How to Transfer Marriott Bonvoy Points to Anyone (For Free)

Marriott is one of the hotel programs make sharing points extremely easy. You can transfer points to any member for free, and there's no family requirement. This is unusual for hotel programs, and it makes Marriott points genuinely flexible if you're trying to pool balances with friends or help someone book a stay.

How to Transfer

Head to marriott.com/loyalty/redeem/transfer-points, log in, and enter the recipient's Marriott Bonvoy number. The points will show up in their account within 24 hours.

One thing to keep in mind: once you transfer, you lose all rights to those points. There's no reversing it, so double-check the member number before confirming.

Transfer Limits

There are caps on how much you can move around each year.

Sending:

• Minimum of 1,000 points per transfer, in increments of 1,000
• Maximum of 100,000 points per calendar year (total across all recipients)
• Up to 2 transfers per month, and 6 transfers per calendar year

Receiving:

• Maximum of 500,000 points per calendar year

If you're pooling points from multiple people for a big redemption, you can collect up to 5 lakh points in a year, which is enough for several nights at a mid-tier property or a couple of nights somewhere nicer.

Account Requirements

Both accounts need to be in good standing, and there's an age requirement that catches some people off guard.

If the account has had qualifying activity (a stay, a redemption, or credit card points posting) in the last 30 days, it only needs to be 30 days old. But if there's been no activity, the account needs to be at least 90 days old before it can send or receive points.

This means you can't create a new account for a friend and immediately transfer points to it. You'll need to wait.

What Doesn't Transfer

Points move freely, but a few things are tied to your account and can't be shared:

• Elite night credits
• Progress toward lifetime status
• Free night certificates from credit cards or promotions

So if you have a free night certificate expiring and can't use it, you can't hand it off to someone else. It's either use it yourself or let it expire.

When This Is Useful

Pooling for the fifth night free: Marriott's award stays of 5+ nights only charge you for 4 nights. If you and a friend each have 80,000 points, one of you can transfer to the other and book a 160,000-point stay together, saving 40,000 points compared to booking separately.

Helping family: Your parents want to book a hotel but don't have enough points. Instead of buying points at Marriott's inflated rates, you can just send them what they need.

If you're curious about getting Platinum status without 50 nights of stays, we wrote about how to do it in 16 nights.

Point Expiry

One thing that won't work: receiving transferred points to prevent your own points from expiring.

Marriott points expire after 24 months of inactivity, and receiving a transfer doesn't count as qualifying activity. You'd still need to earn points through a stay or credit card to reset the clock. Transferring points out of your account doesn't reset it either.

Earning Marriott Points in India

If you're wondering how to build up a Marriott balance, the main options are Amex India and HDFC. Both let you transfer credit card points to Marriott Bonvoy, and Amex transfers are instant.

You can also transfer Marriott points onward to airlines at a 3:1 ratio, with a 5,000-mile bonus for every 60,000 points you convert. It's not the best value, but it gives you flexibility if you're sitting on hotel points you can't use.

Check which of your cards transfer to Marriott on the Magnify app.

And if you're planning a trip around the FIFA World Cup 2026, Marriott is the official hotel partner. Pooling points with friends might be worth considering for that.