Using hotel points strategically can save you a lot of money in gateway cities so it’s a good idea to study them carefully to see which programs can best suit your travel plans. This week, let’s look at the Marriott chain. They have 3840 hotels around the world. If you are a business traveler, you may already be getting free points from you employer-paid trips. Lucky Americans can get a LOT of free points with the Chase Marriott Visa Card (not an affiliate link, just information) and meeting planners can get 50,000 points by planning a meeting at a Marriott Hotel.
Award nights start at 6000 points for a “Pointsaver” at a Category 1 hotel (which are pretty rare). Marriott has a referral program by which members can earn up to 50,000 points per year by referring others to the program. You can only do this 5 times per year so only give your referrals to people whom you know are going to stay at a Marriott within a year. I still have my 5 referrals for this year so I would be glad to refer new members, just use the Contact Form to send me your email and I will send you an invitation. Once you are a member, you will then be able to invite 5 people on your own account!
OK, so how do we find the best options for eco-travelers? Let’s have a look at the hotel directory and see what places have a Marriott property. Most birders will be drawn to tropical places in the Americas, Asia, Africa and Australia.
AFRICA – Out of these 4 countries, Rwanda would possibly have some birding including a couple Poicephalus species but it’s much better known for the mountain gorillas……but keep an eye on the safety issues in Rwanda.
ASIA – India has some good possibilities. From Bangalore you can get to Coorg where there are Malabar Parakeets and others, same goes for Kochi which is near Thattekad. From Jaipur, you can get to Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary which has both endemic and migrating birds. Indonesia is mostly resorts in Bali or city hotels that would do for gateway cities to other birding hot spots like West Papua and Seram. You would pass through Manila to get to Palawan for Red-Vented Cockatoos or Subic Bay for Philippine Hanging Parrots. Singapore has good birding in the Botanical Gardens which makes a nice detour from a shopping or business trip. There are also good birding spots in Thailand and Malaysia.
AUSTRALIA AND PACIFIC ISLANDS – From Brisbane, you could make the long but worthwhile drive to Bowra Station or Lamington National Park which could also be accessed from Surfers Paradise. From Melbourne, you could head up into the Dandenongs.
CARIBBEAN – Of these places, Aruba, Cayman Islands, Domincan Republic, Jamaica, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Venezuela all have good birding.
CENTRAL AMERICA – there are 6 Marriotts in Costa Rica and 5 in Panama. As I wrote in the Carlson Hotel, Panama post, there is the Soberania NP and Metropolitan NP both in less than an hour’s drive from the city. In Costa Rica, San Jose is the gateway to great birding destinations like Selva Verde, Arenal, Monteverde and Savegre. Herradura is not too far from Carara NP, famous for Scarlet Macaws and Guanacaste also has great birding!
SOUTH AMERICA – all the Marriotts are in large gateway cities which will come in handy as the birding and ecotourism destinations are pretty far flung, requiring domestic flights or buses to reach.
The one thing for sure is that you can save a bundle if you use hotel points in the right places but you do have to be a good planner and maximize any other hotel stays you may have with business or family trips to save points for your big eco-adventure!