Marriott Hotels is the biggest hotel chain in the world, with over 7,000 properties, including The Ritz-Carlton.
They offer a solid loyalty programme called Marriott Bonvoy that features a huge range of airline transfer partners.
Note that peak pricing has recently come into effect, meaning that the programme has moved from having one price for each hotel category to three (off-peak/standard/peak), depending on your dates.
This guide takes a look at the regular Marriott buy points offers, which we regularly update as new offers are announced.
Save 30% when you buy 2,000+ points: deal ↠
Marriott is doubling the cap on how many points you can buy with this promotion — while the limit is usually 50,000 points, you can buy 100,000 points with this promotion. You will need to do this in two separate transactions.
Discounts are tiered as follows:
- 1,000: no discount
- 2,000-50,000 points: 30% discount
At the 30% discount level, this yields a cost of 0.875 US cents (or 1.39 NZD cents) per point. That’s below our valuation of Marriott Bonvoy points of 1.3c per point, so while it could make sense to top up your account for a specific redemption, it probably will not make sense to buy speculatively.
This promotion ends on 22 December US time.
Offer history
| Date | Discount/bonus (%) | Cost per point (USD cents) | Cost per mile (USD cents), assuming 5,000 mile transfer bonus |
|---|---|---|---|
| November-December 2019 | 30 | 0.875 | 2.1 |
| September-October 2019 | 30 | 0.875 | 2.1 |
| April-May 2019 | 25 | 0.94 | 2.23 |
| SPG Legacy Comparison | 35 | 0.76 | 1.82 |
| 30 | 0.82 | 1.96 | |
| 25 | 0.875 | 2.1 | |
| Average | 28.33% |
Important things to keep in mind
- The website says to allow 24-48 hours for the transaction to be completed and the points to land in your account however from my experience with their last promotion, it can take several weeks, plus chasing up – so beware!
- Marriott recently changed their programme Terms and Conditions to state that new members without a qualifying stay can only purchase points a whole year after enrollment. If you are a new member who has already stayed with Marriott, then you only need to wait for 30 days.
Summing up
The Marriott Bonvoy programme devalued in 2018. However, the flexibility of their points means that it continues to be a valuable currency, especially if you can grab them during a promotion.
