A few days ago, American Express launched a promotion offering a 50% bonus when transferring points to the Marriott Bonvoy program. In that post, I noted that the promotion could offer a benefit in moving points to an airline program. In this post, I will be expanding on how you could take advantage of the offer.
The main advantage of the path through Marriott Bonvoy is that it opens up a wider range of partners than transferring directly from American Express. Marriott Bonvoy has 39 airline transfer partners versus the 10 that American Express has.
As will be noted, where you can transfer directly from American Express to the airline partner, that will probably be a better path. However, for the other 29 partners, going via Marriott Bonvoy offers a mechanism for transferring points that is worth considering.
Marriott Bonvoy Airline Transfers
Hotel rooms are probably the first thing that comes to mind when deciding what to do with Marriott Bonvoy points. However, you can transfer Marriott Bonvoy points to 39 different airline programs.
In Australia, that includes both the Qantas and Velocity programs. However, it also includes the likes of American Airlines AAdvantage, British Airways Executive Club and United Mileage Plus, all of which can offer some advantage to those of us in Australia. You can see the full range of airline partners on the Marriott Bonvoy website.
For most airline partners, the transfer rate is 3:1. So, for every 3 Marriott Bonvoy points, you will receive 1 airline point, or mile. The exception to this is the Air New Zealand program, which has a 200:1 transfer ratio.
Depending on the airline partner, you can transfer anywhere from 3,000 to 240,000 Marriott points per day.
Transfer Bonus
On top of that, Marriott Bonvoy offer a bonus to most airline programs. When you transfer 60,000 Mariott Bonvoy Points, they will toss in an extra 5,000 airline points. As such, that transfer which would normally result in 20,000 airline points will see 25,000 points added instead.
There are some exceptions, both good and bad.
Firstly, the good. If you transfer 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points to United, they will throw in a 10,000-point bonus. So those 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points will get a total of 30,000 United points.
On the other hand, there are four partners in which there are no bonus points. These are American Airlines AAdvantage, Avianca LifeMiles, Delta SkyMiles and Korean Air SKYPASS.
Marriott Points
Outside actually staying in Marriott hotels, there are a few other sources for obtaining Marriott Bonvoy points in Australia. You can transfer them from an affiliated credit card, or you could purchase them.
Credit Card transfers
If you hold an American Express credit card and earn Membership Rewards points, you have the option of transferring to Marriott Bonvoy. Normally, there transfer at a rate of 3 Membership Rewards Points to 2 Marriott Bonvoy points.
During May, there is the 50% bonus offer, so this effectively makes the transfer 1:1. So, if you were to transfer 60,000 Membership Rewards Points, you would get 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy Points (normally 40,000). For most airlines, you can transfer these to receive 25,000 airline points (20,000 points + the 5,000 points if applicable).
Keep in mind, that where American Express lets you transfer to the airline, that may work out to be a better path. However, American Express allows transfers to 10 airlines, while Marriott Bonvoy has 39 airline partners. As a result, in many cases, transferring via Marriott Bonvoy is the only option available to you.
Purchasing Points
Another option is to purchase Marriott Bonvoy Points. Marriott often runs promotions offering bonus points or discounts on buying points.
For example, at present there is a mystery discount on offer.
Final Words
While many in Australia are heavily invested in the Qantas or Velocity programs, there are opportunities for travel in a range of other programs. The challenge sometimes is earning points in those programs. By using transfer partners such as Marriott Bonvoy, a number of opportunities can be opened up.
