The Amex Membership Rewards program frequently offers transfer bonuses. The program has just launched its latest hotel transfer bonus — while I wouldn’t say it’s particularly compelling, it’s at least worth being aware of.
By my valuation, you’re still getting under one cent of value per Membership Rewards point, even with this transfer bonus. That’s quite a ways from my valuation of Membership Rewards points, which is 1.7 cents per point.
Other people will likely have wildly different valuations of Marriott points than I do, and if that’s the case, this bonus could be worth it. That’s especially true when you consider there’s no great way to earn Marriott points through everyday credit card spending anymore. I tend to value points conservatively, and of course there are always ways to get outsized value with the right redemption in mind.
Bottom line
Amex Membership Rewards is offering a 30% bonus when you transfer points to Marriott Bonvoy. In general, I think transfer bonuses are the way to maximize the value you can get from transferable points. However, that’s usually only true for currencies where even transferring points at a 1:1 ratio could make sense.
In the case of Amex Membership Rewards and Marriott Bonvoy, I find that you lose more than half of the value of your points by making a transfer under normal circumstances. Even with a 30% bonus, I wouldn’t consider this to be much of a deal at all.
Of course, some people may have specific situations where this could make sense, and in that case, it could be worth at least topping off an account.
Does anyone plan on taking advantage of this Amex transfer bonus to Marriott Bonvoy?