I was thinking about that, but I wasn't going to mention it and bring down the wrath of the forum upon my head- I'm not trying to devalue y'all's Platinum experiences, I swear!

You can app for the ritz-carlton card which will give you 70,000 pts after the required spend, but the first year fee will not be waived ($400). It does give a-lot of nice benefits. You can also app for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card which is currently offering 40k pts after 3k spend in 3 months. The first year fee is waived and the points can be transferred over to Marriott.



Marriott gift card's bought online or in hotels are not eligible for the 10 points per dollar, but your Marriott card will earn 5 pts per dollar on the gift card purchases.

Unfortunately the required spend for the CSP is a bit high for me, and the fine print on the Ritz-Carlton card says that current MR credit card holders aren't eligible for the bonus points.

Also, I already have a bunch of apps with Chase this year- I'm probably going to wait for an anniversary or something to come around to take advantage of some of the current offers.

They list that in the T&C's for the RC card, but here in the MR forum I have yet to read one person who had both cards that did not get both bonuses, also I called Chase/JP Morgan and Marriott and was advised that I would receive the points.

I know that you said you had a-lot of apps out with chase, but if the spend is too high, might I recommend going into a local branch? Some local branches were offering the points with only 2k spend. I am not sure if that makes much of a difference. Remember that the CSP card makes UR points transferable out of your account, so if you had the Freedom account you can transfer those out as well.

Stayed at the Stanford Court last year for my birthday trip to San Francisco. It is in a fairly convenient location as it is at the intersection of two of the trolley lines. We got a room on a high floor but on the East side of the building (stay away from this side). We got a nice wake up call from the trolley at 7:00AM (not fun). It was my second favorite hotel on the trip (stayed at 3). My favorite was actually the Hilton Union Square (I had a cert. to burn and couldn't get an LNF rate at the Ren or JW. I would definitely recommend it and do either a Gold or Plat. challenge while you are there so that you can get the lounge access. I didn't find anything special about the eggs as somebody did earlier in the thread but it definitely has some nice views while you are eating breakfast. Congrats on your impending nuptials.

Thanks; that's exactly the kind of thing I was looking for!

Platinum member on honeymoon!
 

I went on a trip for my honeymoon and it included some Marriotts in Asia. I mentioned it was our honeymoon in the virtual requests as it was a special occasion for us... Just to be clear, I wasn't expecting anything and I'm totally fine with hotels not acknowledging the note, I just thought it was an interesting/funny take on the plat benefits thread.

So in total we received 16 bottles of champagne, 10 rose petal covered beds and 3 swan towels. I WISH!! We did get a bottle of wine and 2 happy honeymoon cakes, quite nice after the wedding diet! But on the whole it was business as usual with the standard upgrades I usually get in Asia.

One of the cutest efforts came from a 35 dollar a night hotel in Vietnam (non Marriott) - balloons, rose petals and swan towels :)

Congrats on the marriage. Sorry to hear the Asia properties didn't do more since you noted the honeymoon. As you said, they're not required to do anything but you always hear about Asia going above & beyond so perhaps a bit disappointing it was biz as usual. Hope you enjoyed the honeymoon otherwise.

Cheers.

Thanks Sharon, had a blast!

Honeymoon in first week of September...
 

So, my fiance and I are taking our Honeymoon the first week of September and are looking for a good Marriott or Ritz Carlton somewhere romantic. I've looked at Thailand, apparently it's rainy season, St Kitts, hurricane season, Barcelona Arts looks nice, but not too romantic. We've already done the Maui Ritz. I'm drawing a blank here, any suggestions?

Paying with points and have got plenty 3 million plus.

May have answered my own question. Any thoughts on the Ritz in Sanya, China?

http://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/Proper...ya/Default.htm

Honeymooned at the JW in Phuket a few years back. Great time and great property. You may want to consider the Ren next door, given the one-bedroom villas with plunge pools that draw rave reviews and the general seclusion.

Tastes differ, but I don't see St. Kitts as much of a honeymoon place. Island is beautiful. But the property had a bit more of a spring break vibe than I expected/wanted (and I definitely wasn't there around spring break).

Good luck on your search.

JW Marriott in Cannes, France.

We were at the Renaissance Phuket last September.

It is the low season and as a PLAT were upgraded to a one bedroom villa with a private pool.

It rained one morning (not day) the entire 8 days we were in Thailand. Even though it is considered the rainy season it rarely is a washout. Most likely to rain in the AM and be great weather the rest of the day.

Highly recommend giving the resort consideration.

Thailand would have been my choice, but it's risky. As for the Caribbean, it's hurricane season everywhere except Aruba, and I don't think it's very honeymoony. JW Cannes would be great in September. It has a rooftop pool with two hot tubs and lots of sofa/area seating, although the pool needs a little upkeep. There are many romantic restaurants, daytrips to St. Tropez, Monaco, little villages. It has a different beach vibe from the Caribbean, however. You have to cross the street to a beach club (discounted for Marriott), which is crowded, but you are waited on attentively. The promenade is right in front of the hotel. We were there in August last summer and loved it. You could even combine it with a few days in Paris by taking the train.