Question
Hi
I was wondering if there a limit on the number of points I can earn in a year if I was not an elite marriott rewards member.
Please advise if there is a limit.
Thanks
S
Answer
Sorry, I don't know the answer to your question. But I have to ask: do you use this card for non-hotel spending? This has to be one of the worst cards there is for getting free stays from non-hotel spending.
Answer
Got 200,000+ last year without any problems
Answer
Originally posted by singlemalt:
This has to be one of the worst cards there is for getting free stays from non-hotel spending.
??? IIRC, you get 1 pt/$ for all purchases, including hotel stays. I think all the other hotel cards are the same.
The mileage cards give 1 mi/$, and an airline mile is probably worth more than a hotel point, but I'm not sure why the Marriott card is such a bad deal, compared with other hotel cards.
I don't have one, and after the VISA promo I switched back to my DC card, but only because of the BA miles deal.
Answer
Originally posted by BigLar:
??? IIRC, you get 1 pt/$ for all purchases, including hotel stays. I think all the other hotel cards are the same.
Have you compared redemption rates?
Answer
Originally posted by BigLar:
??? IIRC, you get 1 pt/$ for all purchases, including hotel stays. I think all the other hotel cards are the same.
The mileage cards give 1 mi/$, and an airline mile is probably worth more than a hotel point, but I'm not sure why the Marriott card is such a bad deal, compared with other hotel cards.
I don't have one, and after the VISA promo I switched back to my DC card, but only because of the BA miles deal.
You get 3 points/dollar for Marriott purchases. This includes any purchases billed by Marriott, not just hotel stays. (I've scored lots of credit-card bonus points from meetings and food/bev at Marriotts.) The card is great for this purpose: it's a nice kicker on top of the usual earnings associated with Marriott purchases. For this reason, I will probably always have the MR Visa.
singlemalt's point is that if you don't do Marriott spending, it's a poor return at 1 pt/$. I tend to agree, as 1 MR Point is (for my uses) worth less than 1 FF mile, 1 SPG point, 3 HH points, or even 1 percent cashback. (On a major reward like the 087 Travel Package, I value MR points at around a penny, but I don't value them that high when comparing to an option that puts cash in my hand right now.)
The only card worse than the MR Visa for everyday spending is the HH Visa. Fortunately for HH fans, there is an Amex which returns 3 pts/$ on all spending and 5 pts./$ at the hotels.
Answer
Originally posted by pinniped:
The only card worse than the MR Visa for everyday spending is the HH Visa.
I agree, but only if you're using Marriott points for (1) a travel package, like you mentioned above, or (2) a vacation club award (locations are very limited). Here's why:
A top-end 6-night Hilton award (GLONP2) is 175,000 HHonors points, which is $87,500 worth of spending on a Hilton Visa. Depending on how you equate a top-end Hilton with a comparable Marriott, the 6-night awards for Marriott are:
Cat. 5: 105,000 MR points
Cat. 6: 120,000 MR points
Cat. 7: 140,000 MR points
which equate to $105,000, $120,000, and $140,000 worth of spend on the Marriott Visa. If you're only interested in hotel awards, the Hilton Visa still blows the doors off the Marriott card.
Now if you collect Amex MR points, forget the Marriott vacation packages entirely - discussed here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum69/HTML/001694.html
Answer
But lets take the 140K reward and if you have your own payment processing machine and get charged 1.15% = 140,000 X $0.0115 = $1610 for 7 Nights at an average off $230 a night. Which isnt so bad ??
Originally posted by singlemalt:
I agree, but only if you're using Marriott points for (1) a travel package, like you mentioned above, or (2) a vacation club award (locations are very limited). Here's why:
A top-end 6-night Hilton award (GLONP2) is 175,000 HHonors points, which is $87,500 worth of spending on a Hilton Visa. Depending on how you equate a top-end Hilton with a comparable Marriott, the 6-night awards for Marriott are:
Cat. 5: 105,000 MR points
Cat. 6: 120,000 MR points
Cat. 7: 140,000 MR points
which equate to $105,000, $120,000, and $140,000 worth of spend on the Marriott Visa. If you're only interested in hotel awards, the Hilton Visa still blows the doors off the Marriott card.
Now if you collect Amex MR points, forget the Marriott vacation packages entirely - discussed here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum69/HTML/001694.html
Answer
Originally posted by swaghmar:
But lets take the 140K reward and if you have your own payment processing machine and get charged 1.15% = 140,000 X $0.0115 = $1610 for 7 Nights at an average off $230 a night. Which isnt so bad ??
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/confused.gif
Why would I pay $230/nt. up front for a "free" hotel award? If there is ever a place and time where a city has no hotel rooms available for significantly less than that, you won't be able to redeem that award.
I figure an award-night on the big travel packages is worth about $150/nt. - tops. That's assuming you are using it somewhere where Priceline isn't much help and there aren't many other hotels from which to choose. (Kauai is a decent example, although there may be better ones.)
Answer
Originally posted by singlemalt:
A top-end 6-night Hilton award (GLONP2) is 175,000 HHonors points, which is $87,500 worth of spending on a Hilton Visa.
I see they've upped the earnings to 2 pts/$ on the HH Visa. Back in the 100k ALON/GLON days, you only got 1 pt/$ from the Visa. I was still assuming you only got 1 pt/$.