No, I have a Category 6 and I am aware that it would cost more points to go to a 7 or an 8, but if one has the credit card, redeeming a 7 or an 8 gets a points refund.

The second highlighted line might kill it though, as the travel package may be considered another redemption promotion.

If you are flying in F from BKK to FRA make sure you have a massage in the TG F Lounge. Also TG allow you to book meals in F from an extensive menu prior to your flight - check their web site for details.

even if in C you still get a massage, just not as nice.

Billy

Correct. I looked into this in the past, and from what I recall, seven nights via a Travel package don't count for this refund. An outright seven-night room-only redemption would, but then you're losing out on the 1:1 points-to-miles benefit (or 1:1.5+ when DL or US are running a nice conversion bonus promo, as they have several times in the past).

FWIW, I have received conflicting information from international Marriott offices on two occasions, the first time while I was in Japan, and the second time from the UK office, while I was in France.

In each case, the correct information came from the US office of MR, and the problem got worked out along the lines of what the US office said, and contrary to what the international offices said.

Just to follow up:

We ended up ticketing our honeymoon last week. We ended up cutting out SFO and Napa Valley.. we decided it would just be toooo busy with it included and we can always do Napa for a week another time where Thailand is a once in a lifetime opportunity. We decided it made more sense to just stick with Thailand the whole time. I had a new confirmation on hold until midnight on Thursday last week. At 10pm I was having it ticketed when I started thinking about BKK. I ended up (ridiculously fortunately) getting disconnected with the USAirways CSR while she was double checking the mileage needed.

In the end, after discussing with my Fiance, we decided to change up one little thing in the itinerary...

Outbound
JFK > LAX (USAirways First Class)
LAX > BKK (Thai Airways Business Class)

Arrive in BKK at 6am... Depart BKK the following night at 7pm (intentionally!)

BKK > HKT (Thai Airways Business Class)

------------------------------------------------------------
Inbound
HKT > BKK (Thai Airways Business Class)
BKK > FRA (Thai Airways Business Class)
FRA > JFK (Lufthansa Business Class)

We decided while we want to spend our entire honeymoon in Thailand, it just wouldn't be right not to at least spend 36 hours in BKK! While it makes the trip a bit more busy, I really feel like it adds to the overall trip! We want to spend the majority of the honeymoon relaxing and doing nothing but BKK is now in as well!

We are still deciding on a hotel in BKK but we will definitely be picking out a top tier one for the night. We are then staying at the JW Phuket for 7 nights... To finish up the trip we are going to make a last minute decision. We can either extend our time at the JW Phuket by 2 nights or... we can stay at Trisara or Amanpuri for 2 nights (3 FULL days) in the end.

I'm really very happy with our final itinerary and I want to thank everyone for the help! If anyone has any thoughts on the hotel situations described above, I welcome all suggestions. Thank you again everyone for all of the help!!

:D

Congrats on the booking. I am glad it worked out. They are points well spent. The layover in Bangkok will be nice.

If you want to stay in the Marriott family, I recommend the JW. Its only a Cat 5, but a TOP notch property with (IMHO) the best lounge in the Marriott family. (I think you were concerned about not being a Plat next year. Golds get Lounge access too.)

If you want to venture outside of Marriott, consider the Mandarin Oriental or Peninsula. Great properties on the river. (Marriott has a property on the river as well-Bangkok Resort and Spa.)

ENJOY!

Sounds like a great trip ^ We spent our honeymoon in Thailand too and loved it - cannot recommend the JW Phuket highly enough, it's an outstanding hotel and they really looked after us well.

In BKK I would definitely recommend the JW as well - the lounge there is absolutely incredible, which is a slight downside actually since you're only there for 1 day and it's actually hard to drag yourself out of there to go explore the city when it's boiling hot outside!

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions - very familiar with that part of the world.

Thank you both! Those are the 3 hotels we were looking at for BKK. The JW, The Oriental, and the Peninsula.

Funny enough, if the JW is a category 5, I just received my "Premier Visa Anniv. Free Night, 1-5 Hotels" from my Marriott Credit Card. It actually expires 11/30/2011. Has anyone had any luck extending this for 6 months? That could take care of the BKK hotel too! My Fiance was leaning towards the JW because she said it seemed to have a really good location!

Thats a GREAT use of that cert. We have been able to extend it 30 days. 6 mos, I think will be a challenge. You can try. Some people have said they have been able to reserve on the cert even though it was expiring before the stay. I think thats bad advice. All Marriott info points to the STAY needing to be completed before expiration.

(FYI-the JW is a great location. You may checkout restaurants before your stay. We were just at the JW for 5 nights. We ate almost every meal in the lounge. We would do things during the day. (Maybe eat lunch out.) Enjoy the lounge in the evening--alcohol included.

Thanks again! I will try to extend the cert but to be honest, if I can't, I guess I can't complain too much! I may just stay at the JW anyway for the location and the lounge! This is going to be such an amazing trip. It's kind of sad though as I think this is going to be my last hurrah. I have 3k points in my account now with a new job and no travel in my future. I DO have one 7 night cert at a category 1-5 which I will eventually upgrade (if need be) for one last little vacation.... but all of my Marriott fun is coming to an end. :( What a way to go out though!! :D

Edit: By the way, with my rollover nights and my credit card nights I'm already over 75 nights for the year (with 2 nights of actual stays). Platinum for at least another year! :D

Hotel Cert expired
 

I did the AA transfer last year (June) before the AA/MR tiff ended that relationship

I was able to use one of my hotel certs

I didn't use my second one

I forgot about it to be honest

Its now missing from my account and I presume its expired. It must be, since I made the transaction sometime during June 2010.

What are the odds that I can get it reinstated? I tried calling this a.m. when I noticed it but the cust service desk is closed until Tuesday I presume

You could try calling Marriott customer care over the holiday weekend to see if they will reinstate the room certificate. It would be worth it even if they charge a moderate penalty (around 50,000 points).

I think they consider the hotel part of these awards to be worth about 45,000 MR points (the rest being used in the conversion to miles). You may be able to get that added back to your account even if the certificate itself has expired (sort of "selling it back" since you didn't use it), even if they won't extend the validity retroactively. (Just a suggestion, can't say for sure.)

thanks, with the holiday I have to wait till tomorrow to find out