Triple Iberia Avios For Marriott Stays

Iberia became Marriott partner back in April (read my comprehensive post about this here) and now you can earn triple Avios for all your Marriott stays between June 1 and September 30, 2013. The number of bonus miles that you can earn under this offer is capped at 30,000.

You can access this offer on Marriott’s website here. Please note that if you have your Marriott Rewards account set up for points, this offer won’t show unless you change it to miles first or if you open this link on a browser that doesn’t have Marriott cookies associated with it.

You will earn 6 Iberia Avios (2 base + 4 bonus) on the room rate + qualifying charges at JW Marriott, Autograph, Renaissance, Marriott, and Marriott vacation club location.

You will earn 6 Iberia Avios (2 base + 4 bonus) on the room rate only at Ritz-Carlton, EDITION, and Gaylord hotels.

You will earn 3 Iberia Avios (1 base + 2 bonus) on the room rate only at AC, Courtyard, SprignHill, Fairfield Inn, Residence Inn and Townplace Suites.

Does it make sense to collect Iberia Avios instead of Marriott Rewards points?

Without the promotion, the answer would be straight no. Even with the promotion, only if you have few stays.

If you prefer Iberia Avios over Marriott Rewards points, it makes more sense to collect points first and then either convert the hotel points to miles, after collecting the Marriott Megabonus points or free nights certificates (read more about Marriott’s summer promotions here), or (this is my preferred method) issue Marriott travel package (you can read more about Marriott Travel Packages here) and have i.e. Iberia or BA Avios as your airline of choice.

Let’s do a calculation; you have 30 nights (10 stays of 3 nights) during the promotional period and you ADR (Average Daily Rate) is $175 and your stays are at full service Marriott hotels. You should be a Platinum member if you have this number of stays (you can get Marriott Platinum very easily by following my instructions here).

You would earn total of 138,750 Marriott Rewards points:

Room rate: 175 X 30 X 10 = 52,500 points

Elite Bonus: 50% of (175 X 30 X 10) = 26,250 points

Platinum amenity: 10 X 500 = 5000 points

Summer promotion bonus points = 55,000 points

You would earn total of 31,500 Iberia Avios:

Room rate: 2 X 175 X 30 = 10,500 Avios

Triple bonus: 4 X 175 X 30 = 21,000 Avios

Conclusion

It was expected that Marriott would have a Iberia related promotion due to launching their partnership. Collecting airline miles for your Marriott stays is not a good option, however. Take the points or free night certificates instead.

Here are the terms and conditions of this offer:

• Earning period is June 1 to September 30, 2013.

• Enrollment and registration with Marriott Rewards^® is required to be eligible for this promotion and must occur by September 30, 2013. Stays made prior to registration are ineligible to receive triple miles.

• Promotion is valid only for qualifying stays you personally make during the earning period. This offer is not transferable.

• This Marriott Rewards promotional offer is limited to participating JW Marriott^®, EDITION^®, Autograph Collection^®Hotels, Renaissance^® Hotels, AC Hotels by Marriott^SM, Marriott Hotels & Resorts^®, Courtyard by Marriott^®, SpringHill Suites by Marriott^®, Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott^®, Residence Inn by Marriott,^® TownePlace Suites by Marriott,^®Marriott Vacation Club^® and Gaylord Hotels^® brands.

• Stays at our exclusive luxury hotel partner, The Ritz-Carlton^®, will count toward achievement.

• Base miles will be earned for each paid stay, PLUS earn triple miles every paid stay, beginning with the first stay during the earning period. Up to 30,000 bonus miles.

• Collect 6 Iberia Plus Miles per U.S. dollar on qualifying charges during the earning period on at participating JW Marriott, Autograph Collection Hotels, Renaissance Hotels, Marriott Hotels & Resorts, and Marriott Vacation Club locations.

• Collect 6 Iberia Plus Miles per U.S. dollar on room rate only at participating The Ritz-Carlton, EDITION and Gaylord Hotels during the earning period.

• Collect 3 Iberia Plus Miles per U.S. dollar on room rate only at participating AC Hotels by Marriott, Courtyard by Marriott, SpringHill Suites by Marriott, Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott, Residence Inn by Marriott and TownePlace Suites by Marriott during the earning period.

• Bonus miles calculated on Marriott Rewards base mileage offer of two miles per U.S. dollar spent on all qualifying charges at participating JW Marriott, Autograph Collection Hotels, Renaissance Hotels, Marriott Hotels & Resorts, and Marriott Vacation Club locations; two miles per U.S. dollar spent on room rate only at The Ritz-Carlton, EDITION and Gaylord Hotels; and one mile per U.S. dollar spent on room rate only at Courtyard by Marriott, AC Hotels by Marriott, SpringHill Suites by Marriott, Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott, Residence Inn by Marriott and TownePlace Suites by Marriott.

• Miles are earned based on qualifying charges that are charged to the hotel room. For details of qualifying charges, seehttp://www.marriott.com/rewards/terms/default.mi

• A ‘stay’ is defined as consecutive nights spent at the same hotel, regardless of check-in/check-out activity.

• Nights spent while redeeming an award are not eligible for Elite credit.

• Members electing to earn points are not eligible for this promotion.

• Allow 4 to 6 weeks for bonus miles to be posted to your Iberia Plus account.

• All Marriott Rewards program terms and conditions apply. Visit MarriottRewards.com for complete details.

• You may go to MarriottRewards.com/myprofile to update your account with your preferred airline/miles program.

• All Iberia Plus program terms and conditions apply.