DKM,

I chose not to pay the expedite price (since we had another month+ anyway to cash in on the award). The coupons arrived within four days and the miles were there within three. They were also very quick on redepositing the hotel awards. We should thank Marriott for giving us some time to use the old awards and continuing to provide miles back, which is an unadvertised benefit. This must be costing the hotel a great deal of money to buy all of these miles.

ff

[This message has been edited by freakflyer (edited 07-01-2001).]

THE AA Advantage miles were posted as bonus miles

air/hotel package -- are miles deposited directly in AAdvantage account?
 

I'm entertaining the idea of transferring enough Membership Rewards points over to give me the points needed for one of the 7 night air/hotel complete travel packages, as it seems (?) to be a good deal.

My primary motivation for doing this is to get the 120K miles dumped into my AAdvantage account to get me closer to 1MM status.

Here's the question -- are the miles deposited directly into my Advantage account by Marriott?

Thanks in advance.

[This message has been edited by snorkmaster (edited 12-14-2001).]

Yes, the points are deposited directly. I have done this twice with AA and the miles posted within two weeks in both cases.

Make sure you tell MR that you are using the award for a stay in a city that would require 60,000 AA miles for the lowest level AA award ticket. If you use a city that only requires 40,000 miles for a ticket, that is all MR will transfer.

They don't ask you what city you're staying in anymore--all that matters is how many miles (or kilometers, or flight credits) you want and what category your hotel is. You pay one point per mile, plus the points cost of the stay (minimum category 5--which would hurt me, since the best Marriott in the city I'd probably use it for is a 4).

Hertz - the other part of the travel package
 

Ordered a travel package earlier this week. Got the miles posted and the stay certificate.

When I got home, there was the remainder -- a nice certificate for 25% off my next Hertz rental for up to 8 days.

Anybody ever use this? It seems I could get a better deal other ways, or even Priceline should be able to beat that by a wide margin, according to BFT.

So, again, is this worth much?

I am using mine for a rental for a week in Italy. As I need an automatic, there are not many companies that can accomodate my needs -- Hertz can, and the 25% discount is quite welcome.

With regard to PLN, I am of the opinion that regardless what credit card you use -- even a DC card -- you likely will not be covered if you decline collision damage waiver. That is why I stay away from them.

My experience varies from NJ. I've got two of the Hertz certificates. Checked rates in Florida for this past winter, and France for this fall. In both cases I was able to obtain better rates from Hertz using discounts available on their website, than the rates that came up using the Marriott certificate, and that included an automatic in Nice.

Hertz
 

I tried to use one once. They told me they would have to raise the rate they originally quoted me as a "walk-on" and then apply the discount. The result was a higher price than the original quote. I just theow them away.

Ohmark, it may have to do with Italy and their very high theft and insurance rates. With Hertz, you can decline the CDW as it is not bundled with the other rates and therefore, I can use the DC (perhaps) or a Visa or MC, as neither have an exclusion for Italy rentals.

By the way, I have been looking at rental for my father-in-law as he is going to Nice next week and I came across this website from AMEX and National Car rental. For what he wanted -- a manual convertible -- the rates were less than anywhere else that I could find, moreover, it included full insurance and VAT and airport tax charges, as well.

It might suit your needs better, if their price is better:

http://www.nationalcar.com/directlin...ex_amex_uk.jsp

Absolutely useless
 

My experience has been that the Hertz certificates are totally useless. I have gotten much better rates through the years from Avis, often without using any coupon at all. This applies to both domestic and international rentals. I don't even include Hertz in my price comparisons any more!

Redeeming hotel portion of travel pck.
 

I recently redeemed points for a 086 travel package. The miles were promptly transferred to my FF acount but I was not ready to make a hotel reservation. Now I want to reserve a room. When I try online, availability comes up but shows it costs 195,000 points. I have no certificate in hand...I was told the award is on file. If I book online will they know I have it on file or will they withdraw 195,000 more points from my account? Do I need to call and make the reservation? Thank you.

Only if you check the "I already have my reward certificate" box.

As was indicated to you, the hotel portion of your 086 travel package award is on file and yes, you will need to call to use it. If you book online they will take points out of your MR account unless you check the "I already have my reward certificate" box, then they will not take the points out of your MR account, BUT you will still need to call a MR CSR to use the hotel portion of your saved 086 award.

Now, the bad news. The hotel portion of the 086 award is a 7-night Standard award at a category 6 property; which, if booked separately would be 130,000 MR points. The 195,000 MR point award you referred to in your post is a 7-night Stay Anytime award at a category 6 hotel. Standard awards are capacity controlled, and are subject to blackout dates; whereas Stay Anytime awards are not, but you pay a 50% premium in points over a Standard award for that privilege. Note that a room must be available, as this is not a room guarantee. If the hotel is sold out you will not be able to get a Stay Anytime award either.

If these are the only dates you want, then perhaps a MR CSR can see if you can use your 086 hotel award portion along with the additional 65000 points required for the Stay Anytime award. Otherwise I would look for other properties or other dates for your trip.

More bad news, if you decide not to use the hotel portion of the 086 award and ask to have the points refunded, you will incur a large penalty due to the good airline mileage exchange rate associated with the 086 travel package. Instead of getting 130000 points back as you would when refunding a 7-night Standard category 6 award, you will only get back 50000 points.

The good news is you got a great exchange of MR points for airline miles. These packages are one of the best things going at MR.

As a side note: for future reference, at popular properties during popular times like the Vail Marriott Mountain Resort and Spa during the ski season, or Hawaiian properties during the summer or mid-winter months; in order to obtain Standard awards at these properties you may need to book as much as 11 months in advance.

All the best in making your arrangements.

I did not see the box you indicated but was able to make the needed reservation via phone. Thank you for the help.

Travel Package Redemption w/Southwest
 

Long time reader, first time poster.

I checked the search and could find nothing on this subject:

If you redeem for a MR travel package (for example the 250,000 point package w/7 night category 6 and 80 Southwest Rapid Rewards credits) do the Rapid Rewards credits count towards a SWA Companion Pass (100 RR credits earned in 1 year)? 100 credits is too much for me to get in 1 year, but 20 on top of the 80 would be very reasonable.

Thanks!

You would earn 5 Rapid Rewards tickets for this and unless there is some unusual restriction (call Southwest to verify before redeeming) all these credits should count toward the Companion Pass. I redeemed Hyatt points a while ago for 25 Southwest credits and they were what allowed me to earn my Companion Pass (just in time before a bunch of credits became more than a year old and would have no longer counted toward the pass).

Marriott travel package reward queation
 

If you use Marriott points for "Hotel, Air & Car Package reward". The hotel is a 7-night reward. Can it be split into two different hotels, or does it have to be all in one hotel?
Thanks.

Hotel + Air Package. Fly now, stay later?
 

I'm just curious if anyone has been able to do this:

I am cashing in 2 Travel packages (reward code 083) for our honeymoon (2 weeks stay + 240K miles).

I would like to get an additional 120K miles, but that would normally cost me 250,000 points (using two 566 reward codes) and I would only 100K miles.

So, if I decide to redeem another Travel package (083/087/091) and this would get me another 120K miles. The miles would get added to my airline of choice.

Could I save the 7 hotel nights for another day? I figure I would get more air miles for less points and basically get 7 nights at any category hotel (If I choose that package) as an added bonus.

Thanks!

I'm not sure I completely understand your question. I think you are asking about getting a travel package with airline miles, but NOT get a hotel week as that would cost less points.

The answer is you can not get a travel "package" reward without paying the points for the hotel portion as well. In other words, 120K per award is the maximum you can get. And as you have found, the direct points-to-miles awards aren't quite as nice as the 1-to-1 conversion rate.

It is possible to "return" the hotel portion of a travel package and get some points back. But the number of points you get back will not be very much (50K returned points for a Cat 6 hotel cert).

One possible alternative that may help you is does your soon to be spouse have any points? Marriott will allow spouses to help the other get a needed award. In other words, if you only have 100K in your account left after the other 2 awards, and your spouse happens to have 150K, then either you could order one of the travel packages and the miles needed would be combined from one to the other.

Yes you can use the 7 nights later-but it has to be used in a single stay.
also-are they allowing you to cash in on two travel pkgs at the same time?This might have changed but I thought it was a once a year per redemption thing.
You might want to consider dumping your miles into BA as they have a 30%bonus going on- http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...hlight=british and BA could take you to some nice places for your honeymoon
Congrats BTW!

Hopefully I can alleviate some of the confusion:

I am using two travel packages for our honeymoon (a supervisor at the platinum desk confirmed I can use them back to back). BUT, I think I'll need some additional miles for the reward airfare.

So, I was thinking that rather than converting 250K MR points to 100K (example) UA miles, I would rather get a third travel package and get 7 nights at a hotel plus an additional 120K miles for only 270K MR points (cat. 7).

It seems to me that I would much rather spend the same MR points and get the same air miles (almost) and get to enjoy another 7 nights at any cat. 7 Marriott.

If they(MR)will allow you to do it booking another travel package-and banking the 7 night stay for a later date-would be the way to go.
One suggestion.Rather tan spend the extra points for a travel pkg with a level 7 property book the travel reward for the miles and 7 nights in a level one to five property.You can always "up"your stay to a higher property when the time comes to use it.
And,again,yes, you can book the stay for a later date and transfer the miles now.There seems to be a 24 month window(12 months + a twelve month extension granted by calling MR and extending the cert)

Question for Chris on Travel Package award/Stay Anytime
 

Chris, if you have a seven night stay from an air/travel package, but the property doesn't have 7 consecutive nights for a standard award, but does have a 7 night period where it has, say, 5 nights of standard awards and two of Stay Anytime awards, is it possible to use points to upgrade two nights (or one, or three, or seven) from the standard (travel package) award to a Stay Anytime award?

Also, previously you posted that you can upgrade the hotel category award for a travel package (if necessary) by paying the difference in points, but can you also lower the level of the hotel category and receive a refund of the point differential?

And while we're at it ...

I've been working under the assumption that the hotel part of a travel package can be extended once, making the total time available as two years.

Others swear that, because it's electronic or something, the e-cert can be extended indefinitely.

I sure would like a definitive answer.

My local Marriott rep tells me that it is better to renew a certificate just before you are ready to use it and only then get an additional year. I have a certificate that came due last March waiting for renewal in my desk.

That's what I did, so my cert is now good until next April or May.

The question is, can I do that again, or is that the end of the line?

In response to ohmark's questions:

Upgrade rewards cannot be combined with standard travel package rewards (or any hotel reward) to cover the cost of nights requiring Anytime Rewards. A separate Anytime Reward would need to be ordered.

Increasing the category of travel package rewards is a creative customer service tool used by Marriott Rewards associates to help accommodate our members' travel arrangements, but the official policy is that travel package rewards, once ordered, cannot be altered. For this reason, points would not be returned if, for example, a category six reward was used in a category five hotel.

To answer BigLar's question:

There is no fixed number of times that a travel package hotel reward could be extended. As long as the reward exists in the same form, with the same point cost and benefits, we are happy to extend it. I suspect that some Marriott Rewards associates quote "one year" just to be on the safe side, but again, this is not a rule.

I hope that helps to clarify for everyone. As usual, if anyone has additional questions I would be happy to answer them for you.

Thanks, Chris. Just to make sure you understand, I'm not asking about upgrade awards. The problem I'm asking about happens very frequently when attempting to use the 7 night hotel award that's part of the travel packages. All too often, you can find 4, 5, or 6 consecutive nights at a property (particularly a resort) available for standard awards, but not 7 consecutive nights. What I'm asking, and maybe you already answered, is whether for one or two of the nights that are not available as a standard award, I can pay the additional points to convert those nights to stay anytime?

If the answer is no, perhaps it's something Marriott Rewards should consider. If the hotel is available for stay anytime, and I'm willing to pay the difference in points between the standard and the stay anytime for particular nights that are otherwise not available, why isn't it a win/win situation? The hotel fills the room. I spend additional points to get the stay anytime. And I get to use my 7 night award where I want, when I want.

MR-UA Transfer, Travel Packages
 

How long does the MR->UA transfer take?

Also, if I request the travel package now, I have seen multiple threads suggesting the hotel award can be prolonged (+1 year) or upgraded? Any details?

Thanks.

Lari

The mileage transfer typically takes only a few days to show up in your account.

The hotel cert is good for one year from date of issue, and can be extended one year (from the date of extension, so if you're going to extend it, wait until the last minute :)).

I have heard rumours that it can be extended more than once, but I'm not sure.

For me, my last transfer took nearly 2 weeks. Because I wanted the miles quickly I regretted not ringing up for an expedited transfer. (I think non elites might be charged for this service). I was told that once the on line order is in process the miles transfer cannot then be manually expedited.

Regarding the hotel portion of a travel package it now appears electronically on your account and I have been told in writing by Marriott that it does not expire (as the old paper certificates used to)

I'd love to have written confirmation of this. Might it be just a UK thing? I ask because I was warned by a CSR that my cert was about to expire and so I renewed it for a year.

If they never expire, it would take the pressure off me.

We had a catagory 6 travel package and made reservations in April of '05 at Kauai Beach Club, the expiration on the certificate was Nov. '05.....We traded into the timeshare portion of the hotel, thus not needing to use our cerificate. We had to send the certificate back to Marriott and they extended it for 1 year---from the date they got the certificate back.....not the original dates. I sent it back in March of '05---so, now when I got it back it expired in March of '06.....We made reservations at Frenchman's Reef for March '06 that ended after the expiration on the certificate. We had to send it back again so that it would expire past our check out date......it was extended for another full year from when they got it back. They did check to see that we had a reservation, and I don't think they were happy about it......but, they did do it. We had to talk to more than one person at MR to get this accomplished. Some reps didn't think it could be done.

My e-mail from Marriott CS - pretty unequivical I think :

"Thank you for taking the time to contact us regarding your Marriott Rewards account.

On checking your account, I can confirm that indeed you have an unused Hotel Reward which is part of the Travel Package 087 that you arranged on December 14, 2005. The partial hotel credit would be 50,000 points.

I would like to suggest to keep this certificate as this has an excellent value. Normally 7 night at a category 6 hotel requires 130,000 points.

The Reward is an electronic certificate which does not expire like a paper certificate after 12 months.

If you require any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely,"

Tom

I, too, would be interested in an answer to ohmark's question.

I'm sorry I missed this question when it was originally posted.

It is not possible to upgrade a individual nights of a standard travel package reward to an Anytime Reward nights. The ability to do so would add great flexibility to reward redemption, and I will certainly submit the idea for consideration. As always, the feedback is greatly appreciated.

Thank you!!! This is truly a great benefit!!!! It is nice to know that it is not a use it or lose it sort of thing.


Marriott Concierge:

Here is my question.

Point/Stretcher awards are usually (if not always?) discounted rates of a level above any given category e.g. Category 7 P/S = Category 6 awards (nights or packages, or for that matter Ritz Carlton reduced point night awards)

Is there any way, that a Category 6 hotel package award, as discussed above, (wonder where I got that example from? ;) ) could be substituted for a Category 7 or R/C Point-Stretcher 7 night award??

After all, they essentially equal the same number of points! :)

I am specifically thinking of the island of Maui where once upon a time, you had 3 Category 6 hotels -- prior to your upgrading the Marriott Wailea -- and your closure of the Renaissance Kapalua, and the impending closure of the Renaissance Wailea.

That leaves no Category 6 properties on that island, at all!

However, since the Ritz Carlton Kapula on a reduced night 7 night award equals the points that were required for the Category 6 package or hotel award, I think it only fair that the hotel certificates be able to be used at this specific property, even if one cannot make an overall blanket rule for the above.

Could you run this specific example by your superiors?

Thanks,

NJ

Indeed, that is a very frequent occurrence. I've often wondered if it was intentionallly done, so as to preclude the ability to use the more valuable 6- or 7-night awards.