Marriott Bonvoy: The best uses of Marriott Bonvoy points

To use a loyalty program, you need to know how it works and its subtleties.

On this page, you’ll find a comprehensive overview of the Marriott Bonvoy program and what you need to know:

The 7,000 hotels in the Marriott Bonvoy program are divided into 8 categories.

Depending on these, a free night will cost between 5,000 and 100,000 points. Find out more in this article.

The Marriott Bonvoy program lets you book hotels… without having the points in your account! In most cases, you can hold your reservation without points up to 14 days before arrival.

It’s a great way to plan your overnight stays and gradually earn points via the Marriott BonvoyTM American Express^MD* Card or the American Express Cobalt^MD Card!

Find out more about the Marriott Bonvoy points advance in this article.

If you book 5 consecutive nights in the same hotel using points, Marriott Bonvoy will give you one night (the cheapest in points).

That’s a saving of 15-20% in points on a 5-night stay. Find out more about “Stay 5 nights, pay in 4” in this article.

In Canada, we’re spoiled for choice with two credit cards that earn Marriott Bonvoy points:

• Marriott Bonvoy^® American Express^®* Card
• Marriott Bonvoy^MD Business American Express^MD* Card

Read more about the advantages of these cards in this article.

Marriott Bonvoy allows all members of its loyalty program to transfer points to another member, free of charge, up to a limit of 100,000 points per year.

Convenient for a couple hunting for underwriting bonuses credit cards linked to the Marriott Bonvoy program ! 100,000 points per year, allowing you to pool a large proportion of your points into a single account for easier bookings and/or higher status on one account than the other!

Read more about transferring points between accounts in this article.

The Marriott Bonvoy program converts points into miles of many air loyalty programs such as Aeroplan, British Airways Executive Club, United MileagePlan…

For every 60,000 points transfered, a bonus of 15,000 points is offered. Thus, 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points = 25,000 Aeroplan miles.

More details on converting Marriott Bonvoy points into airline miles in this article.

The American Express Cobaltᵐᶜ Card allows you to transfer Select Membership Rewards points only to hotel programs like Marriott Bonvoy… and not to airline programs like Aeroplan.

Here, we use the Marriott Bonvoy program as a vehicle to transfer select Membership Rewards points into miles via Marriott points! The transfer rate is 1 select privilege point = 1.2 Marriott Bonvoy points (or 5 = 6 if you prefer).

So 50,000 select Membership Rewards points = 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points = 25,000 Aeroplan / Avios miles…

Read more in this article about using the Marriott Bonvoy program to convert Select Membership Rewards points into airline miles.

Finally, the Marriott Bonvoy program has 6 status levels.

Find out more about the advantages and how to easily obtain a higher status in this article!

Let’s get to the heart of the matter: the best uses of Marriott Bonvoy points.

The Marriott Bonvoy program is based on rewarding members with free nights!

With free nights starting at 5,000 points at select hotels and welcome bonuses offered by the Marriott BonvoyTM American Express^MD* Card or the Marriott Bonvoy^MD Business American Express^MD* Card can earn many free hotel nights!

Second best use of points: convert Marriott Bonvoy points into airline miles.

Thanks to the welcome bonus offered by the Marriott BonvoyTM American Express^MD* Card, for example, you can convert 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points and earn 25,000 miles in your Aeroplan account!

But that’s not all: if you do it as part of an Aeroplan conversion promotion (which runs 3 or 4 times a year), you can boost your conversion even further.

Aeroplan applies the conversion bonus percentage to the miles earned in the Aeroplan account.

So if the conversion promotion is“30% more miles” and you convert 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points, you’ll get 32,500 Aeroplan Miles!

Knowing that Aeroplan reward tickets are available starting at 15,000 miles for a short-haul round trip or 25,000 miles for a round trip anywhere in North America, it becomes particularly advantageous to convert your Marriott Bonvoy points into Aeroplan Miles!

American Express Membership Rewards points can be transferred directly to a number of programs, including Aeroplan, British Airways Executive Club and Delta Skymiles.

But the SELECT Membership Rewards points offered by the American Express Cobalt^MD Card can only be transferred to hotel programs such as Hilton Honors or Marriott Bonvoy.

So… what should we do if we need air miles? Convert your Select Membership Rewards points into Marriott Bonvoy points! These Marriott Bonvoy points can then be converted into miles for numerous airline programs such as… Aeroplan!

Here, we use the Marriott Bonvoy program as a vehicle to transfer select Membership Rewards points into miles via Marriott points! The transfer rate is 1 select privilege point = 1.2 Marriott Bonvoy points (or 5 = 6 if you prefer).

So 50,000 select Membership Rewards points = 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points = 25,000 Aeroplan / Avios miles…

The American Express Cobaltᵐᶜ Card earns 5 select Membership Rewards points / dollar purchase at select categories of businesses: grocery stores, convenience stores and restaurants. And in grocery and convenience stores, you can buy gift cards for many other businesses (SAQ, Amazon …) to earn 5 points / dollar.

Unknown to most members, Marriott Bonvoy Moments are an excellent opportunity to use Marriott Bonvoy points.

Whether for a sporting event…

… a concert…

…or a festival…

…Marriott Bonvoy reserves the best seats for its members!

Marriott Bonvoy Moments take place all over the world, and can be purchased directly with points… or by bidding!

For example, you can attend a Canadiens game at the Staples Center in Los Angeles for just 50,000 Marriott Bonvoy points for 2 people:

• In the Marriott Bonvoy Luxury Suite
• With unlimited food and drink

50,000 Marriott Bonvoy points to LIVE an experience like this… it puts the $120Marriott BonvoyTM American Express^MD* Card fee in perspective!