We are going to the Atlantis for a week during Spring Break, 2015. Read about our free JetBlue flights here. We are staying at the Atlantis. (Yipee!!)
The Atlantis has been on my radar for a very long time. I wanted to wait till I felt my kids were old enough (and tall enough) to fully enjoy the immense water park. Next Spring, the kids will be 11.5, 11.5 and 13. That will probably be the perfect age!!
When I booked back in the early summer of 2014, I was unable to book the Atlantis using points of any kind. So we paid. The best part, (read as sarcasm), we needed to book 2 rooms because the Atlantis is somewhat like a cruise where you need to pay by the person to access the water park. (We still sometimes squeeze into one room, especially when we are just crashing in the room at night–although with the ages of my kids this may end soon!)
A little while after I booked my reservation, the Atlantis partnered with the Autograph Collection. The Autograph Collection is part of Marriott International’s Exclusive Portfolio of Independent Hotels. Alas, the hotel could be booked using Marriott Rewards Points! Oh but wait, not until the fall. 🙁
So on October 16, the following guidelines went into effect:
For new reservations booked beginning on October 16, 2014, members will be able to earn points, miles and Elite nights, enjoy Elite benefits and redeem points for free night stays. (The Reef, Atlantis is participating for earning points, miles, and Elite nights only; redemption award stays will not be available at The Reef, Atlantis)
Hmmm—the first thing that went through my mind was…Is it worth it to cancel my current reservation and book my room (2 rooms that is), using Marriott Rewards points? Well, below are categories and the redemption rates for rooms at the Atlantis….
We had booked our rooms in the Royal towers as that is where “everyone” told me I needed to be for proximity to the water park for the kids. Okay, you got me, despite the fact that some other areas of the hotel are considerably less expensive. Whatever!
Based on the above redemption rates, one Royal Tower room would have set us back a hefty 240,000 Marriott Rewards points for 7 nights (40,000 X 6, 5th night is free). Two rooms would have cost us 480,000 points. Huh? Crazy! We do not have those kind of points through Marriott or Chase (Chase Ultimate Rewards points can be transferred to Marriott) just laying around and even if we did, I would not use that many to book rooms at the Atlantis!
So once I made my very wise decision not to use my points, the next thing that I did was I called regarding my current reservation to try to link up my Marriott Rewards number to my reservation so that I could earn 10 Marriott Rewards points on my room rate during our stay.
Uh oh, only on stays booked starting October 16, 2014, will members earn 10 points! per US dollar on room rate. So now my mission was to cancel my old reservation and rebook it under Marriott so I would be able to earn those Marriott Rewards points.
My two rooms, under my old reservation, were costing me $410 per night, so $820 for two rooms for 7 nights, for a total of $5740 (exclusive of taxes). Via Marriott’s website, the room was $418 per night. (You can also call 1-877-829-2429 to book). So under this new reservation, the 2 rooms were going to cost me $5852 (exclusive of taxes) for the 7 nights. It was $112 more and a no brainer. Being able to earn over 50,000 Marriott Rewards points on our stay (5852 X 10 points per dollar) is worth a ton more than $112. We can ultimately use those 50,000 Marriott Rewards points to book a room that is way more than $112!!!!!! I happily made the change!
Can’t wait to go!!!!
\
