Marriott Bonvoy is the program we use most heavily, and for good reason. With over 30 brands under one umbrella, it has the widest global reach of any hotel loyalty program. The luxury flagship is the St. Regis, but the portfolio also includes the Westin, W Hotels, Sheraton, Autograph Collection, and more.

If French Polynesia is your dream destination, this is your program. The St. Regis and the Westin are both in Bora Bora, and Marriott has strong coverage in Hawaii, Europe, and throughout the continental US. Points also transfer to airline miles with dozens of partner airlines. Sign up for Marriott Bonvoy here.

IHG One Rewards

Step Two: Open the Right Credit Card and Hit the Bonus

Before our trip to French Polynesia, we opened the Marriott Bonvoy credit card. The welcome bonus was 150,000 points after meeting the minimum spend. We put our normal everyday spending on the card, hit the spend, and didn’t touch the points. We just let them sit and kept accumulating.

As we traveled, we stayed at Marriott properties when it made sense and earned a couple of extra nights along the way. When it was time to book Bora Bora, we had enough to cover 2 nights at the St. Regis and 1 night at the Westin. We were a few thousand points short, so we transferred a small amount from our Chase Sapphire Reserve to close the gap. That was it.

This is where most people give up before they see results. The snowball takes time to build, but once it does it’s hard to stop. Every free night you earn lowers the cost of your next trip. The budget you just freed up can go toward experiences, excursions, dinners, day passes… instead of the room. Then you earn more points on those experiences. Then you have more for the next trip.

We’ve been shifting our focus from Hyatt to Marriott and Hilton this year because we’re traveling to destinations where those brands have better coverage. You don’t have to stay loyal to one brand forever. You stay loyal to the one that gets you to the next destination, and then you evolve. The status and points you build along the way carry over into lifetime tiers on some programs, so nothing you earn is wasted.

Our Silver Elite status with Marriott Bonvoy got us 4pm late checkout at the Westin. A higher status tier likely would have gotten us upgraded at the St. Regis. The earlier you start building status, the better the treatment you get at the properties, and the more your trip is worth.

You don’t need a military affiliation for any of this to work. The credit card welcome bonus, the hotel loyalty stays, the point transfers between Chase and Marriott, all of that is available to anyone. The military angle just happens to accelerate it because PCS travel adds a consistent stream of qualifying hotel nights that most civilians don’t have.

If you travel for work, take at least one or two trips a year, or you have a major trip planned in the next 12 to 18 months, the math works. Open the card, hit the minimum spend on purchases you were already making, pick your loyalty brand based on where you want to go, and don’t touch the points until you need them.

That one $0 military flight from the mainland to Hawaii was the “budget anchor” for our entire year. By saving thousands on those initial long-haul tickets, we freed up the cash to slow travel through Australia for three months and New Zealand for another six weeks. When it was time to leave the land of the long white cloud, we hopped a flight from Auckland to Tahiti, then took the ferry over to Bora Bora.

The Strategy: We didn’t fly Space-A into Bora Bora (there’s no base here!). We used Space-A to get to our “Pacific Hub” for free. By eliminating the biggest expense of a “world tour” (the trans-oceanic flights) the rest of the logistics (like the Air New Zealand flights or the ferries) became affordable. We aren’t spending more money; we’re just shifting where the money goes.

The St. Regis Bora Bora is one of the most expensive resorts on the island. The Westin just finished a full renovation in 2024 and has the largest glass-floor overwater bungalows in French Polynesia. Neither of those rooms was cheap in cash terms. In points terms, we covered both with a credit card welcome bonus we earned by spending money we were already going to spend.

That’s the part that feels almost too simple when you first hear it. You’re not doing anything extreme. You’re not churning 20 cards or gaming the system. You open one card, you hit the spend on your normal groceries and bills, you pick your loyalty brand, and you wait. Then when you’re ready, you go.

Planning a stay at the St. Regis Bora Bora? We spent two months slow traveling Bora Bora and stayed at multiple resorts on the island. These five posts cover everything you need to know before you book.

• St. Regis Bora Bora Resort Review: Every Detail You Need Before You Book
• St. Regis Bora Bora Boat Transfer Guide: Airport vs Mainland, Prices & Shuttle Schedule
• St. Regis Bora Bora Dining Guide: Restaurants, Real Prices and What to Expect
• Is St. Regis Bora Bora Actually Family Friendly? What It’s Really Like With Kids
• St. Regis Bora Bora Day Pass: Everything You Need to Know
• How to Stay at the St. Regis Bora Bora for Free: Our Points and Loyalty Strategy