Chase has just launched a promotion if you convert your Ultimate Rewards points into Marriott Bonvoy points.
Historically Ultimate Rewards has offered the fewest transfer bonuses of the major transferable points currencies. Fortunately that’s something that has improved in the past couple of years, as we now pretty regularly see transfer bonuses.
In this post:
Chase offering 50% bonus on Marriott Bonvoy transfers
Chase is offering a 50% bonus when you transfer Ultimate Rewards points to Marriott Bonvoy between June 1 and August 19, 2022.
The bonus isn’t hard-coded into the transfer ratio, meaning that when you transfer Ultimate Rewards points you won’t see the bonus on the transfer page. Rather the bonus will be deposited by Marriott Bonvoy once your transfer is complete.
We saw this exact promotion in late 2021, so it’s not the first time we’ve seen this.
Why this promotion (probably) isn’t worth it
A 50% transfer bonus sounds like it could be valuable, though this isn’t a deal I’d recommend taking advantage of. Why? I value Marriott Bonvoy points at ~0.7 cents each, while I value Chase Ultimate Rewards points at ~1.7 cents each. Even when you’re getting 1.5 Marriott Bonvoy points per Ultimate Rewards point, you’re still only getting ~1.05 cents of value per Ultimate Rewards point, by my valuation.
At a minimum, you can redeem Ultimate Rewards points for 1.25-1.5 cents each toward a travel purchase through the Chase Travel Portal. Personally I value World of Hyatt points at more than twice as much as Marriott Bonvoy points, yet Chase Ultimate Rewards points ordinarily transfer to both currencies at a 1:1 ratio.
Now, in fairness, there are probably situations where you could technically get value with this transfer, in terms of the hotel stay being worth more than the value of the points transfered. However, there are probably more efficient ways to acquire those points:
- Marriott Bonvoy often sells points at a discount, and acquiring them that way is a better value, in my opinion
- Marriott has co-branded credit cards that could be better options for earning Bonvoy points
Historically Marriott Bonvoy has charged anywhere from 5,000 to 100,000 Bonvoy points per night for free night redemptions, but as of March 2022 we saw award charts eliminated, as dynamic award pricing was introduced. So far the pricing changes haven’t consistently been that drastic, though as of 2023 we’re going to see more pricing variability at more properties.
Bottom line
Through August 19, 2022, you can receive a 50% bonus when you transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Marriott Bonvoy. While it’s good to see Chase offer another transfer bonus, this isn’t one to get too excited about.
Personally I don’t think this offer is worth it. Marriott Bonvoy isn’t an efficient Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer partner, and I’d argue that applies even with a 50% bonus. I’d give this offer a “pass,” but I’m sure some will find this to be worthwhile.
What’s your take on this Chase transfer bonus to Marriott?
If I need to move my Chase points out (so I can get new different chase card) This looks like a great opportunity for me.
Chase: 94k*$0.017 = $1598
Ch->Marriott: 94k*1.5=141k *$0.017 = $987
Marriott has TONS of transfer partners to still allow me many transfer options
141k/20k=7times so transferring to partners with bonus +5k= 141k to airlines->7x25k=175k airline miles
Mar->United: 175k*$0.013 = $2275
Mar->Southwest: 175k*$0.012 = $2100
...
If I need to move my Chase points out (so I can get new different chase card) This looks like a great opportunity for me.
Chase: 94k*$0.017 = $1598
Ch->Marriott: 94k*1.5=141k *$0.017 = $987
Marriott has TONS of transfer partners to still allow me many transfer options
141k/20k=7times so transferring to partners with bonus +5k= 141k to airlines->7x25k=175k airline miles
Mar->United: 175k*$0.013 = $2275
Mar->Southwest: 175k*$0.012 = $2100
This looks like great opportunity for me to set myself up for getting new Chase card for new points, transfer out to Marriott to keep multitude of transfer options, and with this 50% and using the Marriott 20k +5k bonus I will come out way ahead for economy flights.
Am I missing anything here?
I see BIG error.. lol 141k/60k!!!
Mar->United: ~59k*$0.013 = $767
Mar->SW: ~59k*$0.014 = $826
So HALF value of Chase :(
But it is still a way for me to keep Transfer Options, when trying to get new Chase signup bonuses
Please can someone share the link to this promotion? thanks
I would do this just to transfer points to a Marriott airline partner for a good first class flight.
After 1:3 split of SPG to BONVOY, even at 50% transfer it’s so NOT worth it.
I transferred 154k ultimate points during last promotion in December 2021 for 5 free nights at a Marriott that was selling for 600 euros per night. Definitely worth it for me.
Now of course the same hotel is 400k Marriot points or 256k ultimate points. No longer worth it.
The reason the transfers of UR points to BonVoy points aren't worth it has little to do with anyone's valuations of either Marriott or Chase points. You are not dealing with absolute US cents. You are dealing with cents PER Chase UR points and cents PER Marriott BonVoy points. The denominators are different (cents/UR point & cents/BonVoy point), therefore you cannot just treat "cents" as absolute US cents because that is mixing apples are oranges, like using US cents and SG cents interchangeably, which garbage !!!
Rather, the transfers are not worth it because Marriott purposely made them unfavorable to force members to spend real money on revenue stays at Marriott properties to be able to earn significant numbers of redeemable BonVoy points. A good financial model.
I can elaborate, but a model based on transferring bank points to hotel loyalty points, including to WoH points, is financially flawed...just ask Starwood which went belly-up even though the startpoint was valued 2.4cpp at the time.
BTW, a BonVoy point is "worth" exactly the same as a WoH point. You are, of course, confused but the concept is really trivial...
G'day.
WTF is this blabber? Sure not all points are not equal (like currency) but a cent is still a cent (like exhange rates).
A cent is NOT a cent in different denominations. Do you understand that?