Help a Marriott Newbie
 

I have around 32,000 Marriott Points. I have a need for an extended stay hotel next weekend. There is a Townplace Suites that will do for 80,000 points for the stay. I saw some conflicting info on the Marriott site. One place said 10% of miles used could be "purchased". But when you go to the actual purchase points area, it doesn't mention that at all?

So can I just purchase 50,000 points and do it? That would be much cheaper than the going rate for the property which is pricing at 139 a night or so. So 12.50/1000 points seems like a steal to me and a get to use my other points which I never seem to be able to use.

How about gifted miles? Are they the same? Can I have someone from CC gift me 50,000 and use them???

Thanks, I saw that but this mentions the 10% thing which made me question being able to buy 48000 points for an award.
https://www.marriott.com/redemption/...s.mi#question2

It's all pretty clear to me.

Maybe you can call and explain it to the reps then because I have received two different answers from them. Bug off if you don't want to provide anything helpful.

My interpretation of the FAQ page with the 10% comment is that that rule only applies when you make a reward booking before you have all the necessary reward points. That's the wording of the question it's given as an answer to. If by "next weekend" you mean 7 days from now, not tonight, you should be able to purchase the 48,000 points you need, wait the 24-48 hours for them to clear, and then make your reservation. Have you tried calling MR to clarify?

By the way, before you commit to buying the points you should double-check your math. You're proposing to buy 48k points, which at $12.50/1000 is $600. According to the hotel reward chart, 80k points is 5 nights at a cat 4 property. If you paid cash for the whole stay it'd run you about $700 plus tax, and you'd still have your 32k points. Alternatively, you might consider buying just 3k points to get your total up to 35k points, enough for 2 nights at a cat 4. Then pay cash for the other 3 nights. The total out of pocket for that would probably be under $500, AND it would fit under the 10% limit if you really do need to book the reservation before you purchse the points.

That was my interpretation of the FAQ as well although one agent said it didn't matter 10% was the max. The other said there was no 10% , so it's obviously one of the 3 :). I can't finalize until probably Monday, so I guess I'll find out for sure then.

I was totally surprised by the math too.
It's actually a 14 day stay in a Cat1 Towneplace suites. The cheapest rate direct was 129/night over that time frame. There are some other extended stay places in the area at around 80/night plus taxes Stills seems to me to be the best deal by far since this property is nicer than the others, and right next to public transport as well.

Have to agree with this - this is a LOT of points to purchase, and it seems as if there may be a better way.

It is hard to make alternate recommendations as you do not indicate the area in which you are going...but -

(for example) if you were willing to pay for some of the nights; you could purchase a $1K gift card under the Delta Bonus - it would cost you $900 - so you are $100 ahead AND you get points. (on both Delta and Marriott) I haven't looked recently - but at one point in time you could "buy" Marriott certificates with American Express points - is that an option for you? Did you check the MR award pages to see if there are any specials listed that you could use? When reserving a stay for this long; I often find that some nights are much cheaper than others - for ex a Sunday night is often a bargain. Did you pull rates only for the 14 day stay - if so, there may be less expensive nights out there. You could use points for the more expensive nights; and pay for the cheap ones.

Also remember that if you use points (bought or not) you do not get credit for that stay - so you are losing a bunch of nights that would head you into a higher level with MR; which means you can then earn bonus points on top of regular points.

As a newbie, I remember that I always thought using points was best - over time, I have learned that it is often a combination that saves me the most money...of course, it takes time to research the options!

Good Luck.

Thank you for the input. Every way I look at it it seems best to do it this way. I have at least put it on hold. The lowest rate at this place is 89 dollars, just 2 nights on the weekends. Every other rate is higher lists as 179 when booked in smaller blocks. (It is actually showing as sold out for a couple of nights when checking individually or in groups of 2 or 3 nights). If I check for the whole two week span it's still available at 129/night. If they were that close to selling nights out I'm surprised they had Standard awards available. Thankfully I did put it on hold with the agent who said no 10% limit. I then talked to a Marriott Rewards agent about the 10% and she didn't know about a limit either. So I'm 2 for 3 saying no 10 percent limit. I can confirm my plans and buy the points maybe on Sunday. Also, after putting it on hold it went from Standard Award to Stay anytime on the website for those dates.

It's in the San Francisco/Silicon Valley area. I have had the 32000 Marriott points for 18 months I got them from a timeshare presentation and a stay for a conference at work that was way more expensive than I would ever spend on my own. (I'm not cheap, I just don't spend time in rooms on vacation) and have not found very useful ways to spend them. I have no desire nor likely ability to get higher in the MR system, so status is not a factor here. While I am a newbie spending Marriott points I am familiar with valuations of miles/points etc. I'm sure I could find some other ways to get the points, but it's next weekend, and if I can confirm my plans this weekend, buying the points or a quick trade on CC seems to be the easiest. I Usually when we travel it doesn't make sense to use points and I use Priceline (which isn't very useful for a long stay with a desire for a fridge..., guaranteed high speed internet which is free in this case).

I'm basically paying 32,000 points plus 600 dollars for a room that would cost me at least 1200 dollars probably closer to 1400 with taxes for a similar property anywhere close to it. There is no question in my mind it's a good use of the points and a steal for buying points at 1.25cents/point and redeeming for around 2 cents per point. My biggest worry is buying the points or trading for points and then have them come back and say. Sorry, sir you can't do that or sorry this was a mistake, this hotel is ....... At least if I buy the points, I may have some recourse directly with Marriott and could say refund the points purchase , so I'm leaning that way.

The 10% restriction went away last year. For a short time you could buy as many points as you want, but now they have the 50K cap per year. Looks like they haven't updated their FAQ's.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=665216