Half a Million Marriott Points, Where to Go?
Aug 17, 2019, 12:09 am
#31
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Toronto - Japan is a shorter flight than Toronto - Europe? Maybe there's something I'm missing, but I can get anywhere in Europe from Chicago in much less time than Tokyo. I can see where the OP, with a 5 year old, would have to break up that flight with a stopover in Vancouver to let the kid run around a little. Although I agree it's a great choice for a family vacation.
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My 9 and 6 year old absolutely loved the Harry Potter tour, and I did too. It helps if they have seen the movies...
Aug 19, 2019, 9:04 pm
#32
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The Marriott on Coronado Island is pretty nice (and super family friendly), and IMO is the best Marriott property in San Diego. If I wanted to burn 500k Marriott points in the US, I’d head to the Ritz Carlton Half Moon Bay for an extended stay, and do the points upgrade to club level. I think it’s the best Ritz in the US, and in an absolutely incredible location easily accessible from SFO but without the crowds of Southern California. Plenty of stuff for kids to do there as well. I’d also consider the Ritz in Lake Tahoe (that now has its own beach club near Kings Beach), or one of the Marriott Vacation Club properties at South Lake.
Aug 19, 2019, 9:15 pm
#33
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The Marriott on Coronado Island is pretty nice (and super family friendly), and IMO is the best Marriott property in San Diego. If I wanted to burn 500k Marriott points in the US, I’d head to the Ritz Carlton Half Moon Bay for an extended stay, and do the points upgrade to club level. I think it’s the best Ritz in the US, and in an absolutely incredible location easily accessible from SFO but without the crowds of Southern California. Plenty of stuff for kids to do there as well. I’d also consider the Ritz in Lake Tahoe (that now has its own beach club near Kings Beach), or one of the Marriott Vacation Club properties at South Lake.
Aug 20, 2019, 5:30 pm
#34
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I grew up near HMB and there is no way I would recommend somebody blow 500k points here (nice as the hotel is). It is not close to SF - stay in the RC in SF if you want to tour it instead of blowing hours every day commuting. There are so many more exotic locations that have a ton of fun things for kids to do. Like RC Tahoe - if you are an outdoors person this is fun in summer and winter. SLT is a pit - would never tell anyone to visit unless they wanted a deal for ski season.
i grew up not far from Lake Tahoe, and always avoided South Lake. However, the amount of money that has been pumped into the Stateline area in the past couple years, especially since Vail bought Heavenly, really has transformed the area. As far as varied activities for kids, you’ve got D.L. Bliss, Emerald Bay, Nevada Beach, Zephyr Cove, and Sand Harbor within 20 minutes drive from two super nice, family friendly Marriott VCs.
Just some simple CA suggestions, since spending lots of time on a plane with a little kid going someplace “exotic” sounds miserable to me. Hawaii is about as far as I want to go my little kid until they’re about 10 or so.
Aug 20, 2019, 6:19 pm
#35
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When we had young kids, it fortunately corresponded with a window in time where you could actually get MVCI's with Marriott points with reasonably good availability. Those were wonderful stays - Newport Beach comes to mind as a particularly enjoyable one in a great location.
So yeah, I'd definitely say go for the VCs...if you can get them. The current incarnation of the awards program has made this pretty difficult, from what I've read here.
Half Moon Bay would be a nice couples weekend getaway IMHO. Great location, great property, not a place I'd blow a week's worth of high-end Marriott points and not a place I'd enjoy nearly as much with little kids.
Maybe by going a little off-peak you can get one of the 5-night timeshare preview deals (Marriott's previews are tasteful without the boiler-room vibe, unlike most of that industry). But that still leaves you with all those Marriott points.
So yeah, I'd definitely say go for the VCs...if you can get them. The current incarnation of the awards program has made this pretty difficult, from what I've read here.
Half Moon Bay would be a nice couples weekend getaway IMHO. Great location, great property, not a place I'd blow a week's worth of high-end Marriott points and not a place I'd enjoy nearly as much with little kids.
Maybe by going a little off-peak you can get one of the 5-night timeshare preview deals (Marriott's previews are tasteful without the boiler-room vibe, unlike most of that industry). But that still leaves you with all those Marriott points.
Aug 24, 2019, 12:07 pm
#36
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Why not combine Disney/SoCal with either Punta Mita (StR or W) or Cabo (Solaz)? Amazing hotels and Disney for the daughter. Easy trip from Canada, too.
Aug 25, 2019, 12:11 pm
#37
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Aug 26, 2019, 9:23 am
#40
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I’m fairly paranoid and even a bit narrow minded, but when it comes to our toddler, we prefer to keep her within US, Canada, UK and Japan until she’s at least 12. Food sanitation is a concern as she’s allergic to tree nuts. I really don’t want to worry about access to quality health care should we need it. So we ain’t gonna hit Mexico or Caribbean despite all the nice resorts and such. No cruise ship either. I’m just super paranoid in general. shrugs
Aug 26, 2019, 2:44 pm
#42
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Aug 27, 2019, 7:05 am
#43
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Upthread you said you were considering Greece, which is further than Hawaii, FWIW I would consider Greece roughly equivalent to Mexico. Seems like you should perhaps not go anywhere and save your points for when it’s not such a hassle to travel.
Aug 27, 2019, 7:15 am
#44
Join Date: Jul 2019
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Actually, Toronto to Hawaii is a pretty significantly longer flight than Toronto to Greece.
Aug 27, 2019, 7:45 am
#45
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Yes, I see you are right. But while Athens may be closer, the resorts mentioned are in Crete which requires clearing immigration and another roughly hour long flight. I would be surprised if you could actually get to the resorts in shorter time than one in Hawaii?