51K points - What to do?
 

Good cheers to all Marriott FTers. I have never even looked at my Marriott statement previously, but today I did and lo & behold I have 51K pts.

I am going to Germany and Czech Republic in mid-Sept. Are my pts worth anything?

No. I have not checked the site yet for more info. I am first entrusting a post and responses from fellow FTers to help me on my way ...

It's not a lot, but you can get a few free days for that many points. The number of free days depends on the ranking of the hotel (1 through 7). I never use my points for anything else.

Bruce

1-or 2-day award stays are always quite expensive. If you have the chance to increase the points withing the next months/years, I'd increase the points (a cat 4 hotel (e.g. Marriott Frankfurt; Renaissance Munich) 1 night: 25k points; 2 nights: 35k points; 3 nights 52k points). I would also check the hotel rates. If you book far ahead you might prices that you find ok to pay.

You could also exchange for miles, e.g. on AA, UA, CO, DL frequent flyer programmes. Exchange rates:
30.000 Marriott points -> 10.000 miles
70.000 Marriott points -> 25.000 miles
The same here: the more points you can exchange, the better the rate. The best exchange rate are the travel packages for which you need more points.

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Pictures from hotel stays
Basic Hotel stays/nights/points calculator
Short overview: KLM FD, LH M&M

Thanks bdschobel and LH738. I will do a quick study on trying to earn immediate extra pts ... but I am not - for now - a Marriott user so using the 50K for even two nights in Europe could go a long way.

But then I forgot about the pts exchange ... again, thanks http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif