By re-using Points you'd get a 16.7% discount on your next TP. Not too bad. But just 2 nights at a Cat. 5 hotel would set you back 50k (compared to 45k "value" of the TP), but there are some one-night certificate Options for Cat. 1-5 hotels out there, so no not necessarily the best TP redemption option...

Hello - is it possible to use a vacation package certificate at a Protea hotel in South Africa? I do think I read that it cannot be used, but trying to verify for a family member before I help them start planning potential trips. The only Marriott I see in Cape Town is not a location I would suggest to them.

That would surprise me. I've easily used points and credit card nights at Protea properties. I don't see a travel package cert as being any different. Hopefully someone with actual experience will respond.

Well I actually just called Marriott and was told there is no restriction for Protea hotels. She said that when booking (after confirming the award space is available for 7 nights) to call Marriott and they will attach the certificate to the stay. I haven't done the research yet to know if it represents good value vs just using points per night, but I love Cape Town and stayed at a Protea hotel in the Stellenbosch wine region - was upgraded to a two level staircase/fireplace suite for just 7,500 points per night.

Keep in mind that Marriott offers award bookings with 5th night free. At the lower level properties, I suspect when you run the numbers that this will offer better value than the hotel portion of a travel package.

I've used 3 TPs in Hawaii over the years, and I think all of them were 6 nights actually sleeping in the room. Since the flights head back to the mainland at night, it's nice to have a room all day on the 7th day, shower at the end of the day, and go to the airport. When I land on the mainland, I phone the front desk and let them know I'm out of the room.

In any case, yes, big part of the Travel Package value is the effective 1:1 airline miles. That's why I always do them at the 120k (or more, if you're a United person) level.

You can book your award room now and keep earning the points needed for the TP all the way up until close to the stay itself. (If that helps you climb the ladder from 50k miles to a higher level)

Thanks. A quick look shows that the Fire and ice hotel in Cape Town would be 80,000 for 5 nights and the Dorpshuis in Stellenbosch would be 40,000 for 2 nights. So he could redeem 390,000 total points and walk away with 120,000 airline miles, 7 nights in South Africa and have a 7 night certificate left over to use next year. Or even pay out of pocket for Stellenbosch somewhere else and save the 40k as prices can be very reasonable.

His options are Delta or American miles only, as those are the only two he has enough in when added to the package to fly round trip for 2 people, but getting the best awards to JNB seem to always be much easier than trying to get all the way to CPT... I've done Cathay from ORD-HKG-JNB and I've done Qatar JFK-DOH-JNB and in both cases I just booked a cash ticket JNB to CPT on a low cost carrier. It's annoying though and hope to help them find direct to CPT. Delta seems to price its as 90,000 to CPT, adding on 10k for the JNB-CPT portion. Qatar would be 80,000 using AA but only to JNB.

* I love working out trip puzzles for people

OT, but me too. Friends called me a few days ago. They were in Boston and were heading to NYC: Dad, Mom, two teenage boys. Mom and Dad each lost (misplaced) their licenses and could not rent a car. Their sixteen year old was too young. I spend an hour figuring out what to do. It turned out the four of them could ride the Acela Train for cheap, but they had to leave at like five in the morning. It was cheaper than the car rental. There were a couple other issues, too. I spent about ninety minutes. They kept apologizing for bothering me but honestly it was the most fun I had all week.

Another piece: They were going to visit a relative in something like a nursing home near Newark right before the flight back to ATL. The original plan was to leave the bags in the rental car, but the new plan was to take the train to EWR followed by Uber to the facility, dropping their bags four hours before their flight before going to visit. I thought of them that morning, suddenly remembered something I read here, called them and exclaimed, "Don't tell them you are leaving the airport after you check your bags! Technically it's forbidden."

Are you suggesting that he could get 5 nights at one hotel and 2 nights at another with one 7 night TP? If so, that's not how this works, that's not how any of this works

That's not what was suggested. 80K (5 night stay) + 40K (2 night stay) + 270K (Cat 1-5 TP) = 390K

Sorry, got it. Not sure that a TP is relevant to the calculation if the hotel stay is not part of the valuation if it may never get used.

Yeah I'm just working out options for them. They don't get to take a big trip alone too often and I want to help maximize the point/miles. If they did a TP this year for the miles and didn't use the certificate, they would have time to plan for a way to use it early next year somewhere else. Basically, my brother is all Marriott so he is limited by that. I've tried to get him to diversify but his work travel patterns make most sense for sticking with Marriott only. He has about 650,000 points but only about 70,000 Delta and 60,000 AA, so the miles are the main reason to look at the package deals for them. I appreciate all the comments. I suggested Hawaii as an alternative since it would be less stressful travel for them (leaving kids and dog at home) etc, but I'll need to read through this thread and research properties worth booking if they went that route. I stayed at the Courtyard in Kauai and enjoyed it, but it's not somewhere I'd suggest using a 7 night certificate, etc...

Yeah, that is the only thing about a speculative TP: you kind of have to know you want to spend a week at one Marriott sometime in the next two years.

A quick sense check - Is it true that you can't upgrade a Marriott TP cert to a Ritz-Carlton cert? I.e. if I already have a Cat 1-5, I can't upgrade it to Tier 1-3?