We’ve covered the current sales of Marriott brands hotel vouchers with 50% bonus value for various hotels in Thailand in the last few weeks and I’m happy to report back with a successful purchase including making a booking at phenomenal value.
I have myself purchased 20,000 Baht worth of vouchers for the Ritz Carlton Koh Samui at a local travel fair (which I covered yesterday when running into trouble with Bangkok Airways) and was able to make a 4 night booking at the hotel with these vouchers.
You can access our previous coverage about these vouchers in John’s article from June here and then about the extension of the promotion until late July here.
I also wrote an article about the staycation rates in Thailand and the option to apply these vouchers to some of the rates (not all, please beware of the rate rules),
In terms of the vouchers for the Ritz Carlton Koh Samui I found the option especially interesting because it was possible to buy the voucher at the Unlock Samui Fair in Bangkok this weekend directly from the hotel and this purchase would code as a Marriott purchase with my Bonvoy American Express Card unlike when purchasing it through the Megatix site where it would count as an external purchase.
The vouchers for the Ritz Carlton and other Marriott hotels are still available for sale until July 31 with validity through 22 December 2020.
If you have an Chase or Amex Bonvoy card, The Chase Ritz Carlton or any credit card that awards extra points for travel purchases I’d probably contact the hotel directly and ask if you can purchase directly from them compared to Megatix. Otherwise it won’t matter.
Now lets cut to the chase here, why was this offer so attractive to me to decide on a whim to purchase a 30,000 THB voucher to redeem for several nights?
The Ritz Carlton Koh Samui alongside other 5* properties on Samui is a real luxury property and not your run of the mill city hotel. Rates are these hotels usually exceed $600 for even a single night, a sum that I now paid for a total of FOUR nights based on the rates they published:
This is the rate for a Garden Suite (beware of booking into this room type unless you have Bonvoy Status):
After spending a few days at this resort now I can pretty much say to either book the pool villa or don’t bother. The buildings where the regular Garden Suites are located are splat in the middle of this extremely huge resort. You won’t be able to go anywhere without getting the buggy transfer each and every time. The bit of extra money spent on this will make all the difference. And in my opinion the view isn’t worth it.
These are the rates for the Pool Villa:
Again, don’t book the basic garden suite unless you have status to support an upgrade. I can’t emphasize on this point enough. It’s a great deal no doubt but before spending money on a garden view room better stay elsewhere be closer to the ocean.
You’ll be able to apply the full voucher value to each of these rates so for example:
7,371 THB x 4 = 29,484 THB (US$947) which is already a 45% lower rate than usual due to the fact that there is currently zero foreign tourism in Thailand.
Then you apply the voucher purchased in advance:
30,000 THB voucher = 20,000 THB (US$640)
You now pay a phenomenal 4,875 THB (US$157) all in for a 93 sqm suite at this property. The best part is it even includes the breakfast which isn’t usually included at Ritz Carlton as part of Elite benefits. If you invest a little more you can even book an entire pool villa (and you should for the reasons outlined above).
The rate will also earn stay credit and points. Elite benefits at the Ritz Carlton brand are limited though and as far as I know this property doesn’t have a club lounge so one won’t be able to use the upgrade certificates.
For the incidentals I purchased an additional 7,500 THB voucher (at a price of 5,000 THB) to keep me well fed and fueled for my 4 day stay.
The terms and conditions for this voucher are outlined on the back and identical to the ones quoted on the Megatix website:
I’d like to point out again that this offer should be strongly considered only by those who for sure will be able to use it by late December which at this point pretty much included people already in Thailand or those having an option of entering the country.
I’m usually a big fan of Bali and go there multiple times a year but with no signs of them reopening I decided to give Samui another chance. I’ve never been to the Ritz before, only to the Conrad and Intercontinental. The Ritz opened roughly two years ago so it’s a relatively new property with enough time to have all the kinks figured out and eliminated. The offer was too good to pass up even though I don’t know anyone who could have given me an experience report about this property.
Occupancy is extremely low right now so I don’t expect it to be too busy, making for a nice and quiet week. I avoid the full weekend just in case there is a trek of people coming up from Bangkok. Most of them are going to Hua Hin though.
Conclusion
As we’ve covered extensively there is still no path forward to allow tourists back into the country so making any type of non-refundable purchase for tourism accommodation until the end of the year is a dangerous game.
For those staying in Thailand right now this is a great opportunity to avail oneself to a real luxury holiday at an affordable price. If you have elite status with Marriott Bonvoy then you can of course pair this offer, making it even better.
