The Private Island Hotel That Cost 365,000 Points Per Night…

The scene is set: a private island in the Seychelles, a stunning resort, crystal blue waters – and you. There’s just one little thing – $7,000 or 365,000 points per night standing in between you and that vacation dreams.

Even for the savviest of points aficionados, earning 100,000 points in any one system isn’t often easy. Sure, there may be the occasional 100,000 point credit card bonus, but to most people, it’s quite an undertaking. With 100,000 points, you want at least one incredible night, and ideally a few.

That’s what makes Marriott’s latest loyalty offering borderline comical, considering it doesn’t even get you a third of the way to a single night at North Island, the Luxury Collection Resort in the Seychelles.

North Island is a place of legend. A haven for Bond villain wannabes, the rich, the famous, and anyone else who’s willing to pay the minimum $7000 per night for one of the 11 incredible beach front villas. It’s a bunch more for full board, but that does get you breakfast. Yep, there are only 11, and they’re each at least 4,800 square feet.

And yes, you really can book one with points – you’ll just need to cough up 365,000 per night. Don’t think for a second about cash + points rates though.

In a way, kudos to Marriott for making one of the most aspirational properties on the planet available using points. In another way, WTF. 365,000 points per night would clean out even the most frequent guests and heaviest spenders with Marriott in a night, or maybe two.

Considering you could stay at a Ritz Carlton in the Maldives or another ultra luxury option for no more than 100,000 Marriott Points per night, the value isn’t even really that great. It’s hard to square paying 365,000 points for night for a luxury island hotel when you could pay fewer than 100,000 points per night for a stunning, perhaps even comparable offering.

And lets not forget that you’ll need to pay for a helicopter transfer from Mahe, to North Island if you choose to spend your 365,000 Marriott Bonvoy Points either.

Marriott is hardly the first loyalty program to offer an absurd chance at value, but this is among the loftiest goals for a single room in a hotel night ever offered. Virgin Atlantic occasionally offers Sir Richard Branson’s Necker Island retreat for 1,200,000 Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Miles, but that gets you an entire week, and there’s quite a bit included.

If you ever become a points millionaire with Marriott, good news – you’ve now got a place to blow all of it in just three nights, with a helicopter ride and dinner still to pay for…