I plan on staying in the JW Marriot in HK. However, currently I don't have enough points to book the entire stay with points alone. My plan was to book 3 of the nights with points and pay for the fourth with cash to get the 4+1 deal. If I do this, is it possible to use any subsequent points I acquire (before the stay, after the reservation) to avoid paying for the night? I have a bonus coming up from the CSP, but I'm not sure I'll hit it in time. Even if it means receiving a refund on my card, that's fine.

You don't have to have the points now to use them (one of the great things about Marriott). Kind of like booking with your credit card. you don't pay it now.

Try it and you will see what I mean.

Ok, thanks. Now if I don't end up having sufficient points by the time of my stay, will I be forced to buy points at the inflated rate or can I opt to pay the nightly rate if it's cheaper?

If you haven't called MR to get a certificate issued at 7 days out, MR will automatically deduct the points and issue the certificate. If you don't have the points, the system will cancel your reservation. So basically, 1 week before (or earlier) if you know you're not going to have enough points you should call MR to convert the reservation or buy points. If you do convert to a cash reservation, it will be whatever the going rate is at the time (so could be high if the property is nearly sold out).

--Jon

P.S. My experience is with domestic US reservations. Since yours is overseas, you should check the reservation on the MR web site and verify it is still 7 days for auto booking of the certificate. It might be more than 7 days for your reservation....

Does the 4+1 deal work if you are paying for one of the nights? I thought that was only if all 5 nights are award nights, one is free.

Yes, you may want to call them - I'm a bit skeptical that 3 points nights and one paid night will result in a 5th night free. But the whole Cash and Points thing is a bit of an abomination anyway, so who knows.

I believe you can make reservations with points you don't have, but make sure you're clear on whether it will be one or two nights paid with cash if you don't get enough for the 4th night. Also ask what happens if you don't have enough, they cancel your 5 night stay, and don't have reward availability for even the three nights at that point. Call and ask the relevant questions, and get it in writing if possible.

AFAIK, to get the 5th night free you have to book 4 award nights.

Cheers.

Correct. Basically, Marriott has a specific award cert for 5 nights that costs the same as a 4 night award. So just staying 5 nights (i.e. 4 award nights + 1 paid night) won't work.

Make two reservations: One for points and one for cash. Cancel the one you won't use by the cancelation date in the reservations.

I am presently on a stay for which I did that. I held it with points and cash, and changed both along the way when the points redemption went to PointsSaver and the rate on the hotel went down. Ultimately, my five nights were below $500; it didn't seem a wise use of 80k points, so I canceled the points stay a couple days before the cancelation date.

It's not a big deal to do this. In fact, at one point, I was holding reservations at three hotels this way, but narrowed it down to a single hotel a couple months ago.