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

  3. My favorite item up for auction at at Luxury Travel Diary is 2 Nights At MesaStila Resort, Java, Indonesia.

  5. Wanted to go on last trip to Dubai. Two nights at Al Maha would be a wonderful reason to return. Fingers crossed!

  13. I would stay at Al Maha because it would offer me the opportunity to explore the incredible deserts of the UAE!

  22. Keeping a close eye on the 6 night at Benvengudo Nr Avignon in Southern France, will bid last day – fingers crossed!

  29. While there are a number of very inspiring places on the auction list – including al Maha – I was pretty intrigued by the 5 nights at Hotel Tres Palma de Mallorca.

  30. Two nights at Al Maha would be a wonderful spot to take my wife on our fifth wedding anniversary!

  33. Tanzania is on my bucket list, so the Pumziko Safari and Wellness Lodge would be grand.

  34. Why would I wanna stay at Al Maha? It’s a luxury property and it looks amazing. As a Ambassador guest at SPG this would be an amazing stay! Can’t wait to win it.

  36. I’d love to stay at Al Maha because my wife has been asking to go, and happy wife happy life!

  40. Would love to stay at the Al Maha because it’s one of the most exclusive resorts in the world!

  41. My wife and I are heading to Kenya, with a stopover in Dubai. It would be incredible to stay at this hotel, relax with the great service and participate in some fun activities!

  42. Favorite item is the Viceroy in Ubud. We’re headed there in October and the Viceroy would normally be way out of our budget, but I made a bid!

  43. Would love to stay because its a welcome change from the urban concrete jungle of Dubai and get a taste of real Arabia at one of the finest Hotels in the world!

  45. We’re headed to Dubai, Doha, and Abu Dhabi in November. We were planning to stay in the cities, since our time is brief, but 2 free nights at Al Maha would definitely cause us to change our plans and would be a wonderful respite in between museum visits!

  46. My favorite item up for auction would have to be 7 nights at the two bedroom condo in Barbados. Having kids, it’s nice to have some space when we travel! Sounds like a relaxing vacation.

  47. I’d love to stay at Al Maha Desert Resort because I think it would be perfect if my first experience with Dubai was somewhere so luxurious.

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