Kacee

Just redeemed for Prince Gallery Tokyo Kioicho on a night where rooms are going for 90,488 JPY (including tax), or $814 US, so 1.35 cpp. These are the types of redemptions I hold out for. Really don't like burning my points for 50% their reasonable potential value (or less) when a little patience will pay off so well.

(Note that Hyatt redemptions at PHT or Andaz pencil out at over 3 cpp during same period!)

Happy

Crete. and Rhodes as well, are not as crowded because they are not as "famous" as the Santorini and Mykonos. Also lesser cruise ships call on Crete or Rhodes while every ship calls on Santorini and Mykonos.

Athens worth a couple days even just for the Acropolis if you haven't been. Outside town by the sea there is a lesser known temple ruin, can make a pleasant day trip. The archeology museum is well worth a visit, even with kids. They have done a great job to showcase their treasures. I much like the enlarge projections on the wall to show the small details on the sculptures that even you are standing right in front, you may miss those. Also it is very fascinating to see where these treasures are discovered, not to mention the famous Mask of Agamemnon.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mask_of_Agamemnon

You may enjoy 2 to 3 days stop at Athens. This way you can make the journey less tiring and more enjoyable.

But if your goal to Crete is only for the Cat 7 properties, then the above may not work for you. Still, it probably would be better to make use of the trip seeing more new sights, discovering more new things, then end it with the relaxing days by the sea. just a thought.

Happy

The 24K across star partners is the hard part. Gone was the days there was no such requirement.

FlyerTalker70

I spot an $800 UA TPAC k fare on your horizon!

-James

Happy

Only if you have the need to travel in such periods. If you do, or plan to, sure, you should hold out for such redemption to SAVE cold hard cash. But if one does not have such near term or even mid term plan to visit places during a high demand period, there is no reason to "hold out" for when one can save reasonable sum of cash.
Again, how one travels, determine the redemption. Also dont forget the other side of the equation - the earning side. That makes huge difference, too.
The earning side makes Hyatt and Hilton program far more attractive thanks to the easy to earn UR pts and HH pts.

Kacee

People are free to make their own decisions about how to burn their points. That others may have different travel patterns seems rather an obvious point.

FlyerTalker70

You are also forgetting to take into account the various promotions that run from time to time. For instance, Best Western has lowered redemptions down to 10,000 points during the low season, which allowed me to stay at a Best Western Toronto with the few points I have cashed in the program.

From my experience, there is always a time where those points come in handy. For instance, on vacation and get IRROP'd and the rack rates are thru the roof. Key is to keep track of the redemption rates and use them wisely. If this is too much work for you, then maybe FT is not your community!

-James

theplayer

nice condescending comment...people can use points as they want, those that don't feel the need to milk every last bit of value out of their points shouldn't bother to to come here? please.

MikeBOS

If this is how you want to use your points you are probably better off with a program where the points map directly to the underlying cash rate (fewer points needed when rates are lower). An example would be Accor's program. To get reasonable value from Marriott you do need to shop around a bit to find better values.

FlyerTalker70

In that case it might make sense to use a cash+points rate, particularly if the rack is high during when you intend on staying. Most hotel programs offer this benefit although YMMV in terms of whether you're actually saving much money.

-James

MikeBOS

Cash+points can be a good value but in my experience availability is extremely limited. Some hotels don't offer these rates at all, and the ones that do often don't make them available.

Happy

It sure is very obvious, but that does not prevent people, you and I included, to chime in on what work the best for themselves. just sayin.

I would even add that, how your balances look like in your accounts, would also have an influence on how you use your points. A person has over 500K would treat his points differently than a person only has 200K, just human nature.

GrayAnderson

Yeah...there are all sorts of hidden gems (i.e. I've seen rooms available at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis during Dragon*Con for 35,000 points/night...pulling five nights during D*C for 140,000 points once you account for the free fifth night is /not/ a bad deal...the cheapest paid rate I can find for that is $2585 before tax/over $3047 after tax, though it comes with a Starbuck's credit per night as well...so you're down *slightly* on that total once you take that out of the equation), and there's always airline transferring as well (where you should be able to pull over a cent per point if you're not stupid careful. If Marriott did grandfathering for D*C like the Hyatt does and the room was suited to my D*C needs, I'd consider taking that, noise levels be damned, and there goes at least 2/3 of my annual Marriott point earning for the foreseeable future.

GetSetJetSet

? I wouldn't say they're worthless. I just redeemed 50k/night for the RC Moscow. Good deal in my opinion.

booatx