I'm trying to get other FT members thoughts on redemption of points vs paying.

Option 1. Pay for suite at Marriott casamagna in Cancun pay using points. 345,000 for 7 nights
Option 2. Pay for suite at $203 per night with 25%off food. (For family of 4 we are thinking we are going to eat at resort most of the time) for 7 nights this is close to $1500

Part of me says just use the points and not spend the $$. But I'd hate to not get a good redemption value.

Regards, Jeff.

We have no idea what your situation is, so this question cannot be answered in a vacuum. The only way to provide a logical answer would require that you post your entire earnings history and bank account information.

100 percent agree with this. Do you collect points to stash away for rainy days or specifically for vacations? Do you have money to pay for hotel out of pocket? Will redeeming points for the hotel room drain you of all your points? A lot to consider. If you're trying to cut costs, maybe do half and half?

From a pure points/value perspective value, pay the cash. Ignoring the food "discount", paying $203 is a no brainer vs. 50,000 points per night. 50,000 gets you a room anywhere at any price.

But other factors certainly come into play, e.g. will you use the horde before the next round of devaluation. I struggle with this myself at times.

As mentioned above, it depends on everyone's particular situation. I travel for leisure and pay for all of my stays, 50-75 nights/year so always strive to get 1�/pt or better return which is difficult to do. For straight point redemption I stick to a 5-night redemption which is the only way to achieve that goal. But more often, I make an exception to that rule for Hotel + Air Travel Packages (TPs) as I'm getting ready to redeem 360K for 120K AA miles and a 7-night certificate for category 8 hotel. When broken down that translates to 120K MR points for 150K AA miles* (includes 25% promo bonus) and 240K MR points for a 7 night stay at Sydney Harbour Marriott. The hotel stay would have been $2100 otherwise, so for the 240K value of the category 8 hotel cert it yields a return of 0.875�/pt.

Assuming the $203/night you quoted includes the 19% tax, then your return is 0.41�/pt (142100�/345000); or if the $203/night you quoted doesn't include the 19% tax then your return is 0.49�/pt (169100�/345000).

Now if you make a boat load of points every year from work stays and only have limited opportunities to use them, then this may be a great deal. One reason I mentioned my travel pattern is that for me, it is not, because I have to weigh it against the other dozen stays that I'm paying for and have planned for the next couple years. I find I rarely use points for straight hotel stay redemption, but instead tend to save them for Hotel + Air TPs and then almost always use them in conjunction with a miles promo similar to the AA 25% bonus miles promo that id going on now through June 15. In the past, a few years ago, US Airways prior to their merger with AA was offering 50% bonus which was the last time I did a TP.

For more discussion of TPs check out this thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marri...-packages.html

I hope that helps.

*Note that as a Plat using my MR credit card for hotel stays, I earn 20 MR points/$ spent. This ends up yielding me 25 AA miles for every $ spent at FS Marriott properties. Best bang for any hotel points IMO.

Barring some sort of extreme circumstance, I'd almost certainly do the paid room at $203/nt. for a suite.

As aaupgrade points out, 345k is well into Travel Package territory.

There should be a third option for you here: use 360k points, do a Category 8 Travel Package, and do the paid upgrade to the Executive Suite. But if that suite is actually listing at $203, and you see yourself as continuing to participate in MR on a regular basis, I'd be very tempted to grab that excellent cash rate and use the points later.

You are correct in that you'll likely end up eating quite a few meals there. Even if you intend to go exploring and *not* be captive to hotelfood, it's inevitable that you'll use the 25% off to some extent. Especially with kids...there will be nights where you don't feel like venturing out...

The only final question I'd ask is: if the program changes significantly in 2018, would you be in a position to redeem a Travel Package late this year and complete the stay in 2018? It's *possible* that this award will go away with the merger, although I suspect the fundamental mechanics of MR will stay in place and with it, the Travel Packages.

Unless you're broke pay the $203. 50K points per night for a room is a LOT. To put things in perspective I stayed at a cat8 property and it was only 40K a night. But paying cash at that property would have been around $600USD a night.

What scares me more would be the thought of a family of 4 paying resort food prices for 3 x 7 days even with a discount...

I've stayed in that complex. While we did not eat any breakfast in the hotel at all (I refuse to pay hotels for breakfast) nor many lunches because we were out and about, you're kind of a captive audience for dinner. So I'd welcome the 25% off coupon if I had it, and IIRC the food wasn't too bad. I mean, as hotelfood goes...

Cancun in general isn't my cup of tea. We did it once because the kids wanted to go and we had a Cat 6 certificate to burn. The "hotel zone" is all touristy stuff...other resorts and whatnot. Reaching downtown Cancun was something like 45 minutes by bus, perhaps shorter these days in an Uber. So if you're there for a week, with kids, you're probably eating hotel dinner most nights. No real easy/practical way to avoid it.

IIRC, there was a paid lounge with a food spread, but I think you had to be 21 to enter. It was in the JW tower. Plats did *not* get free access.

I remember offers for "all inclusive" food once we were there, but we didn't partake. Kids didn't eat much, wife and I don't drink enough booze, and we had our lunches elsewhere. We just paid for dinners as we went...

I stayed at Casamagna last year, and took the 25% off food option. It includes everything...alcohol, room service, beach service, etc. It ended up being a great deal. We are actually going back again this year and doing it all again. I would pay the cash over the points!

Also, you probably already know this, but if you are willing to forego the suite and just book a regular room, you will also get free breakfast and free transportation as well. Probably depends on ages of your kids! Mine are little and end up crawling in my bed anyway! LOL!!!