Why did I purchase Marriott Points?
I have Marriot Bonvoy Points to expire on June 16, 2023. I decided to buy some points to extend the expiration date.
How to buy
I bought points on the website of Marriott.
I decided to buy 2000 points at the cheapest price of $25 because I just wanted to extend the expiration date. The 40% bonus promotion was running and I got 2800 points. After I completed the purchase process on the website, I soon received the confirmation email.
Result of Purchase
The result of the purchase is shown in Activity. However, the expiration date for the points has not changed. Also, the total points displayed in the upper right have not changed.
I logged into the Marriott English website and checked the Activity screen as well. The points purchased are displayed in the same way as the points earned, while the expiration date has not changed yet. The total number of points displayed in the upper right corner has been updated, and the 2800 points I purchased have been added. It seems that the timing of the information update is different between the Japanese and English websites.
Terms and Conditions
I wondered if purchasing points were not eligible for an extension of the validity period, so I looked into the Terms and Conditions.
According to the Japanese FAQ site, the explanation was as follows. (Translated from Japanese with DeepL)
In order to retain points earned at Marriott Bonvoy, members must keep their eligibility active; all points will be forfeited if a member has no activity in a 24-month period. Membership will remain active as long as the member has earned or redeemed points or miles at least once in a 24-month period. Once you qualify for Lifetime Elite membership, your points will no longer expire. Please see our Terms and Conditions for more information.
Marriott Bonvoyで貯めたポイントを保持するには、会員は資格を有効に保つ必要があります。24ヶ月にわたってアクティビティの実績のない会員のポイントはすべて失効となります。ポイントまたはマイルの獲得またはポイント交換を24か月に少なくとも1回行っていれば、会員資格は有効に維持されます。ライフタイム エリート会員資格を取得すると、ポイントの有効期限はなくなります。詳細は弊社のご利用規約をご覧ください。
I clicked on Terms and Conditions for more information. (Translated from Japanese with DeepL)
1.6.d. Point Expiration Policy. In order to retain points accumulated in the loyalty program, members must keep their eligibility active. If a Member’s account has no actual activity for a period of 24 months, all points in that Member’s account will be forfeited. By earning loyalty program points or miles, redeeming points, or purchasing points at least once in a 24-month period (as defined in 2.9), members may keep their loyalty program eligibility active and retain the points they have accumulated. This is subject to the following exceptions If a member fails to remain eligible for five consecutive years, his/her account may be deactivated. Once a member’s points have been deactivated, they will not be returned, but new points can be earned as long as the member’s account is not deactivated.
1.6.d. ポイント有効期限ポリシー。ロイヤルティプログラムで貯めたポイントを保持するには、会員は資格を有効に保つ必要があります。会員アカウントが24か月にわたってアクティビティ実績のない場合、その会員アカウントのポイントはすべて失効となります。ロイヤルティプログラムのポイントまたはマイルの獲得、ポイントの交換、あるいはポイントの購入を24か月に少なくとも1回行うことにより (2.9に規定)、会員はロイヤルティプログラムの資格を有効に保ち、貯めたポイントを保持することができます。これには、以下の例外が適用されます。会員が5年連続で資格を有効に保てなかった場合には、その会員のアカウントは無効となる場合があります。一度無効になったポイントは戻ってきませんが、会員のアカウントが無効化されないかぎり新しいポイントを獲得することができます。
To purchase points appears to lead to an extension of the expiration date.
Please note that the Terms and Conditions also include the following statement. It looks like some activities do not lead to an extension of the expiration date. (Translated from Japanese with DeepL)
Some point activities may not qualify as activities for maintaining active membership in the loyalty program. Examples of activities that do not qualify as valid loyalty program membership activities include, but are not limited to, the following.
A. Point transfers or transfers. However, point-to-miles or miles-to-points conversions are considered activities that do not count toward maintaining a valid membership.
B. Earning Points by Gift or Transfer.i. ポイントアクティビティにはロイヤルティプログラムの有効な会員資格を保つためのアクティビティとして認められないものもあります。ロイヤルティプログラムの有効な会員資格を保つためのアクティビティとして認められないアクティビティには以下の例が挙げられますが、これらに限定されません。
A. ポイントの譲渡や移行。ただし、ポイントからマイルへの変換またはマイルからポイントへの変換は有効な会員資格を保つためのアクティビティとみなされます。
B. ギフトまたは移行によるポイントの獲得
Inquiry
The expiration date has not changed on the screen, so I inquired by e-mail.
I went to Help>Email Inquiry at the top of the Japanese site and filled out the inquiry form, asking if the expiration date would be updated over time, though it was not changed on the screen as of now. Not finding an appropriate kind of topic, I selected “Marriott Bonvoy Account Support”, then “Earning” as a subtopic, presumably referring to earning points, and submitted my question in the comments section.
When I pressed the “Send” button, the Help>E-mail Inquiry screen at the top of the Japanese site appeared again. Since I did not receive an e-mail saying that my inquiry was received, I am a little worried about whether my inquiry was submitted properly or not.
Extended!
The next day, I logged into the Marriott site again and confirmed that the validity period had been successfully extended. I just hope that I will be able to use the points within two years.
After Inquiry
I have not received any reply for the past one week.
