Booking Marriott Awards When You're Short On Points

Earlier in the week I wrote about booking Marriott PointsSavers.  I was roughly 15,000 points short needed for the redemption.  Marriott will let you book the reservation without sufficient points which is an amazing part of their program.  During the booking process you can either purchase additional points (bad deal) or earn the points through another source (good deal).  I knew I had points coming from the Chase Marriott Visa and that my statement would be closing in a week or so.

I made the booking as normal.  You can see the on-screen messaging around not having sufficient points in the screenshot below.

Everything about the reservation processed normally.  I received an email confirmation and was able to see the reservation in my account.  A week later, the points posted to my Marriott Rewards account and I was able to order the "e-certificates" for the free nights.

Kudos to Marriott for offering this feature.  I'm not aware of any other major hotel loyalty program that allows members to do this.  Locking in a hotel award is a key part of trip planning - especially since you can typically cancel fee free.  Being able to do so without sufficient points is even better!

Booking Marriott PointSavers

After our trip to London and Abu Dhabi, we're going to spend a couple of days in New York.  Both of us have stayed all over NYC and haven't really found a favorite hotel.  The W Union Square is great but a pricey points redemption.  The Andaz Fifth Avenue is another favorite but we're blowing 85,000 Hyatt points in London and Abu Dhabi so we were looking for something in one of our "other" programs...meaning Hilton, IHG, or Marriott.

Fairfield Inn or New York EDITION?

I loved my stay at the New York EDITION and the London EDITION is one of our joint favorites...anywhere in the world.  We are hoping to check out the Miami EDITION as somepoint in 2016.  I had 65,000 Marriott points in my account so figured that wouldn't be sufficient.  The hotel is a category 8/Tier 3 hotel meaning it would normally cost 50,000 points per night.  Thanks to Marriott's PointSavers, (a program I didn't even know existed) the hotel is actually discounted for the dates we were looking at to 40,000 points per night.  So 80,000 points gets you a $500 per night hotel room for 2 nights - that's basically 1.25 cents per Marriott point - WAY higher than a typical redemption.  You can see that the Fairfield Inn is also pricing at 80,000 points for 2 nights yet the cash rate is 50% of the New York EDITION.

I bet you can guess which property we picked.  Marriott will even let you book an award stay without sufficient points in your account.  In this case I was 15,000 points short but knew I had points coming.  More on this in a future post.

Thanks to Marriott for saving us 20,000 points on this awesome redemption!

2015 Year in Review: Hotels

I recently posted about my 2015 year in flight.  You can also read about my hotel stays in 2014 (45 nights) and 2013 (55 nights) for comparison purposes.

In 2015, We stayed in really great hotels although didn't receive as many "upgrades" as in prior years.  I ended the year with 46 total nights.  Virtually identical to 2014.  Starwood (15 nights) and Hyatt (11 nights) brands made up the bulk of my stays.  Interesting to note that 15 of the 46 nights were related to business travel...vs. 0 in 2014.  5 of the nights were at independent properties where we were unable to earn/burn points.

None of the nights were business travel although 10 of the "nights" were credit from the Starwood American Express cards and two additional nights were "mistakes" credits.  So I actually stayed in hotels 45 nights during 2014.  I will be dropping from Starwood Platinum to Gold (lifetime) which I'm okay with.

Here's the full breakdown:

• 15 Starwood nights across 8 properties and 5 brands
• 11 Hyatt nights across 4 properties and 3 brands
• 7 Marriott nights across 3 properties and 3 brands
• 5 Hilton nights across 2 properties and 2 brands
• 5 Independent nights across 3 properties and 3 brands
• 2 Fairmont nights
• 1 Shangri-La night

I think 2016 will look pretty similar - large concentration on both Starwood and Hyatt with Marriott/Hilton as backups.  I don't expect the Starwood/Marriott merger to impact my stay habits at this point but we'll see how the merger/loyalty program integration goes.  That said, both of us are becoming very fond of Hyatt - especially the Park Hyatt and Andaz brands.  For the most part, Park Hyatt blows St. Regis out of the water and Andaz beats W hotels in terms of substance so I think we'll continue to ramp Hyatt stays when possible.  

We had some amazing stays across the year.  My favorite by far was the Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa.  Close second (same trip) would be Al Maha outside of Dubai.  Third would be the Waldorf Astoria in Amsterdam.

It was another great year in travel - we're both excited for a new year exploring new places!

Starwood & Marriott Make it Official

By now you've all read about the merger between Starwood Hotels and Marriott International.  Starwood's been for sale all year and it's been a pretty crazy time with plenty (IHG, Wyndham, Hyatt, etc...) of suitors mentioned in the news.  Interestingly enough, I never once read about Marriott being a potentially acquirer.

Everyone's speculating about what will happen to Starwood's brands, SPG program, and the current American Express credit card relationship.  While it's great to speculate, this is a $12B+ merger and it's going to take years to fully integrate both companies.  Marriott's been coy about their plans for all of the above and I expect it will take quite some time before we learn more.  The merger isn't expected to close for 6-9 months and if the airline integrations of the past few years are any indication, it's going to take awhile to even come up with a plan.

Marriott is a giant company with nearly 3x the hotels, 20 brands with many in the limited service category.  Starwood has the better loyalty program, credit card, and is focused on the higher end market.  So the merger makes a ton of sense in that both companies are complimentary to each other.

It's highly likely that the Marriott loyalty program survives and the Starwood American Express relationship (another blow for Amex) is shuttered given that Marriott is the acquirer and will essentially be the surviving entity.

If that happens, I'll be sad to see the program (wonder what will happen to my lifetime gold status?) and the longest tenured credit card in my wallet go.

But this is business and we knew it was coming all year.  I hope Marriott decides to keep Starwood as a brand but not sure that's the best long term business move.  At this point, all that we can do is speculate on what will happen and continue to earn/burn as normal.  I'm doing just that at the moment - wrapping up a phenomenal stay at Al Maha (more on this later) outside of Dubai.  What I wouldn't do is panic and blow all of your points.

Al Maha Dubai bedroom

I'm not going to change my loyalty or credit card approach in light of the merger.  Starwood will still be my primary program and the Starwood Amex remains in my wallet until further notice.

Review: The New York EDITION

I was in New York last week for work and stayed at The New York Edition.  The hotel's located right off Madison Square Park which is a great area and close to our office.  The property has only been open for three months and is quickly becoming one of the hottest hotels in the city.  There are only four EDITION properties (Istanbul, Miami, New York, and London) around the world but at least 8 in the pipeline.  We stayed at The London Edition in late 2013 and I was excited to check out the New York outpost.

I arrived at the hotel on Tuesday at 2:30 PM and was checked in and on my way to my room in less than five minutes.  I had booked a standard room but been upgraded (not sure of the category) to a higher floor corner room.  The hotel has been selling for $700+ per night (They have Krug in the mini bar!!) but August (slow time in Manhattan) brought the rate WAY down and offered the third night free.  Doubt it will work again for business or leisure travel but it was great to check out at least once.

I made my way up to the 34th floor and the room/view were both stunning.  In signature Ian Schrager style (even though this is a collaboration with Marriott) everything was clean and in neutral tones.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Backlight King size bed 

Earning Free Marriott Gold Status with United RewardsPlus

Over the past couple of years, a number of US airline and hotel chains have "hooked up."  Delta with Starwood and Marriott with United are the most notable.  For the United/Marriott deal, United Premier Gold (and higher) elite members are able to get free Marriott Gold by signing up here.  It normally takes 50 nights per year to qualify for Marriott Gold so this is a great benefit of flying 50,000 miles per year on United.

United Gold equals Marriott Gold

London Edition in the NYT

Given my review this morning...there was a really timely piece about the London Edition in the New York Times over the weekend.  It's a great summary of the hotel, the partnership between Ian Shrager and Marriott, and the way the hotel market (specifically the luxury/boutique) is changing. 

It will be interesting to see how Marriott continues to evolve this brand (and others) with so much competition...especially from Starwood.  I'm looking forward to staying at the new hotels in the pipeline.

Review: London EDITION

Introduction

United 787 BusinessFirst Houston to London

London EDITION

United 767 BusinessFirst London to Houston

We arrived at Paddington Station via the Heathrow Express and were out to the street and in a cab in about five minutes.  Definitely the quickest way to get into London.  The drive from Paddington took about ten minutes in light traffic given that it was Sunday.  The hotel is located in the Fitzrovia area which is a really cool part of London's West End close to parks, shopping, and a ton of bars and restaurants. 

We made our way into the gorgeous lobby where Emma checked us in and sent us on our way.  We had been upgraded to a Superior Room which at 301 square feet, was still pretty good size for a big city hotel room.  The room was warm with wood walls and a clean white bathroom.  Very similar to Ian Shrager's other project (Public) in Chicago.

The best part of the London Edition was definitely the public spaces.  Ian Shrager doesn't seem like the type of guy to partner with conservative Marriott but the relationship clearly works because the hotel is beautiful. Everything from the decor to the music to the lighting was just perfect.  The service was friendly and warm but a bit indifferent at times.  We were there over the holidays and saw many of the same staff working long hours so perhaps they were a bit burnt out. 

2013 Year in Review - Hotels

I spent some time over the holidays compiling a few stats from 2013.  We stayed in some awesome hotels (and had some great flights) all over the world.  There was less business and more personal travel  I ended the year with 55 total nights across Starwood, Hyatt, Hilton, and IHG.  About 8 of the nights were business travel and I earned 10 total "night credits" with my Starwood American Express credit cards.  I closed out the year with four "mattress runs" to re-qualify for Starwood Platinum for 2014.

The four incremental stays brought me to 25 nights and cost about $250.  I'll have more on on the value of Starwood Platinum in a future post but for me...the combination of the renewal gift, free internet, upgrades, and free breakfast during each stay for the next 14 months far outweighs the $250 spent to re-qualify at the end of this year.

Here are a few of the highlights and pictures from 2013:

The Status of Status

As we enter the new year, it’s also the end of the status earning year.  Here’s where things stand going into 2014:

• United Premier Gold (50,000+ PQM)
• Starwood Preferred Guest Platinum (25 stays)
• Hilton Gold (Citi Hilton Reserve Credit Card)
• Marriott Gold (Chase Ritz Carlton Credit Card)
• Hyatt Platinum (Chase Hyatt Credit Card)

United and Starwood are my main programs so things are well setup next year.  While certainly a downgrade from 1K, United Gold still allows Economy Plus access at booking, CPUs, Star Gold, free checked bags, same day changes, etc...While I didn’t hit 50 nights to receive the ten suite awards, (will end the year with 44 stays) I’m satisfied with Platinum.  I usually take the breakfast if traveling with Emily or the points if traveling alone.  We were pretty lucky in terms of both treatment and upgrades in 2013.  Let’s hope that continues into 2014.

Off to London!

Introduction

United 787 BusinessFirst Houston to London

London Edition

United 767 BusinessFirst London to Houston

We are headed to London tomorrow afternoon to ring in the new year.  We both needed a few thousand miles to re-qualify for United Premier Gold and I had four expiring United GPUs that we needed to burn.  So why not?

We purchased mileage earning tickets (we'll earn almost 40,000 RDM) and used the GPUs to upgrade to Businessfirst.  On the outbound, we'll get to experience the Dreamliner again which should be great.  United has a great overview of the Dreamliner and some specifics on their configuration.

We're staying at the London Edition in the Fitzrovia area.  The hotel is pretty new and the second outpost of Ian Shrager's partnership with Marriott.  We burned 90,000 Marriott points for the first two nights and we'll use cash for the third.  Looking forward to a great trip!