Thanks for the advice, gardener, Delta3MM and hhoope01.

I'm going to go with the travel package. I was hesitant because it would eat up nearly all of my Marriott Points, leaving me with a balance of a few thousand. But like you all have said, FF miles can give me more bang for my point. My status is nothing like many people here, so 50,000 miles is a big deal. Just want to make sure I'm getting the most value for my miles and points.

Now, I know it's a question better suited for another forum, but has anyone had luck getting business class seats on NWA from SEA-BKK? I can only find coach for next December.

If the airline points are used for business/first class tickets or upgrades, then their value is multiplied and worth considerably more than a Marriott point.

Since I'm 1K with United, I usually transfer my miles to United. I can book on any star allance carrier on a business class ticket, availability permitting.

Billy

A few years ago I cashed in points for a package deal that gave an extra 25% AA miles. I got 150,000 miles for the 'price' of 120,000, which enabled hubby and me to fly biz class to Paris where we used the hotel cert to stay at the Marriott Champs Elysees. I have been saving up points in the hope that Marriott will offer this type of deal again.

NWA has the same offer now until the end of the month. 120,000 gets you 150,000 NWA miles.

Where can I find the NWA deal online? At the Marriott or NWA site?

Nevermind, I found it. Thanks for the tip.

http://www.nwa.com/offers/PTM/

Travel package online redemtion?
 

1.) Is it possible to redeem a travel package online or do I have to call (= reserve the hotel nights)?

2.) Is it possible to check hotel availability online? E.g. I search for a 7-night stay with points: if the hotel is available for points, then I can also use a travel package certificate. Or is there another way to check hotel availability for a travel package?

Do you mean travel packages that include airline miles? If so then you must call marriott Rewards to transfer the miles into the airline of your choice. But you can reserve a room using a reward certificate at anytime. Just check the small box where it says "Use Marriott Rewards points" which is below where you input your Marriott account number.

Yes.

Thanks for your reply. If I click "Use Marriott Rewards points" and the hotel is available for e.g. "140,000 POINTS for stay (standard reward)", can I book the room and redeem a travel package? Or must the website show something like "travel package" in the search results.

This is not correct, I have transferred 8 lots of miles on line as part of a travel package - just follow the process and you will be asked for your airline and FF account number.

You can book the hotel whether or not you have the miles or a certificate and whether or not the certificate or miles are part of a travel package.

There is a box for you to indicate whether you have a certificate or not. If you say you do not have a certificate then there will be an automatic redemption of the points required for the 7 night stay - 150000/130000/115000 as appropriate, and thiswill remain as an electronic record on your account.

You should say you already have the certificate in which case the booking is just made for you. (You don't get certificates any more - just an electronic record, the only paper you get sent is a discount voucher for Hertz)

You can then choose at any time before your stay to redeem a 7 night award or a travel package to match the booking.

If you have already redeemed a travel package before your booking ( for instance because you need the miles earlier) then you should still say that you have the certificate to stop the system redeeming another set of points for you.

When you actually stay the hotel should be able to see either your 7 night award or travel package award on your account and match it to your stay.

Everything can be done on line.

Tom

I think TOMSURFER answered most of your question, but make sure that the award stay is a standard award. The hotel portion of the travel packages are only usable with standard awards.


I know that Marriott has definitely allowed more and more award redemptions online, but I didn't realize that even the FF miles transfers could be done online. Thanks for the heads-up.

I just thought I would add that although I have always performed my travel package redemptions on line, I did regret it last time.

I needed UA miles quickly because I had cancelled a miles booking and couldn't wait for the miles to be recredited before I made a new booking.

So I thought the transfer from Marriott would be quicker - but it took 2 weeks.

I understand from other posters in this Forum that if you ring up for your redemption you can ask for an expedited miles transfer (for a fee). However this fee is normally waived for Platinums. So if you want a quick miles transfer it may be better to ring up rather than do it online.

Just two weeks ago, I called the Platinum line, since there were no standard hotel awards available at the end of March in Orlando. They were able to issue me a Stay Anytime travel package, which included the 50% additional required points for the hotel stay. Of Course, the airline miles were still 1 for 1.

I fully agree with Delta3MM. I never miss the chance to convert MP into miles at a 1:1 ratio so everytime I go for the 120K miles. My math shows that I get more thru miles rather than thru hotel nights. With 50,000 MR points I get 50,000 miles which allow me to redeem a $1,200 round trip ticket to the US. However, with the same 50,000 MR points I just get 2 nights at a cat. 5 hotel, translating into $500 aprox.

Diversification is also good as there is some "devaluation" as Marriott upgrades their hotels to upper categories. Finally, I'm not sure about this (please comment) but I read that miles transferred to AA count towards the 1M lifetime status.

IMO, 50K FF miles are worth much more. IIRC, 10K MR points generally convert to 2K FF miles in most US airline programs, so you can realize a significant benefit by taking advantage of this transaction structure. Plus, you don't actually have to *use* the miles you're transferring -- for example, if you plan to use UA miles to book your travel, but you're looking to top up your AAdvantage account with the MR points, go for it.

As others have observed, it is well worth it to convert as many MR points to miles *in this fashion* as you can, given the advantageous conversion rate. But of course, everyone's situation varies, and you must take your own circumstances into account. But if it were me, I'd be exchanging the points for miles, certainly.

I am most of the way through this process, all done online. I have a standard award 7-day Cat 7 reservation in the system (done first), and have redeemed points for a matching standard Cat 7 travel package (done second), which is also showing in the system. However the two do not seem to be associated. I.e. I get a big red banner over the reservation saying "Please note that you have not yet ordered an e-certificate for this reservation".

Marriott Customer Services say everything is fine, they can see both, just turn up on the day, but is this normal behaviour for the website?

Yes, that is normal. The e-cert you have ordered is ready to use, but isn't necessarily "attached" to a single reservation. When you check-in at the hotel, they will then go into your account and pull the e-cert out.

These are the awards numbered A80-A91.

Did you trade in a standard travel package you already had or just order the stay anytime package?

I just ordered the stay anytime, since I knew I needed these when booking my reservation.

Question: If you had setup a travel package with the pts have been taken out of your acct and the miles transfered to an airline and your plans changed, is possible to cancel hotel cert and redeposit your pts? I assuming the miles are gone once they have been transfered.

My understanding is that once miles have been deposited into a FF account, you can't return them. But what you can do if you want is to redeposit the hotel cert. Per posts in this forum, Marriott will "buy" them back from you, but at a discounted points price (i.e 35K for a cat 6 if I remember correctly.)

So in most cases, your better off just keeping the hotel cert and either using it or extend it until you are ready to use it.

If this is true (and I have no reason to doubt you), then this is new, AFAIK. The question (or something very much like it) has been asked specifically about Stay Anytime awards and travel packages, and the response has always been that the travel packages cannot be "up-pointed" for Stay Anytime.

So, maybe if you do it up front you can pull it off.

I have an A87 Stay Anytime certificate for Cat 6 in my hand right now as well as the A87 Hertz certificate. I don't know why they issued paper. I did specifically call the platinum premier line when redeeming the travel package as I couldn't figure out how to do it online. But there is definitely a way this can be done.

What was the point cost for the travel package (the one you received a Stay Anytime cert?)

From my rewards activity on their website: I'm headed to the WC in Orlando, so the included breakfast should be the $18.95 buffet.

Would you be happy that the reservation is OK?
 

On 6th March I made a 7-night reservation at the Cat 6 Residence Inn Manhattan and purchased a cat 6 travel package. All fine and confirmed.

On 8th March I read on this forum of changes to hotel categories.

I went into my booking which now shows the hotel as a Cat 7 and indicates that I have not purchased an e-certificate for this booking.

I phoned UK Customer Services who said that the categories had changed on 5th March and asked me to fax my hotel confirmation showing reservation in Cat. 6 on 6th March, which I did.

Their website was obviously not updated with the new categories when I booked in good faith on the 6th.

They contacted me to say all OK and that my travel package certificate was valid for the hotel stay and to just turn up at the hotel as reserved.

However, I don't feel confident given what is indicated on the website.

Is this normal behaviour for the website when a hotel category changes?

Can anyone put my mind at rest, please?

Thanks for any help.

Flyerbunny

You should be fine since you showed them you made the reservation before they changed the hotel's category on the website. Marriott will honor reservations at the old rate, and you will not have to pay extra. This has been the experience of other people on FT.

Just throw the Hertz certificate to the garbage can as they are useless. You get no real discount using it, in fact, rates result higher than booking with your MR discount or any of the promos that are available for the general public all the time.

Understood. I was giving extra credibility (if I have any in the first place), to the validity of a Stay Anytime Travel Package. I pricelined my rental car, as this is usually the cheapest method, if you don't mind the restrictions.

Travel Package: 235K 083 Reward Question?
 

Definitely need the 120K miles, but can the 7 night hotel cert be redeposited into your MR account for some type of credit (for some reason 60K points rings a bell) instead of redeeming it, if I have no use for it?

Four threads worth of searches did not seem to address admittedly niche issue. And the folks at MR didn't seem too clear about this possible policy (or maybe exception?) either.

THANKS

You can return the certificate for partial credit. 60K sounds too high since I remember that you get back less than half the value of the room certificate. I think you'll probably get about 45K back. Alternatively, you could offer your certificate on CC in exchange for something else.

cool! thanx

The week is deposited electronically in your account, and I'd hold on to it for a year, then extend it a year. It beats the 45K you get back for it. Only redeposit it if you have to.

Also, not that you'd ever do this, but it's 50K for the 250K award and 55K for the 270K award for the hotel portion redeposit.

Billy

thanx...good to know!

If you've got 235K in your account, you must be doing a lot of business with Marriott. Presumably, you also want to cash in for a some rewards stays, right?

That 7-night cert can be extended indefinitely - I have one I've extended twice already (needed the miles at the time) and I plan to keep extending it until I use it. No big deal to call once a year (but you have to call -- they won't contact you).

Also -- if you are spending 235K with 120K miles, you must have a cat 5 cert. In addition to extending it, you can also have them upgrade it to a cat 6 or 7. They will cancel the existing cert, take the additional points out of your account, and issue you the new one.

Maybe it's just me, but the last thing I would do with that cert is just deposit the points and take the hit.

I was looking to book the 120k united miles and 7 nights @ a cat 7. Would i be able to use this at the renaissance in dublin (shelbourne)?

No, this is the CAT 6 hotel. You dont need to cash in a cat 7. It will be reduced points-250K total instead of 270k. I just cashed in 2 of these this week, call MR, they are VERY helpful!

JimJ321

Before you redeem your Marriott points for the travel package, call and find out if reward nights are available at the renaissance in dublin - you can then make the reward reservation in advance of redeeming your points for the travel package. You will get a paper certificate for your hotel nights instead of e-certificate.

I havent seen paper certs in a long time. My understanding is that ALL hotel rewards are electronic now.

When making the reward reservation online just click you already have a reward certificate and you can apply a travel package week to it electronically.

--DD73