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Homes and Villas by Marriott
When traveling with a large family, space is often a luxury that isn’t easy to find. We are going to spend the next several posts looking at different vacation rentals and how to either utilize points and miles to get a vacation rental or how to cash in as many credit card points as possible on your vacation rental spend.
First up is Homes and Villas by Marriott. Marriott is first, not because they offer the best option for these, but because I know Marriott so well. With my husband traveling almost exclusively with Marriott hotels for the last several years, we are intimately familiar with their rewards programs.
The Good News
- You CAN book Marriott Homes and Villas with Marriott points.
- There are homes that are available with high occupancy within the range of Disney World. Many of the Disney World Area rooms offer free transportation to Disney World, Universal and SeaWorld.
- Marriott is known for having higher prices per room per night, so this could be a way to bring more value to your points.
- All homes guaranteed to have 24/7 Support, Professional Cleaning pre and post stay, High-Speed WiFi, Kitchen Essentials – Cookware, Utensils, Microwave, Starter Kit of Bathroom Amenities – Soap, Shampoo, Hair Dryer, Premium Linens and Towels, Television
- Good points earning potential if planning to pay cash for a vacation rental.
The Bad News
- The biggest negative is that these are managed by a Third Party Management Company. There is no direct Marriott oversight. However, this is not any different from other vacation rentals.
- There were some huge discrepancies in pricing. This makes it more challenging to decipher what a good point value per night might be per property. This is not consistent hotel pricing.
- No way to see ratings on cleanliness, etc.
All the Info
If you’ve ever stayed in a vacation rental, you know they vary greatly in cleanliness, amenities provided etc. The good news with Marriott is that they are trying to create a minimum standard for these homes. The problem, however, is they are pretty hands off in their management and the management of these homes is provided by a third-party property management company. As I have researched on the interwebs I have seen really mixed reviews on the quality of the rentals. This would make a rating system come in really handy.
I do, however, think these could be a good value for your points, especially with a big family or multiple families meeting together. Marriott points are notoriously higher to redeem than other hotel chains in the points and miles game. There are certainly options for high priced points redemptions here with some homes I saw ranging from 200k-500k points per night, but the average points range I saw was far lower than that.
Low Priced Rentals – 20k-30k
Mid Priced Rentals – 55-70K
High Priced Rentals – 80k-120k
Ridiculous Priced Rentals – 200k-500k
If I was looking for a vacation rental specifically, I would definitely add this into my search options. There are some lower prices that would make a number of these homes a stellar deal over having to book several hotel rooms with Marriott.
Paying for the Rental
You have a couple of options when paying for a Marriott Homes and Villas Rental.
- The first is obviously, to pay with Marriott Points. You can also transfer to Marriott with AMEX Points or Chase Points, although we probably wouldn’t recommend that. There are other places to use those points that will give you a higher point valuation.
- The second option would be to pay with cash. If you opt for this version, you want to maximize your points earned. We would do this by paying with our Marriott Card. This would give you up to 18.5 points per dollar spent depending on the Marriott Card in your wallet. Let’s say you’re paying 200/night for 3 nights, that gives you $600 which would give you 11,100 points. This is a huge deal. Just be warned that this credit will only work on charges through Marriott Homes and Villas. Any separate charges from the property management company will not count towards this, although if they code as travel you will get rewarded as a travel charge.
- The Third option is to use a card that gives a higher number of points back on travel like the Capital One Venture or Venture X. The Capital One Venture card gives you 5x on hotels and would therefore be an excellent option to maximize points.
If you do not have a Marriott Card or another good travel rewards card, but you have an Ink Business, you could go for the popular gift card hack.
Gift card hack
Find a time this month that your nearest Staples (who offers 5x points when using the Ink Business Cash card for purchases) has decided to waive fees on prepaid visa gift cards, go buy yourself however many of those you need to cover your stay, and use those to pay for your stay and receive 5x points.
** Side note I have not yet tried this on Marriott Homes and Villas, and I know paying with those gift cards can be a pain in the butt, so check ahead of time to ensure this will work before trying it!
Please let me know what other questions you have about vacation homes, Marriott or otherwise!
