+1

I actually used that function and it did not return an answer for my question

Thank you for the answer. Could you detail more about "VERY" limited recovery? Is it status based (i.e as Plat Premiere more changes to get the points back)?

Not status based. However, because the TP's provide a 1-1 mileage transfer rate, you are penalized heavily for "cashing" in the hotel portion. Honestly, I don't know anyone that has. You would need to speak with Marriott to get the exact point return.

I vaguely remember reading in a search someone saying they got 15,000 points for "returning" the hotel cert

That would depend on category. But this is an example of the low return.

Yes, you can cancel the hotel portion of the package. I got a package with 100K miles and 5 nights in a cat 1-5 hotel. I didn't need the hotel at the time. I was only interested in the miles. I didn't think I was going to use the hotel cert. so they offered me 20,000 pts for forfeiting the hotel cert. However, in the end I paid the pt difference (between the one package to another package) and upgraded to a cat 6 cert. If you're a Marriott owner, there is a separate chart with the travel packages (you can find it once you log on to ownerservices.com) that offer 5 night stays.

Travel Package Redemption
 

I am trying to be a good son and give my parents a 7 night stay via the travel package.

I successfully redeemed the travel package and was told that I would need to make the reservation through Reservations. After calling Reservations, I was told I needed to gift the stay to my parents through the Rewards desk. After calling the Rewards desk back, I was told I couldn't gift it since it was a travel package and not just a hotel stay.

any advice? why wouldn't I be able to give my parent's the 7 night stay? I am using the miles deposited into my FF account to buy their air ticket...

thanks in advance!

You should be able to make an award reservation for your parents and use the hotel portion of your travel package to pay for the reservation. You can call Marriott to make the hotel reservation for your parents and tell them that you want to use your hotel certificate for the reservation.

I think you were told incorrect information because I have asked in the past if one can make an award reservation for someone else. I was told that it is possible to do that.

I just did this and didn't have any problems doing it all through the Rewards desk, and didn't have to make a specific reservation. I just put the certificate in the name of the person I'm giving it to. However it still shows up under my MR account and I believe when they figure out where they want to go I will have to call to redeem it.

Thanks for the help. I called Marriott Rewards this morning and the agent said that it wouldn't be a problem, but that she couldn't do it until tomorrow morning as the reservation hadn't shown up on the Rewards systems yet.

Hopefully I can get it taken care of tomorrow!

I have done this many times, you can transfer the hotel part of a travel package to anyone.

Billy

Do the TP 7 night cents have an expiration date? How long is it?

They last for a year. You can call in on the day of expiration or earlier to extend it another year. I had one certificate from Jan 2009 that I ordered as one of three travel packages before the great devaluation of Jan 15, 2009. I was able to extend it once for free after the devaluation, and I had to pay the difference for further extensions (an extra 50k points one time for the post Jan 15 2009 price). I extended this certificate three times from the original issue before using it this past November.

Thanks! This is such a great deal...glad I have saved up all those MR points now!

cavaet - what MR did in the past is no guarantee that they'll also do it today or at anytime in the future.........