Should You Use Points to Book at Rosewood Hotels?

Why You Should Think Carefully When Booking Luxury Hotels

Whenever I share a post about a high-end hotel, the most common question I receive is: "Can I book a room with points?" For loyalty programs like IHG, Hyatt, Marriott, or Hilton, the answer can sometimes be yes. However, a more important question is whether you should do it in the first place.

Understanding the Value of Points

After accumulating points for a long time, I've noticed that many people focus solely on avoiding cash outlays and overlook the true value of those points. If a night at a hotel costs 700,000 points instead of $7,000, it seems like a win since no cash leaves your bank account. But points aren't free; they can hold value far exceeding a 1:100 ratio if used wisely. Sometimes, using points can actually sting more than spending cash.

An Example with Kona Village

Imagine you're considering a five-night stay at Kona Village, a Rosewood resort. Depending on the season, that trip could easily cost between $6,000 and $8,000. Rosewood doesn’t have a loyalty program or a way to achieve priority status, so the only way to use points is through credit card travel portals, where points are treated almost like cash.

The True Worth of Points

When it comes to redeeming points, I always ask myself what I had to do to earn them. Seven hundred thousand transferable points is no small feat. For many families, that could be the result of years of credit card spending. Once I started viewing points this way, I became more selective about how I used them.

Prioritizing Experience Over Hotels

Personally, I don’t feel excited about redeeming hundreds of thousands of points for a hotel stay. I get much more thrilled about securing experiences that I would rarely pay cash for. For my family, this often means long-haul business class flights – and I know how to find and book them.

Business Class Flight Experiences

A few years back, we used transferable points to fly business class from San Francisco to Athens and back, with a stopover in the Greek islands. The flight lasted over 12 hours, and everyone had flat seats, food was always available, we had lounge access, and it was easy to adjust to the time zone. If we had to pay cash, the tickets could cost around $15,000 to $21,000. That’s the kind of points redemption that catches my attention – who wouldn’t want to get $21,000 worth of value instead of just $7,000?

Benefits of Booking Through Partners

Instead of spending hundreds of thousands of points on hotels, we often pay cash and book through a preferred partner program. For Rosewood properties, this means Rosewood Elite, and often, Rosewood Elite agents have access to complimentary nights that aren’t always publicly advertised.

• 🌺 Daily breakfast for two (often worth over $120 per day)
• 💰 Property credit of over $150
• ⬆️ Room upgrade when available
• ⏰ Early check-in when available
• 🌅 Late check-out when available
• ⭐ VIP recognition

In many cases, these perks can create value worth hundreds to thousands of dollars for a vacation while still preserving our points balance for flights and allowing us access to complimentary nights.

Why Luxury Hotels Are Different

The simplest way to explain this is: I don’t use points to avoid spending money; I use points to get experiences that I would never buy with cash. That’s a completely different mindset. When I look at a luxury hotel, I don’t immediately ask how many points it costs; I ask whether it’s the best way to use those points.

Making Smart Choices for Your Travels

Often, the answer is no. That’s why you’ll frequently see us transferring points to airlines and paying cash for hotels. If I want to stay at Kona Village, I may choose to pay for it. While it’s expensive, it’s feasible. However, paying $20,000 for airline tickets for my family isn’t something I realistically do more than once every few years. That’s why flights often win out.

Points allow us to experience things we otherwise couldn’t.

Article adapted and edited from source: Be My Travel Muse