30% transfer bonus from American Express to Marriott

30% transfer bonus from American Express to Marriott Bonvoy until October 31

Patrick S Credit Cards

American Express’ bonus for transferring Membership Rewards points to Marriott Bonvoy has returned for the next two months!

The 30% Transfer Bonus

From now until October 31, any one with an American Express card that earns Membership Rewards points can choose to transfer them to Marriott and receive a 30% bonus when doing so.  The standard conversion ratio is 1 MR point to 1.20 Marriott Bonvoy points and with the bonus that works out to 1.56 Marriott Bonvoy Points per 1 MR Point

 

 

Which cards can I convert from?

All cards that earn Membership Rewards points are eligible for this offer and those cards are as follows:

This is a transfer bonus that many American Express cardmembers anxiously await so they can convert their points as it represents a decent value proposition. We usually value Marriott Rewards points around 1 cent each (in C$) so in effect you are receiving 1.56 cents per Membership Rewards point.

As the offer is in market for two months it gives you time to get one the cards listed above, save for the Business Edge, and transfer the welcome bonus over to Marriott  as long as you complete the required spending for the respective bonus as quickly as possible.

Value in the conversion to Marriott

You have to consider the points multipliers that you receive on the various Amex cards. For example, if all your Membership Rewards points were earned on the American Express Cobalt Card from the 5x eats and drinks category, you are in fact earning 7.8 Marriott Bonvoy points per dollar spent or a 7.8% return with this bonus! That’s a very good return and something to consider given the fact that you can pull even more value out of Marriott Bonvoy than 1 cent per point. Sometimes we’re talking two to three times that and even more!

If you look at examples from our Everyday Value Series article Marriott Bonvoy provides great value for everyday hotel stays in Canada there are redemptions with a value of over 3 cents per point. If we go back to 5 points per dollar earning converted at 1 to 1.2 plus the 30% bonus you are looking at a return of over 23%. That’s value!

Considerations

Remember in the numbers above we are only taking into account 5 points per dollar spending from the Cobalt Card. Once you bring in non Eats and Drinks spend and/or the lower earn rates the other American Express cards provide, your overall value will drop but not to a point where these bonuses should be ignored. It really depends on how, when and where you as an individual want to be rewarded.

You also want to consider that Membership Rewards points can be transferred directly to airlines like Air Canada, Air France KLM and British Airways which can provide even more value per point if redeemed for business class or first class tickets. Actually, let me correct myself here, even on economy class tickets now as Air France KLM’s 20,000 mile redemption rates often provide at least 1.8 cents per Membership Rewards point if not more.

Another consideration is the ability to convert Marriott Bonvoy points to over 40 different airline loyalty programs – much more than the seven currently available through Membership Rewards. If you happen to need ANA Mileage Club miles, Emirates Skywards Miles, JAL Mileage Bank Miles, Turkish Miles&Smiles miles and so forth – Marriott Bonvoy is your primary route to getting more of those miles outside of actually flying with those airlines and this bonus helps out in receiving more miles in those programs.

Wrapping it up

Ultimately you have to look at the big picture of when, where, how and who you think you might travel with in the future. I’ve
said for the better part of nearly 23 years of doing this that for some Canadians, hotel programs can make way more sense for a family than a frequent flyer program. Think about it – how much money would you have to spend to get four business class tickets versus how much money you need to spend to get one luxurious hotel room? The latter in many cases will take a lot less and with a bonus like this available it makes the reaching that goal even easier. Then ask yourself this question that I have also posed for many years: do you want 7-10 hours of luxury or 7 days of luxury? I know which I’d pick. Granted some of us our lucky in that we can potentially do both for our families but for most Canadians it will be one or the other.

On the flip side, if you are single traveller or perhaps even two travellers  it is a more of grey area as to where to park your points and which bonuses to take advantage of. Do you convert your Membership Rewards points to Marriott right now for this bonus or do you think you can get better value using your points for flights? These are all questions you need to ask yourself before you convert.

Offer terms & Conditions:

Membership Rewards Point transfers must be made in increments of 100 Points with a minimum transfer requirement of 1,000 Points for each transfer. At the regular redemption rate, 5 Membership Rewards Points = 6 Marriott Bonvoy Points. From 12:00:01am ET on September 1, 2024 until 11:59:59pm ET on October 31, 2024, when you transfer Membership Rewards points to Marriott Bonvoy you will receive 30% bonus Marriott Bonvoy points on the total number of Membership Rewards points transferred. For example, if you transfer 1,000 Membership Rewards points to Marriott Bonvoy (regular redemption rate Is 1,200 Marriott Bonvoy points), you will receive 360 bonus Marriott Bonvoy points (a total of 1,560 Marriott Bonvoy points). Please allow up to eight (8) weeks after October 31, 2024, for the 30% bonus Points to be credited to your account. You must be enrolled in Marriott Bonvoy in order to participate in this offer; visit marriott.com/loyalty.mi to enroll. Once you have transferred Membership Rewards Points, they become subject to the terms and conditions of the Marriott Bonvoy program and cannot be transferred back to your Membership Rewards program account. See Marriott Bonvoy terms and conditions for details: marriott.com/loyalty/terms/default.mi. This offer is non-transferable and may not be combined with other offers. Marriott Bonvoy bonus Points do not count toward Elite tier qualification.