How to get the most £ for your Marriott Reward points.

There are many ways to spend your hard earned Marriott Rewards points. If you’re like me you want to know how you use the least amount of Marriott Rewards points to save the most amount of £.

Therefore in this post I will uncover the best use of your MR points from the 3 ways in which you can spend them.

Hotels

The traditional way to spend your Marriott Rewards Points is for a free night stay in one of the 3,700 Marriott Rewards hotels located worldwide.

The required number of Marriott Rewards point required for a free night range from 7,500 – 70,000 MR points. Therefore you only need 7,500 Marriott Rewards points for a free night but as this is the lowest category in the Marriott Rewards range, don’t expect anything fancy.

Note that if you stay for 4 nights using your MR points, you get the 5th night free.

I recently stayed at the JW Marriott Hotel in Hong Kong. This was a category 8 hotel and required 40,000 points a night. I stayed for 5 nights therefore taking advantage of the free 5th night. Therefore I paid a total of 160,000 MR points. As a platinum Member I got upgraded from a guest room to a premier room which is normally 50,000 MR points a night.

If I had paid for the premier room using cash I it would have cost me £300 per night. As I was staying 5 nights that would have cost me £1500.

Therefore the conversion In this example is : 107 MR points = £1

To get a more accurate MR points to £ conversion I looked at a category 1 (lowest category in  MR) and a tier 5 (highest tier in MR)

The TownePlace Suites Tuscon Airport is a category 1 hotel requiring 7500 MR points per night. A 5 night stay would require 30,000 MR points as the 5th night is free.

If you paid with cash on a randomly selected night in September the rate is £50, therefore 5 nights would cost £250.

Therefore the conversion is 120 MR points = £1

If we look at a hotel at the higher end of the Marriott Rewards program; The Ritz-Carlton Tokyo is a tier 5 hotel and requires 70,000 points a night. A 5 night stay would require 280,000 MR points including the 5th night free.

Cash wise this would cost £280 a night and therefore a 5 night stay would cost £1400.

Therefore the conversion in this example is 200 MR points = £1

If we average out the 3 examples used above a hotel redemption would convert 142 MR points/ £1.

Do note that throughout the year Marriott Rewards offer a reduction in required MR points for a redemption for a free night at various hotels. This is offered by season awards and Marriott Rewards PointSavers.

Shopping:

Marriott Reward points can also be us to purchase electronics, jewellery, watches and more.

16GB Apple I pad mini requires 262500 MR points. In the apple store this would cost £319.

Therefore the conversion in this example is 822 MR = £1

Travel & unwind

Travel & unwind covers flights or packages

- Flights: Marriott Rewards points can be used to pay for flights.

The conversion rate for flights using MR points average 426 MR = £1

- Flight & hotel packages : Marriott Rewards points can be used to fund your flights and hotels in one go. But do note that in this situation you will need to pay tax and fuel surcharge for your flights, and if your flying from London this can be quite significant.

There are many variations on the number of MR points required for a package because of the range of different Marriott Reward categories and tiers, and the different value of airmiles given to each airline. As shown below:

For our example we will use hotel and air package 1 which would require 290,000 MR points and imagine that we were going to Los Angeles. For this you get 7 nights in a category 8 hotel and 50,000 avios

Lets do the math.

The flight to Los Angeles using points would require 50,000 avios + £389 (tax and carrier charges).  A cash fare for a random date was £650.

If we stayed at the category 8, JW Marriott Los Angeles L.A. Live for 7 nights this would cost a total of £1400 if we had paid in cash.

Therefore the conversion in this example is 175 MR = £1

Verdict:

The information I detailed above is a guideline. The actual Marriott Rewards points required for a £1 saving will vary. For example:

- in the hotel scenario I might not have been upgraded to the premier room. Therefore my saving would have not been as high.

- For the shopping scenario I might have been able to find the I pad for cheaper if I shopped around.

Ultimately, the decision on how you use your points should be based on your needs. Some people might prefer to stay in apartments when they go on holiday and therefore would rather use their MR points for shopping or for flights.

Though clearly, if you want to get the most £ for your points then using your Marriott Rewards points for hotel stays is the clear winner with flights and hotel packages also a good option.

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