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It’s looking like there is a targeted transfer bonus going on between hotel programs and Aeroplan. Before I received my email I was seeing others reporting bonuses of 30%, but then I got a 35% bonus. Bowchickawowaaaa 😉 Keep an eye on your emails as these can often end up in clutter or junk. Let’s take a look at the deal.
Overall details and link to offer
- Transfer bonus until April 22nd
- Radisson has extra bonus promotion to give 65% bonus
- Unclear terms regarding hotel program travel packages that include Aeroplan, i.e. Marriott
The hotel programs that are participating:
- Marriott (3:1 – every 60k gets 5k bonus )
- IHG ( 5:1 )
- Hilton ( 10:1 )
- Best Western ( 5:1 )
- Radisson ( 10: 1 ) + extra 30% for 65% bonus
- Wyndham ( 5:1 )
- Coast (1:1)
- Choice ( 5:1 )
- Le Club Accor (2:1)
- Shangri-la ( 1:1 )
Is it worth it?
Totally depends on your situation, and you need to punch the numbers. If you’re sitting on heaps of points and wish to use them for a trip in biz or first…could be a pretty good deal. I’ve worked with clients who have aligned everything with Marriott: stays, credit cards, etc. The result is a a huge balance and this makes sense for them.
Looking at the 5 hotel programs with the largest swath of properties, and thus the programs with the highest liklihood of loyalists with outsized account balances: Wyndham, Choice, Marriott, IHG, and Hilton, it’s Marriott whose ratio is already set at 3:1 that stands out. In addition to that 3:1 you’ll receive an additional 5k airline miles for every 60k Marriott points you transfer. Not that there have been terms included in this promo which create a big grey area as to whether a Marriott Travel Package qualifies.
A typical 60k transfer:
So that would start us out with 25k Aeroplan miles for every 60k Marriott transferred. With the 35% bonus, your total would be 33.75k Aeroplan miles.
Aeroplan offers business class flights at 55k between the US and Europe. Although they do pass on taxes and fees so pay attention
If you were sitting on 60k Marriott points and had 22k Amex you could utilize this transfer bonus to achieve a one way business class flight. Not a bad deal IMO. If you value Marriott points at 8/10 of one cent and Amex at 2 cents, you’re effectively using $480 + $440 = $920 to fly one way in business class to Europe.
I used 60k Aeroplan to fly back from South America last November in United’s retrofit 772 with the new Polaris. A great value and if you’re sitting on a ton of Marriott points and not many Amex/Chase/Cap1/Citi points…it’s worth considering.
*feature image is Lufthansa First Class – 70k Aeroplan
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