How to transfer Marriott Bonvoy points to another person ONLINE, for free

One of least known and often useful features of Marriott Bonvoy is the ability to transfer points from one member to another for free.

The only snag was that, historically, you had to call Marriott Bonvoy to do this which was a bit of a faff.

No more! 18 months ago, Marriott set up online transfers of points from one member to another.

The page you need on the Marriott Bonvoy website is here.

There are very few rules (these are taken from Section 2.8 of the Bonvoy T&C):

• to transfer or receive points, both Marriott Bonvoy accounts must be at least 90 days old or be at least 30 days old with qualifying activity

• your transfer must be for at least 1,000 Marriott Bonvoy points and a multiple of 1,000 points (you get an error message otherwise)

• you are restricted to two transfers per month (in or out) and six transfers per calendar year (in or out)

• you can transfer up to 100,000 points per calendar year

• you can receive up to 500,000 points per calendar year

• there is no requirement for both parties to share the same address or be related

Transfers can take up to 24 hours to complete.

Why might you want to transfer Marriott points to another person?

The obvious answer is ‘for an easy life’, keeping points from all adult family members in one place.

The smarter answer is ‘to be strategic’. It makes sense, inside a family or partnership, for the person with the highest Marriott Bonvoy status to book reward stays because this will determine what benefits are received.

(Historically my wife has transferred Marriott Bonvoy and Hilton Honors points from her occasional stays to me, because I usually have a higher status level than her in both schemes and it makes sense that I book any redemptions.)

This is also a sensible option for someone who has Marriott Bonvoy points which are about to expire. The value can be preserved by sending them to another person. Note that you cannot stop expiry of your own points by having 1,000 points sent to you, because this is not ‘qualifying activity’.

It could also help you if you were booking a large number of rooms. Marriott lets you earn points, but not elite night credit, for up to three rooms per night as this HfP article explains. If you needed more than three rooms, you could credit these to someone else and then transfer the points to yourself.

Whilst possibly not strictly in the letter of the rules, this also makes it easier to trade points with a friend:

• Avios lets you transfer up to 60,000 points to another person per year for a flat £50 fee

• Virgin Atlantic lets you transfer up to 2 million Virgin Points to another person in one transaction for a flat £10 fee

• Hilton lets you transfer up to 500,000 points to another person per year for free

• Marriott lets you transfer up to 100,000 points to another person per year for free

All of these transfers can be done online, and clearly give opportunities for informal swapping of points.

You can transfer Marriott Bonvoy points by clicking here (log-in required).

PS. If you don’t have one yet, here is our full review of the Marriott Bonvoy American Express credit card

PS. If you are not a regular Head for Points visitor, why not sign up for our FREE weekly or daily newsletters? They are full of the latest Avios, airline, hotel and credit card points news and will help you travel better. To join our 70,000 free subscribers, click the button below or visit this page of the site to find out more. Thank you.

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How to earn Marriott Bonvoy points and status from UK credit cards (June 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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 15th July 2025, the sign-up bonus on the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card is TRIPLED to 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points. This would convert into 25,000 Avios or into 40 other airline schemes. It would also get you at least £300 of Marriott hotel stays based on our 0.5p per point low-end valuation. Other T&C apply and remain unchanged. Click here for our full card review and click here to apply.

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 The Platinum Card from American Express in detail here and you can apply here.

You can also earn Marriott Bonvoy points indirectly:

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

and for small business owners:

• The American Express Business Gold Card (20,000 bonus Amex points)
• The American Express Business Platinum Card (50,000 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.