Anyone have experience with this?

I'm thinking of redeeming 20K for two dinners (inc tax & gratuities), for a reward stay at the JW in Cancun.

Any suggestions of which Cancun Marriott restuarant to try?

Thanks.

In the Marriott CasaMagna (literally next door to the JW Marriott - 3 minute walk) there is a brand new Argentine steak house which was awesome! We were there in November, two days before opening, and there was a "trial run" for the waiters that we happened to walk in on. They said they were just learning and asked if we were Ok with that. Best darn steak we ever had!!! Sorry I forgot the name and when I checked their site the name of the previous restaurant "La Capilla" is still posted. Kind of pricey, but well worth it.

...Bob

[This message has been edited by bobbornstein (edited 07-04-2002).]

I used this reward when traveling to Hawaii. Used it at the restaurant at the renaissance. Make sure the resturaunt you wish to use it at accepts the coupon. Some restaurants dont (Shula's I know doesnt).
Have fun in Cancun. I was there about 4 years ago and loved it. We stayed down the road at the Ceasar Park.

Doesn't seem like a good use of points from a value perspective.

If you use a target of 1.5 cents per point (which is a reasonable value for a point, in fact others would say you should get 2-3 cents per point in value) -- then your dinner needs to be around $300 for it to be worthwhile. Since these awards don't include drinks, I doubt you would spend that much.

Thinking, I am with you. I don't think it is a good use of points at all, unless one is trying to empty an account.

Thanks. I was planning to empty my account with the dinner award, but your comments made me think twice and I've decided to wait and maybe build up points for a hotel reward. If that doesn't happen in a year or two, then I'll eat through the points.

My only concern with the slow-earn route to a higher hotel reward would be whether Marriott is going to rip the rug out from under you by changing the program when you are a few K short of your dream reward.

It's hard to use the 2-3 cents-per-point guideline when you earn points slowly and are starting with a small balance. Big bang-for-point usually happens at the high-end of the chart when 100,000 FF miles are part of the reward. If there's a great restaurant at your hotel that accepts the certs, and if you think you'd enjoy a $75-80 per person dinner there without worrying about the bill, then maybe it's not a bad idea to redeem for the meal. Not the highest rate of return, but you do achieve known value NOW.

Remember that you can BUY those dinner-for-two certificates for $90 (plus shipping). They used to offer them for $80 a couple of times a year, but that hasn't happened for a while. I used to buy lots of them at the $80 price and always got my money's worth.

Bruce

Good to know.

Btw, I just returned from the JW in Cancun and didn't get the dinner award and am glad about it. At the airport we got welcome bags with Cancun discount coupons. We used 20% off coupons for the breakfast buffett and the $46 all-you-can-eat lobster and prime rib buffett at JW's Cafe Salsa. My 4 lobster tails and 2 steaks were terrific (as well as the tasty seafood ceviche and shrimp). The 20% discount included alcoholic drinks. I have several coupons to give away (2 expire 9/30/02 and 1 has no expiration date). Email me at [email protected].

Also, I flashed my MR Visa card at the gift shop/bakery and found out that Silver status got me 2 free coffees a day and 10% off additional coffees and bakery goods/sandwiches.