Ok thanks longing. :cool:

I have two upcoming stays booked:

3 Night Stay @ Courtyard by Marriott Novato Marin Sonoma on an MMF rate (Marriott Friends & Family)

8 Night Stay @ New Orleans Marriott French Quarter on a conference rate. Half of the nights are on my company; the other half are on me. The rate is not direct billed.

The combined stays for these hotels will basically equal $1000; so I am very interested in this Gift Cheque Award.... I know the T&C's state that this can only be used on publicly available rates; how strictly do the hotels adhere to that?

[QUOTE=pinniped;7552731] My take is that the 7-night Travel Package with 120k AA miles is the best value in the system. On that award, I figure I'm getting around 1.25 cents per Marriott point using somewhat conservative valuations. Maybe up in the 1.75 cent range if I play a Cat 7 award very well.

Can you point me to a thread/forum that discusses the 7-night travel package using AA miles? Thanks!

Travel packages from Marriott with miles or Southwest credits are shown here at marriott.com. You can redeem anywhere from 50K-120K miles with AA at one point per mile for each travel package. The room certificates are for a one week stay at one property with standard availability. There are stay anytime travel packages where the hotel certificates cost double the standard amount. It is possible to return the room certificates to your account, but you will lose most of the value of the certificate (around 70 %).

Quick question - if one uses the certificates, will one be charge taxes and resort fees? Redeeming with points for a room does not have any taxes or resort fees.

"Redeeming with points" and "using a certificate" are one in the same. The only difference is that instead of ordering a hotel room only award, the Travel Package throws in the airline points as well.

So no taxes or resort fees.

I think there is confusion. If you redeem with points or redeem points for a paper cert (or e-cert), I agree no taxes,

BUT, if you get the Marriott gift cheques referenced in the title of the thread, it is like you are paying by cash or credit card - and you will pay taxes. But, you will also earn points for your stay.