First let me tell you how much I've despised Marriott Rewards in the past. One of the most popular "points" bloggers has valued these "MR" points as low as $.007. That's nowhere close to my beloved SPG(Starwood Preferred Guest) points that have been valued as much as $.029.
So one can imagine I was not happy that Marriott acquired SPG and was even more concerned that they would automatically devalue my points by 1/4th. To my disbelief the biggest brick and mortar hotel chain, Marriott, is actually offering such a sweet deal I opted to transfer my points over to their program at an exchange of 1:3 to redeem the Hotel & Air Southwest package which qualified me for the South West Companion Pass within 3 days.
WHAT YOU GET:
A Southwest Companion Pass activated 3 days after redemption through 12/31/18
A 7 Day Stay At Any Marriott property (category 1-5)**
120,000 Southwest Points
*Southwest Companion Passes still qualify on point redemptions and international flights
*You can change your companion up to 3 times a calendar year
**Category 1-5 hotel can be upgraded to any category for the difference in points
HERE ARE THE SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS:
SPG point holders need at least 90,000 points which will transfer over to 270,000 Marriott points at a 1:3 rate
Marriott point holders need 270,000 points
(SPG BUY OPTION) You can buy up to 30,000 points per calendar year lowering the initial requirement down to 60,000 initial points and buying the rest for a special of $.025 a point(normally $.035)
(Marriott BUY OPTION) You can buy up to 50,000 points per calendar year lowering the initial requirement down to 220,000 initial points and buying the rest at $.0125**
**BUY OPTION NOTES - Considering 1 SPG point = 3 Marriott points
If you have an SPG account that's been active for 14days or more you should buy SPG points and transfer them to Marriott in turn saving you $.0083 a point ;)
HOW TO REDEEM:
CHOOSE SOUTHWEST 120k HOTEL & AIR 7 DAY PACKAGE THROUGH MARRIOTT choose (Category 1-5) because you can upgrade with Marriott points at the time of redemption. Obviously if you know you will stay at a Category 7 choose the category 7 but make sure you get the 120,000 Southwest points option or . Also keep in mind this hotel voucher expires 1 year from redemption.
Link: http://www.marriott.com/rewards/usepoints/morepack.mi
Number: 1-800-321-7396
*I couldn't redeem online but was easily able to do this over the phone
TIMEFRAME:
Southwest is no longer allowing this hack to qualify for The Companion Pass after 3/31/17. Redeem NO LATER than 3/28/17 (It takes 3 business days to transfer to Southwest)
OTHER NOTES:
Even if you don't fly Southwest the Hotel & Air 7 Day package in most cases is the best way to redeem Marriott rewards.
To see more information on this package and the full list of participating airlines click this link: http://www.marriott.com/rewards/usepoints/morepack.mi