mfirst

So, I have slept in a CY/Marriott property for 39 nights this years. Yes, with bonuses etc I will soon get to Titanium...
but, for those 39 nights (and Platinum Elite) - I got 65,000 points.... which is enough for a night.... where??

well, 50k will get me a random Thursday night (1 night) at the Ritz in Denver (for example) - basic room
60k for a random friday night.... and 100k for an exec suite?

....so, after - what 2 full months in a property - you get enough points for a stay in a hotel for a weekend when I am already not staying there? although the CY that I am staying at is currently 20k for a random friday/saturday night

hence: the basic math appears to be 10-11 nights in a properly to get a free night in said property?
(and that's with status and current bonuses built in - without those, probably closer 17-20 nights per free night)

you get more points just for signing up with a credit card for a year......


just some basic math and reality to ponder?

-m

craigthemif

A credit card signup bonus is a one-off.

If you are staying at Marriott during promos, collecting one or more amenity bonuses per week, etc. you are going to rack up far more than 65k points from 39 paid nights. Stay at any hotel chain for a month-long stay during the times of year when there is no promo - especially at a CY with few Platinum benefits - the joke is basically on you...

Marriott has its issues and I'm not that big of a fan, but the standard earn/burn ratio is pretty good compared to the competition. It's promos that can move the needle...

pinniped

Well, are these incredibly cheap nights and are you using some other credit card to pay besides a Bonvoy card?

At $150/nt and using a Bonvoy card, you'd be at 122k points without any promo or amenity points.

I value my Marriott points at a little under a penny each. Sometimes that's 12,500 for a basic Spring Hill Suites. Other times that's a Travel Package for a higher-end hotel. Hilton has occasional opportunities to earn a LOT per stay, but Marriott has greater utility across their category/price spectrum - some decent redemptions in many different scenarios. Hilton's value on a single night at a mid-tier hotel is usually terrible. 5 nights in the Maldives, they're great... Just depends on what you're after.

mfirst

1. I am not paying - they are getting billed to a corporate card... but I get the points - and I get to pick the hotel
2. The CY is the best option for the circumstances right now - and the current promo helps (on a recent previous trip, I took advantage of the HHonors 2x deal and other bonuses which was nice.....) - the staff are very nice, the place/rooms are clean and quiet - the $10 f/b benefit is not too bad (I have not tried out breakfast as that is not my thing and I cant drink the starbucks....)
3. The other local options are not much better - and the longer commute to work is less than ideal...if there was a huge benefit from staying someplace else to offset the practical aspects of the stay and commute maybe worth considering...
4. Yes, much of this - for better/worse (much like with the airlines) is that the room nights (and airfares - at least for the time being) are very low and hence the point return is also low.....

.... at least the return on the hotel stay is much better than the return that I am getting from being a top-tier member of the car rental company.....but that is another story on a different forum.....

pinniped

My guess is that whatever rate is getting billed to the company is just really low. When I was traveling for a company with a good Marriott discount and we weren't in a good spot to get an Execustay unit, we'd occasionally get set up at a Residence Inn at a monthly rate far below what you'd see just quoting it off the website.

So your company is getting rooms for under $100/nt. x 15pts/$ plus a little promo/amenity bonus...60-70k sounds about right.

In the good ol' days of Marriott, I avoided CY like the plague because it was the one brand, other than Ritz, that did not provide any elite benefits beyond the bonus points. But in the current state of Marriott, with a lot of lounges closed at full-service hotels, a $10 F&B credit is roughly as good as anything else...

margarita girl

Hotel points have always been revenue based (not how many nights you stayed). Airline miles are pretty well all moving to revenue based as distance based did not reward their high spend customers. So spend more on your hotels, and you’ll see your points accumulate much faster.

As far as credit card points, those are purchased from Marriott by Amex, Chase, etc. They determine what is the right incentive to get you to sign up for their card, not Marriott.

esquiar

You should consider Hyatt if one nearby. Their current promos are superior, and points much more valuable. Good to have Marriott status when Hyatt not available, but Hyatt’s program is much better

pinniped

Hyatt is also the last remaining chain where the top-tier status actually means something. If I were traveling as much as the OP is, that's the hotel status I'd most prefer. (Although it sounds like he/she may not have that choice.)

ftrichard

I think your example is wrong. You are staying at a CY but want to redeem at a RC. Of course you can do this but if number of nights is your metric then of course it will appear like a terrible deal.

(1) Let us know the rate you're paying at the CY.
(2) Let us know the category of the CY.

We can then calculate how many paid nights with or without the promo you have to stay to get a free night and whether it's a good use of the points.

But to compare stays at a CY with redemption at a RC isn't really going to be fair or provide good value.

pinniped

The other thing to keep in mind is that looking at a 1 night Ritz redemption is potentially going to be a very bad value for your points no matter how you earned them.

For better or worse, this program's sweet spots are not that. Hyatt and IHG are probably your better 1-night programs. Marriott is built around the 5-nighter and the Travel Packages (although not quite to the extent it once was).

If you find a Ritz that intersects with your 50k credit card free night, that can potentially be a very nice option.

mfirst

I think I am averaging about $100 per night - not sure if I am getting the Elite upgrade to a suite or whatever - but my room is fine for my needs
I think that does reflect some degree of a corporate discount - but from what I have seen, not much.....
No local Hyatt - and the CY is nice - good view, friendly staff, hot coffee, nice fire pit (although it is freaking cold here), good work-out room - did I say - great staff and clean comfortable rooms? and much much much more convenient to my work than anything else and that is very important to me
... in fact, my stay here has (even before I picked up >35 nights) was MUCH better than some of my stays at RC!

The CY - and to be honest, is in Appleton, WI - is a cat 4

...yes, everything is based upon spend - but it is hard to get top tier airline status (for example) when you flight is $39 (are we really complaining that flights/rooms/rentals are too cheap?)

ftrichard

So, keeping it simple, you're getting 1500 points as a Platinum or 1750 as a Titanium per night. Double that for the current promo to 3000 or 3500 points per night (ignoring the welcome bonus).

The standard rate for a Cat 4 is 25000 points per night which comes down to 20000 points per night if you use points for five nights (for the price of four) which is what many of us do. So, do the maths (or math as you're in America) and work out if using points at this CY is worthwhile for you. It will take you 6.6 (as Platinum) or 5.7 (as Titanium) paid nights to get a free one there assuming you're redeeming four nights for five. Personally I wouldn't bother with this at a CY as the cash rate is US$100 a night and redemption will be poor value at 0.5cpp (assuming the 20,000 five-night rate).

Many of us on here save points and redeem them at aspirational properties we would never pay for ordinarily. I usually get 2-4cpp on five-night stays but I choose my redemptions carefully. Many on here would say it's impossible to get more than 1cpp redemption value but I do it every time.

mfirst

I wasn't really planning on using my hard earned points on a $100 night bed.... but I bring this up to illustrate the math of earning points vs spending them in this current environment of "cheap" rooms and high credit card bonuses.....


I guess is the equation of "cpp" the right metric?

swag

You're right that you'll need a lot of nights to earn as much as a single credit card bonus. But that's not unique to Marriott, it's the same with other hotel chains. And it's also true with airlines, if you're flying on cheap fares, it can take a lot of flights to earn the same number of redeemable miles as one signup bonus.

But these days, credit card signup bonuses are limited, at worst to once per lifetime, at best to once every few years. In the meantime, you can keep earning slow and steady with long cheap hotel stays...

mfirst

swag,
you are correct - I just bring up this "real-world, real-time" example of the balance between earning points - which is harder (regardless of hotel or airfare), except if you sign up for a credit card (where they appear to be giving more and more points) and then spending the points in which it appears (from what I am following and reading) are getting more and more expensive in terms of points per room

-michael

(I could make the same discussions about UA travel these days.....)