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Marriott Bonvoy has launched its first “buy points” promotion of 2021. It will run until 22 March, 2021.

Annoyingly, the offer first appears as a 40% bonus, but if you log into your account the bonus should be increased to 50% for purchases of 2,000 points or more. This might happen for everybody, or only for those who have previously purchased points from Marriott.

Since the regular price is 1.25 US cents per point, a 50% bonus will bring your per point cost down to 0.83 cents. Thanks to a stronger sterling, this will now cost you 0.6p.

Does it Make Sense?

As always, you can sometimes save money on hotel stays by buying points and immediately redeeming them for award nights (most often in low category and high category hotels).

As a reminder, this is Marriott’s award chart…

Until 21 February, 2021, you can also book off-peak award nights for an additional 10% off. (for stays until 30 September, 2021)

Buy Points to Convert to Miles?

You can also convert 60,000 points into 25,000 miles. Buying 60,000 points would cost you $500 (£360). On a per mile basis, that works out to 1.44p. This would be a horrible price for Avios or Virgin miles, but is worth considering for small top ups of Alaska, Turkish, Cathay Pacific, etc.

Of course, with travel still largely on pause, you might not be in the mood to book hotel award stays or add to your mileage balance…

Don’t Forget to Try for Cashback

You might also be able to earn some cashback when buying Marriott points. Click here to reread this post on how it can be done…