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Why Marriott Travel Packages are a great use of points – but what happens after August?

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Ever since Marriott acquired Starwood Hotels & Resorts, we have spent a lot more time talking about Marriott Travel Packages than we did previously.

Today I wanted to go back to basics for the benefits of readers who have seen our comments on these but were not clear why we were so keen.  I will also look at what happens to these rewards following the full merger of the Marriott and Starwood loyalty schemes in August.

What is a Marriott Travel Package?

Marriott Travel Packages allow you to redeem large quantities of Marriott Rewards points for 7 nights in a Marriott hotel plus a large pile of airline miles.

Historically I had never focused on them much because of the sheer volume of Marriott points needed.  Because you couldn’t easily earn Marriott Rewards via credit card spending or Amex Membership Rewards transfers, it meant that very few UK residents would find them useful.

This changed with the acquisition of Starwood.  For the last 18 months it has been fairly easy to build up a large pile of Marriott Rewards points:

You can boost your existing Marriott Rewards stash by transferring across any Starwood points, or by converting any Amex Membership Rewards points to Starwood (at 2:1) and then onto Marriott (as 1:3)

You can earn 3 Marriott Rewards points per £1 by getting the Starwood American Express card (my SPG Amex review) and transferring the SPG points you earn to Marriott

You can earn 30,000 Marriott Rewards points via the sign-up bonus on the Starwood American Express card (my SPG Amex review)

You can earn 30,000 Marriott Rewards points via the sign-up bonus on the American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card (my Amex Gold review) which is free for the first year

You can earn 45,000 Marriott Rewards points via the sign-up bonus on the American Express Platinum card (my Amex Platinum review)

How does a Marriott Travel Package work?

This page of the Marriott website outlines all you need to know.  There are different deals for different airlines.  In this article I am looking at British Airways and Virgin Atlantic.

Here is the British Airways and Virgin Atlantic conversion chart.  Remember that you need to divide these numbers by three to get to the relevant number of Starwood points needed, given the 3:1 conversion rate:

As you can see, 270,000 Marriott Rewards points (90,000 Starwood points) will get you 7 nights in a Marriott Group Category 1-5 hotel AND 120,000 Avios points.

This is a very attractive deal.

At present, if you convert 90,000 Starwood points to British Airways or Virgin you will receive 110,000 Avios points or Flying Club miles.

If you move those 90,000 Starwood points to Marriott Rewards and redeem for this travel package, you will receive 120,000 miles AND 7 nights in a Marriott Category 1-5 hotel!

If you want a more luxurious hotel, you can use you more points.  Let’s take the JW Marriott in Venice which I have visited for a short break three times now and which I reviewed here.

That is a Category 9 hotel, not surprisingly given the €400+ per night cost.  If you have 130,000 Starwood Preferred Guest points, they would convert into 390,000 Marriott points.  That would get you:

7 nights at the JW Marriott in Venice, worth at least £2,500

and

120,000 Avios points or Virgin Flying Club miles

You are getting around 2.5p of value per Starwood point in this case.

The only downside of these packages if that you may not want to stay for a week in the same hotel.  Even if you do, there is no guarantee that reward nights will be available for a seven night block.  The Marriott call centre can book stays with a mix of paid and free nights, for example an 8 night stay which had 3 free nights, 1 paid night in the middle due to no reward availability and then 4 free nights on the end.

To be clear – the miles are dropped into your airline account. You do NOT need to use them for a redemption linked to your stay. You can spend the miles as you please.

Now that you can convert into Marriott Travel Packages, there is NO reason at all to transfer large volumes of Starwood points into Avios or Virgin miles via Starwood Preferred Guest.

You can learn more about Marriott Travel Packages here.

What will change in August 2018 when the two schemes merge?

There are two elements to this:

What will happen to travel package pricing if you haven’t already redeemed?

What will happen to your existing package if you have already redeemed but not booked the hotel part?

The good news is that Marriott has confirmed that Travel Packages will continue.  The even better news is that, with the addition of the Starwood portfolio, there will be a lot of additional redemption options.  This includes the many Starwood beach resorts in the Algarve and Middle East.

From August, the existing 14 reward categories (nine for Marriott plus the five The Ritz-Carlton tiers) will be collapsed to seven.  Category 8 will be added in January 2019.

With just seven reward categories from August, there will be some changes to Travel Package pricing.  It would be hard for Marriott to devalue the packages by much, because the pricing will always be capped by the individual cost of booking seven hotel nights plus redeeming for airline miles.  Marriott also sees these packages as a great way of locking in members, forcing them to continue staying with the chain to build up enough points to get one.

However, this is what we don’t know:

what the exact pricing will be

which hotels will be in which category

if all airlines will convert at the same rate or, as of now, some are at a higher rate.  At present, a Travel Package gives you more Avios than Lufthansa Miles & More miles for example.  If this was to be equalised, someone who is after Miles & More would do better to wait whilst an Avios collector wouldn’t care.  Of course, perhaps they are equalised somewhere in the middle – so Avios collectors could be worse off.

This means that it is impossible to say with certainty whether redeeming now is a good idea or not, especially if you have a particular hotel in mind.

All we can hope is that Marriott publishes the pricing and hotel category lists in advance of the switch to allow us to make an informed choice.

If you already have a Travel Package redeemed but not booked, you have another dilemma.  Should you lock in your hotel now?

It is not clear how the existing nine categories (14 when you include The Ritz-Carlton tiers) will map across to the new seven reward categories.   It can’t be a ‘1 to 1’ mapping.

If you are targeting a hotel which is currently in the Starwood portfolio and not the Marriott one, you have no choice but to wait until August when the schemes merge.

This article from US site Frequent Miler runs through the various ‘should I book now?’ scenarios.  I couldn’t write a better analysis of the situation if I tried, so I recommend you read this article if you are unsure about what to do.  It is difficult to disagree with the thesis that the current Category 1-5 package will only be bookable at Category 1-4 hotels from August.

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 (May 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 Card

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 The Platinum Card from American Express 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

Marriott Bonvoy

Comments (69)

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

  • Rob says:
    6 Jun6 June 12:04

    Hi all,

    Sorry REALLY confused by this.

    So basically.

    If I use the SPG card and spend £100,000 I will get 300,000 SPG points that can transfer to 300,000 Marriot Points.

    From there I could book 7 nights in a category 6 hotel.

    I would then be given transferred 120,000 AVIOS points which I could use towards a flight on BA?

    This seems like a no-brainer as at the minute I’m using my points for overpriced hotels on Avios/BA..

    Thanks,
    Rob

    • RTS says:
      6 Jun6 June 12:14

      Close…

      If you spent £100k on your SPG card you will earn 100k SPG points which you can then transfer to Marriott points at 1:3 giving you 300k Marriott points.

    • Genghis says:
      6 Jun6 June 12:17

      The only trouble was finding a Marriott you actually want to spend 7 nights in. With SPG coming along, will hopefully open more options.

    • New Card says:
      6 Jun6 June 12:19

      £100k on SPG card = 100k SPG points = 300k MR points.

      But essentially, yes.

      • Rob says:
        6 Jun6 June 12:20

        And you also get the 120,000 AVIOS on top of the 7 night stay?

        • Genghis says:
          6 Jun6 June 12:28

          Yes, so you convert the 300k Marriott points in your example to a 7 nights in a category 6 hotel and 120k avios if you transfer today. If you wait and transfer when there’s a BA 35% bonus on, you’ll get 162k avios.

        • New Card says:
          6 Jun6 June 12:41

          Although the travel package pricing and benefits may change by the time the next 35% offer comes around…

        • Genghis says:
          6 Jun6 June 12:46

          Very true – but principles still apply I think

    • Nick M says:
      6 Jun6 June 12:32

      Yes (except you’d get 100k SPG = 300k Marriott)

      The only downside as mentioned in the article is that you have to use them for 7 consecutive nights (or mixed with a few paid nights in the middle) – you can’t use (eg) 3 nights in one hotel and then a couple of weekend breaks elsewhere…

  • Robert Haynes says:
    6 Jun6 June 12:31

    Thanks for all the help.

    Isn’t it a no brainer to do this and get 7 nights at a marriot for sacrificing only 30k AVIOS. Rather than 150k from spending on a BA platinum and earning 150k AVIOS?

    Where can I find availability for Marriott reward nights?

    Rob

    • Genghis says:
      6 Jun6 June 12:43

      I wouldn’t necessary say it’s a no brainer. However, I’m going all in for SPG points at the moment and gambling that something good comes from the changes (i.e. a hotel I actually want to stay at). Current availability (for Marriott only) is viewed on the Marriott website. Just search for the hotel you want and if 7 nights consecutive reward availability, you can call them up to book and apply the package.

      • Jimbob says:
        6 Jun6 June 13:16

        Yep, all my spending and churning going towards SPG points atm,hopefully with the cap in top hotels grades between August and December, combined with a travel package, and should get good value from my points

      • Polly says:
        6 Jun6 June 15:13

        Why not have both, as we don’t know what spg will do from Jan 1st. We are putting as much as we can on spg atm, until the new marriot card arrives. And hope we have time for one more churn mid dec, do a 1k spend in a couple of days, and hope we get them into spg in time. Aiming for a HNL MVP.
        Kicking ourselves we didn’t really understand it before now…so have def missed out on an odd 7 night run in Asia.

    • Mariusz says:
      10 Jun10 June 16:52

      According to SPG employee on FT.

      Floater certificates, including outstanding Marriott Travel Packages, will be cancelled and converted to equivalent points, credited to the member’s account for future redemption.

      Meaning no auto-converting into new categories?
      This could mean devaluation?

      • the real harry1 says:
        10 Jun10 June 16:54

        Always detested floaters 🙂

      • Genghis says:
        10 Jun10 June 17:36

        “Equivalent points”? What does that mean?

        At worst, 45k for full refunding of expired 1-5 package?

        At best, cat 1-5, 25k x 7 = 175k? Potential opportunity if we see a decent BA bonus over the next few months.

  • the real harry1 says:
    6 Jun6 June 15:18

    I’m thinking it might be a good idea to stash 90K+ Starpoints and keep them alive for a couple of years until I can use the 7 night package. Or get 2 lol

    No stranger to keeping points alive, I kept my original 100K Virgin miles alive (corporate Amex getting cancelled when I left, had to transfer them somewhere or lose them) since 1999 without having a use for them! Up a fair bit in the last couple of years… 🙂

    Spoiler alert ***danger! stash! devaluation! earn & burn!*** yadda yadda

  • Ian says:
    6 Jun6 June 19:02

    I am looking to trigger a travel package before 1 Aug for a Domes of Elounda stay in Easter 2019 (cat 9 for 7 nights + 120k Avios = 390k Marriott.

    Pretty sure Domes will increase post 1Aug and will more than offset lack of 35% Avios bonus if redeeming now (plus uncertainty generally on how this all might work post 1 Aug)

    Problem is no bookings (cash or points) are possible yet for domes in 2019. Any idea when this availability normally comes online? Am I missing a trick by not waiting to do this until after Aug?

    • New Card says:
      6 Jun6 June 19:15

      Sitting in Domes currently and I would say this is an excellent plan. I have also failed to find 2019 availability yet – would happily come back next year and have looked!

  • Canuck says:
    6 Jun6 June 20:40

    I actually redeemed on of these on Monday. Took a few times as the agents kept forwarding me to the wrong people who thought I needed Marriott Vacations to redeem. In the end, I managed to get an USA agent who asked if I wanted the 5 night or 7 night? I sheepishly requested 5 night, knowing I’m not allowed it. He tried many ways to get it to work thinking the system was at fault but eventually he forced it through. Lucky I supposed. YMMV. Was happy with the 7 nighter but the 5 night with Avios is perfect for me.

  • thehornets says:
    6 Jun6 June 20:43

    I’m still struggling to see the amazing value here.
    A Marriott Cat 8 for 5 nights comes at a cost of 160,000 Marriott points (5th night free/32k points night)
    A Marriott Cat 8 for 7 nights costs 240,000 Marriott points (I get my 5th night free, 34k per night)
    A Marriott Cat 8 for 7 nights as a package w/ 50,000 air miles comes at a cost of 290,000 Marriott points (34k per night + 50,000 exchanged for air miles)

    Am I right in suggesting that the value play is that you are paying more for your room but exchanging Marriott points (worth <0.5p) 1:1 for air miles which are normally worth ~1p each?

    Sorry if being dumb.

    • Jimbob says:
      6 Jun6 June 20:46

      The value with the travel packages is at the 120k mile binus, not the 50k miles

      • the real harry1 says:
        6 Jun6 June 20:56

        Jimbob’s right – get 7 days hotel package for 18,000 Avios

      • Melvin says:
        7 Jun7 June 00:12

        How is that any different? 70,000 more Marriott points only yields 70,000 more Avois. The rate is the same as the 50,000 extra Marriott points used to get the original 50,000 Avois?

        • Genghis says:
          7 Jun7 June 07:54

          IMO Marriotts have a book value of 0.5p. Avios a book value of 1p. I think turning 0.5p into 1p is a good deal.

        • Rob says:
          7 Jun7 June 08:28

          Marriott points are worth 0.5p (you can do better but not often, I admit I am getting nearer 0.75p in Venice in August) whilst Avios should get you 1p at the very worst.

    • Alex W says:
      6 Jun6 June 22:20

      By using the travel package instead of a normal hotel redemption, you’re essentially paying 1 Marriott point per airline mile. Or 1 point for 1.35 miles if there’s a 35% bonus. Even without a bonus that’s an excellent swap.

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