Quick Guide to Buying Marriott Points

If you're trying to decide on if buying points is worth it, it will depend on how many you're buying and what you're redeeming them for.

Buying points to top off your account

If you're buying a few thousand points to top off your account, it will usually always be worth it to buy points assuming you have a solid redemption lined up.

For example, if you have 118,000 Marriott Bonvoy Points and you're 2,000 points away from that 5-day stay at that hotel you've been eying, then go ahead and buy those points as it's the fastest way to up your balance.

Waiting until charges post to your Marriott credit cards or trying to earn points through other means could take awhile. It's possible that the award cost could rise and thus end up costing you more points.

Buying large amounts of points for an upcoming booking

Buying large amounts of points is generally frowned upon, but there are times in which going this route can benefit you more than paying cash. As long as you're redeeming your points for more than what you paid for them AND there's a large enough margin in savings, buying points can be worth it.

When buying large amounts of points though, I highly recommend doing so during one of Marriott's sales in which you can buy points for 0.8 to 0.9 cents apiece (USD). That way, it's easier to get more for your buck.

For example, I maxed out Marriott's Buy points promotion in March 2023. Purchased 100,000 points and received a bonus 40,000 points for a total of 140,000 points for US$1,250.

Those points were then used to top off my account for my upcoming stay at the W Maldives later that year in which I was getting a value of 3.1 cents per point. So I purchased US$1,250 in points to use those same points for a value of US$4,340—a total of US$3,090 in additional value.

Now this is an extreme case due to the hotel in question, but it can be done for just about any booking as long as you redeem at a higher value than what you paid!

This is where buying points can consistently offer the most value, especially when they're on sale. If you have elite status with Marriott, you can book a 5-night consecutive award stay for the cost of 4 nights.

You can obtain Marriott's status of Silver with any of Marriott's credit cards. And the best thing is that you don't need to use any Marriott credit card to pay—it just has to be tied to your account.

This bumps up the value of your points as you'll be saving the cost of a full night. For example, a 5-night stay at Four Points by Sheraton Lévis Convention Centre would cost you either 89,500 points or $1,461 after tax (which is US$1,064 when converted).

This redemption would give your points a value of 1.63 cents (CAD), but we have to look at it in USD. So the USD value of this redemption would be 1.18 cents per point (US$1,064 divided by 89,500 points).

So if you were to purchase points at the standard value of 1.25 cents each (USD), this would be a bad deal since you're buying them at higher cost than what you're redeeming them for.  

Now if points were on sale, lets say 0.85 cents each, you could buy 90,000 Marriott Bonvoy Points (must be 1,000-point increments) for US$765 which is about CA$1,050. This is significantly lower than paying CA$1,461.

All-in-all, only buy large amounts of points when you can redeem them for more than what you paid for them.