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I know that many people don’t care too much about hotel chain loyalty programmes. For some people, hotel stays are simply another opportunity to earn Avios. Besides the fact that hotel programmes can be confusing, some people might think – “Just get me there… then I’ll stay at an Airbnb or an independent hotel”. Fair enough… this promotion might be for you. But let me get this out of the way first… this is NOT a double dip offer – you will need to change your earning preference to miles.

Between 1 June and 31 December, 2019 – note the delayed starting date – Marriott Bonvoy is offering:

• 1,000 bonus Avios per stay at the “Luxury and Premium” brands, which are:
  • Marriott Hotels
  • Renaissance Hotels
  • The Ritz-Carlton
  • Marriott Vacation Club
  • JW Marriott
  • Autograph Collection
  • EDITION
  • Delta Hotels by Marriott
  • Le Meridien
  • The Luxury Collection
  • Sheraton
  • St. Regis
  • Tribute Portfolio
  • W Hotels
  • Westin
• 500 bonus Avios per stay at the “Select and Longer Stay” brands, which are:
  • Marriott Executive Apartments
  • Courtyard by Marriott
  • Residence Inn by Marriott
  • AC Hotels by Marriott
  • MOXY Hotels
  • Aloft
  • Element by Westin
  • Four Points by Sheraton

In order to participate, you must be a Marriott Bonvoy member and select miles as your earning preference. I also believe that you must book through a specific website where blackout dates may apply – click here for details.

Does it Make Sense?

When you choose to earn airline miles instead of Marriott points, you will earn:

• 2 miles per US dollar at the “luxury and premium” brands
• 1 mile per US dollar at the “select and long stay” brands

When you choose points, you earn 10 points per US dollar spent at all brands except Element, Residence Inn and TownePlace Suites, where you’ll earn 5 points per $. (I know… WAY too complicated)

The main thing to remember is that Marriott Bonvoy already offers an attractive way to convert Marriott points into airline miles (including Avios). Once you accumulate 60,000 points, you can convert those to 25,000 Avios. So, if you manage to spend $6,000 at Marriott hotels over a reasonable period of time, you could earn:

• 60,000 points, convertible to 25,000 Avios – when choosing to earn points, but converting later
  
• Maximum 2 miles per $, or a total of 12,000 Avios – when choosing to earn miles

So, even with a bonus of 500 / 1,000 Avios per stay, you might not come out ahead. And that’s before considering the chance of conversion bonuses or elite status extras… (both of which require earning hotel points instead of miles)

The Bottom Line

Well… if you stay at Marriott hotels so infrequently that you can never dream of accumulating 60,000 points, then you might be better off taking the 2 Avios per dollar plus the per-stay bonus.

But I also wrote about this promotion as a way of pointing out that occasionally an attractive-looking promotion is anything but…

What do you think? Are you more interested in the promotion than I am?