Marriott Bonvoy Multiply Your Points (how it works)

The standard way by which the various hotel rewards programs sell their currency to their members is via the sales that we see appear every couple of months (or, in the case of IHG and Hilton, every two days!).

There are, however, other ways that hotel currencies are put on sale, and Marriott’s less well-known method for selling Bonvoy points is called ‘Multiply Your Points’, and in this article, I’m going to go over how it works.

Where can you access Marriott’s Multiply Your Points?

There are two main ways you can access the Multiply Your Points page.

Firstly, you can access it from the standard Marriott Bonvoy buy points page (it’s the option on the right).

Secondly, you can access it from the numerous emails you’ll get from Marriott if you’re eligible to buy points this way – the subject line usually reads “[your first name], Multiply Your Points and Save“.

Who is eligible to multiply their points?

To be eligible to use the Multiply Your Points feature you must have:

• Completed a paid Marriott stay within the past 12 months and
• Earned at least 1,000 Marriott Bonvoy points from that stay

Stays at The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection and Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy properties are not eligible for this points purchase option.

How does this work?

It’s relatively straightforward and the whole thing is based on the number of Marriott Bonvoy Points you earned on your last stay.

The Marriott Multiply Your Points feature allows a Bonvoy member to buy 2x, 3x, or 4x the number of Bonvoy points that they earned on their last stay with the discount being offered (on the standard cost of points) improving as more points are purchased.

• Buy 2x points and get a 15% discount
• Buy 3x points and get a 20% discount
• Buy 4x points and get a 25% discount

In real money this translates to this (at the time of writing):

• Buy 2x points at ~1.06 cents each
• Buy 3x points at ~1.00 cent each
• Buy 4x points at ~0.94 cents each

Here, for example, is what I can currently see on the Multiply Your Points page.

Based on my experience, it looks like you can multiply the total number of points that you earned on your last stay regardless of how you came to earn them.

I, for example, earned, 1,790 base points, 1,343 elite bonus points, and 1,000 bonus points from a Bonvoy promotion on my last stay and all those points are eligible to be multiplied (so the multiplier doesn’t just apply to base earnings).

Key terms

Other things that you need to know and that I haven’t yet mentioned:

• The Offer is refreshed on a monthly basis based on the member’s latest qualifying stay.
• The Points purchased through this offer may only be multiplied when purchased through the “Multiplier” Offer page.
• The maximum number of Points a member can purchase annually under the Offer is 100,000 Points
• A member can concurrently purchase on the Multiplier page and participate in other point purchase promotions.
• Goods and Service Tax (GST) and Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) will be added for residents of Canada. Quebec Sales Tax (QST) will be added for purchases made by residents of Quebec as well as Goods Service Tax (GST).
• Once a member completes a transaction on the Offer, the promotion will not be offered again until the member completes a subsequent qualifying stay, and the Offer is refreshed.
• “Multiply Points” is separate from purchased through our Buy Points and Gift Points pages (this website), Buy Points Points.com-powered window on Marriott websites, Marriott Mobile Apps or the Customer Engagement Centers. Each of these channels have individual product limits.
• Points earned through a promotion on this page are not included in the annual purchase limit of 100,000 Points purchased through the Points.com-powered window on Marriott websites, Marriott Mobile Apps or the Customer Engagement Centers.
• Purchased Points do not count toward Marriott Bonvoy® Elite Status.Points will be posted to the Member’s Account within 72 hours after the transaction is complete.
• New members may purchase Points thirty (30) days after enrollment in the Marriott Bonvoy program.
• Once Points have been purchased, no refunds will be permitted.

Full terms and conditions, which you should read carefully, can be found on the promotion page.

Is this a good deal?

Whether the price you pay per point is a good deal will depend entirely on how you plan to use whatever points you buy.

If you can buy points and immediately book a stay which would have cost you more had you paid with cash, then that’s probably a good deal – you’ve saved some money.

If you’re buying points in the hope that, at some stage down the road, you’ll find an economic use for them, that’s not a good deal – you’re simply loaning Marriott your money and hoping that you find a good award deal before it devalues its rewards program.

Is the best way to buy Bonvoy Points?

Most of the time, no. But there may be occasions when this can be useful.

The main reason not to buy points via the Multiply Points page is that Marriott often sells Bonvoy Points at less than the best rate offered by the Multiply Points page.

Right now, for example, you can buy between 40,000 and 200,000 points with a 40% bonus and that would see you paying ~0.89 cents per Bonvoy Point.

If you don’t need as many as 40,000 points, you could step down a level in the current sale and buy as few as 2,000 points while locking in a 35% bonus and that would see you paying ~0.93 cents per Bonvoy Point.

While sales like this are in progress (and they’re not particularly rare), there aren’t many reasons to buy points through the Multiply Your Points page, but there are three scenarios where multiplying your points could make sense.

Scenario 1 – You have already maxed-out the “buy points” limit

The number of points you can buy through the Multiply Your Points page isn’t impacted by the number of points you may have already bought through the standard “buy points” page, so if you’ve already purchased all the points the standard sales allow you to buy and you find yourself needing more points to book a great value award, buying points via the Multiply Your Points page could save you some money.

Scenario 2 – There’s no standard Marriott points sale in progress

Most of the Bonvoy points sales that we see usually allow members to buy points for ~0.93 cents each (or a little better), but if there isn’t a sale in progress, the Multiply Your Points page may be a valid option to choose if you’re short of the points you need to book a stay and buying points to book the award is a better deal than paying with cash.

Scenario 3 – You only need a handful of points

Even if a standard points sale is in progress, it may be a sale in which you have to buy a large number of points to lock in a rate that’s better than the best rate the Multiply Points page is offering and you may not need that many points.

In this situation, it may be prudent to overpay by multiplying your points rather than saving a little on the cost/point but ending up with a lot more points than you need.

No bonus for using a Bonvoy/travel card to buy points

Just like with the standard Bonvoy Points sales, if you buy points via Multiply Your Points the transaction will be processed by Points.com and that eliminates the scope to earn a travel/hotel bonus by using a credit card that offers bonus points for spending in one of those categories.

That makes this a good opportunity to boost your spending towards a welcome bonus on a card that’s offering a good deal, or to boost your earnings of a currency that you particularly like.

Bottom line

Marriott’s Multiply Your Points feature usually isn’t the best way to buy Marriott Bonvoy points and so it should be treated with caution, but as there are scenarios during which using this feature could be useful, it’s a feature with which all Bonvoy members should be acquainted.