Verylvke

Yes, another piece of Marriott news. You may have heard of Homes & Villas, which is an airbnb-style brand launched by Marriott in 2019. It has been flying under the radar since, but Marriott seems to be making an effort to promote it finally.

You could access the special offer here, which appears to be part of the ongoing Week of Wonders promotion.

• Offer period: October 8 – December 31
• To qualify, a minimum 3-night stay is required at a Homes & Villas property
• You will receive a free night voucher within six weeks of stay completion
• The voucher is valid at any Marriott property, capped at 35,000 points

And here are the benefits you get when staying at Homes & Villas:

• Earn 5 points / $1 (as opposed to 10 points at most brands)
• 1 elite night credit per night stayed
• Gold member earns 500 points as welcome amenity
• Platinum member and above earn 1000 points as welcome amenity

So you don’t get benefits like room upgrade or late check-out etc, which is expected as they are not really hotels, and probably only have a loose contract with the Marriott group.

The problem is, Homes & Villas has a very limited footprint at the moment.

• There is no participation in Asia Pacific at all
• There are twelve participating countries in Europe
• In the UK, it’s only present in the following cities: Cambridge, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, London, Oxford, Winchester and York

And since you are looking at (posh) apartments here, prices aren’t cheap. For a long weekend in late October, the cheapest option at London is a one-bedroom flat in Brixton:

In Glasgow, you can get a two-bedroom flat for £82 per night, which is a pretty good deal:

Anyway, 35,000 points are worth around £180 – £200, so if you travel to any of these destinations by the end of this year it might be worth weighing your options.

Yesterday I wrote about the new Marriott Week of Wonders promotion – I thought it was for Asia Pacific only but I was wrong, it turned out to be global but each country / region has its own variant.

The UK version can be accessed here. Most of the so-called “offers” listed here are long-lasting ones or more “features” than “offers”, so although Marriott is trying very hard, the majority of this campaign is just a boring propaganda in my view.

And very annoyingly, they mention “50% less when buying points” in the email, whereas if you click through you see it’s actually referring to the ongoing “50% bonus when buying points” offer, which is much less attractive. The message is misleading at the very least, if not deceptive.

There is an genuine offer however. Until October 15, you could book most Marriott hotel globally (although not all) at the cheaper off-peak rate which, as advertised, can save you up to 33% in points. You need to stay by November 30 though, and after October 15 if you modify your reservation it will be repriced.

Marriott’s redemption chart is as follows:

So you pay as little as 5,000 points for a room night under this promotion. Even better:

• You could use the 5th night free benefit, so pay the price of four nights for a stay of five
• It also staggers with the PointSavers offer, which you can learn more here

In the most extreme case, you pay 16,000 points for five nights at a Cat 1 hotel – that’s 3,600 points per night!

Another good news is for the Amex cardholders – from 8 October 2020 to 31 January 2021, all Marriott hotels spend put through the UK Marriott card is going to earn you 10 points / £1 (regular rate is 6 points), which is very good.