searching for cheapest point redemptions

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Mar 17, 2023 | 11:58 am

wahoohfd

Original Poster

Join Date: Sep 2004

Location: Connecticut

Programs: Marriott Lifetime Platinum, Wyndham Rewards Platinum, Southwest

Posts: 43

searching for cheapest point redemptions

Is there a way (other than trial-and-error) to search for the cheapest hotels on points. I am getting ready to redeem some points to pick up nights so I make Platinum this year...

Thanks in advance.

-wahoohfd

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Mar 17, 2023 | 4:21 pm

Horace

Join Date: May 2002

Programs: AAdvantage Platinum, United Silver, Marriott Titanium Elite

Posts: 2,366

Quote:

Originally Posted by wahoohfd

There's no longer the option of searching only for Category 1 hotels. Categories are gone. It's also not possible to search only for nights that are below an arbitrary number of points per night.

But what would you do if you found a really cheap points rate in Southeast Asia -- or even just a thousand miles from your home?

To earn elite qualifying nights, you need to show up at the hotel, check in, enter your room, and be considered as occupying the room until your check-out date. Online check-in is not enough. There's been much discussion here on FlyerTalk about that.

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Last edited by Horace; Mar 17, 2023 at 4:55 pm

Mar 18, 2023 | 2:39 am

clarkef

Join Date: Jan 2005

Location: Silicon Valley

Programs: Marriott Ambassador

Posts: 1,249

Quote:

Originally Posted by wahoohfd

Not sure if this is helpful, but the easiest way to do this is to determine which location(s) you are willing to travel and have the website/app sort your travel dates by points. Not a perfect system, but close enough. I went to Bakersfield and the sort by points returned a 4 pts for 6k points.

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Mar 18, 2023 | 6:40 pm

slowly

Join Date: Nov 2005

Location: RTW

Programs: MR Ag, LH FTL

Posts: 947

You can enter the state and the sort by points.

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Mar 19, 2023 | 2:38 am

RobOnLI

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Oct 2003

Location: Floating around

Programs: UA Plat (1MM), DL Gold (1MM), Marriott LTT

Posts: 11,218

And every single time you hit the search button it defaults back to sorting the results by distance. No way I've found to get it to stick to sorting by price/points.

-RM

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Mar 19, 2023 | 11:08 am

DallasEsq

Join Date: May 2009

Location: USA

Programs: Marriott Titanium -> United Silver

Posts: 1,509

The lowest rates I've seen in the US are the previously mentioned Four Points in Bakersfield, CA and the Courtyard in Stafford/Sugar Land TX. They have regularly had dates at 6,500 points per night (even a bit lower some nights). It would probably be handy to have a list of former Cat 1 hotels with low point redemptions for mattress runners like OP.

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Oct 5, 2023 | 2:12 pm

Mr. BoH

Join Date: Apr 2011

Location: The Land of Pleasant Living

Programs: Marriott Ambassador, AA ExecPlat, Amtrak Select Exec, former WN apologist

Posts: 1,940

Bumping this thread to ask what are the lowest point-based rates people are seeing in the US? I used to be able to find some rates around 6k/night in sleepy suburban Fairfield Inns not far from home. But now everything seems to be 10k+ per night. Is that the best I am likely to find or should I look harder?

It looks like I will fall a few nights short of 100 for Ambassador and considering a cheap points-stay to bridge the gap. But given Ambassador's limited utility these days, it has to be a cheap stay for it to be worth it.

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Oct 5, 2023 | 2:20 pm

DallaStarwooDelta

Join Date: Jul 2001

Location: Dallas, TX, USA

Posts: 1,029

My got to hotel is this one. 5 nights for 25K points. Fairfield Park Central

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Oct 6, 2023 | 1:28 pm

DallasEsq

Join Date: May 2009

Location: USA

Programs: Marriott Titanium -> United Silver

Posts: 1,509

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. BoH

I think your best bet is to seach Greater Houston and DFW. Generally you can find rates much lower than 10k per night at the low end, and both cities are airline hubs so it should be easy to get flights there.

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Dec 17, 2023 | 8:20 pm

#10

Dcislander

Join Date: May 2006

Location: DC

Programs: AA Exec Plat, Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Plat

Posts: 871

The thread has been dormant for a while but for anyone else trying the same tactic I've now had luck going through the Marriott search page and putting in the state then sorting by point value. You'll have to do 50 searches if you want to be exhaustive but it works pretty well.

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