For all you Marriott pros...

Just happen to have a 7 night reservation and will be getting the 10K megabonus.

I actually a starwood guy, so MR points are rather worthless and I plan to redeem for mileage ASAP.

The stay is at a Courtyad, so my earned points are room rate only. I guess this means no Taxes as well.

Total for 7 nights will be $915x10 which brings my overall total to 19,150, just shy of the 20,000 redemption level.

Any suggestions for this MR newbie on how to pickupthe needed 850 points.

I suppose I could buy them for $10.

Any bonus out there for e-mail signups, surveys, etc?

Thanks in advance.

You could always get the Visa Credit card and wait for the points to post, then cancel the card.

http://www.firstusa.com/cgi-bin/webc...cont&mkid=6FJY

or

http://www.firstusa.com/cgi-bin/webc..._15k&page=cont

You can also transfer points into MR from various credit cards such as AMEX and Diners.

http://marriott.com/rewards/earn/earnmicvt.mi

You could stay an extra night.

You can pick up points on incidentals such as room service, restaurant, gift shop, etc, just so long as you bill the items to your room. You'd get 10 points per dollar spent so long as the amounts were credited to your folio.

You might also try a purchase or two from this link:

http://www.skymall.com/webapp/skysto...ott_points.jsp

Don't go directly to Skymall.com itself; you need to use a Marriott portal to get the points. Using these strategies, you should score the extra 850 points in pretty short order.

He said he was staying at a Courtyard. You only get credit for roomrate at courtyard.

If you plan to eat breakfast at hotel, you can see if the have a rate that included breakfast. Usually only $5-10 more a night but will get you points. Not enough for 850 but a start.

This seems to indicate that for a 10,000 point award I could pay $10 and get what I'm short. Am I missing something here or would this work for me. It just doesn't look like there are any freebie promotional sign-ups out there for emails, surveys, etc.
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Purchasing Points

When you do not have enough points to request a specific reward, you may purchase up to 10 percent of the total points needed for redemption.
Points cannot be purchased, nor transferred, for merchandise rewards offered through SkyMall.
Points may be purchased at a rate of $10 per 1,000 points.
An "Authorization to Purchase Points" form must be completed and submitted to Marriott Guest Services to purchase the required points. Forms are available by calling Marriott Guest Services.