60,000 Starpoint Contest Master Entry Post

How about this for a free night redemption:

Four Points by Sheraton Manhattan SoHo Village
Dec 31, 2012 – Jan 2, 2013 (2 nights/24,000 starpoints)
Rack Rate is $1,999 US

12,000 Starpoints/night.

Value of Starpoints: $0.167 / point

Enter on other blogs by dropping a comment, or spend hours of research to enter here.

Hmm….

St. Regis Bora Bora Resort

Category 7 Hotel 30k points

142,500 XPF = 1479.28994083 US

Dates: Sept 1 to Sept 2, 2012

I’d use it at The Westin st John villas. May 4-8 $494 a night.Category 5 4800+$90…0.0841

St. Regis NY – checking in on 12/31/12 for one night.
Redeem 30,000 points intead of paying $1,214

4 Nights in Rome @ Sheraton Roma Hotel & Conference Center
Sep 21-23 & Sep 29 @ $167 / 7,000 points per night for a total of 28,000 points used.

Never been to thailand and planning to visit there with my wife early next year.

Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit, A Luxury Collection Hotel

250 Sukhumvit Road, Bangkok 10110, Thailand

SPG Free Nights

10,000 Starpoints

No penalty for changes/cancellations until 01/17/2013
No deposit required
Eligible ID required at check in

Sheraton Changbaishan Resort https://www.starwoodhotels.com/preferredguest/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=3689
8 nights at 3,750 Starpoints = 30,000 points

CNY 1400 = 219.8980 USD * 8 = 1759.184 = 0.0586394666666667 dollar per point
Deluxe, non-smoking: King Bed
October 1 – 9 2012

That is my all-time favorite example, you beat me to it!

After Including tax -> $0.0704 / pt

Grosvenor House, Dubai

Nov 12-18

Deluxe room: 2 Single Beds Flexible rate + breakfast 422 USD or 10,000 Starpoints or 4,800 Starpoints + USD 90

Sheraton Tokyo bay 2013 may 4-8. $1000 a night for only 14k.0.071 per starpoint

Cash & Points:

Dates: December 21-22 (or any night October through December)
Property: Four Points by Sheraton Lianyungang
Room: Comfort Room – King Bed
Cash & Points: 1,200 + $25
Room Rate: $250.98
Value: 0.18831666 per starpoint!

Shertaon Frankfurt Congress Hotel. 7 Sep – 12 Sep (5th Night Free) Cat 3 Hotel

Total Starpoints: 5,600 per night – 22,400

Lowest Available Rate (205 EURO) $254.45 per night. Total cost $1,272.25 / 22,400 = $0.05679 starpoint per dollar.

Who give away the points? Do I get a 1099 from you or Amex ?

Westin Siray Bay Resort and Spa, Phuket, Thailand

Dec 25 – Jan 04

Lowest Standard Rate: USD 413.41 + tax. With tax included USD 490.72 per night
With 10 nights stay, came up to USD 4907.2

With Cash+Points option, one night cost 2800 Starpoints + USD 45
Total of 28000 Starpoints + USD 450 for 10 nights stay

Value per Starpoint >> (USD 4907.2 – USD 450)/28000 Starpoints = $0.1592.pt

Amazing deal IMHO.

Cash & Points Option

Le Meridien Makkah
Makkah, Saudia Arabia

August 12th – August 18th
Room Type: Color TV With Cable, King Bed
Rate: 4,067 SAR per night, or $1,084
Cash and points option: 4,800 points + $90

So, 6 nights at 1,084 is $6,504 so $0.2168 / pt

Brian,

Are you disqualified if you post an entry that includes a PORTION of another posters entry?

St Regis Abu Dhabi
Dec 31-Jan 2 2013
AED $3000/night, 12000 pts= AED $.25/pt

12/31/2012 – 01/02/2013 Four Points by Sheraton Manhattan SoHo Village, New York 2 nights, 2 double beds @ $2,343.36.55/night, total $4,686.91, 12,000 points per night, 24K total, 0.19528 per point

11/02/2012/- 11/04/2012 Le Méridien Dead Sea
Mobile Post Ein BoqeqDead Sea, Israel 2 nights @ $383.96, total $767.92. 2K points per night, 4K total, 0.19198 per point.

12/01/2012/- 12/02/2012 Le Méridien Dead Sea
Mobile Post Ein BoqeqDead Sea, Israel 1 nights @ $383.96, total $383.96. 2K points per night, 2K total, 0.19198 per point.

Grand total $5,838.79, 30K points, or 0.19462 per point

I’m unable to get it to load the rates(Since they sell out as soon as purchase is available) but I know two years ago The South Beach W Rack rate without Tax was 3525.60 on Ultra Weekend during the Winter Music Conference. You can use 30,000 points still I believe(Probably for one room only) but I’ve never been quick enough on the trigger to make a booking.

Cash & Points -

Sheraton Gunter San Antonio Jan 12 – 31st (18 nights) -1,600 + 30/night

Rack Rate – $269/night

269-30=239*18=$4,302 in value for 28,800 points

$.149375/point

At least it’s not random… there’s skill to it. I like it. My employer does not.

One night at westin vendome Paris. It is $1024 a night for my dates in September

How does the W9 work for Canadians?

Do Canadians get this benefit tax free (Canada Revenue Agency claims that lottery winnings are not taxable)?

With the tax, winning your contest gets me the privilege of HAVING to BUY SPG miles at a rate of $0.7/mile. That significantly changes the dynamic on this.

Cash & Points Entry

Part 1) St. Regis Mauritius Resort
Oct 15 – Oct 18
8,000 Points & USD $150 per night
3 Nights is 24,000 Points
Lowest Standard Rate for 3 Nights is EUR 3,570
USD:EUR exchange rate is 1.24, so total is $4,426 for 3 nights.
Subtract $450 paid. Savings of $3,976
This leaves 6,000 Starpoints.

Part 2)
Book the Four Points Hotel in Lagos Nigeria for 4,800 starpoints + $90
Oct 18 – 19
Lowest Available Rate is 50,400 Nigerian Naira, including taxes
USD: Naira Exchange Rate is 160, so this cost is $313, less $90 paid is $223 saved for 4,800 points

Total saved is $223 + $3976, total of $4,199. Divided by 30,000 points is $0.14
Divided by the 28,800 points actually used is $0.1458 per point.

Cash and Points option:
Sheraton Orlando Downtown Hotel: 12/31-1/1
Lowest Standard Rate: $235.13 (including charges & taxes) – $30 / 1,600 Starpoints = $0.12821/point

Free Nights:

- The Great Wall Sheraton Hotel Beijing
2/8/13-2/12/13: 14,000 SPG points, or $2817.84

- Le Parker Meridien
4/14/13-4/15/13: 16,000 SPG points, or $4101.05

Total: $6918.89, or 30,000 SPG points or .23/cents per SPG point

W New York City 9/28/-9/30/2012
8000 spg points +$150
Room rate with taxes $441

My plan was Panama for Spring Break (I’m a teacher, not a partier), but of course now I can do better with these imaginary Starpoints. I think two nights at the Sheraton Hong Kong in March for 12k points a night and then a night at the Sheraton Dongguan (take the ferry there from Hong Kong) for a mere 4k points. Leaving me with 2000 points left over.

Free Night:
Great Wall Sheraton Great Wall Beijing
12/29 – 12/30
3700 CNY + 555 CNY Service Charge = 4255 CNY = 668 USD
or 3,000 Points
22.26 cents per point

Cash & Points:
Great Wall Sheraton Great Wall Beijing
12/29 – 12/30
3700 CNY + 555 CNY Service Charge = 4255 CNY = 668 USD
or 1,600 Points + 30 USD
39.88 cents per point

Also Feb 8-Feb 10th 3000 points per night. Get 5 rooms. Maybe the rate will be higher when you check If there is problems with room availability, you can get 3 rooms one weekend and 2 the other. You will have to make separate reservations for each room

The W Hotel New York City
9/28/2012 to 9/30/2012
8,000 SPG points +$150
Room rate with taxes is $441

I love W hotels because of their amazing beds. I sleep like a baby.

Also,

Free Night at the:
Great Wall Sheraton Great Wall Beijing
12/29/2012 to 12/30/2012
3700 CNY + 555 CNY Service Charge = 4255 CNY = 668 USD
or 3,000 Points

22.26 cents per point

Not bad at all.

Four Points by Sheraton Manhattan SoHo Village – Traditional, non-smoking: 2 Double Beds
12/19/2013-12/20/2013 – 3039/nt or 12k star points
12/22/2013-12/23/2013 – 3039/nt or 12k star points -Deluxe room: King Bed
The Great Wall Sheraton Hotel Beijing -Deluxe room: King Bed
2 nights – 3900CNY/nt = $612/nt or 3k

Total – 3039 + 3039 + 612 = $7302 or .2434 per point

There is a slightly lower offer on the Sheraton Manhattan SoHo Village for a regular kind bed, however your still able to use 12k oints to get the two double bed offer I listed. In my eyes this still shows added value. If I am going to the hotel with my family and would need two double beds to accomodate wife and kids I can still use 12k points rather than 3039. If it has to be the lowest rate rather than the most actual
centers per point please let me know.

The W Hotel New York City
9/28/2012 to 9/30/2012
8,000 SPG points +$150
Room rate with taxes is $441

Sheraton Denver Downtown
Oct 18 – 19
$349 Lowest Advertised Price
2800 Cashpoints + $45
10.8 Cents per cashpoint!

Four Points by Sheraton Lianyungang
Oct 18-19
$251 per night
3000 Cashpoints per night
8.3 Cents per cashpoint!

Sheraton Paris. 09/27 — 10/02 (5 nights)
Lowest price: $354 USD or 286 EUR. Cash & Points: 4800 pts $ 90

4800 @ 5 nights = 24,000 Starpoints + $450 USD.
$354 USD X 5 nights = $1770 – $450 = $1320 / 2400 points = $0.055

Not bad for a 5 night stay in Paris!

http://www.starwoodhotels.com/preferredguest/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=1736

The W Scottsdale in Arizona. I’ll be able to book a wonderful room for 2 nights over the weekend @ peak for $258 plus 12k points and have 18k left over for a wonderful redemption at https://www.starwoodhotels.com/preferredguest/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=1848 – Le Meridien Phuket Beach Resort for 2 nights for my future trip booked!

I’m going to try this because I think others calculated incorrectly:

Cash&Points:

The Great Wall Sheraton Hotel Beijing
2/10/13 – 2/28/13 (18 Nights)

Total: CNY 80,730 (including taxes)

Total in USD: $12,663.45 (including taxes)

Redemption of 1600 points + $30 over 18 Nights: 28,800 points + $540

Final Calculation: $12,663.45 – $540 = $12,123.45/28,800 points = $.4209/point

Love the contest, but what a mess. How are you going to verify all this? Half the people can’t even calculate the point value correctly or don’t know the difference between $ and cents…

Free Night:

The Great Wall Sheraton Hotel Beijing
2/3/13 – 2/13/13 (10 Nights)

Total: CNY 44,850 (including taxes)

Total in USD: $7,035.17 (including taxes)

Redemption of 3000 points/night over 10 Nights: 30,000 points

Final Calculation: $7,035.17/30,000 points = $.234506/point

12/20/13-12/21/13
Four Points by Sheraton Midtown – Times Square
2 dbl beds

12K 1 night $3479.28

12/22/13-12/23/13
Four Points by Sheraton Midtown – Times Square
2 dbl beds

12K 1 night $3479.28

02/15/13-02/17/13
The Great Wall Sheraton Hotel Beijing
2 single beds

2 nights @3K per night – 6K $8970 CNY with taxes or $1417 USD

Grand total $8375.56, 0.2791 per point

Since I don’t think the competition is about finding the most expensive night at The Great Wall Sheraton Hotel Beijing I will post another option, because I believe it would be difficult to beat that, but I encourage people to find different options here is mine for Cash& Points:
The St. Regis Saadiyat Island Resort, Abu Dhabi
Check In
11/12/2013 – 3:00 PM
Check Out
11/18/2013 – 12:00 PM
1 room(s) for 6 night(s): AED 21,589.92 = USD5878.15
5878.15-540usd = 0,185

Attention: There is a catch all these dates are available for the Cash & Points but you will have to book 6 different reservations from the 12th to the 13th, to the 14th, and so on until the Nov. 18th 2013!
Hope this qualifies!

Free Night:
The Westin Monache Resort, Mammoth Lake, CA
December 25-27th, 2012 (two nights)
Deluxe Studio Suite: $699/night or 12,000 pts/night
58.25 cents per point

I think people are calculating rates w/ taxes which will most likely confuse things. Should it be this way?

I agree. This is my favorite of the three contests I’ve seen.

That would be 5.8 cents per point or $.05825/point.

Here’s a pretty great cash and points option: The Royal Orchid Sheraton Hotel & Towers is a Category 2 Hotel. At a Cash & Points rate of $30 USD and 1600 points, we can get a whopping 18 nights at this property with 30,000 SPG points. I found availability from March 3, 2013 – March 20, 2013. The lowest rate is 5,500 THB which equals approximately $175 USD.

So for 28,800 SPG points and $540 USD you can get 18 nights in Bangkok!! If you were to pay out of pocket this would total with tax 116,523.00 THB or $3,704.27 USD. After the $540 USD used for cash and points the difference is $3,164.27. That is a return of $0.109/point!!

Lots of exciting stuff listed here, but mine is more practical for anyone needing to travel to the Boston area. The Element Hotel in Lexington, Massachusetts, US is very pleasant hotel modeled after the W where rates are never less than $199 during the week and sometimes much higher. It is also 7,000 points for a free night. I stay there for $45 and 2800 points. Using cash and points enables me to extract 5.5 cents per point versus the cash rate, and saves me points that I would otherwise be redeeming at over 93 cents per point if I were to do the 7,000 point redemption.

where and the heck do you get 84,45 CNY for 18 nights???? Its a little over 1000 CNY/ night in a room that you would get for cash and points. Thats 18,000 CNY, not 84,000.

Sheraton Pentagon City Arlington, VA 4/8/13 checking out 4/18/13 10 nights 329.65 including taxes rack rate (room only 299.00) cash+ points 2800 points + $45
329.65×10 = 3296.50 – cash 450.00= 2846.50 /28,000 = .10166

Stay 15 nights at the category 1 Le Meridien Dead Sea in Isreal when staying on Friday and Saturday. 7 ½ consecutive Friday/Saturday stays at 4000 points per stay. $331/night rack rate + $52.96 VAT = $383.96/night for a total of $5759.40 = 19.198 cents per point.

Feb. 8-16, 2013
The Great Wall Sheraton Hotel Beijing
Category 2
3 weekend nights = 9k
5 weeknights = 20k
Total: 29k
3 + 3 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 3 = 29k
Cost: 35,880 CNY = $5635.67
CPM if you’re going with 30k: $0.188
CPM if you’re going with 29k: $0.194

Competing for all Starpoints itinerary…For a wonderful Thailand escape, I would arrive in Bangkok on September 1st and stay at the Aloft Bangkok (2,000 a night) for 4 days; (8000 points) then travel on September 5th to Chiang Mai and stay at the Le Meridien Chiang Mai (3,000 a night) for 3 days (9,000) then on September 8th go to Le Meridien Chaing Rai Resort and stay there (3,000 a night) for 4 days (12,000). An 11 day Starwood Thailand holiday for 29,000 points!

My first thought would be to stay at the Cervo Hotel, Costa Smeralda Resort in Perto Cervo Italy. However this category 7 hotel requiring 35,000 points for redemption unless I was until after sept 9th, then the point requirements drop down to only 30,000 points. This makes it a great redemption actually! So I will stay 1 night on Sept 15th for 30,000 points. The going rate then is 795eur (986.67 USD) or 0.0265 cent per point! I don’t think it gets better than this!

Four nights at Sheraton Iowa City Hotel on 9/14/12 to 9/16/12 at a value of 0.o35

Cash + Points at the category 2 Sheraton Lima Hotel & Convention Center. 1600 points + $30 for 18 nights starting on 11/24 and checking out on 12/12. Rack Rate of $350/night + $35 taxes + $63 VAT = $448/night. $8064 – $540 (for the cash part) = $7524 total. That is a grand total of 25.08 cents per point. Which obviously is a great redemption!

Interesting but I dont’ see any points availibility on those dates at the Deer VAlley resort

FREE NIGHT

The Great Wall Sheraton Hotel Beijing

02/08/2013 – 02/16/2012

4080 CNY/night = 32,640 CNY = $5,125.31

CASH & POINTS

W South Beach

Check In
12/23/2012 – 4:00 PM
Check Out
12/25/2012 – 11:00 AM

Room rate: USD1,209.00
Taxes: USD157.17
Estimated total**:USD1,366.17
Estimated total for your stay**
1 room(s) for 2 night(s): USD 2,732.34

30000 Starpoints and $ 550 for Stay

$2,732.24 – $550 = $2,182.24

$2,182.24/30,000 = $.07 per point

POINTS ONLY
Four Points by Sheraton Manhattan Chelsea

Check In
11/27/2013 – 3:00 PM
Check Out
11/29/2013 – 11:00 AM

Average est. room total per night
Room rate: USD2,999.00
Taxes: USD446.15
Estimated total**:USD3,445.15
Estimated total for your stay**
1 room(s) for 2 night(s): USD 6,890.30

12,000 Starpoints per night

$6890.30/24,000 = $.29 per point

It was available when I tried……are you logged in?

I would use the 30,000 in either giveaway option to book 10+ weekend rooms at the Kansas City Airport Four Points. They are 2,000 a night on weekends for straight redeem w/o cash and cheaper with cash of course. My Sister just moved there and this would give me a bunch of weekends between the date you give me the points and next Spring of 2013. Not as interesting as some of the other entries but would yield me 15+ nights depending on how much cash I want to use with the points or just using the points alone.

2 nights @ St. Regis Singapore. check in Sep 21, 2012; check out Sep. 23, 2012. 40,000 points or $1500 for 2 nights. $0.14 per point

Count me in

Is it one entry per person? Basically if you find a better offer after you put yours in can you add a new one?

Hi “the points guy”,
could you do me a favor and explain again the actual goal of your competition?!
Is it to find the lowest “cent per point” ratio, or the highest? … either I’m not good in maths or in English, but it looks like all participants were hunting for the lowest ratio?

The smaller the costs/night, the lower will the ratio be, but the less each point is worth…?!

Thanks, Martin

Pretty cool! Doesn’t seem to be available for points anymore on NYE but the same trip works if you move it a few weeks back. Still very slick.

Cash and Points for Sheraton Lima, Peru
Check in: 1/16/2013
Check out: 2/1/2013 Total nights:16
Room rate $174/night
Cash and Points will be 1600 points and $30/night

Total will be 25,600 points and $480 instead of $2784

We will be going through these all making sure they are original. Thanks

Wow, it is packed & I hope I am not too late to post for the best “free-night redemptions” ideas for 30K SPG points.

Per SPG site, Le Méridien Dead Sea (Cat 1) will have the best value for the weekend stay (2000 SPG points per night). Therefore, I will propose to stay in Le Méridien Dead Sea for 8 times:

11/2-11/4 (2 nights for 4000 points)
11/9-11/11 (2 nights for 4000 points)
11/16-11/18 (2 nights for 4000 points)
11/23-11/25 (2 nights for 4000 points)
11/30-12/2 (2 nights for 4000 points)
12/7-12/9 (2 nights for 4000 points)
12/14-12/16 (2 nights for 4000 points)
12/23-12/24 (1 night for 2000 points)

Totally 15 weekend nights for 30K SG with the totak rack rate value (+ 16% tax) of $5,759.4 ($0.192 per point).

I will have a super nice 2012 Thanksgiving & Christmas holiday in Israel!!!

Iterating on my earlier entry, I decided to de-couple the Beijing stays into weekend-only stays (to take advantage of a 3,000 SPG point weeekend rate, as opposed to a 4,000 weekday SPG rate). That gave me 2000 more SPG points to spend, which I could use for a stay at the LeM Dead Sea.

Free Nights:

- The Great Wall Sheraton Hotel Beijing
2/8/13-2/10/13: 6,000 SPG points, or $1411.20

- The Great Wall Sheraton Hotel Beijing
2/15/13-2/17/13: 6,000 SPG points, or $1411.20

- Le Parker Meridien, Palm Springs
4/14/13-4/15/13: 16,000 SPG points, or $4101.05

Le Meridien Dead Sea
11/2/12-11/3/12: 2,000 SPG points, or $383.96

Total: $7307.41, or 30,000 SPG points or .24358/cents per SPG point

Thanks again for running this, Points Guy. This has been a lot of fun.

OH, and related: the reason the Parker is so expensive is that it’s Coachella that weekend. My all-time best reward was nailing down the Parker over Coachella weekend a couple years back on Cash/Points. 14,400 SPG points + $270 for what would have then cost me well over $9,000. Talk about an insane redemption rate….

From October 12 to October 22, 2012, I am spending 10 nights at the Le Meridien Angkor in Cambodia. Category 2 hotel at 3,000 points and lowest available rate is $150 per night.

The Andaman, Langkawi
11/13 check-in and 11/19 check-out (6 nights)
USD $172.00 * 6 = $1,032 (incl charges & taxes)
Cash & Points = USD $90 * 6 + 4,800 points * 6 = USD $540 + 28,800 points (incl charges & taxes)

= $0.017083/point

comment

Four Points by Sheraton Midtown at Times Square
12/22/2013 – 12/23/2013
$3029 + 450.01 taxes = $3749.01
or 12,000 Points

31.24 cents/pt

This is probably not the highest value C&P redemption, but I just want to add one more hotel here.

A vacation in mysterious Tibet

Four Points by Sheraton Lhasa
08/19/12-08/26/12

Rate: 2180 CNY/day or 343 USD/day
SPG Category 3

2800 starpoint + 45 USD

(343-45)/2800=$0.1064/starpoint

1. Sheraton Milwaukee Brookfield Hotel (Wisconsin) ($143.68) 10/21 1 night- 1600 points +$30- 1 night
2. The Westin Lombard Yorktown Center (Chicago IL) ($1327.56) 10/22-10/25 2800 points +$45-3 nights
3. The Westin Kansas City (MO) at Crown Center ( $531.21) 10/25-10/27 2800 points + $45.00- 2 nights
4. W Dallas Texas – Victory ($1033.88 ) 10/27-10/30 4800 points +$90.00- 3 nights

Total points: 30,000
$3,036.33
0.083 per point

This may not be the most extravagant trip but its an actual trip I’m taking. I’m taking my daughters on a 10 day trip to go to Justin Bieber concerts (Ya Ya Ya, I know) but it is what it is

With southwest points and SPG points its costing me next to nothing so off we go!

Thanks for the contest.

Cash and Points for Sheraton Lima, Peru
Check in: 1/16/2013
Check out: 2/1/2013 Total nights:16
Room rate $174/night
Cash and Points will be 1600 points and $30/night

Total will be 25,600 points and $480 instead of $2784

cash and point redemption my real experience in RIO and Iguazzu Falls Argentina in 2012

April 18-22,2012 Sheraton Hotel and Resort , Rio 4.8K plus $87 with tax ROOM RATE with Tax 404.25
April 22-24 SHeraton Hotel Iguazzu Fall Park 4.8 K plus $91 with tax Room Rate with Tax 435.60
28.8K points spend to save 1958 a very conservative estimate @6.8 cents per point

We were absolutely blowm away by the absolutely amazimgly architecture at the spectacular Tambo del Incas Resort & Spka in the Valle Sagarado in Preu. At 10,000oimts per night, double, joyed a huge, inventive, luxury suite,
& were escorted onto a private train $ station with guides with us all the way up to the ancient peaks of Machu Pichu!!

Points:

Le Meridien Dead Sea for the following nights:
2000 points each: 11/17/12 – 11/18/12, 11/3/12 – 11/4/12, 11/10/12 – 11/11/12, 12/1/12 – 12/2/12, 12/8/12 – 12/9/12, 12/15/12 – 12/16/12, 12/22/12 – 12/23/12, 10/27/12 – 10/28/12, 10/20/12 – 10/21/12, 10/13/12 – 10/14/12
3000 points each: 10/7/12 – 10/8/12, 10/18/12 – 10/19/12, 10/25/12 – 10/26/12, 11/15/12 – 11/16/12.

Normal rate for all nights for the redeemable room – $331.

Total spent is $4634 for 30000 points, points valued at $0.145/point.

Cash and Points:

Great Wall Sheraton Beijing:
3000 points each night: 1/5/13 – 1/6/13, 1/12/13 – 1/13/13, 1/19/13 – 1/20/13, 1/26/13 – 1/27/13, 2/2/13 – 2/3/13, 2/9/13 – 2/10/13, 2/16/13 – 2/17/13, 2/23/13 – 2/24/13, 3/2/13 – 3/3/13, 3/9/13 – 3/10/13

Normal rate each night for redeemable room – $612.97.

Total value is $0.364/point.

I have always wanted to visit Buenos Aires and was surprised by the point+cash options is the city. I couldn’t believe how inexpensive it was.

11/20 check-in and 11/23 check-out (3 nights – who doesn’t want to spend Thanksgiving in sunny South America?)

USD $177 @ 3 nights = $531 + charges & taxes ($642.51 total)
Cash & Points = USD $45 @3 nights + 2,800 points per

USD $135 + 8,400 points (excluding taxes & charges) = $0.047/point

Straight redemption, no cash and points: Sheraton on the Park, Sydney Australia. 12/30 – 1/4/13 (5 nights). AUD605 per night, used 9600 points per night for total of 48000 (using one free night discount offered for 5th night). Including the hotel fees, in US $, total $3640.13. 7.6 cents value per Starpoint.

Free Night:

The Great Wall Sheraton Hotel Beijing
2/3/13 – 2/13/13 (10 Nights)

Total: CNY 44,850 (including taxes)

Total in USD: $7,035.17 (including taxes)

Redemption of 3000 points/night over 10 Nights: 30,000 points

Final Calculation: $7,035.17/30,000 points = $.234506/point

Free Nights:

- Le Parker Meridien
16,000 SPG points, or $4101.05

These is my pick!

its the law and I’m happy you are staying out of jail for us. You have shared so many great ideas.

4 Nights cash and points in May 2012 – Prince de Galles, Paris! (of course would need 2000 extra points, but that’s easy).

Forgot my dates for the Great Wall Sheraton Hotel Beijing!!
2 nights 12/06/13-12/08/13

Also if taxes should be included my entry would change to the following
Night 1 – 3039+452.06=3491.06/nt
Night 2 – 3039+452.06=3491.06/nt
Night 3 – 612+91=703/nt
Night 4 – 612+91=703/nt

Total=8388.12 or .2796 per point

Hotel Name: W Taipei
Category: 5
Check In: 2/18/2013
Check Out: 2/21/2013

Retail Rate = 9300 CNY/night = $311/night x 3 nights = $932
Starpoints ONLY Option = 16,000 Starpoints/night x 3 nights = 48,000 Starpoints

Cash & Points Option = 4,800 Starpoints plus $90 per night.
This means I am buying 11,200 Starpoints for $90 = (0.008 PER POINT!!!)
For three nights, I will have used 14,400 Starpoints and $270.

Great value in Cash and Points!!!

I would go to St Regis Princeville.

Hi barelyelite:
I was checking the stay to confirm your rates, and it turns out that you may have miscalculated the point value. The total rate after taxes for your stay should be 3479.28, not 3749 (maybe a fat-fingering error). If you go by 3479 per night, then the point value per night falls to 28.99 ~ 29 cents/point. The same holds for other dates including 12/31/2013-01/01/2014.

Hi TPG,
Please take this as my entry for the same hotel, but for the dates mentioned above. Everything else remains the same.

Thanks,
Chirag lal

Cash & Points:

Four Points by Sheraton Kuching, Malaysia
12/23/2012-1/17/2013 (25 nights)

Standard room costs for 25 nights= $4200 – 30K points and $625 = .119 value per point.

Many of the eye-whopping valuations are based on presumptuous hotel stays; I doubt they will really take the stay.

I like the comment from Marcy (the Justin Bieber fan’s parent) who showed his/her actual trip using points. That is more realistic.

Here is my actual trip.

Sheraton Madison Hotel (Category 2). 8/16-8/20, 3 nights, (1,600 pts + $30) x 3 for a Club Floor, 1 king-bed room. Lowest flexible rate: $172/night; AAA Hot Deal rate: $130/night.

So for me, $0.10/pts at Best Available Rate and $0.07/pts at AAA Hot Deal Rate.

W South Beach. 1/1-1/2. Room rate $9500, redeem for 30k points. Value of $.32pp.

St Regis NYC Sep 5 1night 30,000 pts 895.00

For cash and points:

Early Valentines Day 2013 with my wife at THE ROYAL HAWAIIAN WAIKIKI, checking in on February 10 and checking out on February 12 for three nights: 8,000 points for each night and $150.00; so, all in all, it would 24,000 points and $450.00

For free-night redemptions:

Three nights at the NEW SHERATON MADRID MIRASIERRA HOTEL AND SPA for 10,000 SPG points per day.

W South Beach

Check In
12/23/2012 – 4:00 PM
Check Out
12/25/2012 – 11:00 AM

Room rate: USD1,209.00
Taxes: USD157.17
Estimated total**:USD1,366.17
Estimated total for your stay**
1 room(s) for 2 night(s): USD 2,732.34

30000 Starpoints and $ 550 for Stay

$2,732.24 – $550 = $2,182.24

$2,182.24/30,000 = $.07 per poi

Whoops missed the dates. December 11 to 18, 2012.
Rack rates at the Moana Surfrider is $270 per night at this category 5 hotel for a total of $1620 for those six days or $1890 with tax. This is worth 6.3 cents per SPG point.

Great Wall Sheraton Hotel Beijing

Nights: Cost for weekend in USD: Starpoints:
2/1-2/3 $1410.3083 3000
2/8-2/10 $1410.3083 3000
2/15-2/17 $1410.3083 3000
2/22-2/24 $1410.3083 3000
3/1-3/3 $1410.3083 3000
3/8-3/10 $1410.3083 3000
3/15-3/17 $1410.3083 3000
3/22-3/24 $1410.3083 3000
3/29-3/31 $1410.3083 3000
4/5-4/7 $1410.3083 3000

10 nights $14103.083 30000

Rate of $.47/point

CASH & POINTS

Use at Sheraton Denver Tech Center Hotel for 18.75 cents per point

Dates: Stay 18 nights (February 1, 2013 to February 19, 2013) for 28,800 points + $540 cash instead of $5939.04 (lowest rate)
save $5939.04-$540=$5399.04
$5399.04/28800=18.75 cents per point

(Each night Cash & Points= 1600+$30 per night instead of
paying the lowest rate rate (prepaid as well as rack rate): $299 per room/night + charges & taxes= $329.95)

Free Night Redemption:

Savannah, Ga

Four Points by Sheraton Historic Savannah

3/15/13 – 3/18/13. $450/night + tax = $1,528.50 per Room.

I would book three rooms, to take family and friends. The total cash price would be $4,585.50

The points are 10,000 points per room (3,000 fri & sat + 4,000 on Sunday)

Three rooms would be 30,000 points

Cost per point 15.85

Le Meridian Chiang Mai

Christmas and New Year!

December 23, 2012 to January 2, 2013 10 DAYS! YAHOO!

1600 points + 30USD per night. Plus you have some points left over for another jaunt!

Or you can go on the same dates to:

Four Points by Sheraton Perth

December 25, 2012 to January 2, 2013 10 DAYS! YAHOO!

4000 + 60USD per night.

First off, kudos to you Points Guy and TPG Intern Ryan for having such a cool contest. The other ones seem to be about padding their twitter stats and getting new followers, where you actually made it a real contest with some thinking required. Onto the contest:

POINTS AND CASH
VENUE-The Great Wall Sheraton Hotel Beijing
DATES- Check In March 13-2013/Check Out Mar. 31-2013 (18 nights)

***IMPORTANT NOTE FOR THE JUDGES WHEN YOU CHECK THE RATES- Since I will be traveling with my girlfriend as this would be her birthday present and we would be going to see her sister who is in Beijing studying abroad, I of course need to select “2 ADULTS/ROOM” when booking in the reservation menu instead of “1 ADULT/ROOM”. And THIS is SIGNIFICANT because it is going to change the rate from 3900 CNY/nt to 4080 CNY/nt, making this stay an even more bang for my buck booking, than if you looked at the rate for just one. (It would go up even more if you add 3 guests to your room but since Cash and Points only allow 2 people in the room for that award stay, the most you could have in the room is of course 2)

RATE- So instead of the lowest rack rate of 3900 CNY/nt rate ( after including the tax), that many are posting at this hotel, my lowest rack rate since I have 2 people in the room is actually 4,080 CNY/nt (4692 CNY/nt after tax). So for the 18 nights this room will cost me (using 28,800 SPG points + $540 USD), a total of 84,456 CNY.

VALUATION- At the end of market close Friday, 84,456 CNY equals $13,273.44 US Dollars. So $13,273.44 USD -$540 USD for the cash value of this = $12,733.44, and once divided by 28,800 points = a value of .44213/point or in layman’s terms, just a shade over 44.2 cents per point. A nice value, and one that I think is the absolute highest that one can get in the SPG system as of right now for a cash + points booking.

So final answer, just a shade over 44.2 cents/point, using 28,800 points and staying 18 nights…FOR TWO PEOPLE in one room.

I hope Points Guy that you can take some pride if I win this, in my creativity in using the accurate rate, and showing the rate difference for having the 2nd person in the room (which falls within the rules) that increases the value of the booking, and it shows as you said “being able to demonstrate they can pull the most value from each point wins”, because that sounds like something you would think of! and I probably wouldn’t have if I didn’t always read daily all of the great content on your site, and those of a few other great bloggers who really help all of us maximize our travel. Thanks guys again for having this contest, its been a blast!

30,000 points for 1 night for 2 adults at the W South Beach (check-in December 15th 2012 ; check-out December 16th 2012). Equivalent of 6500 USD excluding tax.

In summary : free night redemption for 30 000 points with equivalent of 6500 USD

15,000 points plus $275 for 1 night for 2 adults at the W South Beach (check-in December 15th 2012 ; check-out December 16th 2012). Equivalent of 6500 USD excluding tax.

In summary : points + cash redemption for 15,000 points with equivalent of 6225 USD

Last minute Cash&Points entry ~

Sheraton Beijing Dongcheng Hotel
1/1/13 – 1/10/13 = 9 nights = 37260 CNY = 5858.20 USD

The Westin Beijing Chaoyang
1/10/13- 1/11/13 = 1 night = 4025 CNY = 632.8306 USD

Total = 6491.03 USD – 405 USD – 90 USD = 5996.03 USD / 30000 points = .1998

Just FYI, even though it’s past the deadline, if you consider 2 people staying at The Westin vs 1, which is what I calculated, then the value is actually .2011 cents per point.

Never mentioned the 8. of october, it is the 10.2. (february) around that time it’s the chinese new year that’s probably the reason why they charge the Rack Rate!

That’s true, normally you should add one more category 1 property to max out the 30K and then get the correct valuation for the points (in this case yours wouldn’t be correct as well since the final bill increases) but I thought it is already such an amazing value you can generate with the points you don’t have to be that picky

W in Washington

Dear Lala,

The T&C also state that you do not need to use all of your points. The entry is valid as long as you do not exceed 30K points.

Thanks,
Chirag

Awesome job

The St. Regis Bangkok

Maldives Sheraton Full Moon Spa and Resort
Dec 1-5 (5 nights)

Rack rate $482.98/night
total rack rate with taxes and fees = 1,931.93

Points + Cash = 8000 points + $150.00
Total points = 30 000
Total price= $750.00

1931.93-750.00=1181.93
1181.93/30 000= 0.039