Is there any way other than getting (groan) another credit card to maximize points I'll earn from spending over $1000 at the Denver Marriott Tech Center in August? I'm already a Rewards member...I don't think Marriott has any special partnership with Amex, do they?

Failing all this, anyone know if there's an annual fee on the Marriott credit card? I guess I could get it, although I already have five or so hotel/airline loyalty cards...it's a full time job just keeping up with the due dates on all of them....

you could do a few things

1. I am assuming you are not an elite member, you could register for the instant silver status and get 20% bonus on the base points

2. Apply for the Marriott premier visa card (the black one, not the silver visa card) to get 20K bonus points, a cat 1-4 free night cert, 2 for 1 golf cert, 15 nights credit towards elite status and 5 points per $ spent at Marriotts, 2 per $ on air/dine/car and 1 point per $ on rest of the charges. The card has a $65 annual fee but the free night cert itself is worth it.

3. Check this forum for Marriott promotions around August

4. Check if you have any stays that can net you bonus bucks and you could use them to cut down your room rate but still earn points. Geico previleges sold them in the past and may do it again. read the BB T&C if you plan on using them.

5. If any of your stays are weekend stays see if any MEB rate applies.

6. Check the publicly available Marriott codes thread and use the Marriott best rate guarantee if you find any better rate using the codes or on other websites

7.check AAA rates as they vary a lot and few nights on AAA rate could be worth the AAA fee.

You should look at the thread here on a possible 75,000 points bonus for getting the Premier card. It is a targeted offer, and I think it would be worth the effort if you can get it.

thats (getting another CC) a lot of effort for a measley 5000 extra points

The base Marriott Signature Visa and the Marriott Business Visa both come with the same bonus points, free night cert and also have the 1st year free (i.e. no annual fee for the first year and $30 thereafter.) Note that both of these cards only receive 3 pts/$ spent at a Marriott and don't come with a free night cert on future years.

Also, depending on how many stays/nights you will have, you should also sign up for the currently Megabonus promo. You might be able to snag some decent bonus points from that as well.

Timing can be a little tricky -
but last year Marriott offered a $1000.00 gift certificate for $900. It worked out that it was right around the time we were taking a vacation at a pricey FS - so we bought (2). We still got points and night credit; but were $200 to the good before we ever checked in!

I will be watching for that offer again this year -


(I said timing is tricky as you don't want to do it if you charge it and are going to carry finance charges or have to pay for it so far in advance that your cash is tied up for months.........)

Thanks folks, great ideas, all (which I knew I could rely upon, since Flyertalkers are the best!)

I'll look into your suggestions in depth tomorrow...(watching the Lady Vols defend the Division 1 Championship at the moment!)

You're forgetting the 20K you get for getting the card in the first place....

I'd like to point out that the premier visa card's free cert is cat 1-4 for the first year only. You get a cat 1-5 cert every year thereafter. I just used my cert for a cat 5 hotel room ($309 value), which I got for spending only $65 on an annual fee...

I'll second hsh101's post. The Cat. 1-5 cert one receives on an annual basis (after the first year of course) shouldn't be glossed over. I have a nice little trip to the Caymans set up later this month, but to get there early the day we want to arrive (and still use FF miles), we had to fly to MIA the night before and stay one night there. I really hate using points for one night stays. Its just not a good use of points. But it is a great use of that cert. Getting a cert that is usuable up to a Cat. 5 allowed us to stay with no points usage or paying cash at the MIA FS Marriott. That should be a little nicer than trying to find a cheap Marriott or other local hotel room for the night. ^

So don't discount the benefit of that annual e-cert from the Premier card. It can be very handy.

Hey folks, finally followed up on this and found the following link for the Marriott Rewards card....this offer is 25K points, as opposed to the usual 15. (I tried VA1379's excellent link but the offer is targeted and there were no unused codes floating around that I could find.)

http://www.firstusa.com/cgi-bin/webc...cont&mkid=63V3

I applied online and apparently they will mail me a yea or nay (which probably means I'm a yay, so they can send me the card plus a boodle of related marketing paperwork....)