Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Five UK Marriott hotels, mainly country clubs, are to leave the chain

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Five UK Marriott hotels are leaving the chain in two weeks, despite being included on the new points pricing list from August.

These are:

  • Sunderland Marriott
  • Newcastle Marriott Gosforth Park

  • Hollins Hall Marriott Hotel & Country Club, Shipley
  • Meon Valley Marriott Hotel & Country Club, Southampton
  • Sprowston Manor Marriott Hotel & Country Club, Norwich

The last day that these hotels will operate under the Marriott brand is 18th July.

These hotels were recently for sale – I don’t know if a deal was concluded.  The removal of the Marriott branding is being described as a positive to give the buyer a clean sheet.


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.

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.

Comments (376)

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

  • Dave says:

    Is anyone else struggling to access their Iberia Plus account at the moment? I could access mine yesterday (no bonus avios applied) but today when I try to sign in it just says “An error has occurred in the log in”.

    • james lucan says:

      Mine is the same, I’ve emailed Iberia but no response yet.

  • the real harry1 says:

    I managed to transfer out 40K or so but CMA (with an IB in it) is now broken again

    even 40K helps as I would have struggled to use 180K by Dec 1st without redeeming into Business

    • Pauk says:

      Were you doing it in chunks of 500 ie the balance you had in your account before promotional points hit?
      I have been trying all day both in IB and Avios Accounts and keep getting same message but my balance was zero before promotional points hit

      • the real harry1 says:

        that’s it but there was a better way (see @Jeff)

        I can’t transfer now

  • JS says:

    Has anyone managed to transfer avios IN to Iberia??

    I need 100 avios more to book a hotel.

    Can anyone think how to get this if I can’t transfer from BA?

    • the real harry1 says:

      it started working again earlier on today (and continued working until 16.02 to be exact) but has now been disabled again.

      If I were you, I should hang on a few hours to see if it comes back.

      • Stuart says:

        Transferred out 6k (from the groupon deal) 4.30pm iberia > (avios/aerclub) > ba no problems

        • the real harry1 says:

          then maybe the workaround got stopped, shame

    • KevMc says:

      If you have an MR balance, you can transfer over the minimum (which I think is 1k). Then once the dust has settled, transfer the 900 remaining out to BA

    • JS says:

      So in the end I did a part pay with cash Avios hotel booking, It cost a whopping £5 cash to substitute for the 100 avios. But it now means my booking is S75 protected by my credit card should Iberia/Hotel try to renege on their booking (and cancellation) conditions. Worth the fiver in my opinion.

      • Spurs Debs says:

        I thought the minimum spend was £100 to be protected under section 75?

  • Leigh says:

    I need to cancel/modify a hotel reservation made at Iberia.com using Avios. Does anyone know the best number to call? I have spent the past two hours trying to speak to the right person, but different agent just gave me a different number to call; I tried all the numbers given but to no avail. No one seems to know how to cancel/modify an Avios hotel booking!!

    • FlyingChris says:

      Have you tried “You can cancel your booking via iberia.com, in the Your Trips section”. Don’t think you can modify. Keen to know how you get on as haven’t seen any reports of people cancelling hotels.

      • Leigh says:

        Where can I find “Your Trips” section? I can only see “Your Flights” section. In fact, the only place I can view the booking is under “Avios Movements”, but no link to cancel/modify it. Really frustrating.

  • PAL says:

    Points now added (90k).

  • Mark says:

    I would suggest it’s covered by “improper or fraudulent use of the Programme”. The practical remedies may be limited, but there will be an obvious link to your BAEC account (via any intermediate avios.com routing) from your use of CMA and I assume similar terms in the BAEC terms and conditions that would allow them to close that for reasons of fraudulent use if it came to it.

    OK, that may be giving a little to much credence to their capability to enact that from an IT perspective, but is it really worth the risk?

    • the real harry1 says:

      I can’t see why transferring out Avios to BAEC is improper in any way – their systems allow it and the rules of the promotion don’t forbid it – until a day ago, everybody thought that’s how the promotion would/ could work.

      The T&Cs of the promo just mention cancelling unredeemed special promo Avios

  • AndyW says:

    90k points posted today and all used. Very nearly didn’t take part in this, but the clarifications from HfP gave me some comfort to take a gamble, so thanks!

  • Dan says:

    This could not have come at a better time! Was about to book a cash trip days before the offer came out. Got the 90k today, booked a QR Round trip in QSuite for 150k Avios. Perfect flights and A380 out and Dreamliner back. What’s not to like?

    • Dan says:

      BTW, I wasn’t able to select seats on QR. Spoke to IB, they said not possible on award tix which is rubbish. Called QR and they had no problems reserving the seats.

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

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