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. Have been eyeing on Al Maha for a while. I am a big fan of adventure and Al Maha activities look really fun.

  2. I really like the “3 NIGHTS IN A VILLA FOR 3 PEOPLE IN KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA” auction item.
    I wish the website offered more listings for major hotel chains.

  5. Al Maha Desert Resort looks beautiful and completely different from my normal vacations.

  6. I may actually bid on the auction for the 3-nights in a luxury Parisian apt since I’ll be heading that way this summer.

  7. My favorite item up for auction at Luxury Travel Diary is 3 Nights For 4 In A Luxury Parisian 2-Bedroom Apartment. I’m planning an extended trip to Paris and this actually fits perfectly to our need.

  8. I find the Villa Laetitia in Rome very interesting, so I would say it’s my favorite item up for auction. I would consider bidding if I were going to Rome a little earlier, but I’m going in May.

  9. 2 Nights At Argentario Golf Resort & Spa, Tuscany is my favorite auction at Luxury Travel Diary.

  10. I would stay at the Al Maha resort to do the Desert Experiences! The camel trekking and safari look incredible.

  11. And since I wouldn’t go to UAE for just two nights, I’ll take that 3-night stay at Grand Hyatt Doha in Qatar that Luxury Travel Diary has available. Will work nicely since I’ll be cashing in AA miles on Qatar for the trip to Dubai!

  13. Favorite item on the Auction Site would definitely be the Luxury Apartment in Florence. One of my top destinations to visit.

  17. I would love to stay at the Al Maha resort to experience the beautiful night time sky, which that area is known for. Not just amazing sunsets but stellar view of the Milky Way.

  18. My favorite item up for travel auction is the 8 NIGHTS AT AMAYA RESORTS & THE KINGSBURY, SRI LANKA

  22. I think the Al Maha’s private swimming pools look incredible. Also all-inclusive. Sounds like a homerun.

  23. Why I would stay at Al Maha? Never been to this part of the world. This would be quite the introduction!!!

  24. The Maldives is on my list of places to visit- so my favorite item is Loama Resort Maldives at Maamigili

  25. Al Maha (Arabic for “the Maha”) would be a massive upgrade over the trite 4 Points and Aloft properties in which I normally stay.

  37. Already headed to Dubai for my wife’s birthday. Just showed this to her and we’ve got our fingers crossed we’re the lucky winners so we can celebrate with some falconing and duning!

  39. My husband has booked a trip for us to Dubai and Abu Dhabi for my birthday in a couple months (he booked Emirates First and Etihad First using tips from your site!) –we looked up this place as a possible night in the desert and really loved it and would love to stay here. Thanks for this opportunity!

  44. My favorite auction item of the moment is the villa stat at Loama Resort Maldives. It sounds amazing.

  45. Hey Gary,

    Is the 35% off promotion for bookings AND stays by March 8th? Or just bookings?

    I thought this was confusing in the wording of the promotion, we will be in Dubai in November and I was planning on using points for a night or two in the desert but everything priced at 60K. I’m assuming this means the stay must be before then….but I’m holding out hope the agent was missing something.

  49. My husband and I have very different approaches when it comes to our vacations (I like luxury, all-inclusive all the better, while he likes going out on tours and activities [he could do with or without the luxury aspect]) so Al Maha seems like the ideal compromise for us! We’d love the opportunity to try out the resort.

  50. 4 nights at HOTEL MINHO, NORTH PORTUGAL – sounds like a perfect spot to go explore the port wine area!

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