MrM2016

I think there would be uncomfortable elements:
- Waiting for the seaplane for up to 3 hours in the lounge surrounded by couples.
- Arriving and being seated alone in the golf buggy to your room typically with another couple.
- You will stand out dining alone in the restaurants and likely get curious looks. This isn't NYC where there are lots of independent diners.
- Watersports activities risk pairing you with a couple which has the potential to be awkward.

On the other hand if you can deal with that you should be ok. If you are relaxing in your villa, chilling in the pool or snorkelling you will be fine. Personally though I would wait until you can take a SO, friend or family member with you to make the most of it. This is an experience best shared.

optostar

chazas

Thanks everyone. Not worried about weird looks. I booked it because I found a "good" (relatively speaking) Qatar business fare with Q suites in 3 of 4 legs. Off I go.

optostar

My stay ending 4/24 posted already but at 0 points earned. Is that what you guys saw too, or it didn't post anything at all? My only expenses were the seaplane and diving, so maybe those don't earn points. Guess it doesn't hurt to call and ask corporate.

By the way, I got majorly Bonvoyed. I checked in on 4/19, and on 4/20 I received an alert from Awardwallet saying my Marriott balance dropped from around 400k to 2k. I logged in to Marriott and checked, and the activity history showed something like:
4/19 Rewards adjustment +100,000
4/19 W Maldives -340,000
4/19 Room upgrade -500,000

I did have an overwater villa but booked it back in August when it was 340k for the overwater. Also, I recall being charged the 340k points back then already (have proof of that in email). So it looked like I was being charged AGAIN for the 340k plus got charged an additional 500k, and they had to deposit an extra 100k into my account to cover it since I didn't have enough.

After calling (quite annoying to be doing this while on vacation...), they refunded the 500k.

My statement balance from an email a few days before the stay shows I have around 740k points, so I think they really still charged me twice for the 340k. My W Maldives line on the activity history now has a date of 4/24 (date of checkout) as the date that the 340k was charged. It previously had said 4/19. And the lines for 500k and 100k have been completely erased from my account history. If you go back to August it doesn't show the 340k being charged, but I know it definitely was.

Pretty shoddy activity history for audit purposes...anyways, did you guys all get the date your 340k was charged updated to the date of your checkout too?

EuropeanPete

You managed a week at the W Maldives without any F&B expenses at all?

bgriff

I didn't have any problems with being re-charged for the award but the Marriott account history interface makes it very hard to know for sure if you've been charged, since cancellations of awards don't clearly show up as points being credited back to your account, as well as various other sloppy detail-tracking. It's possible the 340K charge you're seeing in your history wasn't "really" a charge along the same lines. Alternatively, are you sure you paid the 340K points originally? This behavior sounds somewhat like a Points Advance booking getting paid for closer to the stay. But again, unless you've kept close records of your points balances, it can be hard to know.

As for your points, seaplane and diving don't earn points. But if you had F&B or spa expenses, those should have earned points.

optostar

Yup, definitely paid the 340k points originally back in August and my reservation always said it had the e-certificate attached, have proof of that in email too.

Yup, never had any other expenses besides diving. We were only there for 5 nights. It wasn't hard. Ate a TON at breakfast, and ate the ice pops and magnum bars every day. Was never hungry at night. The first day, we ate in the lounge and weren't hungry the rest of the day. They had a bunch of fruit and treats as the welcome amenity, plus a giant chocolate cake. I ate the treats and half the cake the second day. Was going to eat the fruit but was never hungry, ended up forcing myself to try some of the fruit about 3 nights into the stay when some of it was starting to grow mold. They had a bunch of cut fruit for us on the dives too. On Easter they gave everybody a giant chocolate egg shaped like a snorkeler. I couldn't eat it and they took it back the next morning. It was actually pretty sad to see them take it away, because I saw housekeeping walk out of my room as I was coming back from breakfast, with the egg face down like it died lol. On another day they delivered two little pastries and said it was complimentary for everyone. I felt like the W gave a lot of freebies and heard this was not the case at St. Regis. I was never hungry, and even though we brought a bunch of snacks, we actually never touched any of them and ended up giving them to housekeeping as gifts lol.

DenFlyer23

Has anyone made a 2020 reservation at the W using points and been charged a deposit? I have a 5 day reservation over New Years with a 60 day cancelation and no deposit required, but I'd like to move this a couple months later; however, the rate rules for my preferred March dates specify a 30 day cancelation window with ~$4K USD prepayment/deposit due at booking.

I know this has come up lately with other hotels charging a deposit, but I have made other reservations with this language and not been charged the deposit.

Thanks in advance for any help/advice.

GalaxyChris

I have a February booking, and there is the ~4.4K deposit mentioned in my booking, but the CC used is prepay and nothing has been charged.

DenFlyer23

Awesome, thank you! Great strategy on the prepaid card. I had two separate conversations with phone reps and was told 1. "It is an IT mistake and you shouldn't be charged this large of a deposit on an award stay," and 2. "Hotels in some of our more exotic locations have deposit requirements and will be charged." ...... ha, so much for training consistency.

bgriff

The general Bonvoy phone reps are mostly terrible these days, so frankly I wouldn't trust anything they say on an issue like this. Best route would be to get an answer directly from the hotel itself.

Gunner14

As an additional data point - I certainly did earn points on the seaplane and all activities.

DenFlyer23

Great point. I'll reach out to the hotel myself via email today. Thanks!

604flyer

Dang, I only earned on food !

Qtaro

Have anyone had trouble regarding points added to your account after reward stay here? I only received about 25% of what I should have received. Email sent to [email protected] and I hope they can give me enough points. What was surprising was they added the points just 2 days after my check-out.