You Can Now Convert Marriott Points and Qatar Avios Both Ways, But Should You?

There’s a new airline loyalty program allowing 2-way conversions with Marriott Bonvoy hotel points: Qatar Airways Privilege Club.

This is an interesting development, since hotel points can typically be converted to airline miles, but the opposite is rarely true.

Let’s examine how this method of transferring between Qatar Privilege Club and Marriott Bonvoy works and whether it’s a good idea to convert Avios into Bonvoy points.

Transferring Avios to Bonvoy Points, in Practice

The news was first reported by Loyalty Lobby, and it’s intriguing for people who collect Avios (the currency used in the Qatar Airways Privilege Club program). It means that you can convert Qatar Avios to Marriott Bonvoy points, as well as British Airways, Iberia, and Finnair Avios.

You can do this by connecting a British Airways loyalty account with Iberia and/or Finnair accounts. You can move your Avios between them at a 1:1 ratio. Then, you can transfer Avios from British Airways to your Qatar Airways Privilege Club account.

From there, you can transfer your Qatar Avios to a Marriott Bonvoy account at a 2:1 ratio, meaning you’ll get 1 Bonvoy point for every 2 Avios.

There are no fees for any of those transfers.

Currently, 6 airlines use Avios as their loyalty currency. The only 2 that do not allow transfers to or from British Airways (and from there to Qatar Airways) are Aer Lingus and Vueling.

To transfer Qatar Avios to Bonvoy points in practice, head to Qatar’s page for Bonvoy conversions, log into your Qatar Airways Privilege Club account, and enter your Marriott Bonvoy membership number. Then select the amount of Avios you want to convert to Bonvoy points, in increments of 1,000.

You can convert up to 500,000 Avios to Bonvoy points per member, per day — not that we would imagine a frequent need to go anywhere near, let alone beyond, that amount.

The fine print also says that once Avios are converted into Bonvoy points, your Privilege Club account will be linked to the Marriott Bonvoy account. Future conversions of Avios to Bonvoy points will only be allowed to the same Marriott Bonvoy account used for the first conversion.

As for the all-important detail of when your transferred Avios will be deposited at the converted rate into your Marriott account, that should happen within 48 hours.

Should You Transfer Avios to Marriott Bonvoy?

That brings us to the other fundamental question: Is it a good idea to transfer Avios to Marriott Bonvoy?

On the face of it, the answer is no. At that 2:1 ratio, you’re clearly losing value right at the moment of transfer, and hotel points are typically less valuable than airline miles. In particular, a Bonvoy point is worth 0.7 cents according to our valuations, versus 1.25 for a Qatar Avios point; that’s a 44% drop.

Then why would you transfer Avios to Bonvoy?

There are cases when it would make sense, particularly if you have a large stash of Avios. For example, you may need some extra Bonvoy points for a fifth-night-free award, meaning that you pay the price in points for 4 nights and get 1 free night. Or you may have found an exceptionally good Bonvoy redemption and are a few points short.

In any case, do not make a transfer before making sure that there is availability for the award you’re after. Once you’ve moved Avios to a Bonvoy account, transfers are irreversible.

Final Thoughts

The possibility of transferring Qatar Airways Avios to Marriott Bonvoy points can be interesting for some people.

On the face of it, it doesn’t look like a move that makes a lot of sense, but it can be a good idea on certain specific occasions. The ability to move points between accounts, in any case, is always welcome.