Can you sell Marriott points for cash?

If you’ve been collecting Marriott Points for a while you may have tens or hundreds of thousands of points that are worth 3-4 digits off hotel rooms but what happens when you don’t want to use them anymore? Maybe you no longer wish to stay with Marriott or your personal circumstances mean a potential conversion to cash would be more welcome. In this post, we’re going to look at if you can sell Marriott points for cash and what value you can get from your points if you no longer want to stay with Marriott…

So can I sell Marriott points for cash?

No. Marriott points themselves, or reward stays booked with Marriott points, cannot be sold, traded, or exchanged for cash. Any attempts to do so could see your points being forfeited or your account being closed. See point 1.7h of the Marriott Bonvoy loyalty program terms & conditions here – https://www.marriott.com/loyalty/terms/default.mi.

You may see various different brokers or similar when searching for ways to sell Marriott points for cash… don’t do it. There is a very high risk of having your account closed with all your Marriott points forfeited.

So what can I do with my Marriott points then?

If you still don’t want to use your Marriott points for hotel stays there are alternative things you can do with them that are ALMOST as good as cash.

Shop with your points

Marriott has a store in which you can redeem your Marriott points for physical goods and gift cards. You can view the United Kingdom store here – https://shop-with-your-points.marriott.com/home. Lets take a look at a few examples to see what value you will get redeeming this way…

1. 5,000 Marriott points equal a £10 voucher to spend at stores such as M&S, John Lewis & Sainsburys. If we divide the £10 by 5,000 we get 0.002, 0.2p worth of value which is less than a third of our 0.66p valuation when using for hotels. View vouchers here – https://shop-with-your-points.marriott.com/rewards?@,@7rdZ5ybqCANDLzlPcr1xI/aaMVbdWb7e0yvQ4CKnsWd4rDJD2EnH0OjCa69hMlp1
   
2. An Apple MacBook Air 13in M1 Chip 256GB Space Grey is 452500 Points to buy, direct from Apple would cost you £999 (other places may be cheaper). If we divide the £999 by 452500 we get 0.0022077348066298, 0.22p worth of value which is exactly a third of our 0.66p valuation when using for hotels. View the Apple MacBook Air here – https://shop-with-your-points.marriott.com/detailview?@,@9cFLyKywXAb2urEyL9iYfzvor/D8QNLoKfJRMLZfG8rhOaXyiZDuN7w3/UqU/kYy
   
3. A Sony 32 inch HD Ready Smart TV SONY-00256 is 180000 Points to buy, if you purchase from Currys it would cost you £449 (other places may be cheaper). If we divide the £449 by 180000 we get 0.0024944444444444, almost 0.25p worth of value which is our best one yet! However, it’s still well short of our 0.66p valuation when using for hotels. View the Sony TV here – https://shop-with-your-points.marriott.com/detailview?@,@jgJlHJURsyUnkQcsghNCmju5IrH1iCC7l/O6DG6A4MXhOPmRv53aGbJZa/CPLsec

As you can see from these examples you will get approximately a third of our valuation when redeeming for physical goods or gift cards. Luckily with British Airways new partnership with Nectar there is a new more lucrative way to redeem your Marriott points…

Transfer into Avios then into Nectar points

60,000 Marriott points transfer into 25,000 Avios which in turn transfer into 40,000 Nectar points. With Nectar points worth 0.5p it means you are getting £200 for your 60,000 Marriott points which equals 0.33p a point, which is half our valuation of 0.66p when using Marriott points for hotels.

Typically Marriott points transfer into Avios at a rate of 3:1 but with every 60,000 Marriott points you transfer you will receive a 5,000 Avios bonus. More details here – https://www.marriott.co.uk/loyalty/redeem/travel/points-to-miles.mi

Nectar spend partners can be viewed on their website here – https://www.nectar.com/card/spend – there are currently 13 partners. Predominately 500 points are worth £2.50 off your shopping (with a few exceptions.) You can redeem at stores such as Sainsbury’s, eBay, or Argos. With these 3 shops, you can pretty much cover most items you can imagine buying! Outside of this, you have brands such as Vue, Caffe Nero & Eurostar where you can also redeem your points. If you want the ‘cash’ you can always buy items for other people or sell what you buy on eBay.

If you are looking to transfer between the two schemes take a look at our article here – https://pointsuncovered.com/avios/how-to-link-your-avios-nectar-accounts/

Conclusion

Whilst you can’t convert Marriott points to cash converting to Nectar is pretty close! At 0.33p a point it also isn’t a terrible way of redeeming if you don’t want to stay in Marriott hotels anymore. So if you are looking to cash out on your Marriott points it’s probably the best option and definitely the safest. If you want physical cash in your bank you can always sell the goods you buy with your Nectar points on eBay. Are you tempted to cash out your Marriott points to Nectar?