THIS DEAL IS NOW DEAD
FROM MARCH 8th 2007, MARRIOTT RAISED THE PRICE PER POINT TO 1.25c AND LIMITED PURCHASES TO 50,000 PER YEAR.
ON MARCH 13th 2007, MARRIOTT ABRUPTLY DISCONTINUED THE TRANSFER OF MARRIOTT POINTS TO TESCO!
For historical purposes, I am leaving the original thread below:
Great spot,
5EF. From the Marriott forum:
TORONTO and WASHINGTON, Dec. 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Members of Marriott Rewards(R), Marriott International, Inc.'s (NYSE:MAR) award-winning loyalty program, who need those few extra points to go on their dream vacation, can now purchase Marriott Rewards points online through a new partnership with Points International, Ltd. (TSX: PTS; OTCBB:PTSEF). This new service uses Points International's e-Commerce Buy and Gift web-based platform to simplify the process. At a cost of $10 per 1,000 points, members can purchase points as a gift for other members or supplement those they have already earned ensuring they get their choice of over 250 awards. For more information or to purchase points, members can visit http://points.marriott.com. "We are very pleased to be able to help Marriott Rewards members reach their reward goals faster," said Rob MacLean, CEO of Points International. "It is a pleasure to be working with one of the largest hotel reward programs in the world." "We are always looking for new ways to bring value and convenience to our members and this partnership with Points.com makes it easier for them to get those last few points needed for their free vacation or whatever award they desire," said Ed French, Marriott Rewards senior vice president of customer relationship marketing. Marriott Rewards membership is free, and allows members to earn points or airline miles for every dollar they spend at nine Marriott International lodging brands. Points can be redeemed for free hotel stays, merchandise, rental cars, cruises, adventure travel tours, theme park tickets and more. For information about Marriott Rewards or to enroll, call (800) 249-0800, visit the front desk of participating hotels, or log onto marriottrewards.com.
Marriott does seem to have created a way of getting unlimited miles for very little money indeed. The website will accept UK orders despite implying that it won't - the only issue is entering a telephone number, which needs to be 10 digits long. There is a 99k limit per transaction, but there appears to be no limit on the number of transactions you are allowed. This is good news, as you need to convert 125k to get the full benefit of this deal.
125k MR will cost you $1,250 (£663 at $1.94 inc the 2.75% hidden credit card surcharge). This will convert to 35k Tesco clubcard points. 35,000 CC = 84,000 BA Miles or 112,000 if you convert at the higher rate (only available to some long-time members, as explained in Post 1 of the Tesco thread).
The cost per mile is therefore 0.79p, or 0.59p if you have the higher Tesco rate!
The only snag seems to be that you need to convert the full 125,000 MR points to get the best Tesco rate. For anyone wanting to order smaller amounts, the cost would be:
10,000 MR costs $100 (£53) = 1,500 Tesco = 3,600 / 4,800 BA = 1.47p / 1.10p per mile
20,000 MR costs $200 (£106) = 3,500 Tesco = 8,400 / 11,200 BA = 1.26p / 0.95p per mile
30,000 MR costs $300 (£159) = 7,000 Tesco = 16,800 / 22,400 BA = 0.95p / 0.71p per mile
70,000 MR costs $700 (£371) = 17,500 Tesco = 42,000 / 56,000 BA = 0.88p / 0.66p per mile
125,000 MR costs $1,250 (£663) = 35,000 Tesco = 84,000 / 112,000 BA = 0.79p / 0.59p per mile
Your Marriott points should post to your Marriott account within 24 hours of making the purchase. You can then do the transfer to Tesco online using the link below. Note that, whilst your Marriott balance will reduce immediately, Marriott only appear to transfer points to Tesco on fixed dates every few weeks. From experience so far, your transfer from Marriott could take between 1 and 3 weeks to hit your Tesco account, depending on when in the cycle you do the transfer. They will show up on your online Tesco balance when they have arrived.
Remember that Tesco only releases your CC points four times per year. The official cut-off point is usually in the last week of January, April, July and October. If you have automatic transfer to BA Miles set up, you will get your miles towards the end of the following month. If you receive paper vouchers and convert them online yourself, your vouchers will take 2-4 weeks to arrive depending on where you are in Tesco's mailing cycle. Note that Tesco will send your vouchers by Recorded Delivery, requiring a signature, if the total is over £200. Note also that your BAEC account MUST be based in the UK or the transfer will be rejected - Euro-Gold's need not apply!
If you do not already have a Marriott Rewards account, you can join here:
https://marriott.com/rewards/createA...ccountPage1.mi The transfer to Tesco points can be done online here:
https://marriott.com/rewards/moreRew...00&elite=false
PLEASE remember that Marriott could pull or restrict this offer at any time, either by limiting the number of points you can purchase, by limiting the % of a reward that can be made up of purchased points (this rule was in place until recently) or by suspending its relationship (or varying the exchange rate) with Tesco. Marriott has already reduced the earnings rate when you take Tesco points for stays, for example, so this is not without precedent. Tesco could also change the exchange rate into BA Miles in the 2-3 month period between you ordering your MR points and Tesco transferring them to BA, or even totally scrap BA transfers, which would leave you having spent £650+ just to get £350 of Tesco money-off vouchers. Do NOT spend money on Marriott points if you are not willing to take the risk that you may be stuck with points that you cannot transfer out of Marriott, forcing you to redeem them for Marriott stays at rates that will represent poor value in most circumstances, or out of Tesco.
What a VERY interesting way to start 2007!