• Home
  • Credit Cards
    • Airline Credit Cards
    • Hotel Credit Cards
    • Travel Rewards Credit Cards
    • Good Sign Up Bonuses
    • Business Credit Cards
    • $0 Annual Fee Credit Cards
  • Airfare Deals
  • Airlines
  • Airline Loyalty
  • Useful Info
  • About
  • Contact
Facebook Twitter Google+ Pinterest Youtube Instagram
Traveling For Miles
  • Home
  • Credit Cards
    • Airline Credit Cards
    • Hotel Credit Cards
    • Travel Rewards Credit Cards
    • Good Sign Up Bonuses
    • Business Credit Cards
    • $0 Annual Fee Credit Cards
  • Airfare Deals
  • Airlines
  • Airline Loyalty
  • Useful Info
  • About
  • Contact
Home  >  Hotel Loyalty • Marriott Rewards  >  Why Marriott Flight And Hotel Packages Are Not Always The Best Marriott Rewards Redemptions
Hotel LoyaltyMarriott Rewards

Why Marriott Flight And Hotel Packages Are Not Always The Best Marriott Rewards Redemptions

Posted onJanuary 12, 2018January 11, 2018

Some links to products and travel providers on this website will earn Traveling For Miles a commission which helps contribute to the running of the site – I’m very grateful to anyone who uses these links but their use is entirely optional. The compensation does not impact how and where products appear on this site and does not impact reviews that are published.


If you look around on the internet for tips on how to use your Marriott Rewards balance you’ll be hard pushed to find a site that doesn’t suggest you should use your points for a Marriott Rewards Travel package…or a “Flight & Hotel Package” as Marriott calls them. Well, as great as those redemptions can be, I’m going to offer a contrarian view.

What Are Marriott Flight And Hotel Packages?

Marriott Rewards allows you to redeem your points for packages that will give you a certificate for a 7-night stay at a Marriott property as well as miles or points in one of a number of airline loyalty programs.

All the redemption charts can be found by following this link but I’ll take one of the more commonly used charts as an example:

The reason why Marriott Flight and Hotel packages are often cited as a great use of Marriott Rewards points is because, essentially, they allow you to purchase airline miles at a ratio of 1 Marriott Rewards point to 1 airline mile/point…and that’s a very good exchange rate.

Here’s a quick bit of math to show what I mean:

A Marriott Flight & Hotel package that offers 7 nights at a Marriott Category 1 – 5 property & 120,000 miles costs 270,000 Marriott Rewards points (per the chart above).

If you were to book a Marriott Category 5 property for 7 nights as a stand-alone booking it would cost you 25,000 points/night….but you would also get 1 night free (courtesy of Marriott’s 5th night free policy) so you end up with a total cost of 150,000 Marriott Rewards points for the booking.

The Marriott Rewards Award Chart

If 150,000 points buys you 7 nights at a Category 5 property and 270,000 points gets you the same reservation with an added 120,000 airline miles then the airline miles are costing you 120,000 Marriott Rewards points.

Simple…and, as I’ve already said, a very good conversion rate for airline miles.

I Don’t Always Like This Option

Here’s where I go against the general feeling in the miles & points blogosphere and disagree with a few people.

I’m moving away from using my points for Marriott Flight and Hotel redemptions more and more and it has a lot to do with the direction in which airline loyalty programs are going.

Airline miles are getting harder and harder to use economically and, although 120,000 airline miles will technically get you an American Airlines roundtrip Business Class redemption from the continental US to Hawaii, Europe, South American and parts of Asia, have you tried actually booking such an award?

It’s practically impossible.

It’s not often that much better on other airlines….and when you do find availability it usually comes with extortionate surcharges (the kinds you’ll find on BA and Virgin Atlantic).

On top of all that, on some airlines, 120,000 miles won’t get you far at all – like on Delta – so I’ve started to question just how good a redemption these Marriott Flight and Hotel packages actually are.

I’ve also started to consider what I could be doing with 120,000 Marriott rewards points if I wasn’t converting them to airline miles.

The new Ritz-Carlton Langkawi is a Tier 2 property and costs 40,000 points per night….and not at the points saver level. That’s the regular price and a level at which award availability isn’t hard to find.

Ritz-Carlton Langkawi – Image Marriott

120,000 points would buy 3 nights at this great-looking property and, in my opinion, would be a better use of Marriott Rewards points than converting them to airline miles.

I’ve used the Ritz-Carlton Langkawi as an example but there’s any number of other properties where the same example would work very well….or I could make the argument even more compelling.

120,000 Marriott Rewards points is enough for a 5 night stay at a Category 6 property (of which there are lot!) and some of these can be pretty good value.

Take the JW Marriott Bangkok for example…

JW Marriott Bangkok Deluxe King Room – Image Marriott

…or the surprisingly good Courtyard Seoul Namdaemun (reviewed here)…..

Courtyard Seoul NamdaemunCourtyard Seoul Namdaemun

…or the JW Marriott Mexico City:

JW Marriott Mexico City – Image Marriott

Any of those properties (and a lot more like them) would be a very god use of 120,000 Marriott Rewards points and the points would almost certainly be a lot easier to use at these properties than they would be if they were converted to airline miles.

Some will argue that the redemption value you’re getting for your points with an airline redemption can be considerably greater than the value you’d be getting if you simply use the points to book hotel nights….but that’s assuming you can get the redemption in the first place.

Sure, exchanging 120,000 Marriott Rewards points to airline miles that then get you a Business Class fare that would otherwise have cost $3,000+ would be a fantastic use of those points…..but how often are you actually able to do that?

Answer – not very often at all and certainly not as often as was once possible.

Be Careful – You Won’t Always Get A 1:1 Conversion To Airline Miles

Let’s go back to the Ritz-Carlton Langkawi as an example.

As a Tier 2 Ritz Carlton property this costs 40,000 points per night (at the most) so a 7-night stay would cost 240,000 Marriott Rewards points when you include the 5th night free benefit.

A Tier 2 Marriott Flight & Hotel redemption would cost 420,000 points and would get you the same 7 night stay and 120,000 airline miles – you’re now getting 120,000 Airline miles in exchange for 180,000 Marriott Rewards points.

That’s not particularly impressive.

The same situation arises if you book a Category 1 – 4 Marriott property but, as I don’t expect too many people will do that, the Ritz-Carlton example seems a bit more pertinent.

Bottom Line

Yes, Marriott Flight and Hotel Packages can be good value and, yes, “buying” airline miles/points at a 1:1 ratio with Marriott Rewards points can be a very good deal….but it’s not a no-brainer.

I’m not for one moment trying to put anyone off from redeeming Marriott Rewards points for Flight & Hotel packages – what I am trying to do is to make sure that readers don’t automatically assume they’re always the best way to use points….because often they’re not.

Previous Article Pet Peeve: I HATE It When Blogs Do This
Next Article UBER In Los Angeles: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly From A Recent Trip

Related Posts

  • Get A 35% Discount On Starpoints Through 31 May

    April 20, 2018
  • Hilton’s 2Q Double Points Promotion Is Open For Registration

    April 19, 2018
  • Marriott/Starwood Combined Loyalty Program – Big Questions Yet To Be Answered

    April 19, 2018

Search The Site

TFM On Social Media

Subscribe

Travel Rewards Credit Cards

Recent Posts

  • British Airways 787-9 Dreamliner Business Class
    FLASH OFFER: $70 or £50 Off British Airways Long-Haul Routes This Weekend (US & UK Only) April 20, 2018
  • Cathay Pacific Will Improve Meal Service In Business Class…But Only A Little April 20, 2018
  • Get A 35% Discount On Starpoints Through 31 May April 20, 2018
  • British Airways Opens A New Lounge In Rome April 20, 2018
Booking.com

INSTAGRAM FEED

Load More...
Follow on Instagram

Popular Posts

  • It’s Time To Do Something About Bad Flight Attendants April 11, 2018
  • Hilton Adds A New Resort In The Maldives April 2, 2018
  • Speculation: Cathay Pacific Will Downgrade Economy Class In The Next Year March 29, 2018
  • RUMOR: Marriott Rewards/SPG Program Announcement Coming April 10, 2018
<

Airline Loyalty

  • Here’s How To Status Match To Star Alliance Gold
  • Six American Airlines AAdvantage Business Class Sweet Spots
  • Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
    ENDING SOON: Buy Alaska Miles For 2.11 Cents Each
  • April 2018 Flying Blue Promo Awards Are Live (Travel 31 May – 30 July)
Airline Credit Cards
Facebook Twitter Google+ Pinterest Youtube Instagram

Disclaimers & Disclosures

Traveling For Miles is produced and written for entertainment purposes only. The contributors to this site are not investment advisors, financial planners, nor legal or tax professionals. All articles here represent an opinion and are general in nature and should not be relied upon for individual circumstances.

Advertiser Disclosure: Some links, banners and javascript solutions found on this website will earn the site an affiliate commission which helps contribute to the running of the site – I’m very grateful to anyone who uses these links but their use is completely optional. The compensation does not impact how and where products appear on this site and does not impact reviews that are published.

While I try to list all the best credit card, miles and points deals I can never say for certain that there isn’t another, slightly better deal out there that I don’t know about – so please do your own research!

Editorial Disclosure: The editorial content on the pages of Traveling For Miles is not provided by any airline, hotel group, bank or credit card company and has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone and not those of any airline, hotel, hotel group, bank or credit card issuer that is mentioned.

Regarding Comments: The comments on the pages of Traveling For Miles have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any advertiser.

© Copyright 2015 - 2018 - Traveling For Miles