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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
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
The Chase Sapphire Preferred is a great starter card that earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based.
Welcome Offer
60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex℠and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash , Ink Business Unlimited you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
- 3x on dining
- including eligible delivery services for takeout
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards – Chase Travel Portal
- $50 Annual Credit on hotel stays purchased via Ultimate Rewards/Chase Travel
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred® continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel Portal and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including primary rental car insurance, purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 13 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in the Chase Travel center for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Primary rental car coverage is my favorite
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.