Getting a Suite or Better Room on Points with a Marriott Bonvoy Redemption with Points Upgrade
While looking for ways to burn some of my Marriott Bonvoy points lately, I chanced upon a 'Redemption with Points Upgrade' option that I was personally not familiar with. If you understand how hotel loyalty programs work in the industry, you might be familiar with this from the Hilton Honors program for instance - instead of paying just the published rate for a standard room, you can now choose to redeem more Marriott Bonvoy points for a higher-category room (or even suite!).
Click HERE to find out more about the Marriott Bonvoy program!
Photo Credit: W Singapore - Sentosa Cove
The very first thing to take note is this - the 'Redemption with Points Upgrade' option is not something that you will see all the time. Much like the Hilton Honors program, the number of points required for an enhanced room is not published (on the other hand, World of Hyatt publishes the exact number of points required for a free night in a Standard, Club and Suite).
The W Singapore - Sentosa Cove is a Category 6 property under the Marriott Bonvoy program and this means that a free night here will require 50,000 points. Now, you might know that there will be some upcoming award-pricing changes that will go live on 14 September 2019 and a free night here at the W Singapore - Sentosa Cove will require either 40,000 (off-peak), 50,000 (standard) or 60,000 (peak) then. At the time of writing, these changes have not been implemented and all available standard rooms are priced at 50,000 points.
What was interesting (for me at least) was the option to redeem a Fabulous Room at 58,000 points and the Marvelous Suite at 79,000 points. Now, if you are a Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Elite member (or higher), you might want to roll the dice with a suite upgrade but having the option to redeem for a guaranteed suite is nice when you really want one (but do not wish to pay cash for it). Now if you are thinking about utilising the fifth night free benefit on award stays, do note that the free night is based on the standard award rate (50,000 points in this case).
There is a new Hyatt Place opening in Bangkok - Hyatt Place Bangkok Sukhumvit 1 (not to be confused with the Hyatt Place Bangkok Sukhumvit near Phrom Phong) - and it has already started to accept stay reservations from 13 January 2025.