Those prices have increased by a couple of dollars for most items just since the menu they sent me on 9/1/18!

I've booked a stay in April, those food prices are making me wince, particularly with the inflation.

I'm currently booked on points. They've offered me an upgrade to an Overwater Oasis suite $431 including tax per night.

Can anyone speak to whether it's worth it?

Interesting ... my quote for OWV upgrade on points (stay in January) was only $332 including tax. I actually cancelled the booking that quote applied to in order to rebook on different dates, I guess I should get a quote on the new booking too in case prices go up again!

The price jumps on food are surprising too. I would otherwise think it sounds too conspiratorial to be true, but on the St Regis thread some had speculated that some ancillary costs may have increased to make up for the suddenly large number of points bookings after August 18.

I've booked over the Easter weekend so I wonder if that is attracting a premium or whether they are simply, as you say, compensating for the increase in points bookings.

RE: Cash upgrades, keep in mind the upgrade price in points is only 20,000 points a night. Depending on how you value Marriott, say 0.8 - 0.9 cents a point, the point upgrade cost is $160-$180 a night (all-in). That may help you with your decision.

Just another data point, finally got around to calling SPG again and as others have reported, I was able to book the OWV directly with points for an average of 68K points per night for 5 nights (60K base award+20K upgrade per night with the fifth night free on the 60K part only), which I'm very happy with.

The W had otherwise quoted me a cash upgrade price on the 60K booking of $332 per night including tax, and I would otherwise have paid it, so 20K points to avoid $332 of spend is a pretty great deal for Marriott points these days IMO.

The St. Regis charges many more points for an overwater suite upgrade, so I have no idea what the rules around this are supposed to be, but I'll take it.

Thanks for the data point. I'm going to attempt to do the same (got to find the extra 100k points first though!).

Milestalk and bgriff: Thanks for your feedback. I have just successfully booked an overwater suite for 5 nights with the 20k upgrade, so 340k all in (68k/night). I calculate that as >2 cents per point value, so a great redemption.

I am also looking to book this property for Aug. I have about 228k points in my account now. I have booked a Spectacular lagoon oasis for cash for the dates I need - when I have the points I will just cancel the cash reservation and book it on points. I was quoted $250++ per night for the nights I wanted - it was a fabulous overwater oasis though. Anyone know the difference between the two? Spectacular costs more in cash about $200 per night for the dates I checked.

I was able to upgrade to OWV for one night for 20k using a separate reservation, not enough points to upgrade to OWV for the other 5 nights.

I assume that you will have the points you need prior to December 31? From my research the difference seems to be only location of the OWV - no actual room differences.

Are you hoping to book the 60K points / night garden villa or the 80K points / night fabulous overwater villa? Holding the spectacular booking in cash won't help you with either -- AFAIK you can't book a spectacular directly with points, so having that on hold doesn't help reserve a spot for you to later use points.

If there are no garden and/or fabulouses on sale for cash, then they wouldn't be available once you save the points either.

If they only want to book the 60K room, in theory it should be possible to do a points advance booking at that rate sometime between when the W cuts over to Marriott's booking engine (scheduled for late November) and December 31.

I am confident I will have the diff made by Dec 31 based on my CC spend and upcoming stays - a 3 night and a 7 night stay.

When I called starwood CS they said only GV and Spectacular lagoon oasis were available on points. That's why I booked it on cash. May be the people who have actually booked the OWB can comment which one they booked.