Marriott's Look No Further Rate

I am constantly searching online to find the best deals out there.  I always learn something new.  I just wanted to explain how the Look No Further Rate works with Marriott. 

1. Book a room with Marriott.  It needs to be a refundable rate--no cost to book
2. Find the same room, dates, hotel etc on a different site.  If you find it for cheaper--even 1cent cheaper you are in business
3. Within 24 hours of booking through Marriott submit a Look No Further Rate form (google it and the form with come up)
4. With 24 hours Marriott will respond to you and not only match the rate but give you 25% off the lowest rate you find.  They will automatically adjust your reservation

I can usually find a lower rate for most hotels.  Here are a sample of a few that I have found:

• Newport Beach Coast Villas.  Marriott Rate:  $324 night.  Found it for 323.53.  Adjusted rate:  $264.75.  (for 7 nights that is quite the savings)
• Marriott University Park SLC.  Marriott Rate:  $89.  Found it for $79.  Adjusted rate:  $59.25.  (stayed 2 weekend nights and used a Buy One Get One Free Coupon so each night turned out to be $29.25)
• Atlanta Northwest Marriott.  Marriott Rate:  $109.  Found it for $89.  Adjusted rate:  $66.75
• Renaissance Las Vegas Hotel.  Marriott Rate:  $109.  Found it for $92.  Adjusted rate:   $69 (I will use a BOGO weekend night making it $34.50 a night)

These are just a few of the great rates I have gotten.  To find the lower rates I just use search engines like orbitz, travelocity, dhr, easyclicktravel, bing, etc.  It almost becomes a game on how cheap you can get the hotel rooms.

Sydney and Leslie NEW YORK 2011

Aunt Jodi had a business trip to New York at the end of July.  Since Sydney and I were already in St Louis we decided to catch a flight over to New York and meet up with her and Grandma!  We were able to stay at the Marriott East side for pennies!  

We stayed there for 4 nights.  We found a "Look no Further Rate"  (google it for more information on how it works--it has saved us $$$$) for the first night, used points for the second night and Jodi's company paid for the last 2 nights!  It has a beautiful rooftop terrace concierge lounge where we enjoyed our breakfast every morning.  We were right in the city and within walking distance of most everything.  If not--we could take the subway!

Sydney having a New York Hot Dog!

Central Park Break!

Natural History Museum--Dum Dum

Times Square

Toys R Us

Above Times Square

High Line Park--actually and old railway above the city.

Our rooftop terrace at our hotel

The highlight of the trip.  Our kids are big today show fans!

Top of the Rock!

 

Nauvoo July 2011

Roger had a seminar in St Louis in July.  We thought it would be a perfect opportunity to take the kids to Nauvoo.  Roger and I had taken Cassidy and my niece Ryann about 5 years before and they had a great time.  Nauvoo is only 3 hours from St Louis so we flew in a few days early and drove over.  We stayed in Keokuk (since there was a Marriott there).

We did not count on it being so hot!

Visitors Center

In Front of the Mississippi

One of the highlights was finding one of Roger's ancestor's headstones in the Nauvoo Cemetery!

London and Paris June 2011

I am a little behind on getting all our summer activities on here.  We were constantly on the go.  So I will do a quick recap of all our summer events!

In June Roger and I went to London with Ryan and Becky.  We had an amazing time!  We really were able to maximize all of our points to make it more affordable.  The only way to do it!  We also had some friends that had gone there just before us.  We picked their brains to make sure we were getting the most for our $.  Thanks to Sue Saylor for all of her info

 

London Temple

 

Stonehedge

 

He was not very good at holding still

Waiting for the Bus in England

At the train station on the way to London

Piccadilly Circus

Buckingham Palace

St Pauls Catherdral

Big Ben

On the Subway on our way to take the Euro Star to Paris

Eurostar to from London to Paris.  Only took about 2 1/2 hours! 

Euro Disney

Arch De Triomphe

View of Paris from the top of the Arch De Triomphe

Roger was always off so Ryan stood in for him!

Train Station in Paris.  We decided to do a dry run!  We almost  missed the train in London!

Notre Dam

The Louvre

Mona Lisa in the background

Palace of Versailles

Waiting in line to get down to the catacombs.  It was the longest line we waited in.

Back to London!  Theatre District

Piccadilly Circus

I!

MILWAUKEE April 28-30

It seems like every place we go--I come away with more tips and tricks to make our travel cheap!  Milwaukee was not exception!


Roger had a seminar in Milwaukee.  We stayed at the Marriott hotel and stayed in a King Suite (Reg $199 per night and we paid $39 per night which included the full breakfast buffet)  WOW!


Here is how we did it!  When I first booked the room it was $99 per night.  Since we are "platinum" members we have access to the marriott promotions that run most of the time for BOGO weekend nights Free.  This is available for both gold and platinum members.  Usually you have to stay 50-75 nights to get this status but you can call Marriott and ask them about the challenges to get you to gold or platinum for as little as 12 to 16 nights.   The certificates are always in you account and all you have to do is print them out.  They usually run for about 3-4 months at a time.  All you do is call the reservation line before hand and let them know you will be using one.  You can print out as many as you want and anyone can you them.

Right before we left, I checked the reservation again and noticed that the rate was reduced for elite members (gold and platinum) to $79.  I modified my reservation and brought with me the free night certificate.   I also called the hotel directly a few days before we left and asked them if they had any upgrades available.  They had the king suite--$199 per night--available for us at no cost to upgrade, because of our status.  And lastly because we are elite, we have access to the concierge lounge, which happens to be closed on weekends so they comped our breakfast at the buffet (reg $12.99 per person)

We took Sydney with us because she is basically free--when Roger flies!  She helps us at the seminar and then we get to play when we are done.  This time we toured the Pabst mansion and the Harley-Davidson Museum.

The next thing I have come across is looking up the "Diners, Drive-inns, and Dives"  We went to 2 of them in Milwaukee and they were both fabulous.  They were places we would have never gone to on our own and they were reasonably priced!