Take advantage of Marriott's rate card to book these luxury hotels!

Marriott Bonvoy and Marriott Bonvoy were combined into one program in the summer of 2018. However, by the end of 2018 March 2019, there is a very big advantage in the Marriott rate schedule. Explanations.

Marriott’s rate schedule through March 2019

Marriott announced on 12/14/2018 that the rate change will occur by March 2019 (as opposed to the originally announced 12/31/2018).

Through March 2019, the fee schedule:

will have only 7 categories
will have only one rate per category

Starting in March 2019, Marriott will introduce:

an 8th category
low / high season rates

2018 marriott rate card

This means that until March 2019, you can book hotels that will be in category 8 in 2019 (between 70,000 and 100,000 points per night), at the rate of 60,000 points!

These are the most luxurious hotels of the Marriott Bonvoy program, often hotels from the Marriott Bonvoy portfolio, located in paradisiacal places: Bora Bora, Maldives…

st regis bora bora — St Regis Bora Bora – Credit: Marriott

As Gary Leff of View From the Wing notes, most of these hotels post their availability on the Marriott Bonvoy site, but have not been fully integrated into the Marriott Bonvoy site. To book them, you will often need to call Marriott Bonvoy (who will put you in touch with an SPG specialist).

st regis maldives — St Regis Maldives – Credit: Marriott

This lack of integration is a blessing in disguise: when these are fully integrated, their availability with points could simply disappear while waiting for the introduction of category 8 + high season fares! So you may not have until March 2019 to book them… but only a few weeks, as Marriott begins the phased integration of the various SPG hotels.

Marriott hotels to book

So there are a few dozen particularly interesting hotels at the moment! And of course… I jumped at the chance to book one!

My reservation at Al Maha, a Luxury Collection Desert Resort & Spa, Dubai

I’m planning a trip for the end of 2018: a week – without kids – in the United Arab Emirates. Since this is our first big “romantic” trip in over 4 years, I want it to be epic: more details soon!

While waiting for a full description of this one, here is the dream hotel I booked for 3 nights: Al Maha, a Luxury Collection Desert Resort & Spa, Dubai.

The room, is actually an 800 square foot suite, in the middle of the desert.

With a view of the desert… and no immediate neighbor!

al maha bedouin suite — al maha bedoin suite

It has a private pool…

al maha bedoin suite pool 2 — al maha bedouin suite pool

… from which we can admire the “local traffic”.

All meals:

lunches
dinners
dinners

...are included!

As well as 2 activities per day like… a camel ride!

All this for… 60,000 Marriott points per night, instead of CA$1,454!

al maha 60,000

Obviously I would never have paid CA$1,454 per night, but it’s not surprising to see this rate for such services!

So you can see why this is indeed a sweetspot to exploit before it disappears!

Other interesting hotels

Using the Marriott 6700 hotel rate card, I counted 48 great hotels to book before the end of 2018. These hotels were indeed ranked among the most upscale on the SPG side generally (and were worth over 30,000 starpoints per night or 90,000 Marriott points minimum). They are all at 60,000 points through March 2019.

In addition to these 48 hotels, 12 other hotels will also be upgraded to category 8. These hotels were worth between 45,000 and 70,000 points before the merger, and also cost 60,000 points through March 2019. They will increase to 85,000 points in March 2019.

The most interesting are therefore mainly those with a difference of 30,000 points (last column). You can filter by keyword (e.g. “France” or “Ritz”).

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Bottom Line

This makes it a great time to book luxury hotels in the Marriott portfolio! Remember, Marriott points can be easily earned on American Express Membership Rewards cards. The conversion rate is 5 Membership Rewards points = 6 Marriott points.

The American Express Cobalt Card is the perfect card for everyday spending (grocery stores, restaurants, convenience stores…) earning 5 Membership Rewards points per dollar, or 6 Marriott points per dollar!

Or you can go for 50,000 points with <a class=”thirstylink” title=“the Marriott BonvoyTM American Express^MD Card” href=”https://milesopedia.com/go/amex-marriott”>The Marriott BonvoyTM American Express^MD Card and an additional 50,000 points with the small business version: <a class=”thirstylink” title=“the Marriott BonvoyTM American Express^MD Card” href=”https://milesopedia.com/go/amex-marriott”>the Marriott BonvoyTM American Express^MD Card!