Marriott Bonvoy, the loyalty programme of Marriott Hotels, is dishing out hits after hits at the moment. After a sale which got you a 20% discount on Marriott gift cards, Marriott Bonvoy is out offering their latest promotion on purchased points. The current buy Marriott points bonus is one notch less than their best deal on purchased points but presents a good opportunity since the difference per point purchased is not a lot.
Buy Marriott Points with 50% Bonus through December 22, 2020
Marriott Bonvoy is now offering a 50% bonus on Marriott Bonvoy Points till December 22, 2020. To trigger the promotion, all you have to do is to buy at least 2000 Marriott Bonvoy points in a transaction.
With this promotion, Marriott Bonvoy has also tripled its cap on the number of points one can buy. The limit is 50,000 points, but through this promotion, it becomes 150,000 points pre-bonus. Points may be purchased in increments of 1,000, up to 50,000 Points (with a minimum purchase of 2,000 Points required for promotion eligibility); in increments of 5,000, up to a maximum of 100,000 Points; or in increments of 10,000, up to 150,000 Points. Through this promotion, then, you are looking at the price of 0.83 US Cents (INR 0.62) per point purchased.
Points purchases will be processed up to seven (7) business days after purchase. Base Points purchased will be deposited into members’ Accounts first. Bonus Points will be deposited up to 48 hours after that initial deposit.
Is it a good idea to buy Marriott Bonvoy points?
I’ve advocated buying points since redemption stays are usually exempt from the requirement to pay taxes over and above the stay cost, and it works out cheaper to redeem points at premium properties over paying cash for them. Also, let’s not forget that Marriott Bonvoy runs a pretty sweet ability to convert to airmiles at 3:1 ratio as well. So, there are many properties where you can get outsized value from your Marriott points.
Take the example of this established resort, one of the most popular Marriott properties in India, for the New Year 2020. The cash price is INR 128,500 ex taxes (INR 151,000 inclusive of taxes), and on points, it just comes to INR 99,200 for 5 nights with no separate taxes to pay.
Additionally, if you have the American Express Platinum Charge Card and you put this buy on that card, you can also earn about 6 Membership Rewards points per USD spent. Each Membership Rewards point also converts to Bonvoy 1:1 ratio.
Bottomline
There are a large number of situations where Bonvoy points could provide outsized value anyways, and given this is Marriott’s best offer on Bonvoy points purchase, that sweetens the deal a whole lot. If you additionally have cards that give you a bonus on international purchases, you get to make even more points. This is the best ever offer from Marriott Bonvoy on points purchase.
So, are you going to buy Marriott Points with a 50% Bonus?
Marriott terms are confusing about who can buy points (and bonus). It says 30 day old a/c with qualifying activity OR 1 year old a/c without qualifying activity.
Strangely, most points recommending portals suggest it is 90 days without qualifying activity.
My a/c was signed up in March 2020 (6 months old) and does NOT have any qualifying activity.
Can I buy points (+ bonus)
@Bhushan, why not just try to buy points and find out 🙂
Additionally, if you have the American Express Platinum Charge Card and you put this buy on that card, you can also earn about 12 Membership Rewards points extra per USD spent. Usually, USD spends would earn 7.5 points/INR 100. Each Membership Rewards point also converts to Bonvoy 1:1 ratio.
Please explain
@Jitendra, bad maths without coffee. fixed it.
Hi Ajay,
what is the 12 points extra per USD promotion on Amex Plat Charge card? Can you clarify?
@Sharad. @Jitendra, bad maths without coffee. fixed it. That promotion was over earlier on in the year, so inconsequential at the moment.
Did some research,
St. Regis, Mumbai (category 6)
1 Night = 35,000 points or $130(~INR9500)
Under this 60% bonus promotion,
To get to 35,000points the math is $275 = 22,000 + 13,200= 35,200 points
Clear loss of $145 + the forex fee levied on the cc.
Maybe its has a better reward for another category/property. Would request all to check for their choice of property beforehand. 🙂
@ekas, the categories of the Indian hotels are much inflated compared to their $rates. This would ideally work very will with many luxury properties in places with high $ rates such as DXB, NYC, TYO, PAR and such.
Thanks for the clarity !
Is the 50% promotion still on
Can anyone able to buy Marriott points right now? I am getting an error saying payment information is not correct yet I see pending charges on my credit… I tried 10+ different credits cards with different billing addresses, different phones, emails on 3 different Marriott accounts… all same error after click buy. This can’t be just happening to me only. Anyone else successfully bought points in last few days???
points are processed by points.com but of course they don’t have a customer service number being a 3rd party processor and Marriott reps have no clue.
Hello Ajay bhai.. I used my Dinners black for buying this points.(First time doing an INTL. transaction) 137$ (10,300 INR) transaction successful and SMS cane regarding this on July 13. Today a mail cane from Marriott that my transaction got cancelled…Ang idea why?
I was just wondering can we transfer these purchased Marriott points to another account and what is the limit for same?
@Rohit you can combine them with someone who shares the same postal address as on your account.
Just bought 50k points (+30k bonus). Top this up with 7.5k bonus from Amex Plat Charge points.
Also, I renewed my card for 80k points.
Looks like I’m going to have enough points to make a good international vacation soon.
Hi Ajay,
I’m confused on what you mention about charging this to the Amex Platinum Charge Card:
Amex usually awards 3x points on Intl spends, ie, 7.5 points (up from 2.5 points) per INR 100 spent. Until July 20, they are running a 2x MR promotion on all transactions, so wouldn’t that make it 7.5 x 2 = 15 points per INR 100 spent on Intl transaction?
Thanks for clarifying.
@Amit, you are right. My maths was off. Fixed it.
Ajay,
do the points come with an expiry date? or like the 20% promo no expiry date?
@neil, like the usual other Marriott points. Valid for 24 months if no transaction. Even if 1 point is earned or spent, extended for another 24 months and so on.
thanks been waiting for a post on this.
Helps greatly. Inclined to buy now but unsure when and how safe would it be to get into a hotel premise for a stay. I stay at JW Marriott kolkata frequently.