How to earn miles with 41 different airlines with the Marriott Bonvoy American Express card

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• Cha says:

  2 Mar2 March 05:04

  If you have the old spg card, call and ask for extra marriot points per pound spent.
  You’re sure to get some decent offer.
  I’ve had 2 cards upped to 3 per pound for 3 month.

  • BJ says:

    2 Mar2 March 07:10

    I think somebody reported getting 4/£ for a year.

    • Cha says:

      2 Mar2 March 07:20

      Would be interesting to know if that’s accurate. The agent also told me 4 points. After I saw I only get 3, they clarified that it’s an extra point, the agent just didn’t know if was reduced to 2 per pound so she assumed it’ll now be 4 per pound.

      The offers appear on each individual account and the wording is “an extra Bonvoy point” so the words 4 or 3 per pound are the agents interpretation, hence the mixup. But could be I’m wrong.

      • meta says:

        2 Mar2 March 07:29

        What do you mean by the offer appears on each individual account?

        • BJ says:

          2 Mar2 March 07:44

          Chat probably means the offer for each customer is displayed to the CSA when you call. Easy to imagine different customers get different offers but Cha’s comment on the 4/£ report sounds reasonable to me.

    • Will says:

      2 Mar2 March 07:56

      Almost certainly it’s 1 additional point per £.
      £

      Marriott/amex have got history with this.

      When SPG points merged with Marriott to fork Bonvoy points SPG were converted 1:3 to bonvoy.

      Anyone with a bonus offer back then of “an additional SPG point per £” wasn’t treated fairly as they simply changed the earning rate to 3 bonvoy + 1 (even though the statement quoted an additional SPG point) whereas it’s was 1+1 SPG before the merger which was in effect 6 bonvoy.

      • The Urbanite says:

        2 Mar2 March 13:57

        Yes, I was on that promo when the SPG to Bonvoy switch happened. They said that the promo was for 1 extra point per £1 and that it was just unfortunate that the value of a point decreased by 2/3rds. I let that one go.

      • New Card says:

        2 Mar2 March 15:49

        Am still going through the FOS about this one. Amex promised “Double Points” on the phone (6 instead of 3), and the Amex transaction listing referred to “1 additional Starpoint” (= 3 additional Bonvoy points). But I was only credited with 1 additional Bonvoy point (so 4 instead of 3).

        Anyone else had this argument with Amex and managed to win?

        • will says:

          2 Mar2 March 18:21

          I wrote several letters to them, sent in the statements with “one additional starpoint” clearly printed and explained that a starpoint was converted to 3 bonvoy points (they hadn’t called it bonvoy at the time) and amex were resolute that they were not going to award the points that they had promised to.

          I wish I’d have taken it further now just out of principle but I didn’t want to get the card cancelled.

          Now that it’s worth much less I might retrospectively take the case up.

• Louise says:

  2 Mar2 March 06:11

  Need to transfer some points from my husbands Marriot account before they expire, do I need him present for the phone call? Was much easier when we could do it online with SPG!
  Anyone have the best number to hand?

  • BJ says:

    2 Mar2 March 07:18

    If it’s your husbands account he needs to call. Number is 02035646335.

    • BJ says:

      2 Mar2 March 07:19

      Probably ok if you call as long as he is there to ok it for them.

      • Louise says:

        2 Mar2 March 09:13

        Thanks BJ

• BJ says:

  2 Mar2 March 06:56

  Now includes Aer Club and Vuelling.

• Charles says:

  2 Mar2 March 07:58

  For the same amount spent, is the Marriott Amex now a worse card as compared to spending on the Platinum Amex and transferring Membership Rewards into Bonvoy points? How about compares to the Creation Marriott MasterCard?

  • TGLoyalty says:

    2 Mar2 March 08:37

    If you are after Marriott Bonvoy points then no (below is earning of Bonvoy points at 3:2 MR)

    The card earns 2/£1 and plat or gold earns 1.5/£1 (though there are bonus offers on the gold like 1.5/£1 for spend abroad and 0.66/£1 if you hit £15k on the gold though that assumes you wouldn’t hit £15k anyway)

    If you’re spending at a Marriot hotel then the Bonvoy card wins hands down at 6/£1

    • TGLoyalty says:

      2 Mar2 March 10:19

      Should have said 1 Bonvoy/£1 for the £15k spend bonus as 10k MR convert to 15k Bonvoy.

  • Rob says:

    2 Mar2 March 08:47

    Bonvoy is better than Plat for that, but they are not really comparable. Instead, compare Amex Rewards (no fee, 1.5 Bonvoy per £1) vs Marriott (£75, 2 Bonvoy per £1).

    • TGLoyalty says:

      2 Mar2 March 10:21

      The numbers only really change in this cards favour if you are a heavy Marriott UK spender or if on business a heavy Marriott worldwide spender.

• Rob says:

  2 Mar2 March 08:51

  But as noted in the article, the rate is so poor you would be crazy to do it.

  • ECR says:

    2 Mar2 March 23:16

    Apologies I must have missed the comments in brackets when I first read the article.

    I don’t personally think the rate is too bad though for a Mastercard, particularly the IHG Premium one where you are effectively getting 4 miles (or avios etc) per £10 spend. Plus I can build up towards the £10k spend for the free night voucher.

• Yorkieflyer says:

  2 Mar2 March 09:57

  Mrs Yorkieflyer and I both have the SPG card taken out in Jan and Feb and are now earning only 2 points per £ with no notification. Very poor in my view

  • Lady London says:

    2 Mar2 March 11:19

    You don’t have to put up with that. Call up and ask them innocently why. When they say, tell them is detrimental to you and you are not happy. Plus you did not receive notice. (30 days personally to you and not just posting it on website somewhere not even as a prominent banner as you can’t be guaranteed to see it). Insist on your notice and existing rate of points for minimum 30 day notice they’re required to give you and didn’t. Unless they come up with something considerably better, ideally based in 4 per £.

    Onus is on them to prove you received they can’t just claim to have sent.

    You read HfP so don’t just sit there and take it.

    • yorkieflyer says:

      2 Mar2 March 23:26

      indeed and I quite agree. sometimes better to pause and reflect rather than act in anger tho? A pop up on my amex spg account account says “We no longer offer the SPG® Credit Card, as it has been rebranded to Marriott Bonvoy™. We will write to you in June about migrating you to this new product. You will continue to enjoy your existing benefits including 3 points/£ on all eligible spend, 6 points/£ on spend at Marriott properties.”
      Perhaps a phone call in a day or so will make the tortoises life easier than that of the hare?

  • Matthew says:

    2 Mar2 March 11:22

    Same here. My wife took out new SPG card 3 weeks ago and the earning rate cut form 26th without any notice. Was still saying 3pts per £ when applied. Not impressed.

• The Urbanite says:

  2 Mar2 March 10:07

  Amex CS are refusing to pay the old 3 points per £1 rate for transactions made on the 25th February 2020, even though the new rate only took effect from the 26th February 2020.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    2 Mar2 March 10:21

    If you spent a significant amount I would escalate otherwise is it worth the effort?

    • The Urbanite says:

      2 Mar2 March 10:38

      Put 5 figures through so I’m after the points!

  • meta says:

    2 Mar2 March 10:22

    Not only 25th. I have transactions on 23&24th posting at a new rate.

  • Lady London says:

    2 Mar2 March 11:22

    Did they even give notice? They may also be trying to cheat not giving 30 days notice.

    I’d tell them I was going to the Ombudsman on that and would actually do it if they don’t cough up. Plus I’d ask them what else they can do for me after that attempt to do the wrong thing was resolved.

    • Lady London says:

      2 Mar2 March 11:26

      Try another agent, if right is not done ask to speak to a supervisor and ask them if this is something you should be referring to the ombudsman as their refusal puzzles you. (Translation : why are you being so stupid when I’ve got you bang to rights and it will cost you up to £600 if I refer it to O.)

    • The Urbanite says:

      2 Mar2 March 12:42

      Notice was given but they are saying that they award points based on the date the merchant took the funds and not the date the transaction was made.

      That’s not always what they do though. I remember making a £6k purchase at The Range. On the same day I called Amex to close the account and they offered 1 bonus point per £1 on spend so I accepted and kept it open. The bonus points were not awarded on that The Range transaction but were on transactions made later that day.

      • TGLoyalty says:

        2 Mar2 March 14:14

        points posted on the 26th will be for transactions posted on the 23/24/25 as there is usually a 2-3 day delay.

        I will be phoning when i get a chance but my convo will be easier as its Marriott spend I’m owed 6x on rather the 5x they have awarded.

      • Lady London says:

        2 Mar2 March 15:21

        That’s cr*p if
        (1) they didn;t make it clear in the t’s and c’s
        and particularly if
        (2) previous transactions have credited based on the purchase date as you expected. financial systems’ processing time is not your responsibility.

        They’re wriggling because it’s a large amount. Don’t let them get away with it. Further perusal of previous transactions on your account will probably provide ample evidence of (2) above being the case.

        Did you definitely receive the notice? it’s not enough for them to say they’ve sent it.

        • The Urbanite says:

          2 Mar2 March 16:59

          Thanks Lady London – I did get the letter. I am taking the view this is a technical issue on their side – and that there was no ambiguity on the date the rate should have changed.

          Will wait and see what they say next.

      • ankomonkey says:

        2 Mar2 March 15:42

        £6k at The Range? Your fingers must have been tired after all that scraping off of grey/silver code coverer material after that purchase 😉

        • The Urbanite says:

          2 Mar2 March 16:50

          A nice thick £1 coin and one smooth scratching off of the layer kept things clean and tidy!

• M Lyon says:

  2 Mar2 March 12:57

  Off topic a little, has anyone received the 50% bonus Marriott points for converting AMEX points to Marriott points in 2019? I didn’t get the targeted email but took a punt and converted anyway, but i have not yet seen any additional points in my account (to be honest I don’t think i will either, but i needed the points for a stay so, thought i would chance my arm anyway)

  • Rob says:

    2 Mar2 March 13:14

    No-one who wasn’t targeted got them automatically, some who complained to Marriott persuaded Marriott to give them as an ex-gratia offer (which is weirdly generous in my view).

  • Grant says:

    2 Mar2 March 13:28

    I got them. I didn’t need to complain as such but I did have to contact Marriott CS who raised a query with back office and then the points arrived on both mine and my wife’s accounts – start to finish it was about 4 weeks from first call to CS. At no point was I told by Marriott that I wasn’t entitled to the bonus or that this was a one off show of goodwill, etc.

    • Freddy says:

      2 Mar2 March 15:27

      I suspect Marriott can only see that points were transferred from amex MR during a certain period. I doubt they’d have a list of qualifying accounts

      • mark2 says:

        2 Mar2 March 17:01

        So how did they sent out the invitations?

        • Freddy says:

          2 Mar2 March 18:23

          Amex sent the invites – what the criteria is I don’t know. Seemed pretty random

    • Harry T says:

      3 Mar3 March 02:36

      I emailed Marriott and they gave me the bonus points within 48 hours. I was not targeted by email but was told by AMEX chat that I was eligible.

      • M Lyon says:

        3 Mar3 March 10:39

        Thanks all

        Will give it a go, It seems rather nice of Marriott to do this

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