Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

American Express Membership Rewards transfer rate to Marriott Bonvoy confirmed

Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. A list of partners is here.

This is not unexpected, but it is good to have it confirmed.

The American Express Membership Rewards hotel transfers page (click here) has been updated to show that transfers to the new combined Marriott / Starwood programme will go through at a 2:3 ratio.

It erroneously shows as ‘3 Starpoints’ instead of ‘3 points’ but I’m sure Amex will fix that.

This is as we expected, as the old ratio to Starwood was 2:1 with Starwood to Marriott at 1:3.

In theory transfers should restart from today after a suspension whilst the Starwood / Marriott IT merger was completed.


Want to earn more points from credit cards? – December 2023 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current sign-up bonuses.

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 9th January 2024, you will receive 30,000 Membership Rewards points (convertible to 30,000 Avios) with American Express Preferred Rewards Gold. You receive 25,000 points if you spend £3,000 in three months and a further 5,000 points if you hold the card for 15 months. You can apply here.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 9th January 2024, you will receive a huge 100,000 Membership Rewards points (convertible to 100,000 Avios) with The Platinum Card. You receive 75,000 points if you spend £10,000 in six months and a further 25,000 points if you hold the card for 15 months. You can apply here.

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points (TO 9th JANUARY), FREE for a year & four airport ….. Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

Crazy 100,000 points (TO 9th JANUARY) and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

15,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and free for a year Read our full review

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

Get a 10,000 points bonus plus an extra 500 points for our readers Read our full review

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending.

Barclaycard Select Cashback credit card

1% cashback and no annual fee Read our full review

Comments (160)

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

  • Rob says:

    Hotels in Germany offer this by law.

    • Russ says:

      Yes it was Frankfurt. You learn something new everyday here. Thanks Rob.

  • N says:

    been waiting 2 weeks for transfer out my Amex points to Marriott/SPG – still can’t.

    v frustrating.

    • Mark says:

      same, had to cancel a reservation as I doubt my points will be there in time. oh well back to Hilton anyway so as Gold will at least get breakfast.

  • rams1981 says:

    Amex platinum house event cancelled. What a shambles lol

  • Pangolin says:

    re unexpected status upgrade/downgrade

    Looks like Marriott is reverting the upgrades faster than the downgrades. A lot of people saying they’ve reverted back down to their expected level of Gold, but I’m still stuck on Platinum when I should actually be Platinum Premier.

    • E says:

      Me too Pangolin. I’m staying in a Marriott this week to so that’ll be another thing to sort out when/if they sort this out and I need to get the extra bonus added.

    • Ian M says:

      Same, I checkout of a Marriott after a 7 night stay this week. Will be disappointing to get the lower bonus. But more worryingly is the fact all my Starwood stays/nights and all my Starpoints have gone from my account.

      • PhilW says:

        Have you checked that you don’t just have 2 accounts. I definitely have 2 new Marriott accounts, both with gold status. One from my spg account and one from Marriott despite them having been linked. Each has the old points balance.

  • Oliver McManus says:

    Regarding transferring Avios from BA to Iberia…is the maximum annual transfer 30,000 Avios?

  • Zoe says:

    Off topic but booked Domes of Elounda at 45k points per night in July for a booking next year, using book now redeem later. My booking has gone up to 60k points a night. We’re not going to get enough to cover it and I’ve booked flights. Anyone else had this happen? Any ideas on where I stand on this?

    • Louise says:

      I’ve done he same Zoe, I read someone the other day has got Marriot to agree to honouring lower points, albeit they got them to apply a cat 7 voucher to it!
      I’m going to email them tomorrow and see what they say.

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

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.