50% bonus converting American Express Membership Rewards points to Marriott Bonvoy

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Some readers have been getting emails from Amex informing them of a new conversion bonus via the Membership Rewards program. IT APPEARS TO BE TARGETED.

Until 31st December, you get 9 Marriott Bonvoy points for every 4 Membership Rewards points. The usual exchange rate is 3 Bonvoy points = 2 MR points.

Simplified … the usual 1.5 Marriott Bonvoy points per 1 Amex point is increased to 2.25 Marriott Bonvoy points per 1 Amex point. This is a 50% bonus.

You need to transfer at least 1,000 Membership Rewards points. Standard points credit within five working days although the rules say that the bonus points can take up to eight weeks.

This is a surprisingly good deal. I value a Marriott Bonvoy point at 0.5p. On that basis, via this offer you are getting 1.125p per Amex point as opposed to the usual 0.75p.

The offer runs until 31st December.

This offer also works well for airline miles

Marriott Bonvoy has 40 airline partners. Not only does it have the biggest range of airline partners of any hotel scheme, it also has the most generous conversion rate.

Take a look at the full list on the Marriott Bonvoy site here.

In most programmes, including Avios and Virgin Flying Club, you receive 1 airline mile for every 3 Marriott Bonvoy points you convert.

If you convert in chunks of 60,000 Bonvoy points, you receive an additional 25% bonus – you get 25,000 miles instead of 20,000.

Let’s see what that means:

You convert 26,667 Amex Membership Rewards points to Marriott Bonvoy under this offer

You receive 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points in your account

You transfer those 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points into airline miles

You receive 25,000 airline miles

This means that you receive 0.94 airline miles per Membership Rewards point.

Obviously this is not a good deal for those airlines which are already Membership Rewards partners at a 1:1 rate. However, if you collect miles in an airline programme which is NOT a UK Membership Rewards partner, this is a great opportunity to convert them and get virtually 1:1 on the transfer.

And don’t forget the 35% transfer bonus to Avios …..

At the moment, Avios is giving a 35% bonus if you transfer Marriott Bonvoy points. We wrote about this offer here.

If we go back to the calculations above:

You convert 26,667 Amex Membership Rewards points to Marriott Bonvoy under this offer

You receive 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points in your account

You transfer those 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points into Avios

You receive 25,000 Avios plus a 35% bonus for a total of 33,750 Avios

This means you are getting 1.26 Avios per American Express Membership Rewards points. This is the equivalent of a 26% transfer bonus into Avios.

Except ……

Amex is saying that the 50% bonus on the Amex to Marriott transfer could take up to eight weeks to arrive.

This is no good if you want to transfer to Avios, because the 35% Avios bonus offer ends on 2nd December.

This means that you are taking a big gamble that Marriott will actually add your bonus earlier. This is not a gamble I would be happy taking unless (until?) other readers start to report that the bonus is going on quickly.

Here’s a warning though ….

Whilst some HfP readers seem to have received this offer, many others have not. This includes Rhys and all of my family. This offer is not mentioned anywhere on the Membership Rewards website. Here is the page which shows their hotel partners and the conversion rate.

The small print of the email sent to cardholders today says:

“This offer is non-transferable”

If you make a transfer without receiving the email, you have no grounds for complaint if you do not receive the bonus – it is almost certainly targeted.

Don’t waste your time ringing American Express to ask if it is targeted or not – unless your plan is to record the conversation (you need to ask the permission of the agent first) and use it as leverage later. The call centre staff usually do not know about these things but will tell you their best guess to get you off the line. Some readers have already reported being told by the call centre that it is NOT targeted – I don’t believe them …..

PS. It is worth remembering that you can buy up to 10,000 Membership Rewards points per year at 1.5p per point. This cannot be done online and requires a telephone call to Amex. If you were looking to convert Amex points to Bonvoy and then onwards to an obscure airline scheme where it is hard to accumulate miles cheaply, this could be worth a look. It is also worth a look if you need to transfer enough Amex points to get your Marriott Bonvoy account up to a multiple of 60,000 Bonvoy points in order to get the 5,000 bonus miles.

Want to earn more points from credit cards? – December 2021 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit or charge card, here are our November 2021 recommendations based on the current sign-up bonus.

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the top current deals:

British Airways BA Amex American Express card

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways BA Premium Plus American Express Amex credit card

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers.

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and free for a year Read our full review

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and a long list of travel benefits Read our full review

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending: