Business Platinum Card from American Express
130,000 MR points
Upcoming Changes to the Marriott Travel Packages
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Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card
- Earn 65,000 Bonvoy points upon spending $3,000 in the first three months
- Earn an additional 30,000 Bonvoy points upon spending $20,000 in the first 12 months
- Plus, earn 15,000 Bonvoy points when you make a purchase between 15 and 17 months of Cardmembership.
- Also, receive an annual Free Night Award worth 35,000 Bonvoy points starting in your second year with the card
- Also, receive 15 elite-qualifying nights every year and automatic Marriott Bonvoy Silver Elite status
- Bonus Bonvoy points for referring family and friends
- Annual fee: $120
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I guess the best deal is Hotel + Air Package 1 / Cat. 1-5 / 7 nights and Alaska Miles ?
I’d say if you have to choose a frequent flyer program at random, then Alaska miles would be the best choice. After all, they are a lot tougher to come by than Aeroplan miles. And yes, by choosing the Cat 1-5 Package 1, you’re getting the best value for money, unless you have a specific redemption in mind for another category.
Hi Ricky,
Called Marriott today and they couldn’t find Aeroplan as one of the redemption partners. How do I go about making this redemption to Aeroplan?
Marriott seems to have a lot of incompetent agents lately. Try telling them to look for Air Canada?
Hi Ricky,
Thanks for all the super useful info. Have a quick question – I am looking to redeem a Marriott travel package and wondering which category to redeem for. My options:
1) I have enough points for 120,000 miles + a 7 nights Cat 7 hotel certificate.
2) OR I can transfer around 16,000 MR to SPG and then to Marriott to reach the points requirement for a 120,000 miles + 7 nights at Cat 8 hotel certificate too.
3) OR I get 120,000 miles + 7 nights at Cat 1-5 hotel.
Personally, I don’t have an immediate redemption in mind and would like to wait before applying the certificate. Or I could apply now towards a hotel in Hawaii or something for next year and then plan around it. I know there is no clarity on what would happen to the hotel certificate post Aug 1st, but I’ve read that the best value now is to go for the higher category certificates like cat 7,8,9.
Any suggestions on which category package will be the best redemption? Either if I want to apply the ceritificate now and plan something around it, or take a wait and watch gamble.
Appreciate the help and input.
Thanks!
At the end of the day it’s going to be a gamble. On the off-chance that Marriott allows Old Cat 8s to become New Cat 8s, your new Cat 8 certificate will be able to get you some of the best hotels in the world.
There’s also no downside to getting a Cat 8 in hopes of that outcome. If they do a points refund instead, you’ll get the incremental points back in your account.
The only question is whether you’d have other uses for the incremental 90K points between a Cat 1-5 and a Cat 8, and how quickly you can replenish your points balance.
In any case, getting a package of any kind is better than not getting one at all, given the incredibly generous ratio for the airline miles.
Jian, he is the Prince and we are mere mortals.
I actually hope to get one certificate in place
in the time alloted.
Perhaps so…
To me, I could not use that many certificates…
What do you think Ricky? Transfer some MR to SPG to take advantage?
Definitely advantageous if you have uses in mind for the airline miles (most important) and the hotel certificate (in particular, if you’re able to apply the certificate to a reservation before August). If you don’t have immediate hotel plans, the uncertainty regarding the future of the certificates will be something to think about, as I mentioned in the article.
Remember that you don’t have to use the hotel stay for all 7 nights – you can use it for a 4- or 5-night stay, and it would still be worthwhile.
Oh, my god! How can you accumulate that many points? Ricky!
You sound like my dad 😉 Essentially, it’s the result of relentless application of the principles in this article: https://princeoftravel.com/blog/2018-miles-points-action-plan
Being a blogger does help with #2 for sure.
Running a blog helps maximizing referrals, annually 😉
Even though, I can’t imagine that many points!