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

  2. I would choose to stay at Al Maha because it is so romantic. I would get major wife points for taking my wife to stay there.

  6. I’ve been wanting to go to Al Maha since the first time I heard about the resort. My wife and I love traveling to off-beat destinations, and if the destination also happens to offer falconing as an activity, all the better!

  8. My favorite auction from Luxury Travel Diary is the 2 night stay at the William Hotel in New York. My wife and I visit NY often, and we love trying new hotels. Combined with a few nights at a Hyatt (have to use those Diamond Suite Upgrades!) and our trip is covered!

  9. I am booked to go to Dubai in April. I would take my partner there for the amazing desert experience. The chance to try out some of their excursions would be amazing. The room with pool would be icing on the cake. Thanks for such a great giveaway!!

  11. I was thinking of using my Alaska miles to go to Dubai and staying at a high end resort is icing on the cake!

  18. Would choose to stay at Al Maha because I’m heading to Dubai next December and would love to get out of the city and see the desert and nature, and take a breather from the hustle!

  20. heck yeah. Thanks for doing this Gary.

    After reading all the reviews, I want to visit Al Maha just to share breakfast with my wife and a gazelle.

  21. I would choose to stay at Al Maha Desert Resort for the ambiance, the desert experience, the private pool, the animal viewing, the food and the activities.

  23. My favorite item that’s on auction are the “2 Nights In A Park Suite At Park Hyatt Buenos Aires”, mainly because I love staying at Park Hyatts! Any discounts on this hotel chain is much appreciated.

  25. I’d pick 3 Nights In A Villa At Loama Resort Maldives At Maamigili since we adore the Maldives and that looks like a wonderful way to return.

  31. Additionally, I’ll be bidding on the Villa Le Maschere near Florence for an upcoming Italian anniversary trip. Such a steal!

  32. I’d love to stay at this property for it’s amazing service and easy access to desert activities!

  33. I’d love to stay at Al Maha Desert Resort–it’s about as close to camping as I’d like to get. Plus, Dubai is fabulous.

  44. Al Maha Desert Resort looks like a lot of fun. Not the typical all-inclusive. Lots of interesting activities.

  45. Wow! Al Maha Desert resort sounds amazing! I’ll be in Dubai for first time ever in June. What an incredible award!

  47. I would love to stay here for the unique experience. Plus it would give me an excuse to travel to Dubai to see the sights!

  49. Why wouldn’t you want to stay here??!!! To stay here and enjoy the beautiful desert and the hotel sounds like a wonderful way to spend 2 nights!!! The included activities include falconry! WOW!

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