MegaMiles? MegaBonus? Perhaps Marriott Rewards should number them numerically, maybe some Roman numerals like the SuperBowl — Marriott MegaMiles XIV or something. Honestly, I already thought I had written about this promotion.
Marriott Triple Miles promotion link:
Earn Triple Miles with Marriott rewards MegaMiles for every stay you make beginning with the second stay from February 1 through April 30, 2010.
Marriott hotel stays normally earn 2 miles per US$1 at these full service hotel brands:
- Marriott Hotels
- J.W. Marriott
- Renaissance
- Marriott Vacation Club
Stays only earn 1 mile per US$1 at the other Marriott brands, including:
- Courtyard
- Fairfield inn
- Springhill Suites
- TownePlace Suites
- Residence Inn
So while the advertising may catch your eye with “For example, if you would normally earn 500 miles for a stay, you’ll earn 1,500 total miles for that same stay with MegaMiles!â€, you need to spend $250 at a Marriott full service hotel or $500 at a Fairfield Inn to normally earn 500 miles.
The wording of the advertising is a bit misleading. The less Marriott Rewards savvy could browse away with the wrong perception of this offer.
Many hotel loyalty programs like Hyatt Gold Passport, Hilton HHonors, IHG Priority Club, and Wyndham Rewards offer 500 miles for some hotel stays. An $80 hotel stay with Hyatt can earn 500 miles.
Marriott Rewards members earn miles solely on US dollars spent.
Starwood Preferred Guest works by dollar spend too. Priority Club earns miles from spending for all US based airlines with some brand differences, but most international airlines earn a fixed 500 miles per stay. Wyndham uses spending rates for all brands except Wyndham Hotels. Hilton HHonors stays earn 500 miles, unless you stay at a Hampton Inn or Homewood Suites and then you only get 100 miles per stay. But of course, Hilton HHonors is about choice and you can always select Points & Variable Miles to get 1 mile per US$1.
Marriott Rewards structure for earning miles favors the member with frequent multi-night stays, whereas the hotel loyalty programs listed above may earn miles at a higher rate through frequent one-night stays. A $2,000 five-night stay with Hyatt still earns only 500 miles. Points would certainly be a better alternative.
Extrapolating hotel stays to analyze value of miles compared to points
Say you spend $100 for a Marriott Courtyard hotel night. You normally will earn 100 miles for $100 in hotel spend at a Courtyard hotel.
You earn 300 miles with MegaMiles.
$100 for a Renaissance Hotel night can earn 600 miles.
Extrapolate the total spending to $1,500 for the MegaMiles promotion. You only earn 4,500 miles versus 15,000 points for Courtyard stays.
15,000 Marriott Rewards points provides plenty of free reward night options with Marriott hotels in Category 1 to 3 points rewards. That is a list of about 2,000 hotels in the Marriott chain available for 15,000 points or less in these low categories.
$1,500 in miles could be as few as 4,500 miles or as many as 9,000 miles. In real travel it will likely be somewhere in between due to a mix of hotel stays in different Marriott brands. The miles might be 1/2 of the miles needed for an upgrade, or 1/3 of the miles needed for an economy ticket in the US/Canada. 4,500 miles are not much good on their own, so you need to be close to award mileage thresholds for this to have more tangible value than a free hotel night.
This Marriott MegaMiles promotion is an okay offer, but the way miles promotions have been flooding the hotel loyalty program market, I could easily be writing about these offers almost every day. Â Fortunately there are other BoardingArea bloggers covering some of the great hotel loyalty program miles bonuses this winter of MM10.
TMTravelWorld blog
http://boardingarea.com/tmtravelworld/category/tripwyndham-rewards-and-other-reward-programs/
Marriott Rewards members can choose miles as an earning preference by logging into your online profile and selecting miles.
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