Tomatico was fortunate that his fall soccer season wasn’t canceled like his spring season. While his teams had to play with slightly different rules and had to wear a mask while playing, at least they were able to hold the seasons and we were all thankful for that distraction.
For one of his teams he had a tournament in New Hampshire over Columbus Day weekend (Indigenous People’s Day). The site was about an hour away from our house with three games over the long weekend so we looked to turn it into a quick weekend staycation.
Finding a Hotel
The tournament was near Manchester New Hampshire so I looked for Marriott and Hyatt properties in the area. There are no Hyatt properties in the entire state so I searched for availability at the Marriott properties in the area. There were several, but the prices were really high if there was even availability. The properties were also low end airport properties that were practical but not terribly inspiring. Since my wife and my youngest would need something to do during the games, those hotels weren’t going to work.
We were waffling for several days as the only property that looked interesting was the Wentworth By the Sea resort my wife and I had stayed at during the summer. It was about an hour away from the tournament so it wasn’t any closer than home and it cost a lot of points since it was high season for leaf peepers. At 70,000 points per night it was a reasonable deal on points (nightly rates were north of $600/night) but it was a lot of points for a staycation.
A few days before the tournament I noticed that Marriott was having a “sale” where nearly all properties were availabie on points at the off-peak rates. Off-peak for a Category 7 hotel like the Wentworth by the Sea is 50,000 points. This aligns with the maximum amount of points we can book using the free night certificate from our Marriott Brililant cards. My wife and I each have the card and had certificates we could use. At the time, the certificates were scheduled to expire at the end of 2020, though that did get extended after our stay.
I quickly booked two reservations, one under each of our names, using each of our free night certificates. This was a no-brainer. We got to keep the points, used certificates that were going to expire (though we would have found a way to use them), and got outsized value for the certificates in the process.
Tournament Weekend
Tournament weekend was going to be busy. Our youngest had a home game for his town team early Saturday afternoon (he won!). Immediately after the game we drove an hour to the hotel to check in.
The checkin process was nearly identical to what we eperiences earlier in the summer. The process was quick, safe, and efficient. We were able to keep the same room for both nights despite having two reservations. We also got free breakfast for two for both nights because of my wife’s Titanium status, even though the first night was under my name and I didn’t re-qualify for Platinum last year.
After checking in we found our room on the top floor, dropped off our stuff, and then headed out to grab some dinner before I headed off with Tomatico to his first tournament game (a night game). We ended up eating at a nearby ice cream stand called the Ice House. The food was typical (and good) roadside snack bar fare featuring fried seafood.
Tomatico and I then dropped my wife and youngest at the hotel to head off to his game. They walked around the grounds and spent time in the indoor pool before calling it a night. Tomatico and I made the hour long drive to his game (they lost a close one) and arrived back at the hotel exhaused and quickly went to sleep.
The next morning, the boys and I drove to a nearby Panera Bread to get something for breakfast. My wife was meeting a friend in the morning and was saving the free breakfast for that since it was for two people not all four of us. After breakfast the boys wanted to play tennis on the hotel court.
We inquired at the front desk and found they had complimentary rackets, but we had to buy a can of balls. Fortunately it was only $5 for the can which was entirely reasonable. We had to reserve time on the court but it was wide open for the day so we got on immediately. We had a lot of fun volleying the ball.
After our hour on the tennis courts I took the boys back to the Ice House for a quick lunch while my wife was having brunch with her friend. It was so good the night before they wanted to go back! We then dropped my youngest off at the hotel with my wife before heading to Tomatico’s game (he won!).
Back at the hotel, we decided to drive into town for dinner. We parked in the central parking garage and walked around the town. We found a restaurant overlooking the water that didn’t have a wait. We had eaten there earlier in the summer and enjoyed it. After dinner we walked around the shops for a little bit.
Back at the hotel the boys enjoyed the pool before (trying) to head up to the room. We got into the elevator and punched button for the top floor. When it reached our floor, the doors didn’t open and it went back to the first floor. Ugh. It was malfunctioning and the other elevator didn’t seem to be working either.
The front desk pointed us in the direction of the stairs. The stairs are on the complete other end of the (very long) hotel and we had to ask several people along the way for more direction. As the hotel is an old building that has been renovated and expanded several times over the year there are some quirks to the layout and it wasn’t ovbious where the stairs were. We finally made it to our room but it took about 15 minutes to get there. Luckily it was fixed the next time we needed it.
It was an early night because Tomatico and I had to get up at 5:15am to get to his 8am game. Unfortunately, around 1am the people in the neighboring room got back to their room and thought it was a good idea to be yelling at each other and start blasting (at wall shaking levels) their music. It was at levels that would have been unacceptable a 1pm, much less 1am.
We called the front desk who quickly came up to resolve the situation. We could hear how “surprised” they were that their music was loud. I think they felt that because they were there for a wedding the music wasn’t as loud for some reason. The turned the music down, but definitely not off. After a second call to the lobby the music was finally turned off (it wasn’t even good music!), though the group in the room parted ways at full volume making arrangements to meet up in the morning for breakfast for all the rooms in the hallway to hear. Needless to say we didn’t sleep well the rest of the night and the alarm came quickly.
We made it to the game (a loss to a better team) and returned to the hotel. My wife and youngest had used the breakfast in the restaurant by the time we got back. We had eaten on the way since it was so early. While it was a Monday holiday, my wife didn’t have it off so she was working in the hotel. I took the boys to play some more tennis.
The previous day I had asked for late checkout which is 4pm based on my wife’s Titanium status. They were wide open and allowed us to stay until then. During my wife’s lunch we all went to a nearby resaurant on the water. It was their last day of operation before closing up for the winter. It was an overcast but otherwise pleasant fall day and we had a great meal with fresh seafood the boys loved.
Back at the hotel we enjoyed the pool for the afternoon until it was time to finally check out and head home.
Summary
In the end this was a great mini-vacation. While we didn’t save any driving to the tournament, the hotel hit the spot. It wouldn’t have been as fulfilling if we had to pay cash or the full amount of points, but using the free night certificates really made the vacation better because it was also a great deal.
The credit cards that provided those certificates, the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant, have a $450 yearly fee, though there is also a $300/year credit at Marriott properties plus a free night certificate worth up to 50,000 points. We’ve used the yearly credit plus we got more than $600 each out of the free night certificates, so we’ve definitely made out well with that card fee.
The hotel has a lot of activities that the boys enjoyed and there was enough for my wife and youngest to do even without a car while Tomatico and I were ad his games. It worked out really well for us outside of the rude neighbors on our final night. We appreciated that the staff extended the breakfast benefit to my wife for both nights and allowed late checkout on Monday. This allowed us to take full advantage of our mini-vacation. After our summer couples trip and this fall trip to the Wentworth, it’s quickly becoming our go-to place if we’ll need to stay in the area!
Tomatico Travels 
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