Marriott Dream Trip
 

I have aobut 400,000 marriott points and an additonal 400,000 American miles. Any suggestion for a 2-3 week Marriott dream trip. Timing would have to be int ehfall -Late OCtobe/early November. ALso have a marriott timeshare , so can mix a week in there. I have been to Hawaii numerous times and also Hong Kong, but not much other international travel. I don't have status , so would get a normal room.

Although I have never been, based on my research, I would go to Phuket and surrounding areas.

My favorite Marriott property is St Kitts, go to trip advisor and you will see articles on it.

You could combine a stay at the Phuket Marriott with the Bangkok Riverside Marriott. It has beautifully landscaped grounds, is on the river, and has its own boat for evening dinner cruises. They have their own boat to take you across the river to the Skytrain station. You have the feeling of a resort with access to the city. It's great. Be aware they have a 3 week cancelation policy.

I really like the JW Shanghai, in the heart of Shanghai. The hotel is beautiful, and the location is terrific.

The Sydney Harbor Marriott is another hotel in a great location, making it very easy to travel throughout Sydney.

And here is a list of notes I've made from other's posts about Marriotts in Europe; perhaps something will spark your imagination. (I'm afraid I've lost the attribution for the quotes, though you'll be able to find them if you search on the properties.) It would be easy to combine stays at several of these properties.

• Renaissance Penta Vienna Hotel
• Berlin Marriott - one of the best in Europe. "perfect service, modern building and modern surroundings; smallish but OK pool, very upscale feeling."
• Copenhagen Marriott - "You cannot get a bad view from a high floor at this hotel. One side looks over the canal, the other over the city and Tivoli Garden, with fireworks at midnight in the summer. It is new, has the modern Scandinavian minimalistic feel, nice concierge lounge."
• Renaissance Zurich
• Marriott Budapest
• Marriott Champs Elysees, Paris
• Rome Marriott Grand Hotel Flora
• Capri Marriott
• Dalmahoy, outside Edinburgh, UK
• Druids Glen Marriott, Ireland

London:
• Renaissance Chancery Court, London
• London Park Lane
• Grosvernor House
• London Country Hall

Another endorsement for Sydney and the Harbour Marriott!

So far, my favorite Marriotts have been London County Hall and the Bangkok Marriott Resort and Spa. Both top notch properties and a great way to blow your points.

Lets not forget the Sioux City, Iowa Fairfield Inn. Must be a great place with something going for it. I couldn't get a room, an override, or stay anytime one weekend last summer!

Three letters: RTW

Round the World Trip.

All of the airlines have it. It would be the best 3 weeks of your life.

With your mix of AA and MR, don't forget to consider all of the HHonors properties as well. There are some good Asian Conrads, plus some interesting tropical destinations where Marriott and Hilton don't overlap.

Even someone not active in AA already can do this - a single Marriott Travel Package will more than cover 7 Marriott nights and 6 HHonors nights (with something like 30k AA left over). Obviously depends on how much AA award travel you plan to redeem as part of the trip...

I notice some Cat 5's in the list above: If you can nudge that 400k to 460k, you've got two Cat 5 Travel Packages. You could parlay that into an entire month (2 Marriott weeks, 2 Hilton weeks)... :D

The only place I differ from most FT'ers is that I'm a bit biased against spending Cat 7 points on the big chain hotels in Europe. I'd rather spend a moderate amount of money on smaller boutiques in places like London and Paris and save my hotel points for destinations where there is much more upside in being in a big American property (e.g., an upscale resort destination). It's just a personal preference thing...I feel like I get better value that way, and I kind of dig small European mom & pop hotels and their idiosyncracies.

(First, I don't think you'll have much luck in Europe any more this year)

Here is our trip using 2 Europe Sampler packs (14EH) from Marriott (150K 3/2/2 cert)
5 nts (3/2 nt cert) Champs Marr
1 nt Heidelburg Marr (premier cc anniversary cert)
2 nts Crtyrd Munich (extra pts) (oktoberfest)
2 nts Ren Prague may go to Salzburg to skip Eastern Europe car rental hassle
2 nts Ren Vienna
4 nts hilton pts Venice
2 nts starwood pts Florence
5 nts (3/2) Grand Flora Rome

Envoy class Usair to paris, and home from rome

Of course, we like driving in Europe, others don't. You drive (via car navigation system) to you hotel and let the valet/bellperson do the rest, no sweat. (you get a car when you lv paris and drop when you get to Rome)

BTW or last trip was Paris-lyon-st. tropez-monte carlo-milan-innsbruk-garmisch-munich-heidelberg-paris- mostly at marriott's it was great, I do that again any time.

I used the 3/2/2 promotion from Marriott last year also. I think it is a status based offer though. Stayed at the Renaissance Chancery Court London, Renaissance Paris Vendome, Renaissance Prague & Renaissance Penta Vienna Hotel and would stay at any of them again -- especially the last three as the staff members were more than amazing!

I agree with PJ_Flyer though -- I've always wanted to take a RTW vacation! It sounds like you have a great mix of points and time to do just that ^. Don't know if AA has anything like SkyTeam's "Asia, Europe or America Passes". It's a mix of points & $$ for shorter trips within a country and can make your miles go even further with potentially minor expense (+ more mileage earning opportunities)!

If you decide to trade some points over to Hilton, consider getting the Hilton AMX. Usually a points bonus for your first few paid stays plus access to book points extending stays (AXON award - stay 4 but only use points of 3, etc...). Lots more info about it on FT.

Hope you have a wonderful trip wherever you land!

Ritz Carlton Cayman Islands...pure paradise.

How do you use MR points for HHonors awards? :confused:

Easily, via the Travel Packages.

One travel package = 1 week at Marriott plus 120k AA miles
120k AA miles = 240k HH points (or convert less AA if you need less HH)

240k HH points equals a little over a week at almost any HH hotel. I say "almost" because there are four or five Waldorfs that have different rules.

The only reason I mention all of the HH stuff in this context is because the MR to AA transfer in the Travel Package is very very good, and the AA to HH transfer is what I consider a roughly fair swap. I would not suggest anything else - for example doing MR to AA to Diner's to Starwood - you give up a lot of bang-for-buck. AA to HH is somewhat unique in this sense.

By considering HH for your "dream trip", you open up a ton of additional options since both MR and HH are huge programs.