This month, American Express cardholders can get 50% bonus points when transferring Australian Amex Membership Rewards points to Marriott Bonvoy.

If you’d like to use your Amex Membership Rewards points to book hotel nights with Marriott, this promo will of course help with that. But it’s also a lucrative way to convert your Amex points to frequent flyer points with over 30 different airlines. And at quite good rates!

When American Express and Marriott Bonvoy first ran a similar promotion in September 2022, it proved to be extremely popular. The two loyalty programs then brought the promotion back in May 2023. It’s now running for a third time, throughout August 2023. You’ll receive 50% bonus Marriott Bonvoy points when you transfer points from Amex Membership Rewards between 1 and 31 August 2023.

See the American Express website for the full offer terms & conditions.

The ‘AFF on Air’ podcast covered the September 2022 promotion in detail. Most of the details are still the same, except that transfers from Marriott Bonvoy to some airlines no longer attract the 25% bonus. Also, the conversion rate from Marriott to United MileagePlus has changed. But the basic trick still works!

Converting Marriott Bonvoy points to airlines

In Australia, Amex Membership Rewards points can be transferred to 9-11 frequent flyer programs (depending on your card type) and two hotel loyalty programs – Marriott Bonvoy and Hilton Honors.

That’s already a large number of airlines that you can transfer points to. But you can transfer Marriott Bonvoy points to even more frequent flyer programs – around 38 in total. This includes many useful programs that don’t allow direct transfers from Amex Membership Rewards, such as United MileagePlus, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan or Korean Air Skypass.

The transfer rate from Marriott Bonvoy to most airlines is 3:1. In addition, for every 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points you transfer to most airlines, you’ll get 25% bonus airline points or miles (i.e. you’ll receive 25,000 airline points or miles). There are a few exceptions, as shown below.

Here’s a full list of frequent flyer programs that you can convert Marriott Bonvoy points into:

For more on the Marriott Bonvoy program, see our guide to buying & redeeming Marriott Bonvoy points.

Why this promotion could be lucrative for you

Normally, Amex Membership Rewards points transfer to Marriott Bonvoy at a 3:2 rate. This means that 180,000 Membership Rewards points would convert to 120,000 Bonvoy points. If you then converted those Bonvoy points to United MileagePlus (for example), you’d receive 60,000 United MileagePlus miles after bonuses.

With this promo, your Amex points convert to Marriott at a 1:1 rate. So, to get 120,000 Bonvoy points, you would only need 120,000 Amex points. Those would then convert to 50,000 points with most frequent flyer programs (after the 25% bonus). Or, you’ll receive 60,000 United miles (with the 50% bonus for every 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points transferred to United).

(Note that there’s a limit to the number of Marriott Bonvoy points you can transfer to an airline each day. So you’d need to transfer those points over multiple days.)

As an example, 55,000 United MileagePlus miles is enough to book a one-way Thai Airways Business Class flight from Melbourne to Bangkok.

In short, with this promotion you can use your Amex Membership Rewards points to access frequent flyer programs that you can’t directly transfer points into – without giving your Amex points nearly as much of a “haircut” in the process.

Transfer CommBank Awards points to Marriott for 50% bonus points

This month, Commonwealth Bank customers can also transfer CommBank Awards points to Marriott Bonvoy and receive 50% bonus points. This offer also ends on 31 August 2023 and there’s a limit of up to 300,000 bonus Marriott Bonvoy points in total for CommBank Awards members.

CommBank Awards points can be converted to Marriott Bonvoy at a 3:1 rate. With this offer, that effectively becomes a 2:1 rate.

This is the first time CommBank Awards members have been able to earn a bonus when transferring points to Marriott Bonvoy.

Other transfer bonuses available this month

Until 18 August 2023, you can also get 20% bonus Avios when transferring Amex Membership Rewards points to Qatar Airways Privilege Club.

Plus, this month you can earn a 30% bonus on Amex Membership Rewards points transfers to Hilton Honors.

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 90 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include aviation, economics & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.