Questions and Answers

Good morning. I have about 85k Marriott points expiring three months from today. I don’t have any Marriott stays planned in that timeframe. I really don’t want to lose the points and am looking for the cheapest way to create an activity to retain the points. On the Marriott website, they have a big list of exclusions. Yesterday, I linked my Instagram profile to membership rewards to earn 1500 points only to discover today that those don’t count towards keeping the account active to retain the points. Any suggestions? Thank you.

Can you earn points with any of their partners? [URL]http://www.marriott.com/marriott-rewards/terms/expiration.mi[/URL] or apply for their credit card and spend some money on it?

Gaurav, thanks for the suggestion. The only non travel partner I could potentially use is the ShopMyWay (never used it before), since I don’t have any upcoming travel (not already booked) where I could take advantage of one of their travel partners. I refi’d my home this summer and applied for the CSR and Amex EDP, so I’m reluctant to add another credit card this year.

Cant you transfer some points to SPG and back?

[QUOTE=”David W, post: 23039, member: 29″]Cant you transfer some points to SPG and back?[/QUOTE]
Unfortunately, transferring points or receiving a transfer of points is an excluded category.

Then can you transfer out ALL the points to SPG and transfer them back? Wouldnt that sort of “reset” the clock? Or just keep the points in SPG?

You can also check out rates for ALL the Marriott properties around you to see whether any of them might have a good deal for the next 3 months. It is not uncommon to find Fairfield Inn rates for around $60 or even less. Then it would only cost you that much to keep your points from expiring.

Go through the Shop My Way portal and get something cheap, like something from iTunes. One purchase would be enough to extend the life of your points.

Good suggestions from everyone.