Looking to book a 4 night stay on points. I see that the first night has a much lower cash price than the other 3 nights, representing a poor value on points. Is it possible to reserve the first night for cash, and the rest of the stay on points?

You can do this online as one reservation, but before walking you through that it is really easier just to make two different reservations. The hotel will not make you change rooms. Or call Marriott and have them do it for you, although call times are taking forever.

To do this online:

• Go to Marriott.com and search for your four dates at the location making sure you have checked the "Use Rewards Points" option.
• You will be taken to the page that shows all options in the city. Choose your hotel by clicking "Continue" next to the option.
• Find the room you want and click the "+ Customize Cash + Points" on the left below the room picture.
• The menu that appears defaults to points for each night. For the nights you want to pay click the "Cash" radio button.
• When you are done click "Select" and finish the reservation as you would any other.

Thanks. Good advice. I'm hoping as a side benefit that the hotel will view it as a cash stay for upgrade purposes. I'm platinum, and I know some hotels are stingy with upgrades on point stays.

In my experience, most hotels in the Marriott chain are stingy on upgrades, but I haven't found that it made a difference if it was a cash stay or not. One of the few suite upgrades I've ever gotten happened when I used a credit card free night certificate.

the only problem I keep experiencing with this is that the front desk staff can't code the key for two different reservations, and I have to stop by the desk on the cutover day to have someone re-code it

about a month ago I booked a series of consecutive reservations at the Courtyard Arlington (Rosslyn) because of different rates being available on different days ... emailed Customer Service asking about consolidating into a single reservation and received a direct email back from the Front Desk manager about a week later, confirming that she had done so

Yes, this can be done. One caution though, make sure both reservations are for the exact same room type so there should be no reason to make you switch rooms. Some have tried booking a higher tiered room for the first night and then basic economy room for the rest of the stay. Do not expect this to work.

I've done this many times. I tend to use Megabonus or credit card certs as part of 3-day weekends where either a Thursday or Monday night is expensive (so I use the cert) and I pay the regular rate for the other 2 nights.

Only once has it ever happened where Night #1 (a one-night stay) included a full suite upgrade. I told the FD right then about the subsequent reservation, saying I'd rather stay in a lesser room than have a huge suite for one night and have to move. He looked in the system and confirmed then I could have it for a 3-night (I think) stay, but I realize that was a fortunate exception...

Thanks, all good advice. I ended up booking the entire stay for cash. My corporate rate had the same low first night price across all the nights. So cash was a better value than points.

It is such an automatic part of my process when I book like this that I didn't even think to mention it. Yes, you wind up having to get the card rekeyed. When checking in I tell the desk clerk that I know this and I always get the key changed when I leave during the morning the switch occurs.

While I have not had this issue with a Marriott property, guess I must have always booked the same room type, I went to Athens last year with family for four nights. Everyone was staying in a non-chain hotel. By the time I made my reservation I could not get the same room type for any consecutive nights. The hotel was eventually able to change one night but I wound up having to change rooms three times. What a pain. Night #2 was the best room.