2 things I am looking for travel wise is a week at a nice hotel in Maui and a boatload of southwest points. Realizing that Marriott package is a perfect fit. Problem is I have no marriott points. The package I would like is 330K points. I would like to redeem on 1/1/13.

So it seems like my only real options to get Marriott points besides staying in marriotts is via Marriott CC, Chase Sapphire, Diner's club or purchasing points. It seems like I could buy 50K points this year, and 50K on 1/1/13. I could also do this for my wife. Throw in a CC for each of us and I am at 300K points.

Am I missing anything. Any other ways to get Marriott points cheap.

300k /2 = 150. 150-50-50=50. That sounds like you think you will only get 50k points for the Marriott CC.

The best way to get Marriott points cheap is to use the best credit card offer available (not necessarily the easiest one to find). Thus I suggest you look at this thread in MilesBuzz!:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...mier-visa.html

That's an extra 20k for each of you, and thus an extra 40k, and thus it seems to take you over the 330k (with 10k to spare) that you are looking for.

Btw, in case you haven't seen it yet, here's a thread with instructions on combining the points. It sounds like it will take a few steps, so it might take a little beyond 1/1/13 to complete that:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marri...ir-points.html

and you'll have to complete that before you have the 330k in one account to book the package.

Thank you. I did read about the 70K offer in the meantime. Also we do have one Marriott stay coming as my wife has a conference at Marriott in Atlanta. I saw that there are referral points so I guess I should create an account for her and I will refer her.

or, 340,000 if you can find the CC which offers 70k points

and, you,ve probably seen the AX daily/weekly deals which so far have only offered discounted Marriott gift cards, but perhaps they'll do one like Hilton where points can be bought at 50% discount

Am I correct that pretty much the only way to get points is to stay in marriotts, use the CC, or buy them. There don't seem to be any programs that convert to Marriott.

Did you check webflyer?

http://www.webflyer.com/programs/mil...rogram_b=MCA02

The other thing to keep in mind is if you're buying 50K Marriott points it's $625. Do that 2x for you & 2x for your wife this year/next year & you're up to $2,500. Can't you just pay for a room if you're looking at that type of outlay? And then you'll get points for the stay, which you can use on a future vacation.

Re: your question - yes, usually the 3 main ways to get Marriott points is to stay in Marriotts, use the c.c. or buy points.

Cheers.

Yes the outlay is $2500. Aside from the room I get 120K Southwest points and a companion pass. 120K points is good for $2000 worth of travel and the CP is worth about $2000 to me. That is what I am really after.

Actually the one problem with this idea is more that I was thinking about going to Hawaii in Oct. rather than Jan or Feb. But I need the southwest points to post after jan. 1.

I have been thinking about the MR travel package as well. Can anyone confirm that the 120k transfer to Southwest should in fact credit towards the annual CP?

You could also do your shopping thru the Marriott portal. For instance drugstore.com is 8 points per dollar and free shipping (after you spend either $25 or $50). I buy everything I can thru them. Makes going to the actual grocery store faster. Drugstore.com offers a quarterly rebate - so you get cash and points.

See here!

If the OP or his wife are actually going to stay at Marriotts, then signing up for the mega-bonus makes sense.

Cheers.

Marriott CC = 70K
+
Chase Sapphire Preferred = 40K (Ultimate Rewards points convert 1:1 if you have Sapphire Preferred or Ink Bold; other Ultimate Rewards cards don't offer conversion)
x2 = 220K

With a little bit of spending on the cards, you should be able to pick up a minimum of 10K additional points. That'd only put you 100K short of your goal.

Yes, I can confirm first-hand the DO count towards CP. They DO NOT count towards A-List or A+.

Personally, I wouldn't use MR air+hotel pkgs unless I could have enough FF miles to fly business class ... That's where the real value per point shows. For hotels, I always pick full service hotels where the dollar cost far exceeds the cost for the MR points if you were buying them. Otherwise I'd rather pay cash and earn MR points and stays.