Once in a while we see hotel loyalty programs offer bonuses to new members. At the moment Marriott Bonvoy, which is the world’s largest hotel loyalty program, has such an offer.
In this post:
Marriott Bonvoy’s refer-a-friend promotion
At the moment Marriott Bonvoy has a promotion for new members, but only if they’re referred by existing members:
- If you’re referred to Marriott Bonvoy by an existing member, you’ll receive 2,000 bonus points per stay in the first year, for up to the first five stays; that’s a maximum of 10,000 bonus points
- For the existing Marriott Bonvoy member doing the referring, you’ll receive 2,000 bonus points for each stay the new member makes, for up to the first five stays; you can earn bonuses for referring up to five friends, for a total of up to 50,000 Bonvoy bonus points through this offer
In order to take advantage of this, the member doing the referring needs to send an invitation via this link, which requires putting the email address of the person you want to refer, plus your name, email address, and Bonvoy number (so you can be rewarded).
There’s no published end date for this promotion, so it could be pulled at any time.
Is this Bonvoy promotion worth it?
If you’re going to join Marriott’s loyalty program, then obviously some promotion is better than no promotion, and this is the only offer I know of.
For some context on how worthwhile this is, I value Bonvoy points at 0.7 cents each. In other words, this promotion offers ~$14 of value (how much I consider 2,000 points to be worth) per stay, both for the person referring and the person being referred.
That’s pretty decent, especially if you’re making shorter stays at less expensive properties. This is also in addition to all the other points earning opportunities through the Bonvoy program.
If you want to further jumpstart your points earning, don’t forget about these credit cards:
Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card
Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card
Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card
Marriott Bonvoy Business™ American Express® Card
Bottom line
New Marriott Bonvoy members can earn 2,000 bonus points for each of their first five stays if they’re referred by an existing member (and the members referring receive the same). It’s always nice to get an additional bonus for joining a loyalty program, so hopefully some non-Bonvoy members can benefit from this.
The ad for this promotion also stated that the "friend" would receive up to three free night certs depending upon which card was selected. Would you discuss this?
@Iamhere - I've been in the miles game since before Lucky was born I think, and as much as I know, I still read his blog daily and value the information. Sure, there's always another card, or another promotion, but I find his blog highly informative and useful, and he always seems to disclose any affiliations so what more do you want for "transparency"? I think his point valuations are an excellent gauge for the...
@Iamhere - I've been in the miles game since before Lucky was born I think, and as much as I know, I still read his blog daily and value the information. Sure, there's always another card, or another promotion, but I find his blog highly informative and useful, and he always seems to disclose any affiliations so what more do you want for "transparency"? I think his point valuations are an excellent gauge for the average traveler because although a higher value for a particular redemption is always possible, most travelers don't have the flexibility or time to take advantage of the most valuable possible redemption. This post, in particular, is not self-promoting at all since it does not generate points for him, but refers the reader to a link to refer others and generate referral points for them.
@Lucky you have always been very transparent with everything, but one thing I have wondered is how many bonus/referral points you earn across various platforms with your links. I'm sure you max out most of them since you have the viewership numbers to easily hit those. I suppose it's not really anyone's business but would be interesting to see (and this applies to any travel blogger, not just you).
Using this particular blog as...
@Lucky you have always been very transparent with everything, but one thing I have wondered is how many bonus/referral points you earn across various platforms with your links. I'm sure you max out most of them since you have the viewership numbers to easily hit those. I suppose it's not really anyone's business but would be interesting to see (and this applies to any travel blogger, not just you).
Using this particular blog as an example, where you post the referral link - do you anticipate netting 50k points out of this?
Lucky being transparent? I don't agree. This blog used to be full of great offers and great information regarding points and miles and reviews. Now it contains a lot of travel news that is not related at all such as some discrimination event, etc. It is further full of hypocritical comments and suggestions. On one hand promoting an airline/hotel offer and then on the next hand saying how inflexible those points are compared to credit...
Lucky being transparent? I don't agree. This blog used to be full of great offers and great information regarding points and miles and reviews. Now it contains a lot of travel news that is not related at all such as some discrimination event, etc. It is further full of hypocritical comments and suggestions. On one hand promoting an airline/hotel offer and then on the next hand saying how inflexible those points are compared to credit card points. Keep in mind that he does this for a living (travel, reviews, etc), so he will not spread himself thin, but his strategy for collecting hotel/airline and credit card points is not consistent with most people. His value of the points are based on a calculation and not redemption. It is also biased for those providers that are paying him, he will promote. There are other great cards that I never see here.
Giving new meaning to "You've been Bonvoyed!"