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Conventional wisdom suggests that you should spend airline miles on flight rewards and hotel points on hotel stays. Other opportunities to spend miles or points are often dismissed as providing poor value. But Marriott Moments is proving to be a source of some incredible bargains. You can find the website by clicking here. The breadth of “Moments” can be overwhelming, as it attempts to cater to members worldwide. But by regularly digging into the options, you can often find a gem that is being completely overlooked by others.

There are two broad categories of “Moments” – auction and fixed price. Both can provide amazing value.

How I Like to Search for Top-Value “Moments”

I tend to focus on the main drop-down menu and order the events from low to high price.

I definitely ignore the option to search based on location, mainly because many of the best deals are in places that would make a perfect weekend getaway.

What To Look For

Fixed Price

As I mentioned above, there are two kinds of Moments – auction and fixed price.  For fixed price Moments, I like to calculate the cost of my Marriott points (my current estimate is 0.6p per point) and compare that with the retail price (or perceived value) of the package.  For example, here’s a current listing for the Cirque du Soleil in Berlin.

10,000 points = £60. For 2 tickets to Cirque du Soleil in a luxury suite including food and drink! If you fancy a weekend getaway with your significant other, a “Moment” such as this could be a great opportunity around which you can build a memorable trip.

Recently I acquired 2 prime tickets for an NFL American football game at Wembley stadium. I spent 25,000 points (£150) and received 2 tickets with a total face value of £240 and a £50 merchandise voucher. Not only was this a bargain, but the London NFL games sell out almost instantly so I was only able to attend thanks to Marriott Moments.

Auctions

When looking at auctions, I’m aiming for packages that include the hotel stay. Even if I don’t have the least interest in the “culinary” or “lifestyle” event, I might find a real bargain simply for the hotel stay.  Here are some current opportunities:

The auction price will probably skyrocket due to the attractiveness of the package, but the Marriott County Hall normally costs 60,000 points per night.

A mixology class could be fun, but I’m more interested in the night at the Arts hotel in Barcelona. (60,000 points)

2 nights at the Grand Bretagne hotel in Athens (regular price 60,000 points per night)

Conclusion

It can be easy to get carried away with auctions, or forget to consider the value of the points you would be bidding away. But bargains are easy to find on the Marriott Moments website – all it takes it some effort to check back every once in awhile to see what is available…

Have you ever won a Moments auction? Or spent points on an equally valuable “experience”?