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Marriott mystery buy bonus
Marriott’s latest buy bonus is available for buying or gifting at least 2,000 points by 24 July. I was offered the following:
- Get a 45% bonus when you buy 10,000+ points.
- Get a 35% bonus when you buy 2,000-9,000 points.
This seems to be one of the most common offers, although some people have been offered 50% as the top bonus. So is this a good deal? The largest bonus we have seen over the last 18 months is 50%, and that only tends to be offered once a year to selected members.
So I am very happy with 45% and am considering a purchase to top up for what would be an expensive cash purchase. I would never advise buying points on speculation as you never know when there could be a decision or whether the hotel you want will be available, and for how much money you have researched in advance. However, it can definitely be worth buying points. For example, when I visited the St Regis Venice, my friend bought the points for her stay and saved nearly £400 by doing so.
If you want to join Marriott Bonvoy, you can only purchase Points thirty days after enrollment.
British Airways Holidays – save up to £200
British Airways Holidays has announced up to £200 savings on beach holidays over the summer months. Those booking this bank holiday weekend, between 23– 28 May 2024, and travelling between 1 July – 31 October 2024, can book a flight + hotel holiday and save up to £200. Note this does not apply to flight + car.
The double tier point offer on holidays with a hotel for 5 nights or more is still on. You can find more details here.
Destinations include Greece, Spain, Turkey, Cyprus, Portugal and Morocco.
Savings (per booking)
- spend £1,250 – save £50
- spend £2,500 – save £100
- spend £5,000 or more – save £200
More information and full terms and conditions can be found on www.ba.com/europe
Virgin devalues ANA awards again
ANA used to be one of the sweet spots of Virgin redemptions, with a great deal on First and business class (if you could actually find availability). ANA has a great new business and first class suite, which made the redemption even better value. In March 2023, when they joined Skyteam, they devalued the first class redemption by 42%, putting the price up to 170,000 points from 105,000 points return between the UK and Japan.
Now, they have devalued the awards again with no notice. While you may say that these awards are “free” and within the program terms, it is not in the slightest consumer-friendly practice to do this, especially with such huge changes. Someone may have been saving for ages to get the award, and the goalposts are changed.
Now business class has gone up from 95,000 to 120,000 points. This is not quite as bad as the first class change, but the lack of notice is very poor, in my opinion.
1 comment
I actually wouldn’t mind paying more Virgin miles for ANA if it was actually possible to find availability in Business on the Heathrow – Haneda route. 95,000 miles for a return ticket in the ANA Room seat seemed to be literally a deal that’s too good to be true. I only got that deal once and that was during Covid when Japan’s border was largely closed.
About 2 years ago I tried to use Virgin air miles to book business return from Tokyo to Sydney. The Virgin ticket agent told me that she had not once been able to book this ticket during her entire time of working for Virgin.
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