Once again, Jessie has a swim meet next year in St. Peterburg, Florida. We always stay at
The Vinoy Renaissance St. Petersburg Resort & Golf Club. (Marriott Rewards Category 7). I just went to book 4 nights for the meet next April and my search came back as the room was unavailable on points. Hmm…I decided to try calling Marriott Rewards instead. What I learned when I called, was that for a standard room on points, 2 of the 4 nights that I wanted were completely sold out and therefore my entire stay online was coming up as unavailable. (Remember, I told you this could happen.) I also learned that the only rooms that were available for the entire stay at the hotel were Bay View rooms. Bay View rooms are not available on points (just standard rooms are).
So right now, I have a Bay View room booked on $. It is expensive, $1600 for the four nights. I also booked the 2 available standard nights with points and plan on frequently (like everyday) checking back to see if those other 2 nights for the standard room become available and therefore bookable on points. I really don’t want to spend $1,600! (Nor do I want to switch rooms during our stay for the 2 free nights). The nights I booked with points cost me 35,000 Marriott Rewards points per night, the redemption rate for a category 7 hotel.
In case you were wondering how I have the Marriott points to even book the 2 nights, don’t forget, I had Rob get the Marriott Rewards Premier Credit Card because of a 70,000 bonus point offer. We also earned a ton of points when we stayed at the Atlantis and because we used our Marriott Rewards card for our stay. Not to mention, I just Got The Chase Marriott Card Again Along With 80,000 Bonus Points! I have plenty of points to book those other 2 nights if they become available. Fingers crossed!