Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Buy Starwood Preferred Guest hotel points for 35% off and turn them into cheap airline miles

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Starwood is again offering a 35% discount when you purchase SPG Starpoints before 16th March. The link to buy is here.

The good news is that the discount is not staggered.  As long as you buy more than 5,000 points, you get the full 35% off.

At the top end, 30,000 points will cost you $682.50 (£480).  Assuming that you convert them to airline miles with the 25% uplift for moving chunks of 20,000 at a time, these can be converted to 37,500 airline miles in the majority of programmes.

This works out at 1.28p per airline mile.  This is not a great deal most of the time (you can often pick up Avios for 1.0p) but it might make sense with some other programmes.  You cannot buy Lufthansa Miles & More miles directly so being able to get them for 1.28p may well work for some people.

30,000 Starwood points would also convert into 90,000 Marriott Rewards points.  If you are working towards a Marriott Travel Package redemption – and they are great value as this article explains – then buying the full 30,000 Starwood points may well make sense.

The rules are straightforward – points post within 24 hours, maximum purchase of 30,000 points per year, your SPG account must be 14 days old to participate.  According to the comments below, you will earn 2 points per £1 instead of 1 per £1 if you pay on an SPG Amex credit card.

If you are interested, you can buy SPG points via this link.


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

How to earn Marriott Bonvoy points and status from UK credit cards (October 2024)

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.

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 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

(Want to earn more hotel points?  Click here to see our complete list of promotions from the major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.)

Comments (100)

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

  • JamesB says:

    Don’t jump before you can swim Jose, study all the introductory stuff and avios university series first before doing anything. People easily get caught up on the hype and talk themselves into believing they have a good miles and points deal when the opposite is closer to the truth. Flying business class to central Asia or the far East for example, it is difficult to realise more than 0.6ppa value unless using a BAPP 241 voucher. However for North America it is generally a bit higher, and for other markets like South America and South Africa better still.

  • Cate says:

    I think it’s too early in the year for us to buy star points. Last year there was a targeted 50% bonus so think we’re going to wait out.

  • Tilly says:

    Looks like my missing shop small transactions have credited today. Not saying shop small though, just a credit adjustment but they’re both for £5 on the cards I used.

    CC points auto converted to avios again. How long do they take to post? I can’t remember from last time. Decent amount for someone who does not get the grocery shop from them thanks to a Tesco direct bonus points offer. Over 6000 avios this quarter.

  • AK says:

    OT:

    Newbie question here but if I make an avios (Or avios + money) booking on a partner airline and subsequently decide to cancel it in the future, will I get all of my avios and money back?

    • JamesB says:

      Yes, you get all the avios and all the money back minus a £35 cancellation fee. Cancel online via manage my booking to avoid extra fees over the telephone. If for some reason the cancellation option is not available online then mention it when calling and they will not apply any further telephone fees. If you cancel a RFS that cost under £35 then you only lose what you paid. You can also cancel any flight within 24h of booking for a fulll refund, that is no £35 fee.

  • Rolf says:

    Hi there, how long do you have to use up the 7 nights when you trigger the 270,000 Marriott rewards package incl. 120,000 Avios?

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

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