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.
- Here are their auctions
- And here are the ones ending soon which are probably the best to check out right now – to get an idea of just how good a deal you’re likely to get.
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).
For auction, the Green Leaf Boutique Hotel, Cambodia
3 nights at Santorini auction sounds amazing
Al Maha: I would like to visit the nearby, prestigious UAE University
Al Maha was the nicest resort I have ever been too and I would love to go back.
Al Maha: and try my hand at go karting in Al Ain!
Sure, I’ll give it try for the weekend. I can fly on Etihad from IAD in F ?
The auction for 3 nights in Santorini would be fantastic
3 Nights At The 5-Star Grand Hyatt Doha In Qatar
For auction, the Green Leaf Boutique Hotel, Cambodia
I’d love to stay at Al Maha to enjoy the gorgeous desert scenery!
I want to stay here bc it’s the only way I can convince my wife to visit Abu Dhabi
AL Maha for the hot women
My wife and I are planning to be in Dubai this May. Al Maha would be a great treat!
For the auction, I would definitely do 2 Nights In A Villa At The Edge Resort In Bali!
2 nights in the Arabian desert. Sign me up please sir.
For the auction I like the 3 nights for 4 at the Private Villa in Goa, India!
No Brainer I would want 3 Nights At Pumziko Safari & Wellness Lodge, Tanzania.
Pampered luxury at the Al Maha for a crazy weekend jaunt from NYC? Sign me up!
Wanna go to Al Maha because I think it would be AWESOME to stay in the desert and it would give me an excuse to go to Dubai where I have never been before!
I would like the 5 Nights Half Board At Reethi Beach Resort, Maldives!
I’d love to do the 4 nights at the VILLA SUNGAI IN SEMINYAK, Indonesia.
I would like to stay at the Al Maha Desert Resort becuase of all the desert activities that are included!
For the auction, I like 8 Nights At Amaya Resorts & The Kingsbury, Sri Lanka!!
I’d love to stay at Al Maha to see a more serene part of the UAE.
I had a whole trip booked – first class to Dubai and back from Abu Dhabi, with a planned night or two at Al Maha – that fell through. Would absolutely love to have it back on the calendar.
3 NIGHTS FOR 12 PEOPLE IN SNOWDONIA NATIONAL PARK, WALES
Would be a fantastic award! I’ll be there in June for the first time.
Al maha because it’s on of the best in the world!
I’d love to stay at the Al Maha because I love the desert and the activities seem like a blast.
I would love to stay at Al Maha because even at 39,000 starpoints/night that’s like shelling out 234,000 HHonors points/night. For some perspective, just one night at Al Maha will consume 62% of the total number of points I recently used to stay for 5 nights at Conrad Koh Samui!
3 nights in goa would be a dream!
My favourite auction is the 2 Nights In A Luxury Villa At The 5-Star Viceroy Bali!
4 nights at the Villa Sungai in Bali sounds good right about now…
7 nights in Crete! I want it! I’ll take this gorgeous hotel for 2 nights any day as well!
Need the ability to go visit family who live in the Middle East, this would be perfect for that!
My favorite item: the very unique “7 nights for 10 people in a luxury villa in the Algarve”. I bet I could get a crowd together to go there…
I would love to live by the beach in Italy for a few nights!
https://www.luxurytraveldiary.com/auction/?ult_auc_id=18920
Why I would stay: I love checking out new locales and outstanding resorts. UAE hasn’t been top of my list, but if it were free…
I’d love to visit and stay in Al Maha it’s less points than using Hilton points. It’s freezing in NYC I rather be in the warm sun right now
Why I would want to go to Al Maha: I once overnighted in the Sahara on a trip to Morocco, and I have been determined to visit more deserts ever since (but I’ve never made it happen!) Also, this stay would be about 1000x the luxury of the berber tent I stayed in for that one night in Morocco 🙂
I would love to stay at the Al Maha resort. I frequently stopover in Dubai en route to Pakistan but I have never stayed out in the desert and I think this would be very unique.
I would choose to stay at Al Maha Desert Resort to really get away from it all, to explore the desert and to finally try out some of those fabled middle eastern airlines.
I would stay at Al Maha for the isolated desert views and breakfast in bed.
I would love to stay at Al Maha and try some of the desert activities.
I like the 2 Nights In An Under Canvas® Safari Tent In The US auction, because if my wife and I ever visit Yellowstone park we might as well be glamping.
My favorite item up for auction is the, “2 Nights At The Grand Hyatt Singapore”!
3 Luxury Nights By The Beach In Tropea, Italy sounds like an amazing experience.
I’d love to check out the Amaya in Sri Lanka.
Among the auctions the :
5 Nights At Casa Veintiuno In Sosua, Dominican Republic
is the one that most interests me as I’ve been wanting to visit there for a while now!
staying 3 Luxury Nights By The Beach In Tropea, Italy would be ideal
I’d choose to stay at the Al Maha resort because it looks amazing!!!