I have about 250k points and I'm considering turning it in for Southwest Air points and a week's stay. The Southwest Air points will earn a companion pass for almost two years.

My question...what do you guys suggest for a week's stay with a category 1-5 hotel.

1. My wife and I seldom stay in the same hotel more than three nights when traveling. Particularly if the hotel or location is somewhat average as a 1-5 hotel might be. Typically, we use our low category passes for hotels when we're traveling by car long distrance. Is there a great hotel/city you've used and recommend for a week?
2. Can we give this to our daughter? She'd be delighted to get out of town for a week and isn't quite as spoiled and might like to visit a city for week.
3. Is there some way to "trick" the sytem and convert it to points?

Thanks,

You can't "trick" the system to get points, but you can return the hotel cert to Marriott to get some points back. But note that the amount of points depends on the amount of airline miles you transferred (i.e. the more airline miles the less points you will get back) and the hotel category level cert you ordered.

But in any case, the number of points you will get back are pretty low.

I've never tried to use a 7 night TP award cert for someone else, so I'm not sure if it doable or not. But most other hotel certs, when you order them you can call Marriott to let them know that it will be used by someone else. They will then issue the cert in that person's name. TP awards are just a bit different as Marriott wants to make sure the airline miles go into your account and not someone else's. But you may still be able to have the hotel cert issued for someone else. I'd call MR and ask them.

A number of folks here have mentioned that they made the initial reservations in their name and added the other person's name to the reservation. Then they were able to check in and use the hotel cert. But there is a risk on this as that is technically against the rules. And some hotels may try to adhere to the rules more closely than others. So YMMV on this approach.

As for locations where you might want to spend a week. That is very dependent on what you like and want. I personally don't have problems staying in one place for a week. I love Orlando and could easily stay a couple of weeks there (as long is it isn't during the summer though). Spend a couple of days going to Disney. Then a few more at Universal, maybe one at Sea World. There are actually a lot of non-amusement park things to do/see as well. I've driven out to Cocoa beach to see the NASA museum. There are water parks there, shopping, etc.

You don't like Florida? What about Southern or even Northern California? I'm sure you could find a decent Cat. 5 somewhere in either place and not run out of things to see/do either.

Don't like that? Try something in the Atlanta area. There are number of nice museums there (the world's largest aquarium, Coca-Cola museum, etc.), there is a Six Flags park in the area. Drive north a bit and there is some of the best white water rafting in the country. And if you stay somewhere north of Atlanta, you could hit both stuff in Atlanta and Chattanooga very easily. I love the Chattanooga area as well (Rock City, Ruby Falls, Chat. Choo Choo., etc.)

Don't like that area of the country? What about New Hampshire or Vermont in early October? There is a ton of stuff to see and do there. (Took my wife a few years back on that one for our 25th anniversary and she almost didn't want to leave.)

Don't like that area either, what about near Vancouver? There is a lot to do there as well (plus some very nice day trips to areas like Victoria Island, etc.) You could stay a few weeks and not run out of new things to see or do.

Yes, you probably won't find RCs, the best beach or city locations with a Cat. 5 cert, but in most places you can find something that is fairly new/nice enough and still close by areas where there are lots of things to do.

Can OP just transfer points to get the Southwest CP and not have to take the 7 day trip? How many points would he need to transfer just for the Southwest CP?

As part of a vacation package, the airline points are basically an even swap. (example: 7-nights Cat 6 hotel +50k SkyMiles cost 230k points, which is the cost of the seven nights and an even exchange on the SMs.) Without a vacation package, 50k SMs would cost 112k Marriot Rewards Points. Ouch! WN points have a similar bite on the transfer.

OP, remember, category changes happen this week, so even if you're undecided, it might be a good idea to hold some reservations at places going up to Cat 5. You can usually cancel the ones you don't want to actually use without penalty (always check when you make the reservation) but if you decide you use one, you are locked in at the lower redemption. You can call Marriott and ask them to hold the points reservation but not take the points out of your account, which will allow you to hold multiple points reservations while you decide.