From now until 18th October, Marriott Bonvoy is offering a 30% discount when you purchase at least 2,000 points in a single transaction. Here are the details:
- Cost per point = 0.875 US cent (as compared to the original price of 1.25 US cent)
- You can purchase up to 100,000 points in this promotion. The usual purchase limit is 50,000 points within a calendar year [100,000 points * 0.875 US cent = $875].
- For new members: You need to have an opened account for at least 30 days prior to buying points. On top of that, it needs to have some qualifying activities. Otherwise, you may only purchase points 90 days after enrolment.
Click here to purchase Marriot Bonvoy points.
Should you purchase Marriot Bonvoy points at 0.875 US cent per point?
Marriott Bonvoy has introduced off-peak/standard/peak award pricing since 14th September. Under this new pricing system the redemption rate may vary at any point in time, depending on the demand of the hotel.
Even though Marriott Bonvoy has changed its award pricing system, I am able to find great redemption opportunities using points at the purchase value of 0.875 US cent/point. For example:
The Ritz Carlton Tokyo (with Mount Fuji view)
Category 8
At the point of writing, I can book one night in the Deluxe room with cash for $1846 (after tax) or redeem at 70k points (standard rate) for $612.
Click here to purchase Marriot Bonvoy points.
Click here to purchase Marriot Bonvoy points.
As a general rule of thumb, I will advise you to make a comparison between the selling price of your desired hotel and the cost of redemption (stated redemption rate * 0.875 US cent) before you make a points purchase.
To learn more about the new Marriott Bonvoy redemption pricing system, you may check out the post below:
Well, as a 20+ year Marriott guy with 149+ nights a year I wouldn’t buy points.
Now, Marriott has revised the system. When they changed to Bonvoy, they lowered a lot of the hotel levels and added additional high end categories. Fast forward a year and many hotels went up to the next higher level. Rates didn’t increase much, just points cost. So most 25K points rooms that cost 100-180 cost the points equivalent of $250 at .01 each.
Fast forward to this year. Now Marriott is allowing hotels to tack on a under $10 “booking fee” and piling in a resort fee on top of that. One place I checked was getting 35K per night and on a 6 day res trying to tack in almost $200.
On a recent reservation, the only way they would book a points res was with a minimum of 10 days. Pretty worthless.
Marriott needs to get back to the room is totally covered if you use points.
Resort fees and destination fees are just theft at worst and deceptive at best.
The “free” breakfast isn’t free if they keep your checkin bonus points if you want breakfast. A $10 voucher isn’t a free breakfast either.
Marriott says a hotel will comp a Titanium for things in a resort fee that should be free. WiFi is one example. $25/day resort fee. WiFi is normally -16 a day. Offered a 1000 points credit ($10) for the entire stay.
Marriott. Just a warning. Whosever is allowing all this is going to destroy a whole lot of loyalty. I moved three companies to Marriott because it was a good deal for the travelers. Not sure that still holds.
Kind of like using Hertz points. They take the points and the total charges exceed competitors rates without points.
Last one. The Choice Benefits are pretty worthless. Just try using a Suite upgrade where you would like one. You can’t. The days of good suite upgrades are gone unless the hotel staff knows you.
BTW, I made Platinum for Life 15 years ago when it still took some effort.
Sorry for the rant. Thanks for reading.