Pay or use points?
 

I did a few searchs on the value of a marriott point and cannot really find anything.... forgive me if I am missing one.

I have enough points for 2 weekend nights in New York at Renaissance or pay the $199 special... I am leaning towards paying, but $450 is not chump-change for a cheap weekend escape.... Any comments?

I myself don't ponder much about the actuarial calculation approach to establish relative MR point values. I not suggesting that it's not worth knowing these relative values, but to me, it's more about the flexibility and serving what ever your particular need is at the moment.

You could in theory garner some 45K more points by paying for the special and have additional points in the MR war chest for another future stay. It all depends upon if you see the $199 special as an earning opportunity, or whether you're ready to burn some points for a nice weekend. Either way you come out ahead.

My philosophy would probably be to pay for the stay and pocket some 55K plus points ( assuming that you're a MR silver with the MR VISA = 10x$199 + 20% bonus for silver + 3:1 on the VISA ).

Have a nice weekend

Barry

I all depends on your perspective and what your plans are for use of the points. Some folks who travel infrequently use points that they have saved for years for a free week in Hawaii. From their perspective that is a great use of points. Others may feel that using points for a weekend stay in NYC in lieu fo $199/night is a good deal.

Then there are those like myself who have a lot of points and will pay under $300/night for room in the right locations. I personally have saved my points to use instead of $400/night at the Vail Marriott, $500+/night at the Paris Marriott, $440-480/night at London Marriott properties, or $380/night at HKG JW Marriott. Better bang for my points IMO. But, if you never plan on going there then perhaps using points for a weekend stay in NYC is a good deal.

Like I said in the beginning, it depends on your perspective.

:confused: And just how do you get 45K out of this??

IMHO the best use of Marriott points are the packages where you get set amount of nights and airline miles in exchange for your points.

OK - my math is not that good... but here we go ... the 10x199 = 1990, add in the 20% and you are up to 2388, add in the 3 points per $1 for using MR VISA and you are up to 2985 per night for a total of 5970 points for the two nights. Am I missing something?

I actually think I am going to pay the rate - for NYC it is not bad - and keep points.

Good call...I'd pay and use points later.

Pick up the newer MR Visa while you're at it. 5 pts/$ at Marriotts, plus 15k sign-up, and an annual Free Night certificate that more than pays for the annual fee. (The way I look at it, it's a completely free credit card that has, as one of its perks, one Cat 4 night for $65 all in. :))

After the first year, you get an additional room certificate upon the anniversary of your account for the Premiere card. In addition, the room certificate is a category 5 after the first one.

I value MR points @ 1 cent each. I would rather pay the $199 + tax per night than spend 65K points for 2 Cat. 7 award nights. 65K + 6400 earned = 71,400, so my cutoff would be about $357 buxanite gross.

It would pay the OP to get his hands on a Premium Pounds which can be had for $50 or so & will lop off $170--184 of the price of a 2-night stay on which he will still earn points as if paying full price real money (except for Visa earnings.)
Info here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=567936

Wrong math!! May be 5K points tops.

Anyway, your best shot is to pay for the stay considering the points you need for this cat 7 property

He may be including the fact that, if the OP pays, he has several K points that he won't be spending. So add them to the 5-7K he earns, and maybe you get 45K or whatever.

I didn't work out the maths, but that may be what he was thinking.

I think he just blew the decimal point - kinda like the airline fare mistakes :D

The opportunity cost for a 2 night reward is about 70,000 points. 65,000 in redemption cost and roughly 5,000 in earned points for 2 nights at $199, assuming some points for an elite bonus and/or using the Marriott credit card.

The value of a point in this award is around .65-.7 cents, including tax for the room rate. It is easy to get awards with points valued at twice this amount.

MRDW point values are directly reflected on the dollars spent at the various Marriott brands, and are reflected in the Award point value when redeeming for the respective brand. The following link is lists the value earned at each brand:

Marriott Reward Points - Earned Value

The point redemption is basically (though there are several items that influence this (location, season, etc.) the same way. If they are running a special of some sort, probably best to pay. Being a GM, I would always recommend to use the points when I am running a weekend or get-away promo. :)

I hope this helps out.

Thanks for all the responses... My gut said pay - but I have yet to use points on hotels using my Marriott points (I use Starwood - and have an easier time "valuing" those point stays).

Now, about those ticketmaster charges....