AFAIK, it has to be one property, one room and 7 consecutive nights. You can use less than 7 nights but you would forfeit the rest.

Thanks to both of you.

And may of us wish they'd bring that feature back, especially for Europe.

I remember one trip, 7 days -- two nights in Prague, then two nights in Vienna, and ending with 3 nights at the Budapest Marriott on the Danube.

<sigh>

they'll bring it back the day after they bring back BOGO ;)

Any recommendations on where to go for 7 nights for a family with 2 kids - 11 and 9?

I am considering Hawaii and London. Would like to go to Chile, but not sure if I can pack enough into 7 nights in Santiago.

Also, any thoughts on the value of using a Travel Package if just staying 5 nights? It seems even for 5 nights, it's still an exceptional value. And arguably a better use of points than just a 5 night redemption.

In my eyes this is going to be completely up to you. I almost did that exact thing until I decided that spending cash to get a rate with breakfast at a resort would be a better value than using the certificate for a 5-day stay. I still have 13 months to use the cert, and I'd have to buy up from a cat 5 cert to a cat 7, so those came into play also.

A 5 night redemption would cost 4 nights in points, so you would still be paying for 2 extra nights through the cert. Would you stay 7 days at a single hotel before the certificate expires? If this ends up being a cat 5 hotel, would the 100K points saved by using the cert give you a clear opportunity to get another travel package if you were so inclined?

I've done at least 2 of them where we spent 5 or 6 total nights in the room. (Either leaving early or doing overnighters somewhere else within the 7 nights.) I still felt like it was the best use of points for that particular stay.

Everyone has their own priorities for how they like to use their points, but it should be easy to find scenarios where this makes sense to someone who highly values the FF mileage side of the TP.

I transferred points to my SO's account to redeem for a travel package several months ago. We did not have to make a dummy booking, and they didn't issue a "real" e-certificate, only some kind of placeholder we have to call in and have converted/attached when we do book. The rep I spoke with today said we wouldn't be able to book the stay in my name - is that accurate?

Posts here (161, 171) indicate that this shouldn't be a problem, but the rep seemed quite sure that while points can be transferred, certificates cannot, and that meant the stay couldn't be booked for someone else.

Best European location to spend 7 nites
 

We have a 7 nite Cat 8 travel certificate.

Looking for a central location which will enable us to take day trips outside city preferably by train.

Have not been to Europe so would appreciate your thoughts & recommendations

several options but dependent upon the month/season you intend going.

BTW, do you have enough points to potentially upgrade the Cat 8 to Cat 9?

London would be one place (though I'm not familiar with the Marriott family hotels there), because you can easily day trip to places like Bath (roman baths) by train, to places like Stonehenge either by rented car* or with a day tour, plus there's a lot to see and do in the more immediate London area too. Just make sure you get a hotel convenient to The Tube.

* Renting a car for a day would allow you to see Stonehenge around sunset, when it looks especially cool, at least at certain times of year when it's open around sunset. Most of the day tours will only take you there in the middle of the day I think, which is still cool though. But of course you have to be ready to drive "on the wrong side of the road" to rent a car! But at least you'll be easing into Europe while everything's still in English.

Brussels might be another place (though again I'm not familiar with the Marriott family hotels there), because you can daytrip by train to cool nearby cities like Brugges and Ghent and/or take the fast Thalys train to daytrip to Amsterdam to the north or perhaps even Paris to the south. There's no major attraction I can think of around there that you can't get to with public transport.

We are retired so have lots of flexibility as to month/season. Used all our points for a Cat 8 travel package

We stayed for 10 days in southern Germany this May. You could easily headquarter in Munich. Munich needs a couple of days and there are a ton of things to see that are one day driving or train trips. We rented a car and drove to the castle area of Bavaria, Salzburg, Colmar France, etc. People are extremely friendly and helpful and the entire area is beautiful.

if it's winter, I'd say go south to Greece or Italy (nice Marriott up in the Tuscan hills).

If during the summer, Paris, London, Switzerland (easy day train trips throughout the country; ie Berne, Grindelwald, pass on Zurich and daytime boattrip in Lake Lucerne up to Rigi/Vitznau too or up to Pilatus - we're going back to Lucerne in June for a week and the Marriott is a 5-min walk from the train station).