast. East Coast gives you some parts of Europe without too much sleep penalty. South America is easy on the hours/zones, but much more limited on hotel choice. Thailand(Phuket, which is very highly rated here) will have you 12 hours off on zones, so think before you book.

* Sometimes hard to coordinate hotel w/airline, so be sure to work both and get it right. You also wanna minimize travel time, so that you don't get hosed up by airlines and spend beach time stuck in an airport somewhere(think Chicago at XMAS, snowed in on the way to the beach).

* Availability, as mentioned above, can be an issue, so book NOW.

That's all the bad; the good is that Marriott has enough great locations that you should be able to come up with a good compromise.

I'd add that one would need more info on you/your situation to add much more. Are you young/middle/old? West Coast, East Coast, or middle? Well traveled or new to it? Etc, etc, etc.

If young and untraveled, I'd throw in a bid for Hawaii; not because it has the bestest of the best Marriotts, but because there's nuthin' like Hawaii your first time, and for a honeymoon, it'd be something you'd always remember. Maui MH gets lots of good reviews here; Honolulu, not quite as much(not as nice of a hotel locale), but it -is- Honolulu/Waikiki, which altho touristy, is worth a check, if it's all new to you.

Read up...

Wanted to edit prior--cannot delete this.

Go figure...

Honeymoon on a budget: Marriott Rewards Premier Credit Card referral promo
 

Hi everyone,

I've been following FT for a long time but always as a "listener". Today finally the time has come to overcome my forum-related shyness and write something!

Later this year I am going to get married and originally we weren't planning to go on honeymoon since we are still on a tight budget (oh student loans!).

However we realized that we have quite a bit of miles and points between the two of us and we might go on honeymoon for "free".

Here is were this wonderful community can come into play: I am still 70,000 Marriott Rewards points short to be able to book the hotel and I know that unfortunately I won't have enough travel in the next months to earn those by myself.

Luckly couple of weeks ago I received in the mail a nice little set of flyers from Chase that allow me to refer other people to their Marriott Rewards Premier Credit Card. Below the details:

What's in for you:

1. 50,000 points after 1st purchase
2. Free night stay after account approval in a category 1-4 hotel
3. Annual fee waived for the 1st year ($85 afterwards)
4. 15 Elite nights every year (automatic silver status)
5. 1 Marriott Rewards point for each dollar spent (2 for dining, airfares and car rentals, 5 for Marriott stays)
6. Free night stay in a category 1-5 hotel every year
7. 1 Elite night every $3,000 spent

What's in it for me:

• 10,000 points for each of you I refer

So please, if you are interested (it's a good deal after all), and in the mood for an altruistic action, here are the next steps:

1. Send me Private Message me so I can share with you my Marriott Rewards Number, Zip Code and Full Name (I know I will give around a lot of my "private" information...however I trust this community and some risk is worth it hopefully!)
2. Once I give you those details you can call this Chase number 1-800-694-9984 and apply for the card, please remember to give the referrall details!
3. If you are in the mood, please send me a Private Message and let me know you applied / got approved / used the card so I can keep track of the bonus points I should receive

I realize this is an extremely long post (that's why probably I also never posted before...I write too much!) and I thank you for the attention and time you dedicated to me.

All the best, and thank you again to the ones who will help us!

Andrea

Welcome to FT, Andrea. Consider buying MRPs (up to 50K allowed/year) at a decent (not great) rate if you get stuck. Not as much of a mark-up as some other programs.