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How to accrue 60 nights annually via Marriott credit cards only
(Warning: I must admit first that this is a clickbait, as although practically possible very few people qualify for all the credit cards required 😉)
Marriott issues co-branded credit cards in many markets including the US and UK, and one major perk of them is elite night credits which is awarded annually to accelerate your membership tier upgrade process. Usually such credits are not stackable across multiple cards, but there are rare combinations that work.
Up until recently, the maximum annual credits you can possibly accrue was 30 nights, by holding:
- A Marriott personal card (15 nights), e.g. Amex UK, Amex US or Chase US, and
- An Amex US Marriott business card (15 nights)
You can only stack one personal card with one business card, otherwise having two personal cards (e.g. Amex US & UK) only yields 15 night credits.
There was an Amex SPG card in Japan which offered another stackable 5 nights, but that card has been re-branded to give 15 nights instead which no longer works.
There has been a very recent development though. Citic Bank just started issuing the first Marriott co-branded credit cards in China this week. It comes with three versions that offer 5, 10 and 15 elite night credits respectively.
Terms say that you can only apply for one of the three cards, and the night credits don’t stack with credit cards issued by other banks. However in reality it works slightly differently: people have reported to be able to submit three applications, and whilst they are all pending, all night credits have already hit the Marriott account – and that’s on top of what’s offered by other banks.
Sorry that I don’t have a screenshot in English, but this is from someone who’s just applied for all three cards and he’s already had the US Marriott Amex card. The four cards have deposited a total of 45 nights into his account.
This could well be an error (especially as those credit applications aren’t even approved yet) and will possibly be fixed soon. But in theory, at the moment you can harvest 60 night credits for this year which gives you Platinum status straightaway, if you are eligible for credit applications in both US and China of course.
My review of JW Marriott Marquis, Miami
First time in Miami, my plan was to stay a couple of nights in downtown and then one day at the South Beach. Unfortunately there happens to be a tropical storm during my visit, so the South Beach plan was cancelled.
Miami appears to be a good place to burn Marriott points, as there are a bunch of options in downtown between 20,000 and 40,000 points – in fact the Courtyard Coconut Grove costs only 18,000 points a night. After some research I went for the JW Marriott Marquis hotel, which is 40,000 points or $400.
It’s not to be confused with the other JW Marriott nearby, which from what I’ve gathered is an inferior property.
Interestingly, there’s another Marriott inside this hotel. Hotel Beaux Arts from the Autograph Collection occupies floor 38-40 and shares the facilities with the JW Marriott. I don’t assume their guests can access the club lounge though, so you are better off booking the JW Marriott if you have Platinum status or above.
The front desk is very generous to offer me an upgrade to the Executive Suite. Sadly I need a twin bed room, so he arranges us a Bay View Room on the high floor instead.
The room is located on the 35th floor and measures around 500-600 sqft.
The bathroom has both a shower and a bath tub.
Bay view:
And views from other spots in the hotel:
Elite breakfast is served on the second floor at the 345 Restaurant:
Many hotels in the US offer very limited free breakfast to elite members, and there’s Hilton who’s eliminated the benefit and only offers some credit instead. This JW Marriott is not fooling around though – it’s pretty much what you’d expect from a full English breakfast buffet.
Breakfast is served until 11am, and then the club lounge on the 36th floor opens.
Snacks and soft drinks are available throughout the day. Happy hour is hosted between 5.30pm and 7.30pm, with a few canapes both hot and cold.
Alcohols are not free.
Desserts are served between 7.30pm and 10pm.
The hotel has a very impressive sports centre, including a basketball court, ping pong tables and a bowling alley.
The gym is fairly big too.
There’s a rooftop swimming pool on the 19th floor.
A hot tub is also available.
Overall I’m very satisfied with this stay – hotels in the US are usually under par but this JW Marriott didn’t let me down. The room is spacious and functional, the breakfast and club lounge offerings are decent, and the swimming pool is stunning. My only complaint is the $25 destination fee, but I guess I should just get used to this con which is imposed by so many American hotels.
Accor extending status again in China… Should you take a punt?
Accor has just published a fast track offer in China, and more importantly, the announcement to extend status expiry again.
All Accor members whose account address is in Greater China (mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan) will have their elite status expiry extended to December 31, 2023. The change will be reflected in July.
Compared to Europe and the Americas, Covid restrictions are still relatively uptight in most Asian countries and they are not ready to welcome international tourists yet. China is obviously the worst – this year it has been unthinkable for many to even travel outside the city they live in, as the circumstances can become extremely complicated once your origin or destination has a single Covid case.
As a consequence, it’s impossible for most Chinese members to retain their status this year. Questions have been raised whether the hotel chains will extend status again this year, although most people weren’t optimistic, Accor has come to surprise us.
The question is, will others follow suit? Given their track records in the last two years I don’t think it’s that unlikely, especially for Hilton who made a few very fast moves.
I have changed my Marriott’s address back to one in China just in case, and might do with the other programs too. Beware that the current IHG fast track promotion isn’t open to residents of Greater China, so if you’re signed up don’t mess up.
Buy cheap points via IHG’s Points & Cash sale
IHG has brought back its Points & Cash sale, and if you’ve been thinking about topping up your IHG account, you are looking at the right place.
You can read more about the offer here.
- Book by June 24
- Stay by August 26
- Save 20% on the cash portion when making a Points & Cash booking
I saw a mention of my Diamond status when making a dummy booking, although from the terms and conditions the promotion doesn’t appear targeted.
Unlike the similar feature that other hotel groups offer (e.g. Marriott and Hilton), IHG’s Points & Cash works very differently. When making such bookings you are basically just paying cash on the spot to buy the points you need, therefore it’s a pure reward booking by nature and you don’t earn any points for the cash portion.
That said, the offer may bring along a good opportunity to bag some cheap IHG points. The Two InterContinental Alliance hotels at Macau – The Londoner and The Venetian – for example, are “selling” points for as low as 0.5c.
If you cancel a Cash & Points booking, the cash portion won’t be refunded, however the full amount of points are deposited back to your account. Note that however, such bookings may be non-refundable on certain dates, so read carefully before proceeding.
0.5c (or $5 per 1,000 points) is as low as IHG goes when selling points via public promotions. Cash & Points can actually go even lower at times – in fact some hotels in China were doing 0.48c but it only survived a couple of hours. If you are dedicated enough, you can play around a bit and see if you can spot any better deals.
Hyatt PRIDE discount code: 20% off and other perks
To celebrate the Pride month, Hyatt has launched a special promo code for hotel stays.
You can check more details on the offer page here. Use promo code PRIDE when you make a booking to enjoy up to 20% off the standard rate.
The terms don’t say much except that you can cancel up to 72 hours before the check-in date. It’s unclear how long the offer lasts, however it appears to be valid globally.
Besides the rate discount, some hotels may also offer additional perks.
At Andaz London Liverpool Street, the Pride package includes free breakfast and $50 credit, which is a bargain given that it’s also the cheapest rate.
IHG 8,500 points targeted bonus for app bookings
IHG has a new targeted offer to encourage members to use its new One Rewards app.
You can check if you are eligible here. I suspect that it’s only for non- or light users of the app, so if you’ve made recent app bookings like me you are unlikely to qualify.
If you do, the offer terms are as follows:
- Book via the IHG app and stay by August 16
- Earn 2,000 bonus points on your first stay
- Earn 6,000 bonus points on your second stay
The offer actually has a slightly different variant, of which the sign-up page is here. It offers an additional 500 bonus points for downloading and signing in on the app, which presumably is only intended for those who’ve never had the IHG app previously.
Note that only paid stays count. Remember that IHG is also running a quadruple points offer this quarter on which you can double dip.
IHG One Rewards now live with breakfast benefit and milestone rewards
Back in June IHG announced the details of its new One Rewards program and it’s coming soon in “early June”. They didn’t further clarify the starting date, but it looks like the new program is already rolling out.
The biggest concern of many is the free breakfast for Diamond Elites. From the discussions on Flyertalk it’s pretty clear that most, if not all IHG hotels have opted to offer it as a welcome amenity since either June 1st or June 8th. If any hotel is still playing the game and refusing to offer it, I suggest you file a complaint.
On the other hand, you can now check and select the Milestone Rewards.
Provided that you’ve stayed at least 20 nights this year, you can choose your first reward between bonus points, F&B voucher and the suite upgrade voucher.
From what we’ve gathered so far, you have three months to choose it after qualification, and then the F&B voucher or suite upgrade voucher are valid for 365 days. Note that the F&B voucher isn’t redeemable yet, and the suite upgrade voucher is quite restricted, as it can’t be applied to reward or prepaid bookings.
If you’ve hit 40 nights this year already, you’ll soon be able to select the annual lounge membership, which entitles you to lounge access at all IHG brands including Regent and InterContinental hotels.
Marriott selling points with a mystery bonus
Marriott is having another bonus offer if you are interested in buying some points.
You need to check your targeted offer here. The promotion ends July 15th, and you’ll earn a mystery bonus when buying at least 2,000 points.
From what I’ve gathered so far there are three possible offers:
- 35% bonus (26% discount), the effective price is $92.6 / £72.4 per 10K points
- 45% bonus (31% discount), the effective price is $86.2 / £69.1 per 10K points
- 55% bonus (35% discount), the effective price is $80.6 / £64.6 per 10K points
60% bonus is as far as Marriott has ever gone to, so it’s worth considering if you are targeted for the 55% bonus.