I am going to a conference in Anaheim in July and have a quick question for those of you who are experts on stays. The hotel that the conference is in is a category 5, so for the 8 nights we would be there, it would cost 175,000 points. I also have a special conference rate that allows me to get the room for $123 per night, or $984 for the week.

My question is, which option would be the best bang for the buck? I am Platnimum and will be using my Marriott Visa, so I would expect to earn ~16,000 nights if I pay for the night and I would get 8.3 elite nights if you count the credit card elite nights. I have already made Platnimum this year with rollovers anyway, so that is not as important, but another factor that will count towards lifetime Platnimum.

Is that worth it to spend that many points, which by my calculations would be basically paying ~$1000 in return for a net of 190,000 nights that I would be spending/not earning. I'm not sure what a night is worth at other category 5 hotels, but wondering what your assessment is on which one would be the better deal. There is no financial reason not to spend the $1000.

If you're Plat, then cash in 135k points for $1000 in Gift Cheques. They spend like cash at the hotel and since you're paying for the room, you'll earn points.

There are no restrictions on the Gift Cheques (except no change - so if your bill is $875 and you give them $900, so give them $850 worth of Cheques and pay the $25 on your MC Visa).

Watch closely and make sure it posts properly, I have had to call many times as the hotel ends up posting payment as a certificate or bonus bucks, in which case they won't give you the proper points.

Using this method will save you points and earn you points...not at a 1 to 1 ratio, but hey, it's no money out of your pocket and if you're being reimbursed for the hotel expenses, then it is money IN your pocket.

bonzaiflyer's suggestion is very good one if you decide to use points.

One point to think on though is the opportunity cost of using points. Would using the points inhibit you from using points for a different award (i.e. a Travel Package award maybe?) Maybe you can use airline miles for business class seats that would cost you more than that $1000 savings. If you wanted to use your points for an RC award (which can take a lot of points), maybe it would be better to pay less now rather than more later.

But if you have more points than you know what to do with, then why use your money when you could use points?

$123 a night is a pretty good rate for a cat 5 Marriott. Sounds like the rate would be a decent discount but the points would be at full point rate (not the pointsaver rate). I would pay the $123 since you can deduct the expense on your taxes and save your points for non tax deductable trips.

If you don't want to pay, then do the certs as suggested above or pay cash. In general I'd try to get around 1c/pt or more in value. In your case that means 175k pts or $984 = .56c/pt. Even if you factor in room taxes, you're still probably only around .6c/pt.

Unless you have an unusual cashflow or pointsflow situation, I'd pay for the stay. As others have noted, that's a sweet rate.

I'm not a big fan of the 135k for $1000 award, simply because I like my points for Travel Packages. But I would definitely acquire a $1000 Gift Card for this stay...seems like there's always a promo out there for approx. 9% off the face value (sometimes plus a few airline miles), or a promotion including bonus MR points (10 per dollar). So it's a no-lose if you turn around and consume the entire value within one credit card billing cycle.

You also never know what kind of promo will be going on at the time. Perhaps some value there for an 8-night paid stay. I don't usually expect *great* summer promos but you never know. Last year's DL 5k promotion was awesome but it was stay-based...

I agree with those who recommend paying for the stay, either with your MR VISA or through a Gift Card (but I think that "10 bonus points per dollar" Gift Card promo has ended).

If you redeem the points for rooms, I value them at one cent per point and won't redeem for less. In your case, I'd value the 175,000 points as worth $1,750 so I wouldn't use points when I can get the same room for $984. Plus, as you have noted, if you pay for the room instead of redeeming the 175K points, you earn points and room nights toward lifetime elite status (and the various seasonal promotions Marriott runs).

Of course, if you redeem for travel packages as pinniped and I do, where you can essentially get one Frequent Flyer air mile for each MR point up to 120,000 miles, the MR points are worth much more than a penny apiece.

Well, the $1000 Marriott cheque (from 135k points) is a good deal for double dipping, but may not work for this case. If you read the TC on the back of the cheque, it can only be used for public available rates. So theoretically, OP's special conference rate isn't qualified to use the cheques. With that being said, I had successfully used them even for special rates, such as AAA rates. But that all depend if the front-desk clerk is savvy enough to handle this. But you have a little risk that the cheques to be rejected as payment.