At Marriott Bonvoy, accumulated points typically expire after 24 months, following the last activity. An activity can include redeeming or earning points. Thus, preventing expiration is quite straightforward if one is mindful or monitors it, for instance, using AwardWallet.
To determine when your last activity occurred and when your points might theoretically expire, check under Activity in your Marriott Bonvoy account.
Excerpt from the Terms & Conditions
1.6.d. Points Expiration Policy. Members must remain active in the Loyalty Program to retain Points they accumulate. If a Member Account is inactive for twenty-four (24) consecutive months, that Member Account will forfeit all accumulated Points. Members can remain active in the Loyalty Program and retain accumulated Points by earning Points or Miles, redeeming Points, or purchasing Points (as described in 2.9) in the Loyalty Program at least once every twenty-four (24) months, all subject to the exceptions described below. If a Member does not maintain an active status for five (5) consecutive years, the Member’s Account may be deactivated. Once Points are forfeited, the Points cannot be reinstated, but a Member can earn new Points, unless that Member’s Account has been deactivated.
i. Not all Points activities help maintain active status in the Loyalty Program. Examples of activities that do not count toward maintaining an active status in the Loyalty Program include, but are not limited to:
A. Gifting or transferring Points; however, converting Points to Miles or Miles to Points does count toward maintaining an active status;
B. Receiving Points as a gift or transfer
ii. Awards redeemed by a Member prior to Point forfeiture are still valid even though the Award may not yet have been fulfilled at the time of Point forfeiture. However, if those Awards are cancelled after the Points expiration date, those Points are still subject to forfeiture. For example, if a Member redeems Points for an Award Redemption Stay that occurs after the Points expiration date, and then cancels the reservation prior to arrival without having completed any qualifying activity to extend the expiration date, those Points will expire.
iii. The Points expiration policy does not currently affect Points in a Lifetime Elite Membership Account; however, the Loyalty Program may choose to apply a Points expiration policy to Lifetime Elite Membership Accounts in the future.
Marriott Bonvoy Loyalty Program Terms & Conditions
For Radisson Rewards or IHG One Rewards, booking and cancelling a reward stay is sufficient to maintain activity. Unfortunately, Marriott Bonvoy is not as easily tricked. While booking a stay reserves the points and doesn’t display them in the total, it does not register as an activity, and thus, the points would still expire.
Here are some ideas on how to prevent point expiration without booking a reward stay or having to stay in a hotel:
Table of Contents
Convert Points to Miles
Marriott Bonvoy allows the conversion of accumulated points to miles in many frequent flyer programs. A minimum of 3,000 points can be converted, usually resulting in 1,000 miles.
Purchase Points
Points can be easily bought at Marriott Bonvoy. 1,000 points are available for $12.50 and count as activity, extending the validity of all accumulated points by another 24 months.
There are also regular bonus offers of up to 50% on point purchases.
Transfer Points to Marriott Bonvoy
You can convert points from some credit card programs, such as American Express Membership Rewards, to Marriott Bonvoy points. In this case, you’ll usually need to convert at least 900 Membership Rewards points at a ratio of 3:2, resulting in 600 Marriott Bonvoy points.
Donate Points
You can also donate your accumulated points to a charitable organization. You need to donate a minimum of 2,500 points, leading to a $10 donation to a charitable organization of your choice.
Conclusion
Even though simply booking a reward stay doesn’t extend the validity of your accumulated points, it is relatively easy with Marriott Bonvoy to extend the points’ validity for another 24 months.
Comment (1)
I miss the days Bonvoy giving quiz during Superbowl precovid, it was a good way to extend the life of points.