RoarAhead

You realize you're a "senior" Flyertalker when you joined the site while in your twenties and now have to plan your 50th birthday.... No worries - I have done a lot of crazy things and had a lot of pleasant travel because of FT! (Libya MR run anyone?)

So, the title says a lot already, but I have 500k Bonvoy points to spend on a nice stay somewhere in the world. Some further details/wishes:
- We travel as a family of four, so the hotel/resort should preferably have accommodation (e.g. 2BR villa) that can comfortably fit all, or priced such that we can include two rooms for the point price.
- Should be nice weather, pleasantly warm end October.
- Not in Europe or North America (too close to home)
- Not in a large city
- Interesting or exotic culturally for a well traveled couple and two young teenage boys.
- Good redemption value.

I see that there is availability at St.Regis Maldives, which would of course trump everything else in terms of redemption "value" but weather will be hit and miss, I have been in the country twice already, and everything else but the room is just ridiculously overpriced. Do try to convince otherwise, though.

Let's see what crowdsourcing knowledge and experience can do!

Best regards Still49

sdsearch

Well, some places in Africa or the Middle East might such good redemption that you'll barely make a dent in your 500k. Is that OK with you?

Also, you didn't seem to specify how long this would be. One week or some other duration?

And do you want to choose a location in a country that might lock you out if another variation of Covid hits around then? That would rule out certain island nations (up to as big as Australia!) which are more likely to lock out everyone than countries with lots of land borders.

And wanting it to be "pleasantly warm" at the end of October seems to limit it to places closer to the tropics. Whether it's fall in the Northern Hemisphere or spring in the Southern Hemisphere, you can't count on the end of October to be "pleasantly warm" in much of the world well away from the equator.

I've been on FlyerTalk about roughly as long as you have, I think, but I've never timed any of my travels to birthdays or such. I have a niece who tries to do that, and that severely limits where she can go if too many of her trips are at the same time each year just because that's when her birthday is. Not every location is best at the same time of year.

Also, I belong to lots of different hotel programs, so I think about the destination first and only then do I look into what hotels are there.

So I'm aware from my previous travels that Protea hotels in Africa and other Marriott brands in the Middle East can be ridiculously low redemption rates. Unlike other hotel programs, Marriott bases its redemption rate to large degree based on how many people redeem points (or gift certificates). Since not that many people apparently redeem for stays in Africa or the Middle East, that's why hotels there are often much lower redemption rates than you might expect.

But I don't know where in those regions late October would be a good time.

SoulfulDust

Bali would sound like a good spot. Tons of redemption options. Nice weather in October and it's in Asia.

However, it's not open for tourism. But who knows what the situation will be in 10 months. Maybe it'll open.

MSPeconomist

Singapore and Bangkok also have a lot of Bonvoy choices.

However, if the OP defines warm to include springlike weather, Tokyo and Seoul would also be possibilities: you can walk around in the middle of a sunny day in just a sweater or blazer/suit jacket even around Thanksgiving. I'd put Hong Kong in the same category (or warmer), but IMO entry will continue to require strict quarantine at best.

dbuckho

Vietnam - suggesting mostly because it is on my list for a 50th birthday trip in a few years (which will include then 15 and 9 year olds). But also because redemption rates are pretty good. For example you could do 5 nights x 2 rooms at 300k at the JW Phu Quoc and then combine with another culturally interesting stop in another part of the country or Cambodia and have points to cover that as well (of course same caveats about things being open then).

JW Phu Quoc also has some cool villas but not seeing those reservable on points. But maybe you can work out two points reservations and paying the difference in rate.

miloworld

A FT giveaway of course.

jennsaisquoi

If you're looking at Maldives and want to stay together in one villa (so a king plus two queens), I think the W Maldives is better than the St. Regis. First, the St. Regis has its king bedroom on the first floor and is a combined living room so there's no privacy for the folks sleeping in the king whereas the W is a true two bedroom with a living room and also 2.5 baths. Also, the St Regis overwater family villa is not on the main jetty and just a few feet into the water whereas the W ones are at the end of the jetty extending far away from the island. We were originally dead set on doing St. Regis but ultimately these factors plus the fact that the house reef is way better caused us to switch to the W. It will cost about $200 more per night over the base points to get the wow ocean escape (or whatever it is called) but I think you can also use points instead of cash. We thought food would be not as good at W but frankly my friends and I thoroughly enjoyed all our meals at the W. By the way, when we looked last year, we didn't see any other Bonvoy hotels in Maldives that offered this kind of room configuration. Most places are king beds only.
​​​​

CALMSP

Will agree with others, SE Asia would be nice, Middle East would also be nice, and plenty of good value there.

Pretzelsandpeanuts

How about Oman, haven’t been there yet but everyone I know who has been to Oman says great things. There is a JW Marriott in Muscat.

OliverB

I’m in a similar boat — I have just under 600K to unload before the coming devaluation in March and no clue where to spend it. I’m only interested in cat. 7/8 properties and unlike OP, not resorts. I had my sights set on Shanghai for Dec. but that’s unlikely given the restrictions on tourist visas due to the state’s covid policy; a good thing, however personally disappointing. Japan is also out, I’ve been enough times. Perhaps somewhere else in Asia? Europe’s an option too. France and UK are lowest points of interest there (same reason as Japan). I also don’t want to use them in N.America, as that’s not very exciting. Properties of any historical significance are most appealing. I’ve spent 2 weeks at the Gritti w/ my last points dump and that’ll be hard to top. I’m considering The Shelbourne in Dublin but it doesn’t seem like a great redemption value compared to China. Same with Alfonso XIII in Seville. There’s a bit of pressure to decide as we have fixed travel months (June, July, August, December) in 2022 and a limited window to book w/ the shenanigans coming from Marriott in 2 months. We’re looking to book 15 nights min. taking advantage of the 5th free promo on award bookings. I had an upgraded loft room at the Shanghai Edition locked down for avg. 160/70k redemption for 5 night blocks in Dec, but that seems too good to be true for much of what I’m seeing in Europe…

Antarius

Second this. I would go with the Al Bustan Palace (RC).

CIT85

St. Regis Florence is one of my favorite, maybe even more so than Gritti Palace.

Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit in Bangkok has lots of fans here, although recent change in GM may be a wrinkle. Thailand restrictions have been erratic so December is better option for covid to ease up.

willliamjia

I am on the same boat as you. My choice is park hyatt kyoto during foliage season.

RoarAhead

Thanks to all for input. 500k points is generally enough for 6 nights in a Cat. 8 hotel, so that's the likely duration (or longer in lower category hotels). I have worked it out so that I have a few months' sabbatical in the end of the year so am fairly flexible, in theory. In practice, Covid entry regulations and quarantine requirements could still decide for us, sadly.

OliverB

Don’t be so sure about the redemption value given that Marriott is changing the criteria for points redemption in less than two months. I would try to get something booked before that happens, just as a safety net. You can always cancel and get your points bounced back if needed.