Marriott Travel Packages - What Airline Points to Convert to?

[kamchatsky]

Given the recent merger of Marriott and SPG, I am looking at their Marriott Travel Packages in detail. It does have some great deal. I am looking at converting Amex MR points to SPG then to Marriott reward points.

I am looking at staying for 7 nights at Tokyo later this year, I am looking at purchasing the travel packages which gives me 7-night reward certificate plus a whole bunch of airline points of choice:

Flight and Hotel Packages | Marriott Hotel Packages

I am looking at Cat 8 Marriott hotels (either Tokyo Marriott or The Price Sakura Tower Tokyo) so I am looking at 360000 Marriott points ( = 120000 Starwood Points = 240000 Amex Points). This would get me 7 nights free on Cat 8 hotels, plus the following option of airline miles:

- 132000 United Mileage Plus
- 120000 BA Avios, or AA Advantage Miles, or Alaska Miles, or Delta Skymiles, or VS Virgin Atlantic
- 85000 Qantas Points, or SQ Krisflyer, or CX Asia Miles, or EK Skywards Miles, or EY Etihad Guest Miles, or Avianca LifeMiles

At the moment I could not decide which airline miles to get, as I still have a large bunch of AA, QF and VA miles.

The question is, which one would you choose and why?

 

[potm]

I called various times about 6 months ago trying to get a 5 night package, no success. That is with gold status.
It was always intended for vacation club owners. I think they plugged up the loophole some time last year.

Foggy could you be getting an error because you need a British Airways executive club account and not an avios account for transferring?

 

[foggy]

Foggy could you be getting an error because you need a British Airways executive club account and not an avios account for transferring?

oh yes that might be it. How do I get an AVIOS account number?
I thought they were the same..

 

[annielee]

just redeem the 7nights + Cat 1-5 hotels, agent mentioned if i need higher category of hotels, just have to pay the points difference..
hopefully in time for the BA promotion, since it will take 3 days to transfer to Avios..

 

[nightelves]

Does anyone know if the name has to be exact as in Andrew S Smith vs Andrew Smith. Are airlines picky about names like this when transferring points from hotel to airlines?

 

[foggy]

just redeem the 7nights + Cat 1-5 hotels, agent mentioned if i need higher category of hotels, just have to pay the points difference..
hopefully in time for the BA promotion, since it will take 3 days to transfer to Avios..

Could you tell me how you got your avios number?

 

[potm]

It is your British Airways Executive Club number.

 

[foggy]

It is your British Airways Executive Club number.

ok so I haven't mistaken it for another number.. so has anyone who has just created a British Airways Executive Club account been able to redeem?

 

[Hammando]

I just booked a 7 night stay at the Ritz Carlton Bachelor Gulch for next January and am transferring 120,000 points to Alaska. I have 4 business class flights on hold with Alaska with a stop over in HK for a few days.

Has anyone had experience with how long the transfer to Alaska takes, someone earlier on the thread said BA was a couple of days which is encouraging as the Marriott rep said 2-4 weeks!

 

[nightelves]

I just booked a 7 night stay at the Ritz Carlton Bachelor Gulch for next January and am transferring 120,000 points to Alaska. I have 4 business class flights on hold with Alaska with a stop over in HK for a few days.

Has anyone had experience with how long the transfer to Alaska takes, someone earlier on the thread said BA was a couple of days which is encouraging as the Marriott rep said 2-4 weeks!

It varies with different Airlines. British Airways is the fastest with transfers taking 3 business days. Whereas others are 4-6 weeks. You can ring the Marriot Rewards Centre and they should be able to tell you.

 

[Hammando]

They quoted 2-4 weeks was just hoping that was the time frame they quote for everything but in reality was much quicker

 

[annielee]

i just gave them my BA membership no, and i just got the points in my BA account with the 35% bonus

oh yes that might be it. How do I get an AVIOS account number?
I thought they were the same..

 

[potm]

Yeah, got my BA points as well after about 2 days with the bonus points as well!
United transfers also only took about 2 days but the bonus points took about 2 months to arrive.

 

[joyceful]

Interesting found about this Marriott package. I am very new, and try to understand overall. Just wonder, if I would like to fly with Singapore airlines from Perth to Japan, which package will be the best? I saw package 2 with Singapore airlines stated, but seems like the points will be around $85k. Let say with $230k KF, I can have 4*J class from Perth to Japan return; now took $180k to change 7 nights accommodation, and 85K points KF + 50points KF (which left after took out 180k). So, it probably left 4*J one way from Perth to Japan plus 7 nights accommodation in Japan. Will this be better off? I am new, and please give me some idea and advice. Thanks.

 

[SponsorSFC]

Depends on how much you want to fly SQ both ways. If that is all you want to consider then transferring to SQ is pretty much the only option as SQ don't really release much J from Australia to partners until close in (2 weeks before departure).

I don't quite understand how you are getting to your totals and where your 180K KF are coming from. Do you already have these miles or are you obtaiing them from transferring points from elsewhere?

You could also take the 132K United miles as it is 40k each way per person from Australia to Japan in J on Star Alliance carriers (which includes SQ but availability is poor).

TG (via BKK) has plenty of availability from PER on the 787 with plenty of options on a range of aircraft and airports to Japan. You could buy the remaining 28K directly from UA to get you back.

Alternatively you could mix your redemptions and use TG one way and SQ using KF miles the other way.

You also have the option of AA miles which would be 40k each way using. For example you could route either CX PER to HKG and CX or JL to Japan or QF PER to SYD and then either QF or JL to NRT.

 

[kamchatsky]

Depends on how much you want to fly SQ both ways. If that is all you want to consider then transferring to SQ is pretty much the only option as SQ don't really release much J from Australia to partners until close in (2 weeks before departure).

I don't quite understand how you are getting to your totals and where your 180K KF are coming from. Do you already have these miles or are you obtaiing them from transferring points from elsewhere?

You could also take the 132K United miles as it is 40k each way per person from Australia to Japan in J on Star Alliance carriers (which includes SQ but availability is poor).

TG (via BKK) has plenty of availability from PER on the 787 with plenty of options on a range of aircraft and airports to Japan. You could buy the remaining 28K directly from UA to get you back.

Alternatively you could mix your redemptions and use TG one way and SQ using KF miles the other way.

You also have the option of AA miles which would be 40k each way using. For example you could route either CX PER to HKG and CX or JL to Japan or QF PER to SYD and then either QF or JL to NRT.

@joyceful, given you are from PER, PER-SIN are all Regional J anyway, you should be able to redeem using UA as it is not long haul J anyway?

Likewise Regional J applies to SIN-cough/KIX/NGO. There are also some regional J on SIN-NRT/HND as well. You can use UA Mileage Plus miles to book Regional J products. The burn rate is pretty good as well.

Regional J is actually pretty good, especially on day time flights.

Unfortunately you have to call UA Call Centre to find out about seat availability rather than online. I think NH ANA Mileage Club engine can display it but not united.com.

 

[Irishbazz]

Interesting found about this Marriott package. I am very new, and try to understand overall. Just wonder, if I would like to fly with Singapore airlines from Perth to Japan, which package will be the best? I saw package 2 with Singapore airlines stated, but seems like the points will be around $85k. Let say with $230k KF, I can have 4*J class from Perth to Japan return; now took $180k to change 7 nights accommodation, and 85K points KF + 50points KF (which left after took out 180k). So, it probably left 4*J one way from Perth to Japan plus 7 nights accommodation in Japan. Will this be better off? I am new, and please give me some idea and advice. Thanks.

With the above point totals assuming current tally of 230k - 180k=50k + 85k=135k would get you one return J - PER-SIN-NRT@ 116k +$138 taxes

 

[SponsorSFC]

@joyceful, given you are from PER, PER-SIN are all Regional J anyway, you should be able to redeem using UA as it is not long haul J anyway?

Likewise Regional J applies to SIN-cough/KIX/NGO. There are also some regional J on SIN-NRT/HND as well. You can use UA Mileage Plus miles to book Regional J products. The burn rate is pretty good as well.

Regional J is actually pretty good, especially on day time flights.

Unfortunately you have to call UA Call Centre to find out about seat availability rather than online. I think NH ANA Mileage Club engine can display it but not united.com.

Thanks for the info, I had been using AC but it only ever seemed to show Y out of PER.

Just signed up to ANA and are seeing plenty of SQ space.

 

[joyceful]

Depends on how much you want to fly SQ both ways. If that is all you want to consider then transferring to SQ is pretty much the only option as SQ don't really release much J from Australia to partners until close in (2 weeks before departure).

I don't quite understand how you are getting to your totals and where your 180K KF are coming from. Do you already have these miles or are you obtaiing them from transferring points from elsewhere?

You could also take the 132K United miles as it is 40k each way per person from Australia to Japan in J on Star Alliance carriers (which includes SQ but availability is poor).

TG (via BKK) has plenty of availability from PER on the 787 with plenty of options on a range of aircraft and airports to Japan. You could buy the remaining 28K directly from UA to get you back.

Alternatively you could mix your redemptions and use TG one way and SQ using KF miles the other way.

You also have the option of AA miles which would be 40k each way using. For example you could route either CX PER to HKG and CX or JL to Japan or QF PER to SYD and then either QF or JL to NRT.

Thanks for reply, appreciated. I think i still need to collect more points. I have 138k points in Amex, and 316k points in Citibank. I am still think which airlines that I can transfer them so that points can be wisely.

 

[joyceful]

@joyceful, given you are from PER, PER-SIN are all Regional J anyway, you should be able to redeem using UA as it is not long haul J anyway?

Likewise Regional J applies to SIN-cough/KIX/NGO. There are also some regional J on SIN-NRT/HND as well. You can use UA Mileage Plus miles to book Regional J products. The burn rate is pretty good as well.

Regional J is actually pretty good, especially on day time flights.

Unfortunately you have to call UA Call Centre to find out about seat availability rather than online. I think NH ANA Mileage Club engine can display it but not united.com.

Thanks for reply. Appreciated it. I tried to search on UA website, and it did shows from Perth to Japan however only able to show TG. If I change to Perth - SG, it will come out stopover in Bangkok, and this means very long hour and points up. I just dont understand why it wont show other star alliance partner route perhaps is not more tickets can be redeem from others partner airlines?

Is UA under package one or two? I did found BA good for HKG to Japan short haul with 80k for 4*J tickets, and taxes save lots too!

 

[joyceful]

With the above point totals assuming current tally of 230k - 180k=50k + 85k=135k would get you one return J - PER-SIN-NRT@ 116k +$138 taxes

Thanks Irishbazz. I am trying to use all points with 4 tickets, so I am thinking how to mix J class with Economy class. Too new in frequent flyer, and would like to use the points that have been accumulate and bring kids to Japan for their holiday ;-)