There are currently three co-branded Marriott cards from American Express with elevated welcome offers!

Marriott Bonvoy Bevy American Express Card: Earn 175,000 Marriott Bonvoy Bonus Points after spending $5,000 in the first 6 months.  Offer ends May 13, 2026.

Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant American Express Card: Earn 200,000 Marriott Bonvoy Bonus Points after spending $6,000 in the first 6 months.  Offer ends May 13, 2026.

Marriott Bonvoy Business Credit Card: Earn 3 Free Night Awards after spending $6,000 + an extra 2 Free Night Awards after spending an additional $3,000 in the first 6 months.  Offer ends May 13, 2026.

*Do note that this is a business card and will not count towards your 5/24 status.  Marriott Free Night Awards are good for nights that cost up to 50k points.  They can be “topped off” with an additional 25k points.  Free Night Awards do expire one year from issuance.*

Here’s how you could use Marriott points for a stay in Makkah (pending award availability, of course).

Searching for a property

Let’s search for a property in Makkah.  I like searching for 1 room, 1 adult.  This way, I’ll see all options available when it comes to room capacity and configurations.  I always recommend calling the property to confirm room capacity prior to booking your hotel stay (with any property or hotel brand), and then adding all guests with their names and ages.  If you’d like connecting rooms or want to see if a rollaway request can be honored – don’t wait until arrival to do this.

There are multiple properties that come up, that are close to the Haram.  *Note that I’m running searches for peak travel times.*

This room option is available to book on points, at the Sheraton Makkah.  It’s important to note the room capacity of 3, with no rollaway beds permitted.

Here’s what the award rate breakdown looks like:

Availability

It’s important to note that often times, not all room options are available in points.

This room with 2 twin beds is available in points:

But these room options, for the same dates, are not available in points.  Note that they have more beds in the room:

I’ve seen this happen often – plan, search, and book accordingly.

There are less Marriott properties in Madinah.  It doesn’t hurt to check award availability as you never know what could work for your dates.  Always give yourself enough time to earn and then redeem points, especially if you are traveling with multiple people, during peak travel periods, and/or need multiple rooms.

Here are Marriott Bonvoy properties in Madinah:

Madinah Marriott Hotel

Le Meridien Medina

Marriott Executive Apartments

“Stay For 5, Pay For 4”

Marriott Bonvoy has a perk where you can stay free for the 5th night, when you book five consecutive nights or more for an award redemption.  For every five consecutive nights you redeem using Marriott Bonvoy points, you’ll receive the lowest point-value night free.  This means, you would only need points for four nights.  You’ll see this discount at the time of booking.

Transfer Bonus

You may need to transfer additional flexible points if you’re short Marriott points to complete an award booking, or “top off” a Free Night Award for a night that is costing you more than 50k points.  This is when it’s a good idea to watch out for transfer bonuses from Chase bank to Marriott Bonvoy, as they do happen often.  Points transfers are at a 1:1 ratio.

If there were a current transfer bonus you’d see it shown first as you do here with Wyndham Rewards:

If you are lucky enough to catch a transfer bonus, you’ll need to transfer less Chase points to Marriott Bonvoy to help cover your award stay.  *Always confirm award availability before transferring points to a travel partner.  Transfers can’t be undone.*

Also, I only recommend transferring your flexible bank points if you need to complete an award redemption (“top off”) and are short points, and ideally, there’s a transfer bonus.  I’d earn Marriott Bonvoy points through cards that are co-branded with Chase or AMEX, and wait for elevated offers – as opposed to transferring Chase points to book an award stay with Marriott Bonvoy.

Cards that earn Chase points

There are multiple card options that earn Chase points.  I recommend the Chase Sapphire Preferred as a great starting point in the Chase ecosystem.  It’s also one you’re going to want to keep long-term, especially if you want to transfer Chase points to airline or hotel partners, and then redeem for travel (generally a great way to use and maximize those points!).

Read here why the Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Card is great for beginners in points and miles.

Check out all Chase Sapphire products here – you can currently hold both at the same time!

Chase also has a great suite of Chase Ink business cards.  Do note the lifetime language on Ink products.

As long as you hold a Sapphire product, you can combine Chase points earned across all your Chase cards, into that one.  You do need a Sapphire product to transfer points to travel partners.

*When applying through my referral link, please use a new browser window.  Don’t log in, if prompted and apply as a guest.  That’s how it credits it back to me, appreciate the support!*

 

You can check out all blog posts here on how I booked our 2024 Umrah trip (for 4 people) for just $500 out-of-pocket for all flights, hotel stays, and one-way transport from Makkah to Madinah.

Umrah is achievable for thousands of dollars less!  You can check out A Guide to Umrah on Points & Miles that I’ve created that walks you through:

• How to search for award flight availability (economy seats) from the U.S., on popular routes to Jeddah & Madinah
• How to search for award flight availability on partner airlines for airlines in the same airline alliance, with video walkthroughs on both
• How to book hotel stays on points, in the 4 major hotel loyalty programs
• What cards are best for hotel stays & flights, as well as thinking through card lifecycles
• How to cover other travel-related costs (such as transportation between the 2 holy cities) that isn’t booked directly using points/miles (like airfare & hotel stays)
• What “free breakfast” means in each of the major hotel loyalty programs, and how to get that perk
• How to stay organized in award travel with the TravelFreely App

I’ve also spent thousands of dollars to go to Umrah with my family, and I know the feeling of planning and saving up.  With points and miles, the journey is closer and more attainable than you think.