How to get 75000 Marriott points in a few months?
 

Good morning, I currently have a booking for the Frenchman's reef Marriott on St Thomas and I'm trying to figure out how to get the remaining points I need by October. Between SPG and Marriott I am 75000 points short for a 6 night stay. I have the Amex SPG card and would sign up for the 80000 points Marriott but I think I'll get hit for 5/24. I have already had the Amex gold, and platinum so I'm wonder what my options are to get a signup bonus for Marriott.

Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions?
Thanks

Do Business cards apply to the 5/24 rule? If not, you might try getting the Marriott Business card. And do you also already have the SPG Business Amex card? If not, that also might be a possibility.

Do you have a spouse or significant other or anyone else living with you? They might be able to get any of the cards. If they have the same address as you, then you can pretty much freely transfer balances between accounts.

LoganS, are you willing to purchase the points @ USD $0.02275 per SPG point / 3-Marriott points (total USD $568.75)

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/star...ne-2017-a.html

Not sure how many months is "a few months" but, if long enough, if you paid all your living expenses with the SPG Amex would you not be able to earn 25,000 Starpoints which would convert to 75,000 Marriott points?

That's not a bad price at all for six nights at this hotel, although I realize that is will also exhaust all of the OP's points.

OP can minimize the number of points that must be purchased (BTW, is there an annual limit that would apply?) by trying to use current Marriott/SPG promos and using credit cards that generate points that can be used.

I believe business cards do not. Only issue is I tried for the Marriott business card and my idea of selling a few hundred dollars of stuff on ebay didn't meet their spend requirements for a business and I was declined. I would have my spouse apply but she is under 21 and I believe she can't count my income as her own and gets declined occasionally for lower income. I might still try that though.

I was actually debating on doing this (by the way I need the points by end of october for anyone curious). I was thinking about signing up for the Barclay Arrival + and using it to buy the points although I am not sure if buying points would count as travel so I could use the 50000 point bonus redemtion.

How about a friend or relative gets the Marriott credit card, meets the minimum spend so that the points are there, and then use Point Sharing to get enough points into your account for the award?

"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."

http://www.marriott.com/marriott-rew.../buy-donate.mi

There would be a $10 fee (unless a Gold or Plat elite).

That would be one he!! of a friend.

The AMEX SPG Business is pretty easy to get. I would go that route personally.

Is the Chase Ink business card under 5/24? I've seen DPs of people getting approved for that when their "business" is just a few hundred or thousand dollars of reselling on eBay.

Not a bad idea & the OP wouldn't have to transfer until closer to stay, so time to reduce the amount to buy by any stays/spend btwn now & then.

Cheers.

Easiest would probably be buy SPG points since its 35% off right now so 30k for $682.50. 30k*3 = 90k Marriott points. So 341.25 per night for Category 9.

But thats probably not worth it for you since that hotel is a Category 9 and looking at the price, its 220 per night.

The Category 9 I usually book is 400-500 a night so its worth it for me to buy points but I'm not sure in your case.

If you're only short a little bit to get the 4th night, you can buy the points to get 4 nights and get the 5th night free and pay for the 6th night with cash. The price is 30-40 dollars more than normal rate doing mix of cash and point but that option might be better if you're short a few points.

Lots of good options above. If going for another card and doing it completely free isn't feasible, I'd spend $10,000 on the existing SPG card yielding 30,000 MR completing the 5 night deal and paying $220 for night 6.

Also if the entire 6 days is available at $220 and future travel is in your medium range plans (before too many devaluations), I'd pay cash and save the points for another more expensive property. Cat 9 is tops anywhere in the world! (just not RC's).

Or a travel package.

Another option is if the property offers Points & Cash, that's could be a good deal. Search for your dates with "Use Reward Points" checked, then see if you get a Cash Points option.

http://www.marriott.com/marriott-rew...-and-points.mi