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.