News: win a trip to Spaceport Cornwall, get a 25% bonus when you buy Marriott points

News in brief:

Win a trip to Spaceport Cornwall with Virgin Red

Later this year, Virgin Orbit will launch satellites from UK soil. This is not only a first for Virgin Orbit but also the first-ever UK satellite launch.

Virgin Red is giving one member, and three guests, a chance to tour Spaceport Cornwall on a mutually convenient date, as well as two nights stay at the Watergate Bay Hotel, complete with surfing lessons.

To enter, you need to go into the Virgin Red app or visit this this page of its website and answer a question. The closing date is Sunday 21st August. Five runners up will win a goodie bag of merchandise from Spaceport Cornwall and Virgin Orbit. 

Get a 25% bonus when you buy Marriott Bonvoy points

Marriott Bonvoy has launched a new deal if you buy their hotel points.

Via this page of the website, you will get a 25% bonus on all points purchases.

This is a substantially lower bonus than recent offers, which have tended to be around 40% to 50%. However, with this offer running to 15th September, we are unlikely to see anything better until at least October.

Marriott has now moved to revenue-based redemptions, although almost all hotels will remain inside their existing high and low price caps. The full force of revenue-based redemptions will not be seen until 2023.

The annual purchase cap has now been permanently raised to 100,000 points.  With the bonus, this means that you could pick up 125,000 Marriott Bonvoy points.

At the top end you are paying $1,250 (£1,020) for 125,000 points. My rule of thumb is that a Marriott Bonvoy point is worth 0.5p so this offer is not great at 0.82p per point. 

However, you might find it worthwhile if:

• you are topping off your account before making a points booking, or
• you are close to 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points and want to make a transfer into airline miles (you get a bonus of 5,000 airline miles when you transfer 60,000 Bonvoy points into 20,000 airline miles) or
• you are planning a stay at a property where you know you will get outsized value

The page to buy is here. The offer runs to 15th September.

If you want to learn more about the programme, our full review of Marriott Bonvoy is here.

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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.

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.

You can also earn Marriott Bonvoy points indirectly:

• American Express Gold (20,000 bonus Amex points)
• American Express Rewards Credit Card (10,000 bonus Amex points)

and for small business owners:

• American Express Business Gold (20,000 bonus Amex points)
• American Express Business Platinum (40,000 bonus Amex points)

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.)