Southwest and Marriott is running a good promotion for the purchase of Marriott Gift Cards. Gift cards can be use to pay for room and incidental expenses at Marriott brand hotels (JW Marriott®, EDITION(SM), Autograph Collection®, Renaissance® Hotels, Marriott® Hotels & Resorts, Courtyard® by Marriott, AC Hotels by Marriott®, Fairfield Inn & Suites® by Marriott, SpringHill Suites® by Marriott, Residence Inn® by Marriott, TownePlace Suites® by Marriott, and Marriott Vacation Club).

The promotion is:

• $100 giftcard = 1,200 bonus Southwest Rapid Rewards points
• $250 giftcard = 3,000 bonus Southwest Rapid Rewards points
• $500 giftcard = 6,000 bonus Southwest Rapid Rewards points
• $1,000 giftcard = 12,000 bonus Southwest Rapid Rewards points

What will you get for the maximum bonus points? Before we answer the question, let’s dissect the basics of the Southwest Rapid Rewards program. Southwest has a value based reward program; this means, Southwest tie points earning to the amount of money spend by fare class. Southwest has three fare classes:

• Wanna Get Away Class = 6 points per dollar spent
• Anytime Class = 10 points per dollar spent
• Business Select Class = 12 points per dollar spent

So if you spent $200 on an Anytime Class ticket, you would earn 2,000 points ($200 x 10). Redemption is like earning; there are 3 classes and is also tied to each class.

• Wanna Get Away Class = 60 points per dollar is required. For example, if the fare is $100, you would need 6,000 points to redeem the ticket
• Anytime Class = 100 points per dollar is required. A $100 fare would require 10,000 points
• Business Select Class = 120 points per dollar is required. A $100 fare would require 12,000 points.

So the value of the gift card bonus is anywhere from a $100 – $200 value depending on the fare class redeemed. This is effectively a 10 to 20% rebate. Remember to buy it with a mileage earning or cashback credit card to double dip on earnings!

This promotion is capped at 12,000 bonus points; if you are buying more than $1,000 of giftcards, use your family member’s Southwest Rapid Rewards account to earn more bonus points. If you have an upcoming stay at a Marriott brand hotel and live in a city served by Southwest, this is a very good promotion. In that case, you should definitely leverage this promotion.

Information to signup for this promotion:

1. If you don’t already have a Southwest Rapid Rewards account, sign up for one here
2. Then receive up to 500 free Southwest Rapid Rewards for opt’ing into receiving emails from Southwest
3. Go to Marriott and buy the Giftcards

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