Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Bits: get 1000 free Marriott hotel points, Qatar Airways launches food pre-ordering

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

News in brief:

Get 1,000 free Marriott Rewards points

Marriott Rewards is giving another push to its promotion which tries to get to you to follow Marriott on social media.

You can earn:

  • 250 points for connecting your Facebook account
  • 250 points for connecting your Instagram account
  • 250 points for connecting your Twitter account
  • 125 points for following Marriott Rewards on Twitter
  • 125 points for following Marriott Rewards on Instagram

I wouldn’t usually recommend giving up your social data for a maximum of £5-worth of points.  Assuming they post instantly however – and apparently they do – you can quickly unlink and unfollow.

You will also be able to earn a tiny number of points by sending tweets a few times per month featuring Marriott hashtags.  This isn’t my sort of thing but I suppose it may kill a bit of time on the train in the morning.

Qatar Airways launched limited pre-flight food ordering

If you have a Business Class ticket booked with Qatar Airways from Doha between Europe (5 hours+ flights), North and South America, Australia, New Zealand,  Bangkok or Guangzhou you can now pre-order your main meal in advance.

The service is available via the My Trips section of the Qatar Airways website or app, from 14 days to 24 hours before departure.  The wording of the Q&A section implies that only ex-Doha departures count, and not your inbound leg into Qatar.

I must admit, I have never pre-ordered an airline meal even though British Airways has been offering the service for a while.  I can only assume that I would rather be surprised.

PS. If you are not a regular Head for Points visitor, why not sign up for our FREE weekly or daily newsletters? They are full of the latest Avios, airline, hotel and credit card points news and will help you travel better. To join our 65,000 free subscribers, click the button below or visit this page of the site to find out more. Thank you.

How to earn Marriott Bonvoy points and status from UK credit cards

How to earn Marriott Bonvoy points and status from UK credit cards (April 2025)

There are various ways of earning Marriott Bonvoy points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.

The official Marriott Bonvoy American Express card comes with 20,000 points for signing up, 2 points for every £1 you spend and 15 elite night credits per year.

You can apply here.

Marriott Bonvoy American Express

20,000 points for signing up and 15 elite night credits each year Read our full review

You can also earn Marriott Bonvoy points by converting American Express Membership Rewards points at the rate of 2:3.

Do you know that holders of The Platinum Card from American Express receive FREE Marriott Bonvoy Gold status for as long as they hold the card?  It also comes with Hilton Honors Gold, Radisson Rewards Premium and MeliaRewards Gold status.

We reviewed American Express Platinum in detail here and you can apply here.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

You can also earn Marriott Bonvoy points indirectly:

and for small business owners:

The conversion rate from American Express to Marriott Bonvoy points is 2:3.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which can be used to earn Marriott Bonvoy points.

Category

Accor Live Limitless, Marriott Bonvoy, Qatar Airways and Privilege Club

Comments (50)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Peter says:
    22 Aug22 August 14:42

    I stayed at the Thistle last night… might as well already be closed down! Rooms were dirty, creaky and tired. On the other hand, walked past the Ibis and it looked really busy and friendly!

    • mark2 says:
      22 Aug22 August 15:37

      If you ring Holiday Extras they will put you in a brand new deluxe room for about £12. Or can be added if booking direct. Still small though and I think I will look elsewhere next time.

      • Peter says:
        22 Aug22 August 15:58

        Client paid anyway… was only down for a meeting. I wouldn’t have been happy if I’d have been paying for it myself… TV screen was smaller than my computer monitor ha

  • Alan says:
    22 Aug22 August 14:54

    Very weird – 1,000 points all received OK but activity in account all just said ‘no activity, points expired’ – yet it still let me transfer them to 333 SPG points!

  • Alex says:
    22 Aug22 August 16:17

    It’s a great opportunity – thanks for flagging! Do you know exactly how and when to tweet to earn points?

    Also, about a year ago I have opened a dedicated Twitter account exactly for this type of activity as well as prize draws and other freebies. And it works – just recently won a photography book by Brooklyn Beckham (RRP £16.99) from Heathrow Rewards.
    For those who are interested – it’s @win_and_fly

    • mark2 says:
      22 Aug22 August 17:36

      Wow, a photography book by Brooklyn Beckham; I bet he’s a real expert. Wasn’t it his mother who wrote a book although she claimed never to have read one?

      • the real harry1 says:
        22 Aug22 August 17:50

        Fringe: “Trump’s nothing like Hitler. There’s no way he could write a book, Frankie Boyle”

      • Alex says:
        22 Aug22 August 23:57

        Well… I bet you didn’t publish a book when you were 18. I am prepared to bet that you haven’t written/published a book at all in your life (I did write and publish three books, by the way, to be clear). So, I would refrain from criticising others in this regard…

  • Alex says:
    22 Aug22 August 16:34

    Linked social media accounts this morning, can confirm that 1000 Marriott points already credited to account. Thanks!

  • James R says:
    22 Aug22 August 17:21

    Im still waiting for my original 1k Marriot miles to be posted. They say they posted in the marriot account but are nowhere to be seen in my BA account 😐

  • Mark says:
    22 Aug22 August 18:03

    OT: LoyaltyLobby says:
    “Iberia Plus: 25% Bonus Avios for AMEX Membership Rewards Points Transfers”
    Only for Amex cards in Spain, but maybe a BAEC / Avios bonus here too later?!
    (Said in hope rather than expectation!)

  • Ronan says:
    24 Aug24 August 12:27

    I’d just like to highlight how easy it is to gain a few Marriott Rewards points with the social media program. After linking all my accounts and instantly recieving 1000 points, I posted a tweet on twitter with the tags @marriottrewards and #rewardpoints and Marriott instantly tweeted back an credited my account with an additional 50 points. Posted the exact same tweet the following day and got another 50 points!

    Not sure how many times this would actually work but being able to earn a few hundred Marriot points for simply spending a few seconds a day writing a tweet is pretty good!

  • Patrick says:
    31 Aug31 August 09:22

    I just linked my accounts. I did facebook first, but got an email saying “Apologies – we weren’t able to award #RewardsPoints for your registration. Your Marriott Rewards account is configured to earn miles instead of points. Please change this in your Marriott Rewards account settings.” So you need to change the setting of the account first. Just waiting for the points to arrive now…. After the long wait for Miles&More bonus, lets see what happens.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

Get 25,000 Avios with the Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

GET A SIGN-UP BONUS OF 18,000 VIRGIN POINTS!

Latest Forum Posts

Get 80,000 bonus points (worth 80,000 Avios) and £400 of dining credit with The Platinum Card (Offer ends 27th May)

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get up to 10,000 bonus Hilton Honors points

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? GET THE ONLY FREE SMALL BUSINESS CREDIT CARD WHICH CAN EARN AVIOS

Get points worth 30,000 Avios with 'first year free' American Express Gold (ends 27th May)

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.

Got it!