OCBC credit cards offering 50% transfer bonus to Marriott Bonvoy

After a long delay, OCBC has finally launched its eight new airline and hotel partners, offering cardholders options beyond just KrisFlyer. 

Sadly, the transfer ratios for most of these partners aren’t great. For example, compared to KrisFlyer you’ll receive 10% fewer miles when transferring to British Airways Executive Club and Etihad Guest, and 25% fewer miles when transferring to Cathay Pacific Asia Miles.

However, OCBC is now running a limited-time 50% transfer bonus to Marriott Bonvoy, which is valid for all three of its rewards currencies: 90°N Miles, OCBC$ and VOYAGE Miles.

OCBC offering 50% transfer bonus to Marriott Bonvoy

From 1-31 August 2023, OCBC cardholders can redeem 90°N Miles, OCBC$ and VOYAGE Miles for Marriott Bonvoy points at the following ratios:

1,000 90°N Miles	1,000 1,500 Marriott Bonvoy points
1,000 VOYAGE Miles	1,000 1,500 Marriott Bonvoy points
10,000 OCBC$	4,000 6,000 Marriott Bonvoy points

No registration is required; the bonus will be applied automatically.

Each Marriott Bonvoy member can enjoy a maximum of 300,000 bonus points during this promotion, which means you’d max out this offer by transferring 600,000 90°N Miles/VOYAGE Miles or 1,500,000 OCBC$.

Base and bonus points may be reflected in two different transactions, and should take up to one business day to process.

To transfer points to Marriott Bonvoy, you’ll need to visit the STACK Rewards platform where the eight new transfer partners are located (unlike KrisFlyer, which is on the legacy OCBC Rewards portal).

Click on the Points Exchange tab, and scroll until you see Marriott Bonvoy. The regular ratio will be reflected, but you’ll see a notice about the additional 50% bonus.

As a reminder, the usual S$25 conversion fee for Marriott Bonvoy and the seven other partners on STACK Rewards is waived till 31 October 2023 (previously 30 October 2023- I suppose they finally got around to fixing that typo). 

Unfortunately, KrisFlyer miles are not available through STACK Rewards (it’s on the legacy OCBC Rewards portal), so conversion fees still apply. 

Terms & Conditions

At the time of writing, the T&Cs for this offer have yet to be uploaded to the OCBC website. The information in this post is based on a preview of the T&Cs shared by the OCBC team. 

I will update this section when the final T&Cs are live. 

Is it worth it?

1 Marriott Bonvoy point is worth about 0.8 US cents, so if we think about this in terms of opportunity cost, you’re basically trading 1 KrisFlyer mile for 1.6 SG cents, regardless of whether you’re converting 90°N Miles, OCBC$ or VOYAGE Miles.

Assuming you’re invested in the Marriott ecosystem, that might not be a terrible trade. Marriott Bonvoy eliminated its award chart in 2022, and all hotels now adopt dynamic pricing. This means the cost of award nights now fluctuates depending on factors like seasonality and occupancy. 

It doesn’t necessarily mean the end of sweet spots, however. There are still opportunities to get outsized value, particularly if you’re visiting a high-cost destination like the Maldives.

Apart from hotel stays, Marriott Bonvoy points can also be converted to airline miles with the following frequent flyer schemes. Most transfers take place at a ratio of 3:1, with a minimum transfer of 3,000 Marriott Bonvoy points. 

Every transfer of 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points will receive a bonus of 5,000 partner miles (except for American Airlines AAdvantage, Avianca LifeMiles, Delta SkyMiles and Korean Air SKYPASS; United MileagePlus receives a 10,000 bonus). For example, if I transfer 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points to British Airways Executive Club, I’ll receive 25,000 Avios in total. 

However, this would be a very inefficient way of converting OCBC points to airline miles. To illustrate, 40,000 VOYAGE Miles = 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points = 25,000 Avios. Had I converted directly from OCBC, 40,000 VOYAGE Miles= 36,000 Avios.

Alternatively, you can consider redeeming Marriott Bonvoy points for experiences on the Bonvoy Moments platform. They were recently offering Singapore F1 tickets and hospitality packages, at what I believe were fairly reasonable rates. 

Conclusion

For the month of August, OCBC cardholders can convert points to Marriott Bonvoy with a 50% bonus, with a maximum cap of 300,000 bonus points. 

Given the dearth of options for earning hotel points in Singapore, this might be worth considering, especially if you’re a Bonvoy loyalist.