Best way to pay for Marriott Maldives stay

[Tracy]

I’ll be staying on a rewards stay for 7 nights but the additional charges will be substantial lol. I already paid for the transfer using curve/hilton. Should I pay the balance this way too? I have Marriott amex but this will attract 3% fee… I also have chase, mbna, revolut…

[NorthernLass]

It depends what works best for you. If you don’t want to incur fees, use Curve or Revolut (but remember weekend charges), if you want a chunk of extra points use the Marriott card, etc. Have a fabulous time!

[Guernsey Globetrotter]

As @NorthernLass says, only you can decide what represents best value for you: For example, as you should earn 6 points per £ on your Bonvoy Amex for spending at a Marriott property, if you value those points @ 0.5p each then that is about the same return as avoiding the 3% fee (i.e. 3p in the £). However, is cash in your pocket now more valuable to you than points you will hopefully get value from in the future? Many on here will say cash is king, in which case your best option is fee free, but if you are planning another Marriott redemption soon where you will get outsized value for your points then it may be worth paying the Bonvoy Amex 3% now to gain later… 🤔

[Tracy]

Thanks @GuernseyGlobetrotter, the calculation is what I needed lol. As you say if they have the roughly the same return, then cash is indeed king. I’ll be checking out on a Monday so no weekend surcharge, curve/hilton I think it is… I have blown most of my Marriott points for this trip so no outsize value available to me unless I buy maximum points…

@NorthernLass thank you, I’m sure we will have a blast, 25 years married, no idea where the time has gone lol.

[NorthernLass]

Congratulations – our silver wedding anniversary was during the pandemic (as were both our 50th birthdays and my retirement), we managed 3 nights in Edinburgh at the end of lockdown – it was April, Scotland was still only allowing drinking outside at that point and it was freezing!