Marriott Vacation Club Asia Pacific hotel offers

We briefly talked about Marriott Vacation Club before, through which you get heavily discounted stays (at a cost, of course). There’s now a decent offer in Asia Pacific should you be interested.

This time the offer is in partnrship with Plaza Premium Smart Traveller this time. Members of this program can participate in this Marriott Vacation Club offer in Asia Pacific:

• Marriott’s Bali Nusa Dua Gardens: 3 nights for $299 including a 2 million IDR dining credit
• Marriott’s Mai Khao Beach, Phuket: 3 nights for $299 including a 3,000 THB dining credit
• The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore: 2 nights for $499 including breakfast and a $100 Marriott gift card

Eligibility and general rules:

• Residents in Asia Pacific only (excluding Malaysia and Australia)
• Couples aged 30+ with joint annual income of at least 100K USD
• Marriott elite benefits don’t apply to your stay, and you won’t earn points
• Must attend a 90- to 120-minute timeshare sales presentation during your stay
• Additional 4,000 Smart Traveller points included

Smart Traveller is the membership program of Plaza Premium lounges, and anyone can register for free. A single lounge visit typically costs between 1,800 and 3,200 points to redeem.

Since the Phuket property consists entirely of two-bedroom apartments, the stay experience may actually be better than Bali. Of course, the standout addition this time is the Ritz-Carlton in Singapore – although more expensive, it includes breakfast and a gift card, and the usual public room rate is well over £300 per night.

Compared with the previous Mastercard version, the cost of these special packages has increased quite a bit, and the perk of skipping the sales pitch with the World Elite Mastercard is gone. However, the inclusion of dining credits or gift cards plus Smart Traveller points does add value overall, so the deals are still reasonably worthwhile.

That said, such offers are always controversial. From a room-rate perspective you can certainly save a lot of money, but you should also consider extra spending and whether you have the resolve to sit through two hours of sales pressure without wavering.