We may receive a commission when you use our links. Monkey Miles is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com and CardRatings. This relationship may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Monkey Miles is also a Senior Advisor to Bilt Rewards. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
I have a dedicated page discussing the various sweet spots of Marriott Vacation Club Ownership and how to extract luxurious redemptions from the program which you can read here. It’s evolved quite a bit over time, and if you’re an owner, and not taking advantage of these sweet spots you’re leaving some pretty cool options on the table. My family picked up Marriott timeshares in the 80s and have gotten immense value out of them over time. Lately, however, the biggest value has been in either utilizing the new point structure towards hotel redemptions, like the Ritz Reserve Mandapa ( Bali ) which isn’t available with Bonvoy, or converting them into Bonvoy and staying at places like the St Regis NYC.
Earning a 90k Bonvoy Bonus
The conversion into Bonvoy is what we had decided to do for our 2020 year, but before we made the call, we got an amazing email. Receive an additional 90k Bonvoy points if we converted one of our owned units, Marriott OceanWatch at Grande Dunes, into Marriott Bonvoy points.
One thing to note is that the offer expires on November 4, 2019 OR after the first 100 owners have taken advantage of it. We called MVC within hours of receiving the email and traded the week for Marriott points so we’d receive the bonus 90k.
Targeted at other properties?
I have to imagine that this isn’t solely at the Marriott OceanWatch at Grande Dunes and other owners would be targeted for similar offers if they own during peak weeks. This IS the first time I can remember ever being targeted for a transfer bonus in addition to the contractual amount.
It’s worth noting that not all Marriott Vacation Club owners can transfer their weeks, and not all of them would be eligible for such bonuses even when owning during Platinum weeks. Marriott has done a really effective job at making the entire program quite complex when you start digging into it. It just so happened that when we changed from weeks to Vacation Club Points our deed, and negotiation, ultimately ended with us getting full points every other year vs the contractual 65% that most would earn at our ownership level. Usually the ratio is 32 Marriott points for every 1 Vacation Club Point you own. Take note of what your contract states, and keep an eye on your email as you may be targeted for a great offer.
Have you been targeted?
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 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℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
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.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
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.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.