Bit the bullet and did the 7 nights for the UA bonus before they change their award rules.

Is there somewhere on the marriott site i can see my unused 7 night stay certs?

After you log in click on my account, account activity, and scroll down.

It has happened in the past (As a non-MVCI owner but Plat MR member, I was able to redeem for one). Some bloggers started posting about them late last year/beginning of this year and my speculation is Marriott responded by cracking-down on non-MVCI's ability to get a 5-night package.

Anyone have experience with the transfer times to Southwest?

Trying to time it right.

I tried to figure it out for you, but cannot find out how to go back so far in time on my Marriott account (to see when points were deducted).

I am new to MR and have just read the entire thread. I am planning a 6 day vacation to a Cat. 6 hotel next March. While I know which property I would like to use I am not 100% sure at this time that the trip will actually happen. I would like to use a 7 day TP for the stay. I have no immediate need for the air miles and have plenty of MR points (via SPG). I do not want to commit to the TP until I am more comfortable that the trip is a go, but I would like to secure the rooms now. Can I move the required 180,000 MR points for a rooms only stay into my account and make a reservation for next March, and at a later date move an additional 90,000 MR points into the account. At some date closer to next march I would call in and have the reservation changed to a Cat 6, 7 day TP with the payment of the additional 90,000 MR points. If between now and next March it became apparent that the trip was not happening I would cancel the rooms only reservation and have the 180,000 points redeposited to my account. Are there any potential problems with this plan? Thanks in advance.

Your solution is very easy with MR. You can and just need to make the award booking *without* the requited MR points in your account. MR is good in this aspect.

Can this be done online? I usually just call to make reservation and just ask them not to take points out of my account.

Thanks.

The only way I've been able to do it online is when I didn't have enough points in my account for the reservation.

7 Night Travel Package Strategy Opinions requested
 

Thanks in advance for your opinion.

Ultimate Plan: Redeem for 7 night travel package with Southwest as airline in early January to receive SW Companion pass for 2017 and 2018.

Currently I have 250,000 MR points and should have no problem getting to 270,000 to hit a category 1-5 package.

But....of course I don't want a 1-5 hotel. Would like at least a category 7 which would require 330,000 MR points. Which I probably can't do on my own by Jan 2017.

So, the choices I am considering after researching different cards:
1. Open Chase Marriott in husbands name. Transfer his 80,000 points into my MR account.

2. Open Chase Sapphire reserve in my name. Move the 100,000 points into my MR account.

3. Redeem for the 1-5 now and then continue adding points to my MR account throughout the year and then upgrade my cert to a higher category later.

Thoughts? Opinions? Other options I may have missed?

Thanks again.

Those are decent options. Also consider as #4 that if you or your husband have SPG points (or things that convert to SPG points) you can transfer those to MR at three-for-one.

The secret 5 night cat 7 packages + 120K SW points are 270K Marriott points.

I would probably do all of the above, assuming you can meet the credit card spend to get the points in the time limit. Good idea to do the package in January (not now) to get 2 years of the Southwest pass. I would do it at Cat 5, upgrade later when you know exactly what you need.

I assume you already have your own Chase Marriott so that is why you are opening one in your husband’s name. I think there is a limit on transferring points of 50,000 per year, so time is running out for this year.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve, in addition to that huge sign up bonus gives 3X points on restaurants and a more broadly defined travel category than the Chase Marriott card, so I am putting all those purchases on the Sapphire.

It is my understanding these are for MVC owners, which we are not. I know some have said if you find the right rep they will do, but more of a long shot.

Your approach seems solid, as long as you're pretty certain you'll have a one-week use (or close to it) for the hotel cert next year. Obviously the decisions about credit cards are personal, but those sign-up bonuses seem pretty good to me.

You're also correct on the 5-night TPs: they're intended for MVC owners and getting one otherwise is probably a long shot.

Thanks all for input.

1. Yes, I do already have a Chase Marriott.

2. I'm sure I could find a place to go with the redemption cert - even if for long weekend somewhere. My ultimate goal is not for the week stay, it is the CP with SW.

Looking at a straight MR to SW RR, it will cost me 310,000 MR to get 110,000 SW RR's. Makes no sense to do it that way. Lower amount of points and I get the bonus of a hotel stay. Kind of a no brainer.


Nice to have options, hard to make the ultimate decision since they will all work. I just need to stop thinking and actually do!

Thanks I assumed it was just a HUCA once or twice, not so much an option if its more than that and you have to get them to break their rules.

Except, per the Marriott website:
A limit of 50,000 points per year may be transferred into or out of a member’s account. Members who are transferring points in order to satisfy a specific award may exceed the 50,000 limit up to the amount needed to satisfy the reservation.

There is a workaround. You and your partner can move points from Marriott to your individual Starwood accounts. Starwood allows people at the same address to combine points. You can consolidate all family Marriott and Starwood points in one account should that be beneficial to you to do so.

You don't even need to do that. If you're redeeming marriott, you can combine points from multiple accounts in excess of 50k

Thanks. The good news is 50,000 is all that I would need.

But, just in case I need more: I assume the 50,000 points per year is CALENDAR year?? If that was the case, I could move 50,000 in 2016 this year and the remainder in 2017. Correct?

I know I would still need to hit the minimum spend on his Marriott Card early on (need to get to that) but I should be able to do that in the 1st month.

Are Chase UR transfers capped?

Re-reading your post more closely, I'd do the 100k Chase card and move 50k straight away. That puts you at 300k before the end of the year.

In January, I'd redeem the Cat 5 TP. Now you have 30k left in your account, so you're good to go if you want to redeem Cat 5 or 6. And you've got 50k still to come from UR if you want Cat 7 or 8. (Well, you'd need 10k more for Cat 8...but that shouldn't be too hard.)

There are actually great Cat 5's in some parts of the world. (Asia, Africa mainly.) Then there are other parts of the world with rather boring Cat 7's and 8's. All depends on where exactly you want to go...

Same boat here - more than enough transfer points between SPG, Amex, and UR to use Marriott for a hotels/flights package to get the CP, but waiting until 2017 for the full benefit. I'm tempted to do it now to play it safe though.

My concern is now that this is getting more of attention with the merger, and with the T&C being clear that non-SW bonus programs do not count toward the CP, how many FTers think SW will put lid on it counting Marriott packages toward the CP before 01/2017?

Always a concern and you would think quite logically so but WN has shown no signs of slowing down the CP issuance via CC signups and other promos. I think it stays.

My guess is that the overall utilization of a CP is much lower than its perceived value, a great perk to shoot for but for those in their peak earning and family raising years, could be lightly used.

For me - 2 flights this year, 3 flights last year, many 1 or zero trip years. The most I ever did was 4 RTs with 4 different people in 2012, my holy grail of a year under special circumstances (got divorced!)

I only held CP for two years, as a result of a January Marriott Travel Package. I utilized the hell out of it.

Granted, we're all outliers here in terms of how much attention we pay to these things. I strategized my timing, both for the redemption and selection of a period in my life (two small kids) where a bunch of long-haul international trips weren't going to happen. It was the perfect time to have a deep supply of RR1.0 credits and a CP. We hit all corners of the USA for two years. Definitely got our money's worth and then some.

Awesome, that is they way to do it right.

Forgot to mention that I also traveled some 25+ weeks a year so getting on another flight for fun suddenly didn't seem like more fun. YMMV !

Anecdotally my experience is similar to yours. In 2015 I used CP on a bunch of flights including to the Caribbean and recognized well over $2000 value from it. Early this year I had plans to hit it hard again with lots of small trips but then "stuff" happened that greatly reduced our air travel. I don't think I'll see more than $800 value from it this year. For 2017... who knows.

YES....that is a really good idea! Thanks, in my head I was thinking all or nothing...but keeping some points back and only transferring what I need makes sense. A bit more flexibility later on.

As for value the CP - we I have held one for about 6 years now. For us, it is about keeping family vacations affordable. (we are tied to school vacation schedule) We hop on a plane about 4/5 times per year and for the most part, our flights are covered between points and the CP. The stays are covered with timeshare stuff. So, for us....the SW points are worth it, the CP is the bonus that we only have to "pay" for 2 with points, the 3rd travels free. Without the flights covered and the room covered, we would be reducing our family travel to a couple times per year.

I honestly have no use for the Marriott points....(well except to transfer to SW)

I got that dilemma too. This will be the first in 13+ I don't qualify by SW travel alone. I could do a TP for the first time, just use the glut of WN points I have or direct all purchases to 2% cash back card...

I just booked my package today since United is offering that 25% bonus.

Just want to clarify from anyone's past experiences, did you get those bonus miles?

I bought a TP with UA miles last time the 25% bonus came around, and the miles posted quickly and accurately. ^

Thanks! That's the answer I was hoping for. Glad I waited to book my package.

How exactly the mechanism works?

The UA registration page says to initiate transfer (from UA end). But when you redeem a travel package from Marriott, wouldn't it be Marriott to initiate the transfer?

you do contact Marriott. On the page after you register for the promo:

https://www.united.com/web/en-US/con...telandcar.aspx

it just list of all the options available and when you do click any link on that page for each program, it does take you back to the web page of each program.

There is also a AA promo that started today as well
not sure to do AA or UA ....

https://www.aa.com/i18n/aadvantage-p...tt-rewards.jsp

sydneyboi Thanks for the info on this promo.

Do you or anyone else know whether historically AA limit the number of travel package you can redeem toward this promo? Thinking of redeeming 2 x 270K CAT 1-5 Travel Package for 2 x 120K AA... so I can get 2 x 24K Bonus. I read thru the T&C quickly and it seems I will be okay, but thought to ask the experts here.

Thanks.

And that is when you redeem the Travel Package? Because the Travel Package is a totally different animal versus the UA website link you posted - which is the regular transfer at a crumby ratio versus the 1 to 1 ratio when redeeming a Travel Package.

Or once you are registered with UA, you can order the Travel Package from Marriott site without re-visiting the UA registration page again?

I mean, the ordering of Travel Package can be independent from the UA site which all you need to do is to register. Then when Marriott sends the points over, UA would recognize the transfer is eligible for bonus because the account holder has registered for the promotion. Is this correct?

After I registered the UA promo, I think there is a link that state "transfer now" or "convert now" and the page that landed on is that URL:

https://www.united.com/web/en-US/con...telandcar.aspx

Which I think it is just a summary of all the programs that can convert to United and some detail about each program. For you to start the process, you do contact Marriott and not United.

Hopefully I am addressing your question/inquiry.

Was at Chicago Seminar event this weekend & a lot of SPG folk asked me about the 'flights & nights' - took me a few seconds to realize they were all referring to the travel package! :)

Cheers.

NOOOOOO I hope you denied all knowledge.