Save at Atlantis The Palm Dubai with American Express

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• Dubious says:

  13 Aug13 August 03:33

  Does purchasing Marriott points reset expiry dates?

  • HPN-HRL says:

    13 Aug13 August 04:14

    Marriott’s terms & conditions are not 100% clear, but it looks to me like purchasing points will reset a member’s expiration date. Take a look at section 1.6.d. at https://www.marriott.com/loyalty/terms/default.mi and decide for yourself.

    • Dubious says:

      13 Aug13 August 04:43

      Thanks. Does seem suitably vauge doesn’t it
      “*Examples* of activities that do not count toward maintaining an active status in the Loyalty Program include, *but are not limited to*:

      A. Gifting or transferring Points; however, converting Points to Miles or Miles to Points does count toward maintaining an active status;

      B. Receiving Points as a gift or transfer”

• Mike says:

  13 Aug13 August 06:05

  I have bought points in the past to reset the expiry date.

• Chrisasaurus says:

  13 Aug13 August 06:19

  What happened to the disappearing Amex offer article? Did it disappear too?

  • Peter K says:

    13 Aug13 August 07:03

    Indeed. Just last night Rob said it was coming today.

  • VerdantBacon says:

    13 Aug13 August 07:08

    Probably disappeared when everyone’s offers reappeared and it became a non story

    • Peter K says:

      13 Aug13 August 07:13

      Yes. Just read the comments section saying they are back.

• Anna says:

  13 Aug13 August 07:28

  Is it worth buying at 0.6p to get 0.9p of value given the lost points earning opportunity of paying in cash? I’ve got 9 nights at the Westin GCM next summer (🤞) on a mix of cash and points and using this offer could convert a few of the cash nights to points (with the 5 for 4 rate as well).

  • Memesweeper says:

    13 Aug13 August 08:08

    Cutting costs by 30%? Seems unlikely to me Marriott’s points earning will close that gap.

    One reason not to buy is uncertainty — if the booking doesn’t go ahead as planned are you sure you’d get outsized value again?

    • Guernsey Globetrotter says:

      13 Aug13 August 09:51

      Basic points earn (at 10 points per dollar spend) works out at something like a 7% return on cash stays. If you’re Bonvoy Gold you get a 25% earn boost which takes it to about 8.5% and at Platinum it’s around 10%. Even stacking a bonus offer won’t close the gap and there’s no way of knowing what offers will be running next summer. So Memesweeper is correct to say that the points return on paying cash won’t give you anything near a 30% return unless you are also getting the 5 for 4 discount (on a 5 night stay that gives you a straight 20% off). Staying for 9 nights like you are planning, I would imagine the optimum points return strategy would be to redeem for at least 5 nights to get that free night.

      • Guernsey Globetrotter says:

        13 Aug13 August 14:54

        PS If you are cash booking and want to really maximise the return have you tried going via the BA shopping portal? on the face of it, Marriott gives 4 avios to the £, assuming it tracks! 😉

  • ken says:

    13 Aug13 August 09:38

    In normal times it would seem a no brainer.

    If however you can’t get there you are left with an even bigger balance of points that you struggle to spend while at risk of devaluations.

    Hard to believe that Marriott won’t have at least 1 more sale with up to 50-60% bonus (or 30% discount which is not quite as good), between now and then.

    • Anna says:

      13 Aug13 August 15:50

      Thanks – also we need 2 rooms and cash rates are around £430 pn in July which is low season!!

• Chas says:

  13 Aug13 August 07:46

  What do good “points purchase” options from Marriott look like, and how often do they come around (not wanting the second half of that to elicit a whole load of “how long is a piece of string” comments….)? I appreciate I may have missed the best opportunities during Covid, but am keen to increase my balance when I can at a decent rate.

  • Guernsey Globetrotter says:

    13 Aug13 August 09:37

    I think a 60% discount (July last year) is the best they’ve ever offered and that this is a decent level. There are potentially out-sized value redemption opportunities in their portfolio too (e.g. Al Maha in Dubai, St Regis Vommuli in the Maldives). In the UK at least, it can be quite hard to ‘earn’ Bonvoy points via the usual credit card route, unless you have one of the legacy Marriott cards, although the revamp of the Amex Bonvoy card intro offer helps. I have a stay planned at the House in Barbados next year where even at this cost the points redemption represents a 30% discount against the usual flex rate so makes sense for me to buy but there is always a risk of a devaluation eating into the return you can make.

    • Chas says:

      13 Aug13 August 10:18

      Thanks. I doubt we’ll get back to the sort of discount that was offered last summer, so my 50% bonus is looking appealing. I have the current (well old…) SPG card rather than the legacy Marriott, and most of my card spend goes on the BAPP for the vouchers, so I know how hard it is to earn Marriott points. This offer might have legs for me – will mull it over.

      • Guernsey Globetrotter says:

        13 Aug13 August 11:37

        PS most disappointed to see that my Platinum status only gives me a 45% bonus whereas Mrs Trotter (a ‘mere’ Gold) has 50%!

        • Chas says:

          13 Aug13 August 11:46

          Well that’s clearly where you’ve gone wrong – I’m a lowly Gold too! 😉

        • Guernsey Globetrotter says:

          13 Aug13 August 12:54

          Well I get the last laugh as I run her account anyway 🙂
          All joking aside, this is a good example of why it’s worth having more than one account in these schemes, especially where they allow you to transfer points between them relatively easily …

        • Dubious says:

          13 Aug13 August 16:24

          ‘Member Status’ here and I got 50% bonus 🙂

• chabuddy geezy says:

  13 Aug13 August 08:22

  I’m tempted by the Atlantis offer. Is it really continental breakfast? reviews have hot options in the lounge.

  • Mart says:

    13 Aug13 August 08:31

    We bought a Travelzoo offer last year worked out at £225 a night including half board but it wasn’t the imperial club room.But we value the half board more than imperial club.We have stayed before with imperial club and there is hot options for breakfast in there but again we found the half board suited us better mixing between the buffet and Gordon Ramsay’s for breakfast.

  • Yuff says:

    13 Aug13 August 08:56

    None of the main restaurants( kaleidoscope, saffron, etc plus seafire at October half term and Easter) limit the breakfast to continental as they are all buffet style.
    We always use the imperial club and they have chefs to cook your egg/pancakes/waffles etc in the lounge plus the buffet breakfast

  • KP says:

    13 Aug13 August 10:22

    I was considering Atlantis but I believe currently the water parks etc are closed. So I was swayed away from booking there

    • Blenz101 says:

      13 Aug13 August 12:04

      Definitely not the case. There is a section of the park under refurbishment but that is due to finish any day now.

      The park closed for a few months last year at the height of the pandemic but has been open since including the opening of a massive extension almost doubling it in size.

      • KP says:

        13 Aug13 August 13:35

        Good to know thanks

• Stiv says:

  13 Aug13 August 10:37

  I need a paltry 5,000 Bonvoy points to make a 5 for 4 redemption booking, but have already bought 100,000 points at a previous bonus time this year . Can my husband buy the 5,000 points and gift them to me, or would they be counted in the 100,000 max per year total? T&c’s have me going round in circles trying to find the answer so any advice appreciated.

  • Andrew says:

    13 Aug13 August 11:41

    Marriott T&C’s say it’s 100,000 combined purchased or “gifted”, however your husband can buy the points for his own account and then “transfer” them to you:

    2.8.a. In accordance with the conditions for transferring Points as described in Section 1.6.c., a Member can transfer up to a maximum of 100,000 Points per calendar year to another Membership Account as long as both Accounts are in good standing and have each been open for at least thirty (30) days with qualifying activity, ninety (90) days without qualifying activity (see 2.8.b). A Member can receive up to a maximum of 500,000 Points per calendar year from other Membership Accounts as long as the Accounts are in good standing and have each been open for at least thirty (30) days with qualifying activity, ninety (90) days without qualifying activity.

    • Stiv says:

      13 Aug13 August 12:34

      Ah! ‘Gifted’ vs ‘transferred’. Thanks very much!

  • Guernsey Globetrotter says:

    13 Aug13 August 11:44

    According to my notes you can transfer up to 100k points per year to another member free via phone if your a/c has been open for 90 days + tel 020 3564 6335

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