What are Marriott Bonvoy hotel points worth?

This article is our attempt to decide what Marriott Bonvoy points are worth. How should you value them?

Valuing miles and points is a thankless job. We have always published articles on what Avios points are worth, but that Avios article is so complex that it simply proves my point.

In the face of constant reader requests, however, I wrote this series of articles on how we value each of the major hotel points currencies.

You can buy Marriott Bonvoy points from Marriott by clicking here.

The reason I changed my mind about publishing valuations after all these years was that I found a methodology that worked for me. It takes a subjective valuation and then explains the boundaries around it. Or, in plain English:

• I will tell you (without justifying it) what I think a Marriott Bonvoy point is worth

• I will tell you, on the upside, how far wrong I can be (which is good news)

• I will tell you, on the downside, how far wrong I can be (which is bad news)

• I will tell you what Marriott Bonvoy points are worth if you turn them into something else – usually airline miles – which effectively locks in a floor value

Why I think ‘range’ is important when valuing hotel points

When we look at using Avios for business or First Class flights, the ‘cash alternative’ is often a poor comparison. Most HfP readers don’t want to, or simply can’t afford to, pay cash for business or First Class flights. Their choice is Avios or nothing.

Even if you can afford to pay, what are you comparing with? A cheap non-refundable sale flight? A pricier flexible ticket? The cost of an indirect flight, not on BA?

Hotels redemptions are different:

• you stay in far more hotels each year compared to the number of premium cabin flights you take, so you can be selective about when you use points

• you can usually afford to pay for a hotel if you choose not to use points

• there are far more options in the hotel market than in the flight market – most people only have a lot of miles in one airline programme, whereas you are likely to hold hotel points in multiple schemes

It is easy to sit on hotel points until you get a good deal

The net result of the three facts above is that it is easy to turn down a hotel redemption when it doesn’t seem like good value. You can pay cash or redeem via another hotel scheme instead.

Here is the crux of what I am trying to say. If you compare two hotel schemes:

• scheme A usually gets you 0.3p per point but if you are lucky you can get 1p

• scheme B usually gets you 0.4p per point but if you are lucky you can get 0.6p

…. scheme A may actually be the best.

Most people who try to ‘value’ hotel points don’t take this into account.

If you redeemed points for every stay you did, regardless of the cash price, scheme B would be the best. No-one does this though. In reality you can pay cash for your stays in scheme A until the day when a bumper redemption arrives and you can get 1p.

What are Marriott Bonvoy points worth?

With our methodology out of the way, let’s take a look at what Marriott Bonvoy points are worth.

If you want to learn more about the programme, our full review of Marriott Bonvoy is here. We are not going into detail in this article.

To keep things simple, we do not adjust for the fact that you would earn points back if you paid cash instead. This can have a noticeable impact when generous bonuses are running.

On the upside, members get ‘five nights for the points of four’ when redeeming. This is available to all members, not just those with elite status. We don’t factor this in.

The HfP average valuation of a Marriott Bonvoy point:

0.5p

We are not justifying this valuation, except to say that I have looked at enough Marriott redemptions over the years to be happy with it. Anyone who knows Marriott Bonvoy should know that this feels right. A £250 hotel will usually be around 50,000 points

How high can value go on the upside?

1.0p is still achievable and a sensible target.

In Summer 2023 I spent five nights at the JW Marriott Resort & Spa in Venice, reviewed here. We booked two Junior Suites for 594,000 points in total. I got 1.0p per point, and this was a ‘real’ saving – I have stayed in these rooms before at this hotel and would have paid cash if needed.

Three years ago, I booked three nights at the Al Maha desert resort in Dubai. This got me 1.5p per Bonvoy point vs my 0.5p valuation.

In Summer 2024 I booked The Bodrum EDITION in Turkey where I got 1.5p per Bonvoy point. Admittedly this is not a ‘real’ saving as I wouldn’t have paid the stupendous four figures per night cash price ….

These redemptions justified all of the Marriott stays where I paid cash rather than redeem for 0.5p per point.

How low can value go on the downside?

0.30p.

Irrespective of how Marriott’s dynamic pricing develops, there is a floor to what you will receive for your Marriott Bonvoy points.

Marriott offers ‘Instant Rewards’, which allow you to redeem your points towards your hotel bill at participating properties.  Details are on the Bonvoy site here.

The chart runs from 250 points for $1 credit to 125,000 points for $500. Irrespective of how few you use, you are getting 0.4 cents (currently 0.30p) per Bonvoy point.

If Marriott Bonvoy devalues hugely tomorrow, what is my escape route?

This is our floor price. What can you do with your points if Marriott Bonvoy devalues massively overnight?

With Marriott Bonvoy, the best value is to convert your points to airline miles. Importantly, you get more value by doing this than redeeming for some room nights.

Use Marriott Bonvoy points for frequent flyer miles

Marriott Bonvoy has, by far, the most generous airline transfer rate in the industry.

Bonvoy points transfer to over 40 airlines. The transfer rate is 3:1. If you convert 60,000 Bonvoy points at once, you receive a bonus of 5,000 miles with most airline partners, giving you 25,000 miles in total.

If we assume an airline mile is worth 1p, then you are getting 0.42p per Marriott Bonvoy point if you convert in batches of 60,000 points. Convert in smaller chunks and you are getting airline miles worth 0.33p per Marriott Bonvoy point.

This ‘worst case’ scenario is actually pretty good when you look at the numbers.

The list of Marriott Bonvoy airline partners is here.

Use Marriott Bonvoy points to book a home rental

Marriott has a home and villa rental platform called ‘Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy’ – see here.

If you choose to pay with points you get 0.45p per Bonvoy point, based on this analysis we did.

It is relatively close to our ‘average value’ of 0.5p for a hotel redemption, although still 10% below.

It is worth noting that this rate has devalued a little in recent years so it is debatable how much you want to rely on this as an escape route.

In summary …. what do we think Marriott Bonvoy points are worth?

• on average: 0.5p per point

• on a very good day: 1p is still achievable at a top hotel in a top city, despite the move towards dynamic pricing

• on a bad day: if you are happy to use your points for in-hotel credit, you are guaranteed 0.4 cents (0.30p) per point

• if you transfer out to airline miles in a worse case scenario: 0.42p per point when transferring in chunks of 60,000 points, or 0.33p for other quantities

• if you are happy to book home and villa rentals with your points, you currently get 0.45p per point if you pay with points

As to how this should impact your behaviour:

• if you tend to visit prime hotels in prime locations at prime times of the year, you should save your Marriott Bonvoy points for a day when you can get 1p when redeeming them

• if your travel style is more about travelling off peak and staying in mid range hotels, dynamic pricing means that you are likely to see something close to 0.5p wherever you redeem – you might as well spend points as you earn them

If you want to buy additional Marriott Bonvoy points from Marriott, the link to buy is here.