Marriott Bonvoy, Marriott International’s hotel loyalty program, and Flipkart SuperCoins, Flipkart’s shopping loyalty program, have announced what they call India’s first dual loyalty integration, wherein the currency of one program can be converted to the other and vice versa.
While it’s interesting, let’s crunch the numbers to see if it makes any sense.
Conversion Ratio
- Marriott to Flipkart = 2:1
- Flipkart to Marriott = 2:1
The conversion tool is already live on Flipkart app (search “Marriott” on the app) and you can convert it in real-time after linking your accounts.
I just did a test transfer from Marriott Bonvoy points to Flipkart supercoins. I transferred 1000 points to get 500 super coins and it was instant.
There are per transaction and per day limits and it can go as good as 100K points, as of now. Here are more info on t&c.
Note: The Flipkart’s iPhone app is throwing error (on MB login) for me and some of my friends. If you face the same, login to Flipkart on mobile browser and you should be able to link it.
Earn on Flipkart Spends
Flipkart users can now earn Marriott Bonvoy points on their Flipkart orders.
For ex, 1000 INR order would give 100 MB points or 5000 INR order would give 500 MB points. That’s a sweet 10% return you might say.
Well, the problem is, it’s limited to 500 MB points a year or 1000 MB Points for Flipkart VIP members.
Hmm, that’s such a tiny limit for a brand like Marriott.
Should you convert?
To analyse that, we first need to know a rough value of each currency. My personal valuation is as below:
- Marriott Points: 0.50 INR/point (minimum)
- Flipkart Super Coins: 1 INR/point
So the common sense is to NEVER transfer super coins to Marriott, as that means you’re dropping it’s value by sweet 75% instantly.
But transferring from Marriott to Flipkart supercoins is indeed a decent option, as it gives 50ps per point for Marriott and in turn for Amex.
The above statement is true as long as you’re able to use Supercoins effectively. As of now, you can burn 100% supercoins on Cleartrip at 1:1 which is great.
But this is only a temporary offer and might be turned off anytime making the supercoins essentially useless, except that you can burn 100 Super Coins per order on Flipkart.
Not to mention, Supercoins expire in 6 months.
So, you may transfer if you’ve an immediate use case, else don’t!
Final Thoughts
It’s good to see Marriott attempting to reach a larger audience in India by partnering with Flipkart.
While that’s a good intention, I think it could have been done in a much better way.
The problem is, Flipkart is quite unstable with their loyalty program and the currency. Even their Flipkart Credit Card has been quite devalued now.
I used to earn SuperCoins on Myntra orders, but recently they seem to have removed that benefit without any prior notice.
But, as long as the Cleartrip redemption stays, it’s a good way to burn Amex/Marriott points at a decent value for shopping/travel.