Those are decent options. Also consider as #4 that if you or your husband have SPG points (or things that convert to SPG points) you can transfer those to MR at three-for-one.

The secret 5 night cat 7 packages + 120K SW points are 270K Marriott points.

I would probably do all of the above, assuming you can meet the credit card spend to get the points in the time limit. Good idea to do the package in January (not now) to get 2 years of the Southwest pass. I would do it at Cat 5, upgrade later when you know exactly what you need.

I assume you already have your own Chase Marriott so that is why you are opening one in your husband’s name. I think there is a limit on transferring points of 50,000 per year, so time is running out for this year.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve, in addition to that huge sign up bonus gives 3X points on restaurants and a more broadly defined travel category than the Chase Marriott card, so I am putting all those purchases on the Sapphire.

It is my understanding these are for MVC owners, which we are not. I know some have said if you find the right rep they will do, but more of a long shot.

Your approach seems solid, as long as you're pretty certain you'll have a one-week use (or close to it) for the hotel cert next year. Obviously the decisions about credit cards are personal, but those sign-up bonuses seem pretty good to me.

You're also correct on the 5-night TPs: they're intended for MVC owners and getting one otherwise is probably a long shot.

Thanks all for input.

1. Yes, I do already have a Chase Marriott.

2. I'm sure I could find a place to go with the redemption cert - even if for long weekend somewhere. My ultimate goal is not for the week stay, it is the CP with SW.

Looking at a straight MR to SW RR, it will cost me 310,000 MR to get 110,000 SW RR's. Makes no sense to do it that way. Lower amount of points and I get the bonus of a hotel stay. Kind of a no brainer.


Nice to have options, hard to make the ultimate decision since they will all work. I just need to stop thinking and actually do!

Thanks I assumed it was just a HUCA once or twice, not so much an option if its more than that and you have to get them to break their rules.

Except, per the Marriott website:
A limit of 50,000 points per year may be transferred into or out of a member’s account. Members who are transferring points in order to satisfy a specific award may exceed the 50,000 limit up to the amount needed to satisfy the reservation.

There is a workaround. You and your partner can move points from Marriott to your individual Starwood accounts. Starwood allows people at the same address to combine points. You can consolidate all family Marriott and Starwood points in one account should that be beneficial to you to do so.

You don't even need to do that. If you're redeeming marriott, you can combine points from multiple accounts in excess of 50k

Thanks. The good news is 50,000 is all that I would need.

But, just in case I need more: I assume the 50,000 points per year is CALENDAR year?? If that was the case, I could move 50,000 in 2016 this year and the remainder in 2017. Correct?

I know I would still need to hit the minimum spend on his Marriott Card early on (need to get to that) but I should be able to do that in the 1st month.

Are Chase UR transfers capped?

Re-reading your post more closely, I'd do the 100k Chase card and move 50k straight away. That puts you at 300k before the end of the year.

In January, I'd redeem the Cat 5 TP. Now you have 30k left in your account, so you're good to go if you want to redeem Cat 5 or 6. And you've got 50k still to come from UR if you want Cat 7 or 8. (Well, you'd need 10k more for Cat 8...but that shouldn't be too hard.)

There are actually great Cat 5's in some parts of the world. (Asia, Africa mainly.) Then there are other parts of the world with rather boring Cat 7's and 8's. All depends on where exactly you want to go...

Same boat here - more than enough transfer points between SPG, Amex, and UR to use Marriott for a hotels/flights package to get the CP, but waiting until 2017 for the full benefit. I'm tempted to do it now to play it safe though.

My concern is now that this is getting more of attention with the merger, and with the T&C being clear that non-SW bonus programs do not count toward the CP, how many FTers think SW will put lid on it counting Marriott packages toward the CP before 01/2017?

Always a concern and you would think quite logically so but WN has shown no signs of slowing down the CP issuance via CC signups and other promos. I think it stays.

My guess is that the overall utilization of a CP is much lower than its perceived value, a great perk to shoot for but for those in their peak earning and family raising years, could be lightly used.

For me - 2 flights this year, 3 flights last year, many 1 or zero trip years. The most I ever did was 4 RTs with 4 different people in 2012, my holy grail of a year under special circumstances (got divorced!)

I only held CP for two years, as a result of a January Marriott Travel Package. I utilized the hell out of it.

Granted, we're all outliers here in terms of how much attention we pay to these things. I strategized my timing, both for the redemption and selection of a period in my life (two small kids) where a bunch of long-haul international trips weren't going to happen. It was the perfect time to have a deep supply of RR1.0 credits and a CP. We hit all corners of the USA for two years. Definitely got our money's worth and then some.