NEW: Get a 30% bonus converting American Express points to Marriott Bonvoy

American Express has launched a new 30% bonus when you transfer Membership Rewards points into Marriott Bonvoy points.

This is the second year running that this offer has run in September, although before that we hadn’t seen a bonus since 2019. We can’t yet assume it will become a regular feature.

The usual transfer rate is 1.5 Marriott Bonvoy points per 1 Membership Rewards point. Under this offer, you will receive 1.95 Marriott Bonvoy points per American Express point.

The offer ends on 9th November.

The offer is not targeted (I think) although you need a UK-based Amex card and it shows very clearly on the Membership Rewards website if you attempt to make a transfer. If you don’t see any mention of the bonus, don’t do it – or just do a small transfer as a test first.

Both personal and business cards qualify.

Here is the small print:

• the offer runs to 9th November 2025

• there is no minimum transfer to receive the bonus, apart from the usual ‘Amex to Marriott’ minimum of 400 Membership Rewards points

• you can receive the bonus on multiple transfers

• the small print says that the bonus points could take eight weeks to arrive – that said, this isn’t actually true and the bonus usually posts immediately

Is this a good deal?

Yes. I value a Marriott Bonvoy point at 0.5p.  On that basis, via this offer you are getting 0.975p per Amex point as opposed to the usual 0.75p.

(Remember that the transfer rate from Amex to Marriott is 2:3.)

This puts Bonvoy points on a par with redeeming for Avios or other airline miles, which I tend to value at 1p each.

However, it is possible to get outsize value from your Marriott Bonvoy points. I have a spreadsheet showing my Starwood and Marriott redemptions over the last 10 years and I have averaged 0.75p. This is the equivalent of getting almost 1.5p per American Express point if I transfer under this offer. That said, ‘outsize’ deals are getting fewer and fewer each year.

It is still a good deal, even with a ‘buy points’ bonus

You can buy Marriott Bonvoy points directly from Marriott – see here.

When a 40% bonus on purchased points is running, as it currently is until 17th September, you can buy Bonvoy points for around 0.7p each. You shouldn’t value Bonvoy points any higher than the cost of buying them directly, albeit there is an annual cap on the number of points you can purchase.

If you WERE considering buying Marriott Bonvoy points at 0.7p in the current offer, you should look at transferring American Express Membership Rewards points instead.

Here is the maths:

• At the top end, buying 150,000 Marriott Bonvoy points with a 40% bonus means you are paying $1,875 (£1,400) for 210,000 Marriott Bonvoy points

• Alternatively, with a 30% transfer bonus, you can get 210,000 Marriott Bonvoy points by moving 107,700 American Express Membership Rewards points

• Using 107,700 American Express Membership Rewards points to save £1,400 means you save 1.3p per Amex point, which is a great deal

In summary …. it is better to transfer Membership Rewards points with a 30% bonus than buy Marriott Bonvoy points from Marriott with a 40% bonus.

This offer may also work for airline miles

Marriott Bonvoy has 40 airline partners.  Not only does it have the biggest range of airline partners of any hotel scheme, it also has the most generous conversion rate.

Take a look at the full list on the Marriott Bonvoy site here.

In most programmes, including Avios and Virgin Flying Club, you receive 1 airline mile for every 3 Marriott Bonvoy points you convert.

If you convert in chunks of 60,000 Bonvoy points, you receive an additional 25% bonus – you get 25,000 miles instead of 20,000.

Let’s see what that means:

• You convert 30,770 Amex Membership Rewards points to Marriott Bonvoy under this offer

• You receive 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points in your account (46,155 base points plus the 30% bonus)

• You transfer those 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points into airline miles

• You receive 25,000 airline miles

This means that you receive 0.81 airline miles per Membership Rewards point.

Obviously this is not a good deal for those airlines which are already Membership Rewards partners at a 1:1 rate.  However, if you collect miles in an airline programme which is NOT a UK Membership Rewards partner, this is a great opportunity to convert them and get a ratio of 1 to 0.81 on the transfer.

Amusingly, if you want Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles, it is now a better deal to convert like this than directly from American Express into KrisFlyer. This is because the transfer rate between Membership Rewards and Singapore Airlines is only 1 to 0.66.

The same goes for Emirates. The transfer rate between Membership Rewards and Emirates Skywards is 1 to 0.75, so you are marginally better off going via Marriott in chunks of 30,770 Amex points.

Don’t forget the current BIG American Express sign-up offers

Because this offer runs for quite a while, until 9th November, you may be able to apply for an American Express card under the current special offers and earn the bonus in time to transfer it.

The deals are:

• 40,000 American Express points (convert to 78,000 Marriott Bonvoy points) with ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card – read our article here, apply here

• 80,000 American Express points (convert to 156,000 Marriott Bonvoy points) with The Platinum Card from American Express – read our article here, apply here

• 60,000 American Express points (convert to 117,000 Marriott Bonvoy points) with ‘free for a year’ The American Express Business Gold Card – read our article here, apply here

• 120,000 American Express points (convert to 234,000 Marriott Bonvoy points) with The American Express Business Platinum Card – read our article here, apply here

The Marriott Bonvoy numbers above assume you hit the spending target on your new American Express card and are able to convert the sign-up bonus by 9th November 2025.

Conclusion

If you know how to get value out of Marriott Bonvoy points then this offer is definitely worth a look.

To be honest, with 900,000 Marriott Bonvoy points in my account at the moment, I might give it a miss purely because my balance will keep me going for some time, but I did take advantage of the 30% transfer bonus last year.