I have been busy planning trips for 2023, and even though I am far from done with the bookings, I suspect I may have already booked my best redemption for the year (if not for many years).

Over the years, I have been very fortunate to have some memorable travel experiences, thanks to my hobby (or obsession 😉) of collecting points and miles. From drinking tea at my tour guide’s home in the lap of Atlas Mountains in Morocco, to staying in the Overwater Villa at the uber luxurious St. Regis Maldives, it has been a very rewarding journey already.

St. Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort

In this post however, I want to discuss a couple of redemptions which comfortably supersede anything else I have done to date, definitely in terms of the monetary value but perhaps also purely in terms of the experience.

My Redemption Methodology

I will get to the specific redemptions in a bit, but before that I briefly want to talk about my thinking behind how I play the points game. To me, playing this game is all about enriching my life with experiences which I otherwise would never be able to afford.

To be clear, there is no universally accepted right or wrong way of redeeming points. If you are happy to shell out 18,400 Qantas points to sit in Business Class for 45 minutes on Adelaide – Melbourne flight, that’s quite alright, it’s just that that’s not the way I personally choose to play this game. In fact I barely ever redeem points on domestic flight as I am quite happy to pay cash and fly Economy.

Virgin Australia Economy-X is a great option on domestic flights

Living in Sydney means most of the places I generally fly to are only about 1-2 hours away, and I don’t see the value in burning points on such short flights. The exceptions are flights to Darwin and Perth, which IMO are worth the splurge if I can grab a seat at the pointy end of the plane.

In pre-covid times, I had a similar strategy for hotel stays on domestic trips where most of the times I just paid cash. In the current era of revenge travel though, hotel rates have hit the stratosphere and redeeming points offer far more value than it ever did, particularly at capital city hotels on weekends.

My Top-2 Redemptions for 2023

In the past week, I have redeemed points on 2 separate bookings. One of these is a flight redemption and the other one is for a 1-night hotel stay. Here’s what I did.

JAL First Class from Tokyo to Chicago

First Class on planes is an increasingly rare commodity. With massive improvements in Business Class, airlines have considerably shrunk (if not totally eliminated) the footprint of First Class cabins.

Ever since I came across this excellent Japan Airlines Guide written by Prince of Travel, a Canadian blogger, I have been dreaming of flying Japan Airlines First Class.

JAL First Class – Image, Courtesy JAL

The trouble is that JAL offers First Class on a very limited number of routes, none to Australia. So, it requires you a positioning flight to Tokyo (or another port) if you want to do this. In my case, I opted to fly to Tokyo.

In September 2023, I will be onboard one of JAL’s Boeing 777 making the 11 hr 45 mins trek across the Pacific from Tokyo to Chicago in First Class 😎

JAL is known to offer a refined and sophisticated experience in First Class, be it the plush seating, polite-to-a-fault service, amenities or food and drinks offering which amongst other things, includes pouring a glass or three of Hibiki-21, a highly acclaimed and extremely pricey Japanese whisky which sells for close to A$1,900 a bottle (700 ml).

Hibiki 21

Even though I am mostly a beer drinker, for those precious 11 hrs onboard, I’ll be sure to down as many glasses of the Japanese nectar as I can.

Booking JAL First

Cash fares on JAL First sell for more than A$20,000 for a one-way flight, which is scarcely believable but true. I jumped on Google flights and checked every single flight over the next 12 months and they were all priced at about $A21,000.

A one-way JAL First Class flight will set you back more than A$20,000

In fact both the Japanese carriers, JAL and ANA price their First Class in the $20,000 range, as you can see below.

JAL & ANA First Class pricing from Tokyo to Chicago

To be able to redeem points and have this experience for next to nothing is why so many of us are so passionate about playing this game.

Talking of points, there are a number of ways you can redeem points to fly Japan Airlines First. In my case, I redeemed 70,000 Alaska Miles (plus $80 in fees and taxes) for the flight. I was sitting on these miles for many years which I had earned by exchanging my SPG Starpoints for a Marriott Travel Package, back in the day when Marriott acquired SPG.

Outside of Alaska, you can redeem points from any oneworld member airlines. For those of us in Australia, Qantas points will be the obvious choice.

Redeem Qantas Points to fly JAL First

As you can see, a one-way JAL First Class flight costs about 150,000 Qantas points. Fees and taxes at about $615 are significantly higher than Alaska, but if I didn’t have Alaska Miles I would have still been happy to redeem Qantas points and fork out the cash.

The St. Regis Marsa Arabia Island, Doha

The second redemption is a short 1-night stay at the recently opened St. Regis Marsa Arabia Island in Doha. I will be passing through Doha in March next year and will need somewhere to shack-up.

Having been to Doha many times, in general I have found that redeeming points doesn’t offer good value as cash prices are often quite affordable. When I first started searching for a hotel my intention was to simply pay cash, then I stumbled upon St. Regis Marsa Island.

The St. Regis Marsa Arabia Island, Doha – Image, Courtesy marriott.com

The property has been open for less than 2 months, and like most things in the Middle-East stands on a man-made island called The Pearl. For those familiar, The Pearl island is located in the Northern part of Doha city, about 12 km’s from the Corniche.

The St. Regis Marsa Island is an all-suite property, meaning even the entry level accommodation consists of a suite of some kind. Cash rate for the entry level suite for the night I will be in Doha, is currently an eye-watering QAR 3,420 (A$1,382) which is at least 3x higher than any other Marriott property in town, including a 2nd St. Regis and a Ritz Carlton property.

Cash rate at St. Regis Marsha Island Doha for the standard suite

Imagine my horror then, when I noticed that Marriott was charging a pitiful 33,000 Marriott Bonvoy points for the same suite on the same night.

Award rate at St. Regis Marsha Island Doha for the standard suite

I value Marriott Bonvoy points at about A$0.008 per point (8/10th of 1 cent) meaning the 33,000 points are roughly worth A$264, talk about getting bang for your buck.

In Conclusion

We are still in 2022, but chances are that I have already booked my best redemption for all of 2023.

Next year I will accomplish (hopefully) one of my long standing ambitions of flying JAL First Class. I will also be checking out a newly opened Marriott property in Doha, which by all accounts look absolutely stunning and is selling for an equally eye-catching price.

Bring on 2023.

What is the best redemption you have ever made? Leave a comment below.