Questions and Answers

Hi all,

I have several award stays planned for July 2017 in South Africa thanks to the low category hotels Protea by Marriott has there.

[I]For your information : unfortunately, a lot of them changed categories recently with some going from Cat 1 to Cat 3 like Protea Breakwater CPT Waterfront.[/I]

I must have 28k SPG points (which I’ll convert to 3x Marriott pts) to get the award certificates at least 7 days prior to my stays which start on July the 20th.

Right now, I have absolutely no points either on Marriott nor SPG.

The question is, because I have a new account targeted at 35% discount to buy SPG points, should I wait and keep my money (637 USD) until the next SPG points promo, even if it only gets up to 25% discount, or should I buy them now with the -35% ?

The discount is huge but the stays are far away (the bookings are confirmed so no worries) AND, I’m French, so I pay in EUR, and the EUR/USD ratio has never been as low as it is today…

The promo ends on Dec. 31 as you all know and I just can’t make a decision^^

Obviously it is not a question of “can I spend 637 USD now without being ruined ?”, the answer is yes.

The cost of waiting and getting a 25% discount next time would be about 100EUR (for 10 nights on points) if EUR/USD stays at the same ratio. Does the investment worth it for being flexible for such low category hotels ?

Do you think we’ll ever have the opportunity to get a 35% promo before July (without any Amex US card – have a french one but it is useless for points dsicount) because by reading all of the blogs I could find, I came to the conclusion that discount was pretty exceptional for my situation…

Sorry for being too long and thanks for giving me your opinion !

Well, the problem is that there is no way to predict these things. If you look back on Ben’s posts about SPG points sales you’ll see what the pattern has been in the past but that is no guarantee of the future. The other complicating factor has been that these have been often customized so you have know way of knowing what your offer will be. If this offer seems worthwhile to you have you have an immediate use for the points I would go for it.

[QUOTE=”Gaurav, post: 24539, member: 79″]Well, the problem is that there is no way to predict these things. If you look back on Ben’s posts about SPG points sales you’ll see what the pattern has been in the past but that is no guarantee of the future. The other complicating factor has been that these have been often customized so you have know way of knowing what your offer will be. If this offer seems worthwhile to you have you have an immediate use for the points I would go for it.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for taking the time to read my extensive post and answering me Gaurav!

Yes I forgot that almost all of the offers were targeted indeed, I guess it is cleverer to buy now all things considered if the promo never comes back 🙂