Marriott Bonvoy and Hilton Honors have launched a limited time transfer bonus offer for American Express Cardmembers in Australia. The promotion starts today and is valid until 30th September 2022.

Best I can tell, cardmembers have received no formal communication from Amex about the promotion, but when logged into your account, you will see that both Marriott & Hilton are flagged for Bonus points on the transfer page.

Earn bonus points on transfers to Hilton & Marriott

Generally speaking, transferring Amex points to hotel loyalty programs is a bad idea. You will do much better by transferring them to one of Amex’ airline partner and redeeming them for long-haul business and first class flights.

So does this bonus offer improve the equation enough to make the transfers worthwhile? Lets find out.

40% bonus points on transfers to Hilton

The standard transfer rate from Amex to Hilton Honors is 2:1 (2 Amex points = 1 Hilton points). If you take advantage of this promotion and transfer points, the rate improves to 2:1.4 (2 Amex points = 1.4 Hilton points).

Redeem Hilton points for a stay at Hilton Queenstown

I value Hilton Honors points at about 0.006 cent per point (6/10th of 1 cent) which is substantially less than my valuation of Membership Rewards Points which I value at 1 cent per point. Put another way, even with a 40% boost, a transfer of 10,000 Membership Rewards Points will yield just 7,000 Hilton points. That is like swapping $100 of points value for $42.

As always, there might be circumstances where you could do a little better, but on the whole I suggest you save your Amex points for transfers to one of its airline partners.

Transfers from Amex to Hilton start at 2,000 points and go up in increments of 2. There is no cap on the total number of points you can transfer. Transfers are instant but can take up to 1 business day.

50% bonus points on transfers to Marriott

The standard transfer rate from Amex to Marriott Bonvoy is 3:2 (3 Amex points = 2 Marriott points). If you take advantage of this promotion and transfer points, the rate improves to 3:3 (3 Amex points = 3 Marriott points).

Redeem Marriott points for a stay at St Regis Maldives

I value Membership Rewards Points at a minimum 1 cent per point, although there are ways to extract 2-3x more value out of them. On the other hand, I value Marriott Bonvoy points at 0.007 cent (7/10th of 1 cent) per point.

In other words, if you transferred 10,000 Membership Rewards Points to your Marriott Bonvoy account, you will receive a total of 10,000 Marriott points, which is like swapping a points currency worth $100 for an alternate currency worth about $70 (including the 50% bonus).

However, if you have plans to stay at one of Marriott’s highly aspirational properties such as Al Maha in Dubai or The New York Edition, which sometimes command cash prices of over US$ 2,000 per night, there is potential to come out ahead.

Transfers from Amex to Marriott start at 600 points and go up in 300 points increment. There is no cap on the total number of points you can transfer. Transfers are instant but can sometimes take up to 1 business day.

In Conclusion

Until 30th September 2022, American Express Cardmembers in Australia can transfer points to Marriott and/or Hilton and earn 40-50% bonus points.

I wouldn’t normally transfer Amex points to either of these 2 hotel programs. But given that cash prices for hotel stays have almost hit the stratosphere, there is a real possibility you might be able to find good value in making the transfer.

As always, do your numbers and only transfer points if you can find confirmed availability as once you make the transfer, it cannot be reversed.

Will you take advantage of this promo and transfer points? Leave a comment below.