Using Rewards Points
 

I am curious what it means when I look to redeem points at certain hotels rather than the standard response of how many points the stay will be, it instead says something to the extent of "Rewards Stay"*Upgrade Fee*, then a dollar amount. This is in addition to the points being used. It seems like this happens in resort type hotels. Does this mean that you cannot redeem at these properties without paying money in addition to using points?
I apologize in advance if this is a silly question, or has an obvious answer.

Can you give an example?

Usually you can get the lowest type of a room at the resort just using the points. However, if you want to upgrade to a different type of a room, say, with a better view for example. That may cost you additional points (I believe 5-10k a night) or you can pay the amount they list in the rules.

This is exactly what happened with my trip to Wailea. The Terrace rooms were 130k points, but I wound up upgrading to a better room for a 60$ a night fee.

Thanks, that is all I needed to know. Just wanted to make sure I was reading it right. My question probably was not worded correctly, but you answered what I was looking for!

I was faced with a similar situation for another property and called Cust. Serv.

I found out that in many cases for resorts, the base amount of points does not access the lowest room type available on a specific date at a property - so even the lowest award available might need $$ or Upgrade cert. to book.

One way to check is to input a date a few months further out and see what's available. I was looking at a "Deluxe" room which needed $55 per night or 5,000 points, because the "Quality" room category was booked. If your rate includes PAID or POINT upgrade, that's what you will need.

http://marriott.com/rewards/usepoints/hotelrmup.mi#tips

Hope this helps.

Trojans...

Although your standard MR redemption entitles you to only standard accomodations, my experience is that Marriott never fails to recognize their best customers whenever possible. I wouldn't automatically expect an upgrade to a suite or anything like that, but in my experience, its not at all unusual to get a more modest type of upgrade....perhaps a larger room, corner room, or something like that. Also, it never hurts to ask the hotel directly what might be available.