Is there ever a reason not to use a flight/nights package when redeeming Marriott points? I may want to book a cat 8 and can always use a topper offer to my SW account. It seems these packages are very popular, so wondering if any reason not to book that way.
Looks like cat 8 with SW is 290k/310k/340k/360k.
Gives me the cert for hotel and 50k/70k/100k/120k SW RR points.
Looks like the hotel would normally by 240k points for 7 nights. Or if did the Sheraton or Westin (this would be after the merger) I am not sure what cat, but I'd guess the same. These are all for 2019 maui.
So I don't really get the math on these, but it seems like I am basically spending 120k extra marriott points to get 120k sw rr points. Well in my case, I have spg points, so 40k spg for 120k swrr.
I think the flight/night packages are the best redemptions of Marriott points until we see what they roll out later this year; I expect the packages to be impacted by the merger.
Currently you can transfer 70K Marriott points for 25K miles, or 140K Marriott points for 50K SWRR if all you're doing is a straight up transfer to SWRRs. Another way to look at the flight/night packages from this perspective is to look at the Marriott point cost a la carte, i.e. pricing the miles transfer separately from the nights redemption and adding them together. For 125K SWRR it would cost 350K Marriott points + 240K Marriott points for 1 week in a Cat 8 hotel. That comes to 590K Marriott points vs the 360K for a flight/night package (ok, granted you get an extra 5K SWRRs in this scenario). Or in other words, you get a week in a Cat 8 hotel for just 10K Marriott points using the travel package, or alternatively as you point out 120K SWRR for 120K Marriott points which is a savings of 230K Marriott points over a miles only transaction. I think that makes the package a tremendous deal.
The downside to a flight/night package is that it is for 7 consecutive nights, it's not like you get 240K Marriott points to use here and there at your choosing. And it's supposed to expire in a year, but anecdotally people call and get their certificates extended for free.
I'm hedging my bets right now and plan to redeem Marriott points for another Cat 1-5 SW package. That way I get the 120K SWRR now. In June, Marriott is supposed to be releasing their new category list for all Marriott and SPG properties (they have released a few already but not the full list). I've made reservations at Cat 8 properties I'm considering. You have to search based on using reward points, not cash, but you don't need the points in your account yet if it's a Marriott property. But you do need the points in your account for SPG properties, so that puts you in a pickle if you're thinking of transferring the 40K SPG points over to Marriott for the travel package because you won't know ahead of time which category the Sheraton or Westin will end up in. Unless you have enough SPG points to both transfer to Marriott
and book the Sheraton or Westin, then you're pretty golden.
When the new category list comes out, I'll call to upgrade my Cat 1-5 certificate to whatever the new category is and pay with Marriott points or I'll change to a different property entirely. Those are my plans anyway.
