dbuckho

Have 2 nights booked in Alaska this summer for $640 including taxes. Reward stay is 60k for the same 2 nights (a 1c/pt redemption), which can be purchased for $500 with this sale. Initially a decent savings, but then factoring back the 8500 pts that would be earned with paid rate (just shy of 6000 for the stay and 2500 more with extra 4 pts/p$ on Marriott Visa for hotel vs. 1 pt/$ on points.com purchase) that reduces $85 of the savings applying the same 1c/pt. Still $55 saved (not quite 10%, but almost). Rates will probably not go down since it is high season there. So I am considering buying the points and redeeming as sort of an advance purchase rate, just with a refundable currency. May do for another Alaska stay I need to book as well which is also coming out over 1c/pt (and maxing out this promo).

The wild card would be if there is a promotion in August -- but these redemptions would be for a second room and I will still be paying for the first room - so will pick up any bonus points there. And then of course if points are devalued, it changes the equation (both future value of the points not earned, but also value of these points if I had to cancel).

Am I missing anything?

freed0m

Assuming $640 is non-refundable rate, point redemption comes out better when cancelling reservation. And point is going to devalue, so 8,500 points are going to be worth less and less. And you can cancell award redemption for a better promo later if there is one.

Seems a no-brainer to buy points and redeem now if there is award availability.

sherriflinda

I am sitting on a reservation, 50,000 points shy of redeeming. or so I thought. Now the redemption rate has gone up since yesterday. It is a full 100K more than when I made the reservation. Am I expected to pay this new much higher redemption rate since they now decided my week is considered peak?

dbuckho

$640 is a cancel up to a few days before arrival rate. And after I posted realized I forgot about my Plat bonus - so math is actually 11500 pts that would be earned on paid stay, making the savings only about $25 (less than 5% - not factoring a devaluation). Was going to edit my post but the site crashed. So maybe not worth it for this stay but will evaluate for a few other upcoming ones.

MOD220

link shows maximum purchase of 50,000 (+25,000 bonus), how do you do 100,000, do you have to do two separate 50k point transactions?

nexusCFX

Yes.

MOD220

Is there a limited as to how many point purchase transactions one can do? I know it caps at a total purchase of 100,000, but can I buy a few different times during the offering period, as I'm not sure if I need any or how much...

I'm only considering since I'm short on an upcoming reservation, and I can't do some points and some cash since rates have all changed, curious why most people do these purchases? In looking at cost of the rooms in $USD vs points, and cost of those points, doesn't appear there's much savings? between my base, elite, and credit card points, I get 23.5 points per dollar spent. Usually spend $500-$1000 per week at Marriott so I get 10,000 - 20,000 points per week free, so buying them seems so painful!

lsquare

Is this the lowest price for points? I've never bought points before. Is sales tax charged?

sherriflinda

That's what I thought. I bought the points and niow that I have enough the rate has gone from 40k per night to 60k
100k more than when I booked!

sherriflinda

Btw, I bought 50k with the 25k bonus but only received the 50 so far

jtp1947

Bonus points should be available 48 hours after purchase.

spgplat21

So it looks like the most you could do directly into your account is 150K by buying directly or having someone gift you the full amount, and then friends and family could buy up to 150K, but only transfer you 100K/each in each calendar year for a maximum of 500K/year. So you could end up with 650K total for $5416.67 assuming you had 5 other members that didn't want to buy the points for themselves. With the devaluation (and I think more troubling, the potential capacity controls), i wouldn't buy speculatively, but for a targeted trip, I could see it making sense for some people.

musicscrip

I think some of us buy Marriott pt to transfer to programs like ANA. I only need 95000 ANA miles to redeem a round trip in business class on EVA from USA to Asia so basically I am only paying $2000 USD for the business class (but if was going to buy it direct on EVa.com, I would be paying 3x or more !!!)

lsquare

Does ANA have good award availability? I didn't realized Marriott to ANA is good value.

margarita girl

It’s not as good as the deal SPG offered us in 2017. Some people were allowed to buy points at half price or $0.0175/pt. Divide by 3 gives $0.0058/Marriott pt. This deal works out to $0.0083/pt. But I think it’s the best that’s been offered since the merger.