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The new name for Marriott Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest will be ….

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The new name for Marriott Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest will be ….

…. Marriott Bonvoy, it seems.  Which is a bit odd.

The name is, of course, a play on ‘bon voyage’.  Whilst there has been no official announcement, if you do a Google search for ‘Marriott Bonvoy’ you will find some trademark registration websites which show various recent Marriott filings under that name.

What appeared to be a Marriott test site was also accessible for a few hours last week.  It reportedly shows that Platinum Premier Elite will be renamed Titanium Elite whilst those on 100+ nights and with $20,000+ of spend will be called Ambassador Elite.  This means that Marriott Bonvoy will have FIVE elite levels:

  • Silver Elite (10-24 nights)
  • Gold Elite (25-49 nights)
  • Platinum Elite (50-74 nights)
  • Titanium Elite (75-99 nights)
  • Ambassador Elite (100+ nights and $20k of annual spend)

The new name for Marriott Rewards

In reality, benefits are very similar once you hit Platinum Elite, with the upgrades and the guaranteed 4pm check-out kicking in.  There are some screenshots on the One Mile At A Time site here.

To be honest, I had my money on ‘Marriott Preferred Guest’ or even ‘Marriott Rewards’ (ie no change) but it seems I underestimated Marriott.

Don’t forget that some nasty changes will happen to the Bonvoy redemption chart in January.  The new top category launches AND peak date pricing begins.  This means that the top redemption price jumps from 60,000 points per night to 100,000 points.  We will be covering this change more during December in case you want to lock in any stays.


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 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 sign-up bonus 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 a huge range of valuable benefits – for a 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 (156)

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

  • Dan says:

    Hi all,

    I had to cancel the hotel element of a Marriott travel package yesterday due to a family member being quite ill. What exactly should I get back? It was a 7 night cat 5.
    I could tell the phone agent had absolutely no idea, so I thought I’d ask the experts.

    • New Card says:

      If it was an old (i.e. pre-merger) Cat 5 certificate, then you should get back either the certificate in your account (to be used again before its expiry) OR a new (post-merger) certificate up to Cat 4 OR 45k points.

  • Tthp213 says:

    I was having this issue yesterday and think I managed to get through using this link: http://americanexpress.co.uk/benefitstatus

  • Mariusz says:

    OT: Does anyone else have an issue with the bonus ‘progress’ bar not showing for amex cards?

    • Alan says:

      It occasionally comes and goes. Give it a day or so and it should be back. Been more reliably showing for me recently.

  • Gary says:

    Hugely OT! Trying to settle finance agreement with BMW for 25k but they won’t allow credit cards to pay off credit – has anyone experienced this and found a way around- would try curve but also concerned that could be classed as a cash advance by cc issuers creation and virgin money. Thanks in advance!

    • Matt says:

      We recently settled our balloon payment but couldn’t figure out a way to earn points from doing so. Annoying as £17k on a BA Amex Plus would’ve done nicely

      • Gary says:

        Not looking great then! Might try a small overpayment as a test via curve linked to virgin

        • Alex W says:

          No cash fees using Curve from Virgin so far for me. Best to try small amount first and wait for statement just to be sure.

      • Anna says:

        If you can be bothered, you could get a loan via Creation, use that to pay off the BMW finance then use Curve to pay off the loan. Creation doesn’t charge for payments made by debit card.

        • Steve says:

          Do you mean credit card Anna?

        • Anna says:

          Possibly both, but I make my extra payments by Curve so I don’t know for sure. Creation seem to accept pretty much anything apart from Amex.

    • Alan says:

      Some with Curve, rest with Tesco debit card? At least chance of 1 CC point per £8 if they classify it OK.

    • Gary says:

      I’ve just called to make a 1k overpayment however they won’t do it as I only have 2 payments left! So going to do some on virgin via curve and take a risk then rest on Tesco!

      • Steve says:

        Made the exact same call today and had same response. I am told final payments can be split across debit cards but they need to be in my name (ruling out spliting with wife’s Curve card) and need to be made during the same call (ruling out splitting across days to max curve daily limits) tempted to test the latter by hanging up after making first £3750 payment or more realistically caling back today to speak to a supervisor as I dont see why I cant make part payments on diff days in the final month. Also now looking at part exchange options to then max on next car’s initial deposit (apparently BMW accept Amex for deposits).

      • Steve-B says:

        Depends on dealership – mine (Reading) would only accept a max of £2500 on Amex for deposit, although that was just before the EU cap was imposed.

  • The Lord says:

    OT – T-355 seats come available via call centre at midnight UK time. Are they loaded online at the same time or is there a delay? Thanks

  • Kai says:

    OT: Missing SPG card welcome bonus finally credited, but instead of 22k I got only 20k.. Will need to chase again I guess!!

  • Wongster says:

    OT: Amex Shop Small starting 1st Dec – just wondering does anyone know for certain if my Lloyds Amex still participates in this event? I would like to think it does, it’ll be a perfect swan song for the card. Thanks!

    • Genghis says:

      Not this year

    • Rob Walker says:

      No, Lloyds cards are not eligible this year. They’re specifically mentioned as excluded in the Shop Small FAQ.

      “Cards issued by Lloyds Bank do not qualify”

      A shame as they were included last year. I guess it’s just part of the sun setting process on these cards. I recently paid another £24 annual fee – I was expecting to get the letter about the replacement beforehand to be honest. That said, I never really use the AMEX unless abroad. I always seem to be chasing a signup bonus on another card.

      • Wongster says:

        I love the Lloyds Amex abroad – no chance of DCC – at 1.25 Avios per £ and zero FX fees it’s about the best points earning foreign use credit card there is!

        • Luthar says:

          Rather annoyingly the Amex never works for me abroad. It always gets declined. I’m always stuck using the mastercard.

        • Neil says:

          Couldn’t agree more!! I have hit the £7k spend for the voucher just on overseas spend every year for the last 5 years.

          I really have no idea what I will do without it.

        • Shoestring says:

          @Neil – use another card?

      • Neil says:

        @Shoestring – I can’t believe I never thought about that….!!! Really

  • Hugh says:

    OT: Can someone remind me how I can transfer Avios from BA to Iberia now that you cannot do this through the Avios site? I can’t find an option anywhere on the BA site, I am hoping it is still possible and quick as I want to use my 90,000 Iberia points before Dec 1st and I don’t quite have enough!

    • Alan says:

      Login to BAEC account > Manage My Account (top left) > Combine My Avios

    • Chris says:

      What about Iberia to BA?

      I tried to use Aer Club but the registration kept failing.

      • Alan says:

        Should let you do it in both directions? IB website should also have similar functionality.

      • Steve-B says:

        No, functionality is broken (restricted?) at the moment. Can only send to Iberia. Have to use avios.com to move to BA.

        @Chris, were you trying to ‘reactivate’ a closed account or create a new one from Aer Club? If the former, personal details must match exactly. May be try Vueling to create account.

        • Shoestring says:

          Steve-B that often depends on specific a/c & whether it’s in a BAEC household a/c. As of checking yesterday, my wife *could* send points IB—>BAEC, whereas I couldn’t. (I expelled her from our HHA, keeping the kids’ a/cs for myself).

        • Steve-B says:

          Good point Harry, had forgotten that I’m in a HHA.

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