Club ITC, the loyalty programme of ITC Hotels, has long offered one of the more useful — if underappreciated — points-transfer options for Indian travellers: the ability to convert Club ITC Green Points into Marriott Bonvoy points. For years, the partnership has been a convenient way for points enthusiasts, especially those accumulating Axis Bank EDGE Rewards, to earn Marriott Bonvoy points. But as of May 1, 2026, the rules are changing again — and this time, the change is significant enough that you should act before the month is out.
What is Club ITC, and Why Does This Transfer Matter?
Club ITC is the guest loyalty programme of ITC Hotels Limited, which operates more than 140 hotels across 90 destinations in India under brands including ITC Hotels (its flagship luxury tier), Welcomhotel, Mementos, Storii, Fortune Hotels, and WelcomHeritage. ITC Hotels became a separately listed company after it demerged from the ITC conglomerate in January 2025.
ITC Hotels has a long-standing franchise agreement with Marriott International, under which its flagship luxury properties — the ITC Grand Collection — are listed as part of Marriott’s The Luxury Collection brand. This means that, among other things, Marriott Bonvoy members can book select ITC properties using Bonvoy points, and Club ITC members have historically been able to convert their Green Points into Marriott Bonvoy points.
The transfer ratio has remained favourable throughout: 2 Club ITC Green Points convert to 3 Marriott Bonvoy points: a 50% uplift. For context, 1 Green Point is worth 1 Indian rupee, so a transfer of 10,000 Green Points (notional value of INR 10,000 in ITC Hotel terms) yields 15,000 Bonvoy points, which can be redeemed at any of the 9,500+ properties in the Marriott portfolio worldwide.
That ratio is not changing. What is changing is the number of points you are permitted to transfer.
The Current Rules (Before May 1)
As of today, the conversion terms are:
- Ratio: 2 Club ITC Green Points = 3 Marriott Bonvoy Points
- Minimum per transfer: 2,000 Green Points
- Quarterly cap: 10,000 Green Points per calendar quarter (i.e., up to 40,000 Green Points per year, yielding a maximum of 60,000 Bonvoy points annually)
- Transfer direction: One-way only. You cannot convert Bonvoy points back into Green Points.
- Processing time: Officially 8–10 weeks; typically processed sooner.
These rules have already been tightened several times. When the transfer partnership was first introduced, there was no quarterly cap — members could transfer up to 60,000 Green Points per year freely. In July 2023, Club ITC introduced a quarterly cap of 15,000 Green Points per quarter (60,000 per year), ostensibly to discourage members from using Club ITC as a relay to convert Axis Bank EDGE Rewards into Bonvoy points at a more favourable rate than the direct Axis-to-Bonvoy transfer permitted. By mid-2024, that quarterly cap was reduced to the current 10,000 Green Points per quarter.
What Is Changing on May 1, 2026?
Club ITC has communicated via email to its members that, effective May 1, 2026, the limit for converting Green Points to Marriott Bonvoy points will be revised to 5,000 Green Points per quarter. The transfer ratio itself remains unchanged.
How to Read the New Cap?
The official announcement language reads: *”The quarterly limit to convert Club ITC green points to Marriott Bonvoy points has been revised to 5000 Green Points within a calendar year.” This wording is genuinely ambiguous, and it is worth pausing on it. There are two plausible interpretations:
- 5,000 Green Points per quarter (with the phrase “within a calendar year” indicating the quarterly structure still operates inside calendar year boundaries). Under this reading, the annual maximum drops from 40,000 to 20,000 Green Points, translating to a maximum of 30,000 Bonvoy points per year.
- 5,000 Green Points as a new annual total (with “within a calendar year” meaning the full year’s allowance is 5,000 Green Points). This would be a far more dramatic reduction — from 40,000 Green Points per year down to just 5,000, meaning a maximum of only 7,500 Bonvoy points per year from this route.
Club ITC clarified that the intent is to allow 5,000 Green Points per Quarter for transfer (20,000 per annum)
The Axis Bank Angle: Why This Change Stings More Right Now
The timing of this change is particularly frustrating for Axis Bank cardholders because Axis Bank already removed Marriott Bonvoy as a direct transfer partner — effective April 2, 2026 — along with Accor and Qatar Airways. The removal came without advance notice, as has become something of a pattern with Axis Bank’s partnership decisions.
Before the Axis change, the routing was well-known in the Indian points community: Axis EDGE Miles → Club ITC Green Points → Marriott Bonvoy. While Axis offered a direct transfer to Marriott Bonvoy, the indirect route via Club ITC at the right transfer ratios could yield more meaningful Bonvoy points per EDGE Rewards/Mile. With the direct Axis-to-Marriott route now gone, the Club ITC bridge had become even more important for Marriott Bonvoy aspirants holding Axis EDGE points — and it is precisely at this moment that Club ITC has opted to tighten the bridge further. Perhaps they saw their own conversion outflow rising (in terms of cash paid for the conversion) and wanted to cut it before it became a swarm.
For Axis cardholders, the new annual cap significantly reduces the attractiveness of this remaining route.
Should You Transfer Now?
Yes, if you have Green Points, you intended to move to Bonvoy at some point.
You still have Q2 2026 capacity under the current rules. The current cap of 10,000 Green Points per quarter is in effect right up to April 30, 2026. If you transfer before May 1, you are using your Q2 2026 allowance at the old, more generous cap. If you were planning to transfer this quarter anyway, there is no reason to wait.
Bear in mind that transfers officially take 8–10 weeks to process, though experience suggests they typically land in your Marriott Bonvoy account quicker. This means points debited from your Club ITC account today may not appear in your Bonvoy account for some time, but the transfer request will have been logged under the pre-May 1 rules.
How to initiate a transfer:
- Ensure your Club ITC account email and mobile number are verified (a one-time step in the ITC Hotels app or website).
- Log in to your Club ITC account at itchotels.com, navigate to Rewards, and select the Marriott Bonvoy conversion option.
- Alternatively, email clubitc.care@itchotels.in with your Club ITC and Bonvoy membership details.
- A minimum of 2,000 Green Points is required per transfer request.
The Broader Picture: Club ITC Post-Demerger
It is worth stepping back to understand why these restrictions keep tightening. Club ITC isn’t designed to transfer bank credit card points to Marriott Bonvoy. It was — and is — a genuine hotel loyalty programme. When Axis Bank made Club ITC a transfer partner, a surge in point-optimisation routing began, which ITC Hotels found itself financing without receiving a proportional number of hotel stays in return.
Since becoming an independent company in January 2025, ITC Hotels has been recalibrating Club ITC to serve its core purpose: rewarding guests who actually stay and dine at ITC properties. The revamped Club ITC (relaunched in mid-2025) introduced the new Platinum Select tier, evergreen points for active members, and a more transparent earn structure. The restrictions on the Bonvoy transfer pathway fit neatly into this strategy — ITC Hotels would prefer you redeem your Green Points at their restaurants and hotel rooms, not route them out to a competitor/cooperator’s programme.
This is not entirely unreasonable from ITC’s perspective. But it does mean that, for points enthusiasts who valued this partnership primarily as a transfer route, the utility is rapidly declining.
What Alternatives Remain for Marriott Bonvoy Accumulation in India?
With Axis Bank’s direct Marriott transfer gone and the Club ITC bridge being throttled, here is where Indian Marriott Bonvoy enthusiasts can still earn meaningfully:
- American Express India (MR points transfer to Bonvoy at 1:1)
- Marriott Bonvoy HDFC Bank Diners Club Credit Card
- HSBC TravelOne / HSBC Premier (solid Bonvoy transfer ratios remain in place, which equate to 1:1)
- HDFC Infinia / Regalia Gold (2:1 ratio — less efficient, but still a route)
- Earning at ITC properties on Bonvoy: If you are staying at ITC’s Luxury Collection properties, you still earn Bonvoy points on eligible spends by attaching your Bonvoy number to the reservation
- Direct Bonvoy earning through stays at Marriott’s expanding India portfolio, which now includes Fern Hotels via the new Series by Marriott brand
Bottomline
Club ITC’s Green Points-to-Marriott Bonvoy transfer has been quietly phased out since 2023, from no quarterly cap to 15,000 per quarter to 10,000 per quarter, and now to 5,000 Green Points. The 2:3 conversion ratio is still excellent on paper, but that ratio matters little if you are only permitted to transfer a trivially small number of points each year.
If you are sitting on Green Points and had planned to convert to Bonvoy, act before May 1. After that date, assume your transfer capacity is significantly curtailed until Club ITC provides clearer guidance on exactly how the new 5,000-point limit is structured.
What is your take on the shrinking of the Club ITC to Marriott Bonvoy transfer window?
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