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Hey everyone! I’m looking for a bit of advice on booking hotels and getting the best value for a few trips we have coming up.
Last January I signed up for the Amex British Airways, saved up enough avios and managed to use the 2-4-1 voucher for 2 return business class flights to The Maldives for our honeymoon in January 2023 (very pleased)!.
We are also now looking to save up avios and use this year’s 2-4-1 voucher for a trip to LA in September. We are currently 15,000 points away from enough and just a bit shy of the spend mark for the 2-4-1 voucher but should hit it in a month or two. We should have enough for a premium economy ticket by that point.
My question is regarding the hotels for these trips, we are not currently members with any hotel rewards schemes so would be starting from scratch. I’m wondering whether it would be worth signing up for the Amex Marriott card and booking one of their resorts in the Maldives in hopes that might get us some money off for our Vegas trip or vice versa?
We potentially have a trip to London coming up next month which we could book a few nights at a Marriott too. I suppose we would continue spending on the British Airways card until we hit the 2-4-1 voucher and enough avios for the Vegas flight and then switch to the Marriott card although we probably need to be booking these hotels soon. As we already have an Amex I don’t think we will be able to get the sign up points.
The other thing I have noticed however is that it always seems to be much more expensive booking directly through Marriott rather than using a 3rd party site. Do you still collect points with them if you book through booking.com for example?
I guess I’m just looking for some advice about whether joining would be worth it for people that maybe travel twice a year or if we should just continue spending on British Airways card? Or if anyone has any other tips about how we could get the most out of these hotel stays this year?
Thanks so much!
- This topic was modified 55 years, 4 months ago by .
Holding the BA card will bar you from getting a sign up bonus on the Marriott/Bonvoy one. You don’t get points when you book through a 3rd party, but I would have thought that Marriott had some kind of price match scheme? I find them an expensive chain in general and the points quite difficult to earn. I find Hilton has a wider choice of properties and suits me better. You don’t say what your budget is pn night for hotels so it’s a bit difficult to give advice (though obviously Maldives is going to be a lot more expensive than the US). Also, remember Marriott is about to have what is likely to be a significant devaluation, so you can’t rely on your points being worth what you hoped in the future. It’s worth considering hotels.com for the free night after you’ve stayed 10 – I booked a really nice resort in Mallorca last summer at a lower price than going direct and it got me a free night!
Assuming u are looking at the luxury hotels given its ur honeymoon, it’s going to be tough to outright collect enough points in any scheme to redeem 4-5 nights. Look at the points cost on sale (US0.005 for Hilton/ihg and US0.0083 Marriott). Would u stay at these properties at the points cost? How does this compare to non chain hotels? How is the points availability? As comment above, Marriott is rolling out higher rates shortly so look at the new table.
U then want to minimise the points bought and putting stays through the scheme helps. Also look at sign up bonuses, U may be eligible for Amex platinum (currently 65-70k bonuses). And u can double up with OH taking other cards with SUBs/referrals. Also getting hotel status for Maldives is great mainly for the free breakfast which would save u £100s. Amex plat gets u gold with hilton while Marriott u can do a platinum challenge.
Finally, most schemes require u to be a member for x days before u can buy points, so it may be good idea to open accounts for both urself and ur partner as u can be limited to number of points bought per year.
Overall there is definitely value on points hotels in Maldives. Crunch the numbers but I wouldn’t be surprised if u can bring the avg room rate down to £300-400/night.
Don’t you mean 0.05 and 0.083?! Otherwise there would be a stampede to buy points, I think.
Getting Platinum is great idea if you can stomach the fee or close after a few months – you’d keep the hotel statuses for at least the rest of the membership year, probably longer. There are some articles around about the Conrad Maldives and what you get extra with gold status.
- This reply was modified 55 years, 4 months ago by .
Anna
I think YC’s maths is correct – Hilton IHG points are not worth 5cents each!!
Gold status at marriott is not worth much so wouldn’t bank on it making any different.
If you stay at the Conrad with gold status you get free breakfast and hour of free drinks each day between 4 and 5pm. The Conrad used to be 95,000 points per night and is now 120,000. The Waldorf in Maldives was 120,000 and is now 150,000. Even with the new rates you could still save a lot of money versus paying for the rooms but you have to factor in the price of the transfers.
There is also a Hilton Curio in the Maldives – The SAii Lagoon which I’m not personally tempted by. It is fewer points (85,000) and much much cheaper in cash as well.
A new Hilton resort – The Amingiri will open later this year.
Hilton status members get five nights for the price of four using points.
If you want to pay for a hotel room in the Maldives rather than use large numbers of points, it is worth looking at the Secret Escapes site.
If you find the same hotel for less money on a third party site, then invoke Marriott’s Best Rate Guarantee: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marriott-marriott-bonvoy/2063962-marriott-bonvoy-brg-best-rate-guarantee-success-failure-discussion-2022-a.html.
You will not earn Marriott Bonvoy points for bookings made via third party websites, but you do earn them for preferred partner bookings via FHR or a luxury travel agent like Emyr.Regarding earning points, you will have to spend many thousands of pounds at Marriott to achieve enough points to stay at their higher end properites in Vegas and the Maldives, especially if you don’t have elite status already. If you travel twice a year, I am assuming your total hotel nights a year is likely to be less than 35, which would make achieving platinum status difficult, even if you took out the Marriott Bonvoy card and gained 15 nights from that. You may be better off booking the hotels you want to stay at, maybe via a luxury travel agent so you get some of the perks of status like free breakfast and later checkout.
Don’t book BA Premium Economy with Avios, it’s a waste of Avios and money, as the redemption taxes and charges are high, the product is dire, and you can often get well priced W flights for cash to the USA. You could book a decent premium economy fare with cash and upgrade the flights to J with Avios. If you are determined to use the 241 and spend nine million pounds on their charges, definitely save enough Avios to book into Business or First. To give you some perspective on how silly BA’s redemption charges are though, I have booked business class returns with BA for £1250 each for this August, routing DUB-LHR-LAX-LHR-DUB. We will be BA Silver before we fly and will also therefore earn a lot of Avios and tier points for flying this itinerary for cash, plus both routes are in CLub Suite. Don’t assume the 241 offers good value – check for cash prices exEurope.
Happy to provide more tailored advice if you have more specific questions. FWIW, I am Marriott Bonvoy Ambassador and Hilton Diamond, so I do know my way around loyalty chains and hotels – I think it’s important to assess your own needs before investing in hotel loyalty, as it’s often not the best choice for people, esepcially infrequent travellers.
I’m wondering whether it would be worth signing up for the Amex Marriott card and booking one of their resorts in the Maldives in hopes that might get us some money off for our Vegas trip or vice versa?
If ever there was a location you do not want to be tied to a chain (or property) then it’s Vegas. With so much choice and flexible rates via direct booking, the effort of points collection is better spent on strategic rebooking, locking prices in with different hotels as they change. Note that Vegas is a weekend city – stay somewhere nice during the week and somewhere a bit more ordinary during the weekend to maximise bang for buck (The classic Strip vs Downtown split works well for this – but I’m biased – I like the less glitzy slightly grittier vibe of Downtown as a change of pace).
Don’t pick your Maldives resort based on anything other than best value/experience in the Maldives.All well and good to say to pick the hotel you want to stay at but price is a big factor for most. Booking through preferred travel agents, you are paying the standard BAR and if you are happy to pay those cash rates then yes there are a multitude of excellent hotels in Maldives. If not, as described above, there are ways to get real value from points hotels in the maldives even if you are starting from 0 points balances/status. However, Vegas is a good example of where you can get good value from luxury travel agents.
Marriott have a Best Rate Guarantee, Hilton a Lowest Price Guarantee, so do many other hotel brands. If you can find the room cheaper elsewhere you get 25% off the lower rate directly with them. There are some conditions attached but I have successfully used it a number of times.
- This reply was modified 55 years, 4 months ago by .
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