Westin

You weren't trolling, I was wrong! Don't mind admitting it . Your rate was valid
Side note... for anyone wanting speculative cash bookings in the garden villa, I have a 6 day period in march im holding like 2 units, and a 6 day period in feb im holding. If you PM me I can let you know when I'm canceling and maybe you can grab them

rp88

Told ya!

Congrats to you and everyone else able to score these OWB at these phenomenal rates!
80k Marriott points/night is even cheaper than when the hotel initially released inventory years ago for 30k SPG/night!
I didn't think we would actually be able to score a deal like this to be honest. This is a deal of a lifetime for me!

Joker0874

Managed to score an OWV for Feb 2019 too. 5 nights, 340k. Great deal. Thanks for your help.

Westin

Yah pretty wild. I had one of those original 30k books but couldn't end up making the trip, so glad I get a chance to go back

Side data note for people looking at other properties. Even though the agent could book this for me, he wasn't able to find anything at other big properties like Mystique in Santorini

rooivalk

Westin

It's the internet sadly :/

ATX1989

For those of you who have had success booking OWBs - Any advice on how to find this award availability on the website? I am able to see the 60K rate and availability for the Garden Villa on the website but I have not been able to see any award availability for the OWB. I can only see paid rates for OWB.

I haven't had any luck calling in the spg number with any of the dates I'm looking for and am starting to feel like I am missing the boat. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

nick793

I'm about to cancel my TP to be able to book 5N in an OWV...any idea how far out you can book? Was hoping to keep this in my back pocket as a future honeymoon redemption but it seems that Marriott's site only lets you book 50 weeks out

rp88

You can't find owv availability online. You just have to call and see if they can see it themselves. Try different numbers (St regis line, plat line, etc.) and try them a few times each. I think it's mostly luck.

vwpokerchamp

Can someone please pm me the platinum number to call in for availability of the owb. Thank You

Westin

Honestly no idea... I think it could be any date when it exists cause the lady said many weren't left on my date. I think its all about the agent you get

AJ2018

Just signed up to thank everyone for their help. Finally got my confirmation for OWV for last week of Jan 2019. It's been crazy last two days trying to get this confirmed. From what I have experienced calling in is the only way to achieve this right now. Keep trying different numbers like SPG Plat line or St Regis # directly. Here are the steps I took
-Called SPG Plat line @ 888-625-4988 yesterday morning to book Garden villa and agent told me OWV is also available for more points - 340k to be exact for 5 nights. Amazing agent spent more than hour but could not book because system was not accepting credit cards. Kept getting invalid credit card error.
-Called yesterday afternoon Plat line again and the agent recommended at least making a paid OWV reservation by using Mail-in payment option rather than using credit card. This way if availability comes up it's easy to switch to points booking.
-Called numerous times in the evening but kept getting same answer as everyone else - availability is suppressed.
-Called this morning and still no luck
-Finally late afternoon I tried SPG Plat line and agent said no still cannot book. Hung up and tried St Regis # 800-598-1863 and very nice agent said let's at least try. She was able to switch paid reservation to points and I received confirmation email within a min and I saw the points deducted from my Marriott account immediately.
Once again thanks to everyone for their comments and keep trying. It's frustrating but it pays off in the end.

vwpokerchamp

I did it. called another spg line. got an agent and booked 5 nights owb in April for 340k. thx everyone!

jmail1

Let me know when you have luck canceling that TP, I've called 5 different agents and they all said they can't do it.

tylerc

Damn it - I have points in limbo, need to merge accounts to be able to firm up my booking. Flights have been booked for weeks (couldn't pass up Qsuite availability)!