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 their best deal on purchased points and presents a great opportunity.

Buy Marriott Points with 60% Bonus through June 30, 2020

Following the 20% sale on Marriott eGift Cards, Marriott Bonvoy is now offering a 60% bonus on Marriott Bonvoy Points from May 18 to June 30, 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 doubled its cap on the number of points one can buy. The limit is 50,000 points, but through this promotion, it becomes 100,000 points pre-bonus. Each transaction, however, is capped at 50,000 points pre-bonus.

Through this promotion, then, you are looking at the price of 0.78 US Cents (INR 0.59) per point purchased. It could take up to 48 hours for the purchased points to post.

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, for example, the Ritz Carlton Tokyo, a Marriott Bonvoy I stayed at last year. The hotel usually retails for about $800 to $ 1000 a night, ex taxes, but for five nights, I paid 240,000 points (since then up to 300,000 points due to category change). For a four-night stay in October 2020, the price being quoted is approximately USD 3900 (an average price of USD 975 per night)

The same stay is going to cost 300,000 points for five nights, effectively making the price USD 2,340. And the best part is, you can throw in the 5th night free as well. So, the average price, when you buy with points, goes down to USD 468. The same thing works at lower end hotels as well. But remember, it might not be that huge a delta.

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 and now with the double points promotion, one would get 15 points/INR 100 spent (so about 12 points/INR 80 spent which is the USD/INR conversion these days). 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.

So, are you going to buy Marriott Points with a 60% Bonus?