pinniped

I've done the following weeklong trips with kids. Young ones (3 and 6).

- JW Cancun. Three or four good daytrips, lots of Mayan sites nearby. From what I understand, Yucatan is not a current focal point of the drug wars but I'd probably research it a bit more before going today. We were there in late 2008 and had no issues driving all over that part of Mexico.

- MVCI Newport Beach. You can't get bored in SoCal. We did two LA days, one San Diego day, a couple days just in the local area (beaches, etc.), a Long Beach day, and the final day at the LA Marathon. There was at least a 2nd week's worth of stuff we wanted to do but didn't have time.

- Marriott Wardman Park (D.C.). Wonderful neighborhood, obviously a city chock-full of stuff to do for kids and adults alike. No real need for a rental car (the elevator to the Metro station is literally on-site), although whenever I'm in DC for a week I at least get a car for a day or two to get out of town. Annapolis, Front Royal, etc. - lots of good daytrips.

I've also done weeks each of the four primary Hawaiian islands - never with kids but I don't see kids getting bored there. Each island has a bit of a different style and each one has Marriotts.

We've also done long weekends with kids in NYC, Chicago, and San Francisco. All three of those are good because there are tons of activities and you can do many things without a rental car.

jamflyer

This is flytertalk ..are these Mariott hotel charges? If not, I am sure you can get a much better return using a different card. I need to quit this board

TrojanHorse

I pretty much only use it for Marriott lodging, and my kids after care charges as well as summer camp charges.. occasionally I'll put a car repair on.. but all in all I run about 15K MR points a month

pinniped

I've used it for years in places that my SPG Amex isn't accepted. It's not the most powerful general-spend card in the world but I don't do enough MC/Visa volume to particularly care.

In 2010-2011 that changes: we're cycling through a couple of BA Visas to rack the 2-for-1 awards. Eventually we'll probably dump those two BA cards and Marriott Visa will be the only non-Amex in my wallet.

GetawaysRus

I phoned Marriott Rewards customer service and asked some of these questions yesterday. I hope that they gave me the correct info.... For what it's worth, here is what they told me:

1. Can a travel package be renewed? Marriott uses the word “reissue” rather than renew – within 1 year after you initially take a TP, they can reissue the hotel portion of the travel package and it will be good for another year. So a TP can be reissued one time. However, there must be a reservation in place in order to do a reissue.

2. Can a TP be upgraded or downgraded (change the hotel category level)? Yes, you can upgrade and “pay” the difference in points. You can also downgrade (e.g., from a category 6 to a category 5) and the points difference will be credited back to your account. In order to do this, the TP is reissued, but you must have a reservation in place in order to do so.

3. Can the number of days in the TP be changed (from 5 to 7, or 7 to 5)? (This applies for Marriott timeshare owners. Timeshare owners have the option of selecting a 5 night TP if desired.) NO, Marriott will not change the number of days, even if the TP is reissued.

4. What is the process to move points from one Marriott Rewards account to another? You can call to order a TP. They then know how many points you need for the package. They will fax a form for the account holders to fill out OK’ing the points transfer. We fax the form back. The points transfer happens quickly (there is not a long delay of days to weeks). With a TP, miles then go into my American Airlines account within 48 hours. Therefore, this could be done in early June and there would be adequate time before the drop dead date of June 30 for AA transfers.

5. Are these rules posted anywhere (on a website, for example) so that I can read them? Nope

I am quite unhappy with the loss of AA as a Marriott travel partner. Like others, I'm puzzling about what to do. I don't have enough Marriott points in my own account to redeem for a travel package, but I could have points transferred from my wife's account into mine. So I will most likely do that and take a category 5 travel package some time in early June along with 100K or 120K AA miles. Then I'll just have to figure out what Marriott hotel I want to use for a future stay and hope that the travel package will still be available for my use and upgradeable if necessary. I already am working on our travel plans for the first half of 2011, and it does not include a Marriott hotel stay. So hopefully the cat 5 travel package that I "purchase" in June 2010 can be "reissued" and used in the second half of 2011 or the first half of 2012.

Also, for the future, I will use my Marriott branded Chase credit card less and my Starwood AmEx more. When I have a choice, I'll probably shift more of my paid hotel stays to Starwood hotels and reduce the paid Marriott stays. The loss of AA as a travel partner seriously degrades the value of the Marriott Rewards program for me.