The Best Giveaway I’ve Ever Done, Comment Here for Chance to Win 2 Nights at Al Maha!

by Gary Leff

I’m going to visit Al Maha Desert Resort next month. Lucky called it his favorite Starwood Starpoints redemption ever. It’s an all-inclusive with standalone villas and infinity pools in the desert outside Dubai where rates can exceed $1700 per night and is consistently deemed one of the world’s best properties on TripAdvisor.

For bookings made by March 8 Starwood is offering awards there for ‘only’ 39,000 points a night instead of the usual 60,000. And I’m going to use some of my points there.

And I’m going to give away a couple of nights there, too! And it’s thanks to Luxury Travel Diary.

Luxury Travel Diary is a high-end travel blog with great reviews based in the UK that has a bunch of travel auctions with real bargains.

I suppose that folks who already know about these auctions don’t like this added attention, because frankly there aren’t enough bidders relative to the value of the offerings and some of these items go too cheap.

Luxury Travel Diary wanted to highlight some of their deals, and offered to help organize a giveaway of a 2 night hotel stay at Al Maha Desert Resort. As I said, it’s an inclusive resort. So you get breakfast, lunch and dinner. That even includes room service. And you even get two desert activities per night stay at the property. This is a giveaway worth ~ $3000 or 78,000 – 120,000 Starwood points.

To enter: leave a comment on this post with your favorite item up for auction at Luxury Travel Diary, or why you would choose to stay at Al Maha Desert Resort. You may enter two times if you wish and answer those two questions one time each in separate comments.

Contest deadline and drawing winner: Entries close Friday, January 29 at Noon eastern. I will draw winner with the assistance of random.org.

The fine print: The winner will be able to pick when to redeem the nights within 6 months. It’s not available on public holidays, Eid, Christmas and New Years (both of which are beyond 6 months anyway, but in the terms I was given). Advance booking is required and it’s subject to availability.

For avoidance of doubt, my own stay next month is paid for with my points. I have no affiliation with Luxury Travel Diary or Al Maha Desert Resort. I am not getting anything in exchange for running this giveaway other than an opportunity to share the place with readers.

I will put the winner in touch with the hotel for booking. They are solely responsible for providing prize to winner. All decisions made in the course of running this giveaway are final and unappealable and your entry signifies your acceptance. The goal here is to make readers aware of a pretty cool auction opportunity, and to give away a stay. So please don’t make it hard on me for doing so!

You probably won’t fly to Dubai and back for a 2 night stay, though you might add onto it and do other things in the region (great opportunity to spend American AAdvantage miles and fly Etihad first class at 90,000 miles each way before the March 22 devaluation, and Etihad even provides a car service anywhere in the UAE… or to spend Alaska miles and fly Emirates).

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. I’d go with the luxury cabin in Yosemite Park as they are difficult to reserve and it is an amazing place!

  11. I want to stay at Al Maha because my sister-in-law is getting married in Dubai in April. I would love to stay at the resort vs. having to stay with my in-laws. Can you blame me??

  12. Can’t think of a better way to spend AA miles before they devalue – could really use a getaway like this before kiddo#3 arrives 🙂 Plus, the food at Al Maha Desert Resort looks fabulous!

  13. My favorite auction item is the, 2 nights at a luxury cabin in Yosemite National Park. Always wanted to visit the park and luxury cabin seems the most relaxing after 3 days of outdoor adventures.

  14. Favorite item for auction: 3 Nights In A Villa At Loama Resort Maldives At Maamigili – then could book a stay at Dubai Al Maha on the way 🙂

  15. My wife and I will be in Dubai in. November celebrating our 20th anniversary. I would LOVE to stay at Al Maha, unfortunately the points (and the cash) are too rich for me.

  24. Would love to stay at the Al Maha as one amazing stop on a trip around the world later this year!

  25. Award flights on both Etihad and Emirates combined with a free stay at the Al Maha Desert Resort would make an amazing trip!

  27. My favorite item up for auction is 5 nights at the Green Leaf Boutique Hotel in Siem Reap Cambodia, because Siem Reap is home to the most spectacular sites in the world (Angkor Wat and others).

  28. The Sri Lanka auction at Luxury Travel Diary looks really interesting. I’ve never been to the country and would like to do so.

  29. I would choose to stay at the Al Maha Desert Resort because having a swim in the middle of the desert followed by a five star meal sounds fantastic!

  31. Will be in Dubai in May and the Al Maha resort would be the perfect way to top off the visit to the UAE.

  32. Great giveaway, Gary! My wife and I were actually looking at visiting there for a couple of days so this would be huge! We sure liked the look of it and would love to check it out ourselves. 🙂

  36. Based on Lucky’s review of the Al Maha Desert Resort, I’ve added the place on my list of locations to see for myself! I would love the opportunity to go and stay there!

  42. My favorite auction at the moment is for:
    3 NIGHTS AT THE 5-STAR GRAND HYATT DOHA IN QATAR

    Since I have a Qatar F award and a few days to spend there anyway this fall 🙂

  43. I’ve never been to Dubai, so winning a stay at Al Maha Desert Resort would be the ultimate incentive to get me there.

  44. I would surely chose the Al Maha Desert Resort as the whole desert experience seems to be outstanding and we are somewhat fond of Dubai and the Emirates anyway.

  45. I’m pregnant and due in less than a week. I think a short luxury getaway to Al Maha Desert Resort would be an amazing trip to help us relax after a couple of months of figuring out the whole parenting thing, and it’s actually feasible because we’re currently living in Istanbul. If that’s not kismet, I don’t know what is 🙂

  46. The website has so many amazing stays being auctioned on that website, but a boutique hotel in Cambodia for 5 days sounds AMAZING to me.

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