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Spotted some Virgin business award availability so have booked 9 days end of January into February. Never visited before so any tips appreciated.
Thinking of spending three nights in Miami + then hiring a car for a few days down in the keys. The remaining time – no agenda yet.
I’ve got a small number of hotel points (120000 marriott, 35000 hilton) I’d be happy to burn up. I could top either up from a small stash of amex points. Got some trailfinders vouchers that need using up too so not tied to particular chain for those. Any accommodation recommendations much appreciated – would be nice to have a bit of luxury but with the exchange rate the way it is we’ll be balancing any luxury out with simple & functional.
ThanksRitz Carlton Cocunut Grove ? Might get 2 nights…
I appreciated the thread title!
The Gabriel- Curio in the art deco district- was nice if the area interests you. I’d stay again. 80k points. Very hard to get excited about the Hampton Inn on Marathon (80k) or Key Largo (74k). Found value for money in general difficult to come by in the keys. Favourite was Casa Morada, Mr and Mrs Smith on Islamorada, but not spectacular by any means.Driving from Miami to the keys is a nice thing to do, but only once. I would return the car in key west and fly back up to Miami. If you have avios you might find space on the AA flight, which is often a very good redemption.
We’re about to fly to the Keys for Xmas & New Year. Cash prices are ludicrous ($500 pn for Hampton Inn!) so I’m burning some of our lockdown stash at Marriotts and Hiltons. Since we booked, the Hampton Inn Marathon has gone from 70k pn to 80k, as zio points out.
Once you get out of the Keys accommodation becomes much more reasonable, even in Miami Beach area.
As ChrisBCN says, doing the journey one-way will save time, we’re doing it the other way, from Key West to MIA, it was about $100 extra with Avis to return the car to a different airport. Check availability & prices though as it’s peak time, you might need to shop around a bit.
120k Marriott points would probably get you 5 nights in one of their Residence Inn properties- not luxury but they have 1 bedroom suites so plenty of space and a kitchen if you want to economise by eating in (or using their BBQs)?some nights. Most of them also offer free breakfast and parking plus no resort fee which is worth a lot these days! Our 5 night redemption at the Key West Marriott Beachside is going to set us back $100 pn in parking & resort fee, no breakfast included either!!For a good marriott redemption, check out The Ben at West Palm Beach. Only 60k marriott points a night. Cash rates could be much higher. Was like $500+ around xmas.
Many thanks for all the advise – much appreciated. Points do seem like a solid option given the cash rates so I’m probably convert MR based on what I can find from the various the accommodation recommends.
Hadn’t considered the avios option for a return flight but will definitely look into that.OOH, I was going to post a similar thread so will just say thanks for the advice on this one 🙂
how do i search for reward availability on AA on the BA website, I have seat guru and can see award flights when I use AA as reward carrier, but there is no award availability when i look om BA for my dates with avios, am I missing something here? I have been on AA website and I can see that I could use AA miles for all the flights I want. Hmm, am I being thick or what?
how do i search for reward availability on AA on the BA website, I have seat guru and can see award flights when I use AA as reward carrier, but there is no award availability when i look om BA for my dates with avios, am I missing something here? I have been on AA website and I can see that I could use AA miles for all the flights I want. Hmm, am I being thick or what?
You need the cheapest AASaver reward availability for anything to show on BA.com.
ahh thanks JDB, super quick response. I need 2 and baggage obvs so i guess I’ll keep checking back for it. Any other pearls you have for me?
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