Useless point redemption limited to cheapest rooms?
Jan 7, 2019, 8:35 am
#16
Join Date: Jul 2009
Programs: DL PM, HH Diamond, Marriott Plat, AA, WP
Posts: 840
I've been offered upgrades by cash and/or points online booking RCs in Barcelona and Vienna. It was 100 Euros a night for club level/lounge access in Spain and 220 Euros in Austria, which also had a points upgrade for double the nightly points (from 50K to 115K). Vienna also had an upgrade from standard award room to a balcony for 80 Euros a night, which was a little more than the cost difference in cash price (68 Euros).
Jan 7, 2019, 9:07 am
#17
Join Date: Aug 2005
Programs: BA DL
Posts: 179
I've been offered upgrades by cash and/or points online booking RCs in Barcelona and Vienna. It was 100 Euros a night for club level/lounge access in Spain and 220 Euros in Austria, which also had a points upgrade for double the nightly points (from 50K to 115K). Vienna also had an upgrade from standard award room to a balcony for 80 Euros a night, which was a little more than the cost difference in cash price (68 Euros).
Jan 7, 2019, 9:08 am
#18
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Minneapolis: DL DM charter 2.3MM
Programs: A3*Gold, SPG Plat, HyattDiamond, MarriottPP, LHW exAccess, ICI, Raffles Amb, NW PE MM, TWA Gold MM
Posts: 100,404
OP, nothing strange with only offering base rooms. Starwood only had base rooms for points, but you could call and get higher level rooms for more points (often as little as 1000-1500 extra points a night). Not sure if Marriott offers the same in the merged program (as I've only redeemed for base rooms and applied SNAs since 8/18).
The legacy SPG website would sometimes tell you to call (instead of displaying the points for a standard room) when you searched for awards. This often meant that the hotel was offering higher category rooms for more points, but sometimes it also meant that the hotel would accept the 50% off rack rates for 1,000 points certs.
Once I noticed that a hotel was offering its very last room, which was a club suite, for points on the website and I grabbed it. I had been watching rates and availability, so this was a pleasant surprise as it was a great redemption in terms of cents per point.
Once I noticed that a hotel was offering its very last room, which was a club suite, for points on the website and I grabbed it. I had been watching rates and availability, so this was a pleasant surprise as it was a great redemption in terms of cents per point.
Jan 7, 2019, 9:43 am
#19
Suspended
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: MEM
Programs: Starbucks Green Card
Posts: 5,431
Hotels can and often choose to only offer the base level rooms for award redemptions. What's the surprise here? Is a free night not something of value if it's in a base level room? You can always reach out to properties and try to negotiate a cash upgrade on a point rate.
The fact that someone wants a suite doesn't mean they find no value in a standard room, either. That makes no sense. At a restaurant, sometimes I order chateaubriand, that doesn't mean I never find value in a hamburger.
Jan 7, 2019, 9:44 am
#20
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: PHL
Programs: AA EXP MM, HHonors Lifetime Diamond, Marriott Lifetime Ti, UA Silver
Posts: 5,036
I too used to regularly obtain executive club rooms on points with SPG. I just tried to do this for a couple of Marriott properties (Sheraton and JW Marriott in HK) and the agent said that only base rooms are available at ALL Marriott properties, including ex-SPG properties. Empirically, this seems to be correct, but I have not seen an official announcement. Sure makes Rewards points less appealing to me.
Jan 7, 2019, 10:30 am
#21
Join Date: Jun 2015
Posts: 343
Hilton lets you do it through the website, Hyatt does as well (although the interface is limited, generally you have to call).
Jan 7, 2019, 11:06 am
#22
Moderator, Marriott Bonvoy & FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: McKinney, TX, USA
Programs: United Silver; AA Plat/2MM; Marriott LT Titanium; Hilton Gold
Posts: 11,727
Note that I have a reservation in 2 weeks at the JW Cancun in a Club room using a combination of different rate types. For one night I'm using awards (70K for club room/night). For other nights, I'm paying cash (as their cash rate includes some nice add-ons like nightly resort credits). Note that I actually had the option on the award nights to get a Club room using a base award (50K points) plus $100/night. I decided I'd rather spend the extra 20K/night rather than pay the extra $120 including taxes/fees though. There were options to upgrade to their some of their suites. I could have used 75K points/night or 50K+$125/night to stay in a Grand Suite (no club access though.)
My experience has been that more "business traveler" oriented hotels tend to not offer much more than a base room for points. Resorts though more often tend to offer more award upgrade options just like the JW Cancun has. I've usually equated that to the fact that traditional FS "city" Marriotts tend to only have base rooms and CL level rooms where resorts quite often have a myriad of different levels/types of rooms quite often including many more suites.
Jan 7, 2019, 11:55 am
#23
Join Date: Aug 2005
Programs: BA DL
Posts: 179
Properties can (but most don't) offer non-base rooms.
Jan 7, 2019, 2:48 pm
#24
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: SFO/YYZ
Programs: AC 25K, AS MVP Gold, BA Bronze, UA Silver, Marriott Titanium, Hilton Diamond, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 2,467
What is the reason to belong to a loyalty program if you really can't redeem them for anything of value?