Moscow
 

Going over to Moscow in mid March... aside from the new Courtyard, would anyone have any suggestions for a Gold/Plat member in picking one of the properties ?

The Royal Aurora (and all other Moscow properties) can be a fantastic use of points.

The Aurora is running about $500 per night during that time period, and it's a category 5.

They even have PointSavers awards available mid-March!

Depending on the length/dates of your stay, you could get a five night stay at the Aurora for 80,000 points - a stay that would otherwise cost $2,300.

Doesn't get much better than 2.9c per point.

Also just about the best use of the Cat 1-5 VISA certificate, if you have one.

I have to agree, use of rewards pts for Moscow is one of the best deals in the entire Marriott family ^@:-):p

Yes, no question here, Moscow is the place to burn them points, the place seems to be on permanent pointsavers, yet rooms cost $400+ per night.

How does that work? I mean the pay rates are more expensive than most cat 7's and some cat 8's... and those Cat 8's certainly don't do pointsavers.

I was very happy to book a 5 day stay with points last year but then had to cancel when visa problems kicked in, the visa rules for visiting Russia are dreadful and must certainly cost them heavily in terms of tourist losses. I hear that the EU is pushing for negotiations with Russia to end the silliness but thats unlikely while Russia continues to take "tit for tat" visa changes

Problem is Russia cannot afford to forgo tourists. It's economy is even worse then the US--by far! It's growth rate lags emerging economies like China, India and Brazil.

Can anyone in the know comment on the relative strengths and weakneses of the various Marriott offerings in Moscow. I know there have been prior threads on this issue, but an update will be appreciated.