Maximizing Marriott Rewards: Flight and Hotel Packages

I recently wrote about the ability to redeem Marriott Rewards or Ritz Carlton points for Flight and Hotel packages. The traditional way to redeem Marriott Rewards points is to use them for a few hotel nights. However, once we have a large number of Marriott or Ritz Carlton points, a whole new set of possibilities opens up where we can redeem our points for a seven night hotel vacation package and airline miles at the same time. I discussed this in greater length when I wrote about my parents applying for the Ritz Carlton 140,000 point offers from Chase, allowing the two of them to earn a seven night vacation package plus over 100,000 miles by combining their points from their offers.

(Note: The 140,000 point offer I mention above may change frequently and may no longer be available).

But the value there wasn’t about the credit card offer, specifically. It was about the nature of Marriott Rewards points.  Once you have a lot of Marriott Rewards points, each additional point becomes a lot more valuable… almost as valuable as an airline mile.

Marriott Rewards Points Are Less Valuable Than Miles

In general, Marriott Rewards points are significantly less valuable than an equivalent amount of US Airways, American Airlines or United Airlines miles.

To prove this, say you have 35,000 Marriott Rewards points. That’s enough for a single night at a Category 7 Marriott hotel. With 9 Categories, that’s on the higher end, but not top tier. And how much is that really worth? $200? $300 at most? However, with 35,000 US Airways miles, for example, you can fly round-trip to the Caribbean in high season and have a free stopover along the way. For another example, let’s look at 100,000 Marriott Rewards points. As American Airlines or US Airways miles, 100,000 will buy you a round-trip business class ticket to Europe and that’s a value of at least a few thousand dollars. As Marriott points, you may get some nights in a nice hotel, but it’s seldom the case that a few hotel nights can add up to a business class trip.

Doing a straight comparison of redemption options for either Marriott Rewards points or miles with good airline programs, it’s not hard to see that the valuation ratio is not 1:1. If someone asked me to trade airline miles for Marriott Rewards point, I’d probably ask for 2-3 Marriott Rewards points for every mile. On the other hand, if someone offered me a mile for every Marriott Rewards point I have, I’d take that deal in a second. So here comes the general overwhelming fact: When given the opportunity to transfer Marriott Rewards points to valuable miles at 1:1, we should usually take it!

Transferring Marriott Rewards Points to Miles At 1:1

When does this opportunity to trade Marriott Rewards points for miles at 1:1 come up? When you’re redeeming Marriott Rewards points (or Ritz Carlton points) for a seven night hotel stay, you can either redeem for just a hotel stay or you can redeem for a Flight and Hotel package.

What the Flight and Hotel package does is allow you to transfer additional Marriott Rewards points to airline miles at a 1:1 ratio (and even a 10% bonus when you choose United Airlines as your miles transfer partner).

How It Works

For the number of Marriott Rewards points in the chart, you receive a certificate for one seven night stay at a corresponding category hotel and the number of miles in the following programs (I highlighted the most valuable miles among these)

• Aeromexico
• Air Canada
• Alaska Airlines
• American Airlines
• British Airways
• Delta Airlines
• Frontier Airlines
• GOL/Varig
• Hawaiian Airlines
• Iberia Airlines
• Southwest Airlines
• US Airways
• United Airlines (10% bonus from above)
• Virgin Atlantic

As an example, say you’re planning a seven night stay at the Renaissance St. Croix Carambola Beach Resort. This is a Category 6 hotel, costing 30,000 points a night according to the Marriott Rewards redemption chart. Since Marriott Rewards offers a fifth night free when redeeming points, a seven night stay would cost 180,000 Marriott Rewards points.

Now let’s look at the Flight and Hotel packages chart above. For 230,000 Marriott Rewards points, you can receive a seven night stay at the hotel plus 50,000 miles in the above programs (or 55,000 United Airlines miles). That means that, after paying for the seven night hotel, you receive 50,000 miles for 50,000 Marriott Rewards points. Definitely a good opportunity!

Ways to Maximize Value For Marriott Flight and Hotel Packages

Now that we know we can transfer Marriott Rewards points, how do we get the most value from the points.

Transfer to United Airlines for a 10% Bonus

In terms of getting the most actual miles, United Airlines gives a 10% higher transfer rate than the other partners. As an example, redeeming 280,000 points for Category 6 earns 100,000 miles or Avios in the other transfer partners I listed, but 110,000 United Airlines miles.

Transfer from Chase Ultimate Rewards

Marriott Rewards is a transfer partner of Chase Ultimate Rewards. However, transferring Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Marriott Rewards is not something I’d recommend to redeem for just hotel stays or for the full Flight and Hotel packages. The overwhelming reason is that Chase Ultimate Rewards are generally more valuable than Marriott Rewards as they transfer to airline miles with United Airlines, British Airways, Singapore Airlines and Southwest Airlines or, at worst, they can be redeemed at 1 cent each or 1.25 cents each for travel. In any of these three cases, they are more valuable than Marriott Rewards points and you generally do not want to transfer them to Marriott Rewards, other than two exceptions.

The first exception is when you need to top up for a big award stay with Marriott points. If you need few points to reach a goal, then each of those few points becomes very valuable. The second, of course, is when you have the chance to redeem for a Marriott Flight and Hotels package and can get additional miles transferring Chase Ultimate Rewards. At that point, having them as Marriott Rewards points to transfer to airlines actually gives you more options. As I said, Chase Ultimate Rewards points do transfer to airline miles, but there can be a few advantages transferring them this way:

• Ultimate Rewards points transfer to United Airlines at 1:1. With Marriott Flight and Hotel Packages, transfer to United earn a 10% bonus.
• Ultimate Rewards points do not transfer to Alaska Airlines, American Airlines or US Airways. But moving them through Marriott Rewards, they do.
• Ultimate Rewards points transferred directly to Southwest do not count toward the Southwest Companion Pass. However, transferred Marriott Rewards points do.

Transfer to Southwest Airlines for a Southwest Companion Pass

The opportunity to receive the Southwest Companion Pass itself definitely deserves extra attention. The Southwest Companion Pass, in my opinion, is one of the best deals in travel and something I’ve written about in detail before.

The Southwest Companion Pass is awarded once you either fly 100 segments or collect 110,000 Southwest Rapid Rewards points from eligible sources (and a Marriott Rewards points transfer is an eligible source while a direct transfer from Ultimate Rewards is not) within one calendar year (Jan – Dec). Once this is done, you get a Companion Pass good for the rest of the year and the following year.

For a more in depth discussion of the Southwest Companion Pass, you can check out this post: Southwest Companion Pass: Fly a Partner with you for FREE ALL YEAR!