Marriott points reward

[TDunk]

As a honeymoon gift, my soon-wifey's mom has given us access to use her Marriott points. She has gained about 888,000 reward points. I have no idea how to try and utilize the reward system to see if we could spend 4 days in London and 4 days in either Dublin or Paris. I know the points will cover most (if not all) the hotel fees and some travel costs.

How does one go about trying to calculate the expenditures without directly calling them? Any ideas or suggestions?

 

[Wingate1217]

You should be able to go to Marriott.com and click on Marriott Rewards.
This should take you where you want to go and will allow you to see how many points you need for your stays. Believe me at 800,000+ points you should have no problems in booking any hotel.....


http://www.marriott.com/rewards/use-points.mi

 

[BB73]

I'm quite fond of the Marriott Rewards Program. A long time ago I acquired enough Marriott points to redeem the following:

A week in the Hong Kong Marriott
A week in the London Marriott (Grosvenor Square)
A week in the Maui Marriott
A week in the Bermuda Marriott
A week in the Barbados Marriott
A week in the Monterrey, CA Marriott
A week in the Aruba Marriott (honeymoon present for my son)

2 Round-trip tickets to Hong Kong
2 Round trip tickets to London
2 Round-trip tickets to Hawaii
2 Round trip tickets to Bermuda

I earned almost all of the points for those under one bonus program they had during a summer in the late 1980s. Since then they made it more difficult to rack up huge points.

When I have more time, I'll try to see what 888K in points can get you these days.

Edit - OK, I've looked into the current rewards situation. Each hotel is given a classification between category 1 and category 8. You can 'redeem' (use her points) to book as many nights as you wish. You may want to consider staying in one of the hotels at least 5 nights, since the 5th night is free after booking 4 nights with reward points.

This table is from their website:

Points Reward for 1 Night Stay - Note: Redeem 4 Nights. Get the 5th Night FREE!

Category....Hotel Reward..PointSavers Reward
1............... 7,500...........6,000
2.............. 10,000.......... 7,500
3.............. 15,000......... 10,000
4.............. 20,000......... 15,000
5.............. 25,000..........20,000
6.............. 30,000......... 25,000
7.............. 35,000......... 30,000
8.............. 40,000......... 35,000

So for a category 5 hotel, it would take 100,000 points (25,000 x 4 nights) in order to stay there for 5 nights. For a category 8 hotel. it would take 160,000 points (140,000 if the stay qualifies under 'PointSavers', but most London locations in the summer aren't available at the bargain point rate).

You'll want to check out the various locations in London (they have a lot of choices there). If you're staying there for a few days, and are going to stay in the city for almost the whole time, you could get around on the Underground, so you may want to pick a place that's close to a 'tube' station.

You may need to have a certificate issued for the hotel (check when booking), which you take with you and present at check-in. If you need one of those, have it made out in your fiancee's maiden name, since the transfer of rewards may be limited to family members, and that makes things simpler.

For airline tickets, it's much more complicated that it used to be, but I'm sure there are enough points to get you both to Heathrow in coach. You'll want to be able to nail down the exact travel times before trying to arrange the flights by using Marriott points.

 

[cincibuck]

I'm fond of the Marriott Rewards Program. A long time ago I acquired enough Marriott points to redeem the following:

A week in the Hong Kong Marriott
A week in the London Marriott (Grosvenor Square)
A week in the Maui Marriott
A week in the Bermuda Marriott
A week in the Monterrey, CA Marriott
A week in the Aruba Marriott (honeymoon present for my son)

2 Round-trip tickets to Hong Kong
2 Round trip tickets to London
2 Round-trip tickets to Hawaii
2 Round trip tickets to Bermuda

I earned almost all of the points for those under one bonus program they had during a summer in the late 1980s. Since then they made it more difficult to rack up huge points.

When I have more time, I'll try to see what 888K in points can get you these days.

This from a guy who keeps his v-money in a secret bank in the Cayman Islands.