Originally Posted by Raffles

I've just been running the numbers at the 1.25c level. Under the new structure, you could buy 50,000 Marriott points per year for 1.25c each.

If you wanted an immediate BA Miles hit, you would buy 50,000 for $625 (£324 at 1.93). This would convert into 10,500 Tesco points which would get you 25,200 BA Miles. This works out at 1.3p per mile, which is less than BA charge.

However, a more sensible approach would be to buy 50,000 points and then wait until Jan 1st of the following year to buy another 20,000. This would cost a total of $875 (£454) and would get you 42,000 miles for your 70,000 MR points. This works out at 1.08p each. This represents good value if you are using an Amex voucher, especially if your miles earning through flying is modest.

Those of you with occasional Marriott stays may prefer to buy 2 lots of 50,000 over two calendar years and top off with 25,000 from hotel stays. This lets you convert at the top rate.

Here are the summary rates - the higher numbers are for ex-Premium Clubcard customers.

10,000 MR costs $125 (£65) = 1,500 Tesco = 3,600 / 4,800 BA = 1.81p / 1.35p per mile
20,000 MR costs $250 (£130) = 3,500 Tesco = 8,400 / 11,200 BA = 1.55p / 1.16p per mile
30,000 MR costs $375 (£195) = 7,000 Tesco = 16,800 / 22,400 BA = 1.16p / 0.87p per mile
70,000 MR costs $875 (£455) = 17,500 Tesco = 42,000 / 56,000 BA = 1.08p / 0.81p per mile
125,000 MR costs $1,563 (£812) = 35,000 Tesco = 84,000 / 111,000 BA = 0.79p / 0.59p per mile

Transferring to Tesco Deals and using the points to buy stuff in Goldsmiths etc is now far less attractive. Assuming you bought 50k and transferred immediately as a 20k and 30k, you would pay £324 for 10,500 CC points which is just £420 of Deals vouchers - not worth the effort in my view. It is a slightly better deal if you buy 70k for £454 over two years - that gets you 17,500 points or £700 in vouchers.

It is also worth noting that Marriott lets husbands and wives with the same surname run separate accounts and pool their points for a redemption (this requires a telephone redemption). On this basis, a couple could purchase 100,000 points per year.