NOTE: As this offer is not advertised nor confirmed, any transfers are conducted at your own risk as this offer can be pulled at anytime and you may not receive the bonus.
Sep 5 Update: According to our reader David who commented below it appears this transfer bonus is no longer available
American Express’ 25% bonus for transferring Membership Rewards points to Marriott Bonvoy has returned! The offer has not been officially announced or mentioned on Amex’s site but has been in place for at least a few days now. Rewards Canada reader Brian alerted us to it this past Thursday saying he was surprised the to receive a bonus on a transfer he made. This was further corroborated by some members on Red Flag Deals and myself as I made a small transfer last night.
This offer is typically seen right around this time, last year it ran from September 15 to October 15. We did reach out to American Express on Friday to see if they can provide more details on how long this transfer will be offered. We’ll update this post once we hear back.
The 25% Transfer Bonus
On Saturday evening I decided to try it out myself and made a small 2,000 point transfer from American Express Membership Rewards to Marriott Bonvoy. The standard conversion ratio is 1 MR point to 1.25 Marriott Bonvoy points, which means I would receive 2,400 Bonvoy points for my 2,000 Membership Rewards points:
And this morning I received an email from American Express saying my transfer was completed. I logged in to my Marriott Bonvoy account and sure enough there were the 2,400 points plus 25% extra for a total of 3,000 points:
Which cards can I convert from?
All cards that earn Membership Rewards points are eligible for this offer and those cards are as follows:
- American Express Cobalt™ Card
- American Express® Gold Rewards Card
- The Platinum Card®
- American Express Green Card
- American Express Business Edge™ Card
- American Express® Business Gold Rewards Card
- Business Platinum Card® from American Express
The regular conversion ratio is 1 Membership Rewards Point = 1.2 Marriott Bonvoy points but with the bonus that is now 1.5 Marriott Bonvoy points.
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 1.5 cents per Membership Rewards point.
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 7.5 Marriott Bonvoy points per dollar spent or a 7.5% 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 25% bonus you are looking at a return of 22.5%. That’s value!
Considerations
Remember in the numbers above we are only taking into account 5 points per dollar spending. 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 15,000 mile redemption rates often provide at least 1.8 cents per Membership Rewards point. In fact in our article Confirmed! Air France KLM Flying Blue’s 15,000/20,000 mile Transatlantic redemptions are here to stay we have an example of an economy class reward with 3.57 cents per point value for Membership Rewards Points (4.76 actual value in Flying Blue Miles). Take that 3.57 and multiply it by the Cobalt’s 5x points for a ~17.9% return!
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 my 22 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.