Today, Chase launched a 70% transfer bonus to Marriott Bonvoy, meaning you’ll get 1.7 Bonvoy points for every Ultimate Reward point that you transfer until August 14th.
Chase runs transfer bonuses to Marriott Bonvoy a couple of times each year, but they’re usually in the 20%-50% range. As best I can recall this is the best Chase-Marriott transfer bonus we’ve ever seen…and it might just make it worth it for some folks to take advantage.
The Deal
- Get a 70% bonus when transferring Ultimate Rewards to Marriott Bonvoy.
- Expires August 14th, 2024
Key Terms
- Get 70% Bonus Marriott Bonvoy points when you transfer Ultimate Rewards points between 12:00 AM ET on August 1, 2024 and 11:59 PM ET on August 14, 2024.
- Bonus points will be awarded by Marriott Bonvoy in your Marriott Bonvoy account when your transfer is complete. Promotional offer terms and conditions apply.
- All Ultimate Rewards points transferred to your Marriott Bonvoy® account will be subject to the Terms and Conditions of Marriott Bonvoy® and cannot be transferred back to your Chase Ultimate Rewards account.
Quick Thoughts
A 70% transfer bonus rate sounds very compelling…and it is historically. However, this will most likely still be a suboptimal redemption for most folks. Our Reasonable Redemption Values (RRV) pegs Marriott points at 0.7 cents each, so even after you account for the bonus, you’re still getting ~1.2 cents of average value per Ultimate Reward (UR) point.
Having said that, for folks who “cherry pick” rewards, our analysis showed that the top 20% of redemptions average 0.88 cents per point or better, a value which would bring the transfer bonus up to ~1.5 cent per UR – almost the same as our RRV for Ultimate Rewards.
Because of Marriott’s labyrinthine rules governing who’s eligible for the welcome bonus on a new card, many folks can find themselves in a place where it’s difficult to acquire large amounts of Marriott points quickly. If you just need to top up your Marriott account for a specific high value redemption, or if you have a bunch of Ultimate Rewards and consistently get high value for your Bonvoy points, a 70% transfer bonus could be worth considering. Still, it’s not going to be one of the most valuable ways to use UR points.
One oft-forgotten feature of Marriott Bonvoy is that it allows transfers to a massive variety of airline programs, including some who don’t partner with Ultimate Rewards like American, Alaska and Japan Airlines. The ratio is 3-1, but for most airlines you get a 5,000 miles bonus for every 60,000 Bonvoy points that you transfer, or 60,000 Bonvoy points – 25,000 airline miles. The 70% transfer bonus means that you could indirectly access these programs from Chase at around a 1.0 – 0.7 transfer ratio. Again, this isn’t great in comparison to all of Chase’s 1-1 transfer partners, but if you have a boat load of UR and need JAL or Alaska miles, it might be worth the premium.
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