Marriott Hotels & Resorts (Marriott Bonvoy)

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Recap of Miles and Points Temporary Extensions

ByMatt

Due to the current coronavirus pandemic, airline and hotel loyalty programs have paused/extended expiry policies to their miles and points. Today’s post is a current snapshot of the state of these programs. 

Please note that we ongoingly update our COVID-19 updates page as well for most up-to-date information. 

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Positive Videos from Airlines and Hotels!

ByMatt

Keep in mind that we a frequently updated COVID-19 page. 

With so much negativity surrounding the news, I would like to share some positive airline and hotel company YouTube videos. We posted a list a few weeks ago, so you can see the previous videos on that list. Today’s list are more recent videos since then.

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Hotel Elite Status and Points Expiry Extensions

ByMatt

IHG is the latest hotel chain to extend its elite statuses and expiry policy, which rounds out the majority of the major hotel chains. Note that we also have an ongoingly updated page found on our menu bar.

Below is a current recap of the elite status and points expiry extensions offer by some of the major hotel chains.

Best Western

A Marriott Hotel Retrofitted into a Hospital Ward

ByMatt

I continued to closely follow hotels being put to use during the COVID-19 pandemic. There are many stories about hotels being “major victims” due to the pandemic. There are reports about the Canadian hotel industry laying off 80% (approximately 250,000 employees). The idea is that some of these jobs can be saved.

I do not believe that the government should be forcing a hotel to help out with the pandemic, but if they voluntarily do so, why not? My thought is that if a hotel is willing to re-purpose (make all necessary safety adjustments) its venue temporarily, the benefits are endless (including saving jobs, alleviating the hospitals, etc.).

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Loyalty Program COVID-19 Updates

ByMatt

Loyalty programs across the board have implemented temporary solutions to deal with any COVID-19 related matters. Below is a list of hyperlinks to useful information. I also included a small blurb for each company that may be more commonly relevant.

I tried to include companies more relevant to Canadians, but please let us know in the comment section below if you see any other links that we can add to the list (in alphabetical order).

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Transfer Bonuses This Month (June 2019)

ByMatt

There are two transfer bonuses in Canada that are ending this month to look out for.35% AeroplanThe first one is Air Canada’s 35% Aeroplan transfer bonus when you convert Marriott Bonvoy points to Aeroplan miles with an added bonus. Below is the earning potential, depending on whether you take advantage of the additional 5,000 transfer bonus. This offer ends on June 26, 2019.

Marriott Bonvoy’s First Ever Promotion: Double Take

ByMatt

Marriott Bonvoy is offerings its first ever significant promotion since it re-branded itself, called “Double Take”. Marriott has 30 brands reaching 130 countries with over 6,900 hotels. In Canada, there are currently 230 hotels.

Promotion Details
The details of the offer are as follows:

Register by May 21, 2019.
Stay between March 19, 2019, and June 4, 2019. Note that a “stay” is defined as consecutive nights spent at the same hotel, regardless of check-in/check-out activity.
Earn 2x the points starting with the second stay.

Rundown of Marriott Bonvoy for Canadians (updated February 27, 2019)

ByMatt

Best Western and Marriott Bonvoy are the only two hotel chains that have a co-branded credit card in Canada (unless you count Hilton as an AMEX transfer partner). Not coincidentally, along with Marriott is another one of my favourite hotel chains. Marriott has gone through many changes in the past few years, namely buying out The Ritz-Carlton and Starwood Preferred Guest. You may still see the names of these two brands still floating around, but they are mostly merged under Marriott now.

Let’s give a rundown of what are the most relevant highlights of Bonvoy for Canadians.

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Earn 35% more Aeroplan Miles with Marriott Conversion

ByMatt

Aeroplan is offering a 35% conversion in bonus miles, along with another 5,000 bonus miles (up to) offer (for every 60,000 points exchanged) when converting Marriott, SPG or Ritz-Carlton loyalty points into Aeroplan miles. The offer is valid between September 13, 2018 and September 17, 2018. 

Below are some samples of mile earning potential:

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Comparing Canadian and U.S. SPG American Express (updated August 29, 2018)

ByMatt

There have been quite a few changes since my last post Comparing Canadian and U.S. SPG American Express; namely the merger between Marriott Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest. As a result, this post is definitely due for a major update.

One major change is that 1 Starpoint (in my previous post) is now worth 3 Marriott points. So we need to factor in this correlation if comparing to the old versions of the cards. However, for today’s post, I will focus on comparing the Canadian and U.S. version as they are currently, rather than worrying about the past.