Value of Marriott Points?
 

So i did a search came back with nothing.

Quick question, got a stay over in athens, Greece in may. Marriott rack rate is 209 EURO's a night which is 275 dollars not including taxes. So lets say 300 a night. Is it work dropping 55k points for 2 nights. I have 641K points if that comes into the picture?

Does anyone have a good value table for marriott points?

Thanks

MNAudiS4

I think it's an ok deal. I insist on at least $.01/point.

That said, we only redeem for travel packages They are the main reason (and concierge level upgrade) we are so very Marriott loyal.

you can buy a virtually unlimited number of marriott points for 1 cent per point.

given that you've got a good number, i would definitely use my points rather than pay cash. when (if) you run out, you can buy more.

It's an OK deal, not a great deal. In my case I would buy a Premium Pound cert and pay for the stay with that and gift cards I bought last Xmas with the 12 point bonus. For you, it might make sense to use the points, expecially if you don't foresee better redemption possibilities in the near future.

1 cent per point is the lowest exchange that I would use MRPs. Prefer to get twice to three times that. The best deals are the travel packages with a week certificate and miles bundled together.

i appreciate all of your help here. I will book something with points and can always cancel if i find something else.

Thanks

Dave

And that approach is almost always one of the best ways to go. As far out in the future as I can even think about a vacation, I go ahead and check availability and reserve it if possible. Then I begin to look at alternatives, talk with family, etc to decide if that is really what we want to do or if there are better alternatives out there. I can then cancel if I don't want to use the reservation. ^

I generally will not redeem an award unless I can get more than one cent per point, net. "Net" is the key concept, since you have to calculate the effect of the foregone points, as well as the points you pay/redeem for the room.

(Even then, though, I will run another calculation on the effect of paying for the room using a Premium Pound as part payment.)

In your case, we will presume you have the Premier card (and thus earn 5 points per dollar charged) and are Silver (and thus earn 20% bonus on base points). Assumptions are reasonable, since you *should* have those things if you're a US-based [MSP] member (credit card is widely available, and brings enough nights bonus credit to make the holder at least Silver so long as he holds the card).

Points earned if stay is paid by charging the credit card:

10 base points per dollar excluding taxes, calculated on $275/night = 5500
+ 20% bonus points for Silver, calculated on 5500 base points = 1100
+ 5 points per dollar charged to credit card, including tax, calculated on $300/night = 3000
Total points foregone if using an award: 5500 + 1100 + 3000 = 9600

To which you have to add the points paid for award: 55,000

So the net points the award "costs" (i.e., points paid + points foregone) = 55,000 + 9,600 = 64,600 points.

Total cash cost is $300 per night = $600

So, you're saving $600 by giving up 64,600 points, for a redemption rate of about .93 cents per point. This doesn't equal or exceed 1 cent/point, and as such is, IMHO, a bad deal (all other things equal).

Of course, all other things may not be equal, for instance you may have more points than you expect to be able to use (in which case you may be willing to settle for a redemption of less than one cent per point) or you may be saving for a travel award where point redemption value is close to 2 cents per point (in which case you wouldn't want to redeem for rooms at much less than 2 cents per point), or you may have no money (in which case paying for the rooms is not a viable option).

(I leave the Premium Pounds analysis as an exercise for the reader, but note that, based on my calculations, and considering £1 = 1.50 EUR, it makes the award redemption even less enticing.)

Everyone values it differently. While I try to maximize my point values when feasible, sometimes it just makes more sense to use points over laying down cash, when cash is tight.

Counsellor did a good analysis. I usually run the numbers in similar way and weigh pros and cons before deciding using points vs paying $. I sometimes mixed paying for certain number of nights and then used points for the rest just to minimize out-of-pocket expenses.
The only thing I didn't like the Award Package is that the hotel cert requires that you stay in same hotel for entire week. Hope MR would change that for 2007.