Westin/Sheraton Flex MF Payments & Marriott Bonvoy Amex BONUS Points

[controller1]

For those Westin Flex and Sheraton Flex owners who will be paying their maintenance fees between now and their September due date . . . if you have the Marriott Bonvoy Amex or Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Amex be sure and add the Amex bonus point offer to your card prior to paying your maintenance fees. You will get 4 extra bonus points per dollar. This will be a total of 10 points per dollar, for the Brilliant card, up to $7,500 or a maximum of an additional 30,000 Bonvoy points for the Brilliant card.

I wasn't sure if Vistana maintenance fees would qualify for the bonus even though they qualify for the regular 6 points/dollar (Brilliant card). However when I paid the fees I received the following from Amex:

This should also work for those wishing to prepay their maintenance fees which come due in January. The offer must be placed on your card prior to paying the fees. The offer ends 10/30/20.

 

[RC51Tofuman]

Thankyou!!!

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

 

[jpfordz]

For those Westin Flex and Sheraton Flex owners who will be paying their maintenance fees between now and their September due date . . . if you have the Marriott Bonvoy Amex or Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Amex be sure and add the Amex bonus point offer to your card prior to paying your maintenance fees. You will get 4 extra bonus points per dollar. This will be a total of 10 points per dollar, for the Brilliant card, up to $7,500 or a maximum of an additional 30,000 Bonvoy points for the Brilliant card.

I wasn't sure if Vistana maintenance fees would qualify for the bonus even though they qualify for the regular 6 points/dollar (Brilliant card). However when I paid the fees I received the following from Amex:
View attachment 25150

This should also work for those wishing to prepay their maintenance fees which come due in January. The offer must be placed on your card prior to paying the fees. The offer ends 10/30/20.

Must be for US AMEX only. I don't see the offer in my Canadian AMEX account. Seems like you guys get better offers than us.

 

[jabberwocky]

Must be for US AMEX only. I don't see the offer in my Canadian AMEX account. Seems like you guys get better offers than us.

Yes. I have it on my US Bonvoy Card but my Canadian Bonvoy one doesn’t have a bonus. Thinking I’ll cancel my Canadian one next year - no currency fx charges on the US one so it’s my usual go-to card (when I can travel).

 

[luv_maui]

For those Westin Flex and Sheraton Flex owners who will be paying their maintenance fees between now and their September due date . . . if you have the Marriott Bonvoy Amex or Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Amex be sure and add the Amex bonus point offer to your card prior to paying your maintenance fees. You will get 4 extra bonus points per dollar. This will be a total of 10 points per dollar, for the Brilliant card, up to $7,500 or a maximum of an additional 30,000 Bonvoy points for the Brilliant card.

I wasn't sure if Vistana maintenance fees would qualify for the bonus even though they qualify for the regular 6 points/dollar (Brilliant card). However when I paid the fees I received the following from Amex:
View attachment 25150

This should also work for those wishing to prepay their maintenance fees which come due in January. The offer must be placed on your card prior to paying the fees. The offer ends 10/30/20.

Bummer, we don’t have that offer on our Marriott bonvoy brilliant AXP Card.

 

[controller1]

Bummer, we don’t have that offer on our Marriott bonvoy brilliant AXP Card.

You may want to double-check that. In addition to an email from Amex urging me to add the offer to my card I also received an email from Marriott Bonvoy on 8/12/20 urging me to do the same. I'm assuming you have a US-based card.

 

[luv_maui]

You may want to double-check that. In addition to an email from Amex urging me to add the offer to my card I also received an email from Marriott Bonvoy on 8/12/20 urging me to do the same. I'm assuming you have a US-based card.

I’ll recheck, but it’s not in “offers” when logged into American Express. Maybe it’s because I signed up for the $50 back if spend $200+ at Marriott good thru 7/31-9/21 but not planning on using it. I click on offers just in case, bit bummed if I lose out on this offer.

 

[wjarcher]

When I signed up the offer over the weekend, I was wondering if the mf payment would qualify because the term says participating hotels. Thank you!!! I plan to prepay the fees in case next years statement won't arrive before the offer expires

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

 

[lily28]

I have the old Marriott card and it only gives me 6x points

 

[controller1]

I have the old Marriott card and it only gives me 6x points

I believe this is only an Amex offer. Even though these three offers are related, as they were advertised together through emails from both Marriott Bonvoy and Amex, each of the offers require a separate registration to add them to your card (at least the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Amex card). Essentially they provide a total of 10 points per dollar up to $7,500 for each category of expenditures at 1) Marriott properties, 2) U.S. restaurants and 3) U.S. gas stations through October 30, 2020.

 

[timesharen00b]

I made a Westin flex payment after adding this offer and Amex portal said 6x earning for that spend. Looks like it doesn’t qualify.

I did get the email as the OP but looking at the actual transaction showed 6x only

 

[controller1]

I made a Westin flex payment after adding this offer and Amex portal said 6x earning for that spend. Looks like it doesn’t qualify.

I did get the email as the OP but looking at the actual transaction showed 6x only

If you notice you are also just showing the regular points for gasoline (2x) and restaurant (3x) purchases. The T&C of the offer states "Points received from this offer will be posted to your Marriott Bonvoy member account up to 12 weeks after the end of each month."

 

[cubigbird]

What’s going to be the best play here given maintenance fee bills may not generate until after the promotion expires? I could always prepay the maintenance fees but I don’t want to overpay. Thoughts?

 

[The Colorado Kid]

For those Westin Flex and Sheraton Flex owners who will be paying their maintenance fees between now and their September due date . . . if you have the Marriott Bonvoy Amex or Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Amex be sure and add the Amex bonus point offer to your card prior to paying your maintenance fees. You will get 4 extra bonus points per dollar. This will be a total of 10 points per dollar, for the Brilliant card, up to $7,500 or a maximum of an additional 30,000 Bonvoy points for the Brilliant card.

I wasn't sure if Vistana maintenance fees would qualify for the bonus even though they qualify for the regular 6 points/dollar (Brilliant card). However when I paid the fees I received the following from Amex:
View attachment 25150

This should also work for those wishing to prepay their maintenance fees which come due in January. The offer must be placed on your card prior to paying the fees. The offer ends 10/30/20.

Thanks for this great tip @controller1 !

 

[controller1]

What’s going to be the best play here given maintenance fee bills may not generate until after the promotion expires? I could always prepay the maintenance fees but I don’t want to overpay. Thoughts?

I'm pretty sure if you paid the same amount as last year you would not be in an overpaid position when the invoice is generated.

 

[cubigbird]

I'm pretty sure if you paid the same amount as last year you would not be in an overpaid position when the invoice is generated.

Oh I’m sure. I guess a part of me is hoping for a MF decrease given resort closures and a savings on certain expenses such as housekeeping and other areas. That’s why I was concerned about not overpaying. Maybe I’m just wishful thinking.....

 

[jabberwocky]

Oh I’m sure. I guess a part of me is hoping for a MF decrease given resort closures and a savings on certain expenses such as housekeeping and other areas. That’s why I was concerned about not overpaying. Maybe I’m just wishful thinking.....

The flex bills that have come out have not decreased so I think it is fair to say that most of the underlying resorts have not decreased as well.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

Thanks for the Tip @controller1. Because the offer said "Marriott Hotels" I thought it wouldn't apply to Vistana.

How does 10x Bonvoy points compare to Chase Sapphire Reserve 3x for Travel? It sounds like a better deal...Although I know I can cash out CSR for 1.5x for groceries, that sounds like a lot of Bonvoy points.

 

[Mroze]

We have 2 separate Bonvoy-Brilliant-Accounts [$450-Each] and usually see different offers.

My wife's account shows 4-Offers and I see 3-Offers.

Strangely we see the Marriott-Bonvoy Spend $200 Get $50-Back on our Amex-Delta-Reserve account.

 

[wjarcher]

We have 2 separate Bonvoy-Brilliant-Accounts [$450-Each] and usually see different offers.

My wife's account shows 4-Offers and I see 3-Offers.
View attachment 25678

Strangely we see the Marriott-Bonvoy Spend $200 Get $50-Back on our Amex-Delta-Reserve account.
View attachment 25677

I can confirm that $50 off $200 works on MF payment even though the terms say about the hotel stays. The credit back showed up 1 week after my SDO prepayment.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

 

[rickandcindy23]

Has anyone done the math to compare this offer with the standard 3X Chase Sapphire on MF's?

Marriott points are not easy to calculate for value. If you have a great way to use them, could you post?

I have 300,000 points left from the old Starwood Amex that is now a plain ol' Marriott Amex, nothing like the more expensive cards. We used some on a road trip where we stayed at 3 hotels and spent 10,000-15,000, but the cost per night was only $100-$120 before taxes, so I didn't think that was a great use of our points, but at least we used some of them.

 

[DanCali]

I can confirm that $50 off $200 works on MF payment even though the terms say about the hotel stays. The credit back showed up 1 week after my SDO prepayment.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

I have the $50 off $200 too on both my Amex Bonvoy cards (one Brilliant, one regular with the ~$95 fee)

So do you just go online and make a MF payment even though the current balance is zero (since 2021 fees haven't been billed yet)? You just pay any amount and it shows as a credit on the account?

If you also register for the +4 points do you get credit on both offers or did you pay $200 separately and then I guess you can add up to $7300 or $7500 for the bonus points?

 

[DanCali]

Has anyone done the math to compare this offer with the standard 3X Chase Sapphire on MF's?

Marriott points are not easy to calculate for value. If you have a great way to use them, could you post?

I have 300,000 points left from the old Starwood Amex that is now a plain ol' Marriott Amex, nothing like the more expensive cards. We used some on a road trip where we stayed at 3 hotels and spent 10,000-15,000, but the cost per night was only $100-$120 before taxes, so I didn't think that was a great use of our points, but at least we used some of them.

I value the points at 0.7 cents per point which seems to be in line with the lower end of valuations you see online. So without the +4 points I see paying MFs with the Amex (6 points / dollar) as kind of break even with Sapphire reserve where you get 4.5c per travel dollar if you redeem rewards for travel bookings.

The best use I found for us are for European hotel free night redemptions. We booked 3 free nights in Rome last June (Meridien hotel) for 105,000 points (initially booked 2 rooms for that rate per room) and used the Suite Nights to upgrade to a suite that could accommodate 2+2 kids. Even though the suite was only confirmed upon checkin, we called the US 800 number and they allowed us to cancel the other room for no penalty (maybe Titanium exception) so we also got 105,000 points back. But even without the suite upgrade, 105,000 points is about $700 to me so not a bad deal for 3 nights in downtown Rome.

That said - we don't do a lot of redemptions otherwise, so I do have a lot of unused points too.

 

[luv_maui]

We have 2 separate Bonvoy-Brilliant-Accounts [$450-Each] and usually see different offers.

My wife's account shows 4-Offers and I see 3-Offers.
View attachment 25678

Strangely we see the Marriott-Bonvoy Spend $200 Get $50-Back on our Amex-Delta-Reserve account.
View attachment 25677

I’m so bummed. Only see the one $50 off offer which we clicked on weeks ago. And, it ended up being used on a prepay deposit reservation that was cancelled, so it’ll get reversed and we’ll have utilized no offers. And we’d really utilize some of the other offers. Oh well, Amex loses our business.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I value the points at 0.7 cents per point which seems to be in line with the lower end of valuations you see online. So without the +4 points I see paying MFs with the Amex (6 points / dollar) as kind of break even with Sapphire reserve where you get 4.5c per travel dollar if you redeem rewards for travel bookings.

The best use I found for us are for European hotel free night redemptions. We booked 3 free nights in Rome last June (Meridien hotel) for 105,000 points (initially booked 2 rooms for that rate per room) and used the Suite Nights to upgrade to a suite that could accommodate 2+2 kids. Even though the suite was only confirmed upon checkin, we called the US 800 number and they allowed us to cancel the other room for no penalty (maybe Titanium exception) so we also got 105,000 points back. But even without the suite upgrade, 105,000 points is about $700 to me so not a bad deal for 3 nights in downtown Rome.

That said - we don't do a lot of redemptions otherwise, so I do have a lot of unused points too.

I tend to forget that whatever points we get, they are still free to use, and so free is not a terrible thing.

I used our free night on Maui in February, but the 35,000 points don't get anything on Maui anymore for Feb-March. So the devaluation is real for me.

Considering the upgrade to Brilliant, but not sure it's even worth it. I get emails for the upgrade. I am pretty sure I read that one MF will refund that $300 off the top.