Marriott Rewards

I’m a bit late on this one but if you have not seen it yet, you should register for the Spring 2008 Mariott Megabonus.

If you are staying at any Mariott (or related brand hotel) before May 15th, you will want to sign up for this promotion.

Register here and get yourself up to 7,000 extra Marriott points for free.

As reported in Upgrade- Travel Better, there are two new websites for people wanting to figure out the best deals they can get with their frequent flier miles or hotel points.

MileMaven helps travelers find the most number of frequent flier miles for your flights. PointMaven does the same thing, but for hotel points.

I often find it is difficult to find information about ways to earn extra points and these guys consolidate it pretty well.

There is a lot of info available- check them out!

I just logged into the Marriott Rewards website and saw that Marriott has a new Megabonus promotion which you can register for. This Megabonus lasts from March 1st until May 31st.
The way it works is that you get a certain number of bonus points for a certain number of stays. In my case, I got offered 5,000 bonus points for every third stay. Every time you check-out, one stay is counted- regardless of the actual number of days stayed at the hotel. This can add up pretty fast, especially if you are going to be staying at several different Marriott hotels.

It costs you nothing and takes a couple of seconds to sign up for this offer, I strongly suggest signing up.

There was a good article in the New York Times this week explaining how the major hotel chains are increasing the points required for a free room stay by as much as 40%!!

Basically it is showing how several of the major hotel chains are increasing the number of points required to redeem for a hotel room across their locations. So for people saving their hotel points for a vacation- it may end up taking them a lot longer than they expected.

The article specifically mentions that Starwood, Hyatt, and Hiltons hotels are doing this. It does not mention Marriott. Way to go Marriott!

This has already happened in the airline industry- it cost me 80,000 Aeroplan miles to get from Canada to Scotland earlier this year when it used to be a lot less.

I don’t understand how large companies think that this is a good practice as the biggest collectors of hotel points are usually the hotel chains’ best and most frequent guests. Everybody understands an increase, but not a huge one as seems to be the case.

My tip for today is to count the points you have and use as soon as needed, because if you wait- your next chance to use them may cost you more.

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According to an article in Monday’s Globe and Mail, the previously rumoured Marriott credit card for canadians has now come out. Read the full article here

The credit card is being issued by JP Morgan Chase which is partnered with Marriott for their other credit card offerings.

Interestingly, they quote a Chase executive named Sherri Silver that “Initially, you will get 15 points for each dollar you spend”

15 points per dollar is a very good amount and would get lots of people interested in this card.

Unfortunately they did not give any other details of card benefits but I will find out more about this.

Once you have collected some miles there is the question of what to spend the points on. Hopefully you went through some of this process when you started to collect points. To make sure you are getting the best value for your points you need to figure out what they are worth. How to do this? There is some excellent information on how to value your frequent flier miles or points on Gary Steiger’s website freefrequentfliermiles

Using the formula Gary recommends, I end up with my British Airways and Aeroplan miles being worth 2 cents each, my airmiles miles at 12.5 cents each, and my Marriott points at 1 cent each. This is going to be helpful for the next time I look at whether or not to use my points for something.

I find that having points is like collecting change in a piggy bank, it takes a while to get anything useful, but over time it is definitely possible. In most cases it is worth using the miles when you can because the managers of these loyalty programs can, and do, change the rules at any time.

As I mentioned in my last post, Marriott does not currently have a parner credit card in canada.

However, the word from the Flyertalk forums is that one is coming soon…

GregWTravels writes that he got the following info from Marriott Customer Service

“…We should be announcing a Chase Marriott Rewards Visa available to the residence of Canada with in the next couple of months. Please watch the mail for this announcement. It will also be posted on the Marriott website at Marriott.com….”

You can check out the entire thread here

This is definitely very interesting… I am a big Marriott fan, but I have found that one of their limitations has been the fact that I cannot collect points with a credit card (as I can with Starwood)

The 2 hotel point programs that I have used to a good extent are Marriott and Starwood. Each of them has their own individual advantages and disadvantages.

In this post I will go over some of the important aspects of Marriott points.

What do I like about Marriott?

Firstly they have over 2,600 locations so you can find one almost anywhere. Internationally this is not always the case, but I have found these hotels in a lot of places that I have travelled to.

Secondly, they have a wide range of properties ranging from the higher end Marriott hotels to the lower end Courthouse and Residence inn chains of hotels.

Thirdly it is pretty easy to earn enough points for free nights. After having spent 10 nights in a year at a Marriott hotel you get Silver status. This does not give you much in terms of service, though it can sometimes get you access to a special club lounge. The important point is that it gives you an additional 20% of points earned.

The most important tip I can offer about Marriott points is that you must make sure to always sign up for the bonuses on the hotel website. There is always some kind of promotion going on, and it is very easy to sign up. You just go to the rewards section on the Marriott website, and click on the promotion to sign up.

As an example, the current promotion is something called Mega bonus, which gives you an extra 5,000 points for every third stay that you pay for with a Visa card. Last week, I stayed last week at three different Marriott hotels, over a five-night period, and during this time I earned enough points for a free night at a category three hotel (or two free nights at a Category one hotel).