I recently looked at my accounts and noticed that I had over a million points… It was time to spend some. My wife and I had been planning to take a vacation once things calmed down at work and thought this was a perfect time! I began to look at different hotels around Florida and stumbled upon an old favorite of ours, the JW Marriott Marco Island. This hotel is absolutely stunning with a special treat for people traveling without children in their Paradise by Sirene, a 21+ tower that caters to adults. The rooms in the Sirene tower are newly renovated with tile floors, breathtaking gulf views, a private pool, dedicated beach area, and several adult only restaurants. Along with all of these amenities comes a pretty pricey room rate, with rates starting in the high $700’s up to $2,000+ a night, however I certainly wasn’t going to pay that!
$2,000 a night
We hadn’t been on a vacation in over a year and decided that I could certainly splurge a bit, especially since we weren’t going to be paying cash. I found an Gulf Front King Suite for either $2,000 a night, or 125,000 points… I jumped on the points option! This room was absolutely stunning and instead of paying almost $9,000 after taxes/fees it cost us 500,000 points. These points were a combination of Marriott Bonvoy Points and American Express Membership Reward Points, which I had accumulated from both my American Express Platinum and my American Express Gold. American Express was running a promo and I was able to transfer my Membership Reward Points at a 40% bonus, allowing me to achieve higher than normal cents per point ratio, which is what I strive for! Thanks to my American Express Platinum and the Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status that comes along with it, we were able to also score free breakfast during our stay.
Why should I use points instead of cash?
Would you pay $2,000+ a night for a hotel room?… I know I certainly wouldn’t! Marriott Bonvoy Points are widely valued at .8 cents per point, however I was able to achieve 1.6 cents per point on this stay, doubling the valuation! To calculate this, we take the room rate($2000) x nights(4) = $8,000. 8,000 is then multiplied by 100 to convert dollars to cents, 8,000×100 = 800,000. That number is then divided by the number of points needed, 800,000/500,000= 1.6 cents per point. Although we typically strive for 2 cents per point for Membership Rewards points, 1.6 is certainly not a bad value… especially when it helps you avoid all other fees. Booking with points at any hotel allows you to not pay resort fees and taxes, which in some locations can be insane. When I traveled to Napa for work, my hotel had a resort fee, city fee, county fee, hotel fee, and tourism fee… resulting in almost an additional $200 a night that could have been avoided by using points!
What YOLO trips do you have planned? Any countries you are looking forward to visiting once international travel opens back up? Leave a comment below and lets find a way to utilize points to get there!
The Points Authority: Mastering The Points Game 