Guide to the Marriott Bonvoy Reward Program (2021)
Hotel Strategies, Hotel Loyalty Program Reference Guide
24-hr Automated Line 800-450-4442
Customer Service 801-468-4000
Jump to
Jump to:
Quick Guide
- Points are currently worth about .7 cents each. How Much are Hotel Points Worth?
- Starting in March 2022, Marriott is transitioning away from its award chart to truly dynamic pricing. The number of points required for any hotel will be different each night and the price for any given night will go up and down. Once that happens, it will be hard to get outsized value from Marriott awards and we expect the value of points to drop to .6 cents each or even less (along with much less opportunity for values above .8 cents each).
- Like most other hotel programs, you can earn enough points for several free nights by signing up for one of the program's credit cards. With three main cards available from Chase and Amex, you can earn even more points by signing up for multiple cards. But you can't simply signup for all the cards in a short span of time—you need to follow a set of complicated rules that Amex, Chase, and Marriott have instituted to try to minimize the number of bonuses they give to any member
- Every year, each credit card also provides a certificate good for a free night at one of the program's hotels. The certificates from each of the "standard" credit cards are good for hotel nights that would cost 35,000 points or less. The certificates from the "premium" cards are good for hotels nights that would cost up to 50,000 points. If you have multiple cards, you can receive multiple certificates each year.
- It can be a good deal to transfer your Marriott points to partner airlines in order to book frequent flyer tickets. With almost every partner, the rates are 1 frequent flyer mile for every 3 points. If you transfer a 60,000 point block, you'll get a 15,000 point bonus (for a total of 25,000 miles). At a value of .7 cents per point, you are "buying" miles for 1.68 cents each.
- Marriott has a promotion available for new members. where you can earn a free night certificate (good at lower category hotels), if you make two stays within the first four months after becoming a member. Wait to join the program until you are likely to make two stays and make sure to use the link above to register (you may need to open it in private / incognito mode).
- Platinum elite status gives you lounge access and breakfast at most of the program's hotels, and the possibility of an upgrade to a suite. There are some tricks to earning status without staying the full 50 nights.
- Titanium members get automatic United Silver elite status.
- Cash + Points awards are almost never a good option.
- Using points for upgrades can often be a good deal, with only 5,000 points needed to jump up each room category.
- If you are making an award stay of at least 7 nights, you can take advantage of Marriott’s Hotel and Airfare awards, which let you use your Marriott points to “purchase” airline miles at cheaper rates. If you are making a peak-period stay, you can use a package to acquire miles for only 62.5% of the normal rate.
Marriott Brands
Because Marriott has so many brands and locations, with both middle-of-the-road and higher-end hotels, many people wind up staying at their hotels while they travel.
Luxury
Premium
Select
You can use their Hotel Directory to search for hotels by location, or their hotel category database to search by country and award category.
Free Night Certificates
Every year, each of the Marriott credit cards provides a certificate that you can use for a free hotel night. By getting multiple cards, it is possible to get multiple certificates. For more information about Marriott Free Night Certificates see our detailed guide.
- Each certificate is limited to less-expensive hotels, based on a "points cap". Unlike the Hilton certificates, you can't use them to stay at the program's most expensive hotels. It is the actual point cost that counts, not the hotel's underlying category. For example, a 35,000 point certificate can be used for a Category 5 hotel during a standard date, but would be limited to a Category 4 hotel on a peak date.
- Starting sometime in early 2022, you'll be able to augment your certificates with up to 15,000 points to book more expensive hotels. For example, you could book a hotel that costs 40,000 points using a 35,000 point certificate and 5,000 extra points. Once this is operational, it will make it far easier to use your certs, because you'll be able to get good value over a much wider range of hotels.
- You won't receive a certificate during the first year you have the card. You'll only receive them after you renew each year. Certificates aren't credited until a month or two after your anniversary date, so you can't cancel the card right after your anniversary, get a refund of the annual fee, and still receive the certificate.
- There are some limitations to how quickly you can sign up for multiple cards and still receive the signup bonuses. You are also restricted from getting the signup bonus for some cards, if you already have other cards. So if you want to maximize the number of certificates you can receive each year and you want to qualify for signup bonuses for each card you get, you'll need to spread your applications out, and apply for cards in a specific order. See more details at our guide to Marriott credit cards.
| Card | Max Points | Point "Value" | Effective Annual Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Currently available cards | |||
| Marriott Boundless | 35,000 | $250 | $95 |
| Marriott Business | 35,000 | $250 | $125 |
| Marriott Brilliant | 50,000 | $350 | $150 |
| No longer available for new signups | |||
| Old SPG Card | 35,000 | $250 | $95 |
| Ritz Carlton | 50,000 | $350 | $300 |
| (Older) Marriott Premier | 25,000 | $180 | $85 |
| Marriott Premier Business | 35,000 | $250 | $99 |
Award Chart
- If there are “standard” rooms available, you can USUALLY book them with your points. Each hotel can designate up to 10 days each year where they limit the award availability for their "standard rooms". Some hotels avoid fully participating in the program by treating most of their rooms as some sort of non-standard category, rather than as "standard" rooms, which effectively blocks award availability for most or all their rooms.
- Starting in March 2022, Marriott is moving away from using an award chart. The number of points required for each hotel will dynamically change, just like cash prices. There won't be a fixed conversion between the cash price and the required number of points but point costs will be different for different nights and the price for any given night might go up and down. When this change happens, we expect many award nights to be priced at about .6 cents per point, but no one knows what pricing will look like.
- As a result, it will be difficult to get outsized value from Marriott redemptions. If cash prices are high because of school holidays, ski season, a special event, or just a busy time of year, award priced will be high as well.
- Until March 2022, award prices are still based on their award chart. Peak and off peak nights are the same for any given market, but the categorization constantly adjusts based on market demand and cash pricing and varies wildly across different months and even days.
- "PointSaver" rates are available for some hotels that save 10-20% off the regular award rates. Marriott publishes new PointSaver options every week. You don't necessarily need to go to a special webpage, Pointsaver rates will show up automatically when you search for award reservations.
- If you want to book a nicer room, you may be able to upgrade an award booking for only 5,000 points ($35) per step. It may take multiple steps to get to the room category you want. Availability is up to each hotel. Particularly at more expensive hotels, you can often spend a little bit extra for a significantly nicer room. It is also often possible to upgrade your room by paying the cash difference between the rate for the upgraded room and the rate for the standard room.
- Unlike most other programs, Marriott allows you to book an award night even if you don’t have enough points at the time of booking. You can lock in any availability ahead of time. You then have until 60 days after the reservation or 14 days before the stay to actually earn the points to pay for the free night award. Note that this isn't available at all hotels.
- Your 5th night is free when booking with reward points. This does not apply to Cash + Points redemptions.
During 2022, MOST hotels in the program will stay within a range of award pricing ranging between their current off-peak and peak rates. For example, a hotel that is currently in Category 6, would dynamically change their pricing between 40-60,000 points. After that, there are no caps or guidelines on pricing. And a small percentage of higher-demand hotels will completely abandon their current ranges in March.
| Cat | Normal | Saver | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | Off-Peak | Peak | Standard | Off-Peak | Peak | |
| 1 | 7,500 | 5,000 | 10,000 | 6,000 | 4,000 | 8,500 |
| 2 | 12,500 | 10,000 | 15,000 | 11,000 | 8,000 | 13,000 |
| 3 | 17,500 | 15,000 | 20,000 | 16,000 | 12,000 | 18,000 |
| 4 | 25,000 | 20,000 | 30,000 | 22,500 | 17,500 | 27,500 |
| 5 | 35,000 | 30,000 | 40,000 | 32,500 | 27,500 | 37,500 |
| 6 | 50,000 | 40,000 | 60,000 | 45,000 | 35,000 | 55,000 |
| 7 | 60,000 | 50,000 | 70,000 | 55,000 | 45,000 | 65,000 |
| 8 | 85,000 | 70,000 | 100,000 | 80,000 | 65,000 | 90,000 |
Cash + Points Awards
Cash + Points awards are almost never a good deal. In almost every case, when you take advantage of a Cash + Points award, you are essentially paying more than our typical value for a Marriott point (.7 cents per point). The amount of money that you need to pay as the "cash" portion of the award is too expensive for the number of points that you save on the normal award cost. In addition, there is no 5th night free benefit for Cash + Points awards. Use Points and Cash Awards to Get a Better Deal When You Redeem Hotel Points.
| Cat | Standard | Off-peak | Peak | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Normal | Cash + Points | Cost per point | Normal | Cash + Points | Cost per point | Normal | Cash + Points | Cost per point | |
| 1 | 7,500 | 3,500 + $55 | 1.38 | 5,000 | 2,500 + $50 | 2.00 | 10,000 | 4,500 + $60 | 1.09 |
| 2 | 12,500 | 6,000 + $65 | 1.00 | 10,000 | 5,000 + $60 | 1.20 | 15,000 | 6,500 + $70 | .82 |
| 3 | 17,500 | 8,500 + $80 | .89 | 15,000 | 7,500 + $70 | .93 | 20,000 | 9,000 + $90 | .82 |
| 4 | 25,000 | 12,000 + $105 | .81 | 20,000 | 10,000 + $90 | .90 | 30,000 | 13,500 + $120 | .73 |
| 5 | 35,000 | 17,000 + $140 | .78 | 30,000 | 16,000 + $120 | .86 | 40,000 | 19,000 + $165 | .79 |
| 6 | 50,000 | 25,000 + $190 | .76 | 40,000 | 22,000 + $165 | .92 | 60,000 | 27,500 + $225 | .69 |
| 7 | 60,000 | 30,000 + $250 | .83 | 50,000 | 27,500 + $225 | 1.00 | 70,000 | 35,000 + $325 | .93 |
| 8 | 85,000 | 42,500 + $440 | 1.04 | 70,000 | 35,000 + $325 | .93 | 100,000 | 50,000 + $635 | 1.27 |
Transferring Points to Airlines
Converting your points into frequent flyer miles remains one of the best uses of your Marriott points. Using Marriott Points for Airline Tickets.
Unlike other hotel programs, you'll receive competitive conversion rates. In addition, the program has many more airlines partners than even the big bank-based programs (such as Membership Rewards). The big drawback is the amount of time it takes for your points to transfer to many of the supported frequent flyer programs.
- With almost every airline, you'll get 1 mile for every 3 points. The only exception are JetBlue and a couple of airlines that have unique frequent flyer currencies.
- But you'll get 25,000 miles, instead of 20,000 miles, for every block of 60,000 points you transfer. The precise terms are that they will transfer an extra 15,000 points, whenever you transfer 60,000. At a value of .7 cents per point, it costs 1.68 cents per airline mile, when you transfer blocks of 60,000 points.
- They have far more frequent flyer partners than any other transferable point program. The Marriott program is the only reasonable option for converting to many valuable partners such as Japanese Airlines (JAL) or Korean Air.
| Star Alliance {United} |
SkyTeam {Delta) |
Oneworld (American) |
Other |
|---|---|---|---|
| United (10% bonus)
Air Canada (Aeroplan) Singapore Airlines (Kris Flyer) ANA (Japan) Asiana Avianca (Columbia) Lufthansa (Miles and More) Aegean Air China Air New Zealand (200:1) COPA South African TAP Air Portugal Thai Airways Turkish Airlines |
Delta
Air France / KLM (Flying Blue) Korean Air Aeroflot Aeromexico Alitalia China Eastern China Southern Saudia
|
American
British Airways Cathay Pacific (Asia Miles) Japan Airlines (JAL) Iberia LATAM (South American) Qantas Qatar Airways |
Alaska
Southwest JetBlue (6:1) Hawaiian Frontier Emirates Etihad Virgin Atlantic Virgin Australia Hainan Airlines (China) Jet Airways (India) |
If you are planning on converting your Marriott points to airline miles, you can use a Marriott Hotel + Air Package to get a 7-night hotel certificate at a discounted rate. Use Marriott Hotel + Air Packages to Get More Value From Your Points.
- If you are transferring a block of 240,000 points to acquire 100,000 miles, you can spend an additional 90,000 points to get a 7-night Category 4 certificate. That is the normal cost of only 3 peak-period nights.
- If you are transferring 120,000 points to acquire 50,000 miles, it will cost an extra 135,000 points for the 7-night certificate. That's still 75% of the normal cost.
- Because the discounts are fixed, the 90,000 (or 45,000) point savings represents a smaller discount if you wind up staying at a higher category hotel, or if you use the certificate at a non-peak time.
If you are already planning on making a 7-night peak-period Marriott stay, you can use the opportunity to purchase 50,000 or 100,000 miles at only 62.5% of their normal cost. Savings will be less if you were only staying for 6 nights or are staying during non-peak periods.
Acquiring Points
Acquiring last minute points
If you do see a great redemption deal on the program's hotels, there are several ways that you can acquire additional points.
| Purchasing points |
You can purchase (or receive as a gift) a total of 1000,000 points per year. Points cost $12.50 per 1,000 and it can take up to two days for the transaction to be completed. Get a Discounted Room Rate by Buying the Points for an Award Night. |
| Transferring between accounts |
You can transfer up to 100,000 points per year to any other member. The minimum transfer is 1,000 points and there is a $10 transfer fee (waived for Gold elites and above). |
| Transferring credit card points |
You can transfer Ultimate Reward points (1000:1000), Membership Rewards (1000:1000) or Diners Club points (1250:1500) to Marriott. We would normally recommend just paying cash or purchasing points, rather than using your valuable credit card points at these low-value transfer rates. |
| Transferring from frequent flyer programs |
For the sake of completeness, you can transfer points from a small set of frequent flyer programs, but the exchange rates are too low to make this something to consider. |
Earning points from your stays
Members earn a base rate of 10 points per dollar spent at program hotels. At Element, Residence Inn, and TownePlace Suites, the base rate is 5 points per dollar; and at Marriott Executive Apartments and ExecuStay properties, the base rate is 2.5 points per dollar. You won’t earn points for stays booked through online travel agents or third-party channels. You need to book directly with Marriott.
You can earn points on up to 3 rooms, assuming you pay for all three. However, you'll only earn elite credit for a single room.
Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Platinum Premier members earn bonuses of 10%, 25%, 50%, and 75% on the base rates.
You can choose to earn airline miles instead of points. But, this isn’t typically a great option, because you usually only earn 2 airline miles, rather than 10 Marriott points.
If you use one of the program's credit cards, you’ll earn an additional 6 points per dollar. This works out as a better return than you’ll get from a general-purpose reward card, but not as good as you can get from a card that earns a good bonus reward rate on travel spending. Best Credit Cards for Travel Spending.
You can earn extra rewards if you are an Emirates elite. Emirates elites (Silver and above) earn 1 mile for every dollar spent at Marriott.
Other ways to earn points
The best way to quickly earn a bunch of points is by signing up for one or more of the program's credit cards. Typical signup bonuses range from 50,000 - 125,000 points per card and you can earn bonuses from multiple cards (subject to some fairly complicated rules. Credit Card Signup Bonuses: The Easiest Path to Free Airplane Tickets and Hotel Nights.
Simply by linking your accounts, you'll earn Marriott points on some Uber purchases. You get 2 points for Uber eats orders of at least $25, 6 points for Uber Eats orders delivered to Marriott hotels, and 3 points per dollar for Uber XL, Comfort, and Black rides. You link your accounts in the Rewards section of the Uber app.
Marriott has a bunch of other point earning partners such as Cruise with Points and Rewards Network Dining. Marriott earning partners.
Keeping your Points from Expiring
If you go 24 months without any account activity, you can lose your points. You can lose your points if you go 24 months without earning or redeeming points. Transferring points to or from other members, or earning points through social media programs doesn't count, but transferring to miles or buying points does. Our Keep Your Points from Expiring article provides more details about strategies for keeping track of upcoming expiration dates and keeping your points alive.
Member Benefits
Award nights count towards earning elite status. Like most other programs, you won’t earn credit for nights booked through 3rd parties like Expedia. You'll earn points for up to three rooms, but you can only earn one elite credit per night.
Rewards Member (entry level)
|
| Silver (10 nights) 10% bonus points on stays and the following benefit:
|
| Gold (25 nights) 25% bonus points on stays and adds the following benefits.
|
| Platinum (50 nights) 50% bonus points on stays and adds the following benefits:
If the hotel is providing you access to a lounge, you are typically only entitled to breakfast in the lounge, not the restaurant. But the hotel will sometimes allow you to have a restaurant breakfast instead. Breakfast is in lieu of points or other welcome amenity. Each Suite Night Award allows you to potentially confirm a suite room for a single night ahead of time. Certificates aren't processed until 5 days before arrival and they are not required to give you your upgrade, so there is no guarantee that you'll be able to use the certificate and you shouldn't expect to be able to at high-demand hotels. In theory, you are supposed to stay behind people who are paying for a suite ahead-of-time, but jump in front of anyone who would be freely upgraded upon arrival. Making Sense of the Marriott Breakfast Benefit
The Marriott breakfast benefit is very confusing. |
| Titanium (75 nights) 75% bonus points on stays and adds the following benefits:
|
| Ambassador (100 nights and $20,000 in spending) Adds the following benefits:
|
Airline Partnerships
Titanium members get automatic United Silver status. This gives you and companion free access to Economy Plus seats at check-in, the possibility of a premium cabin upgrade, free checked bags for your entire party, access to priority lines at the airport, and a bonus when you earn miles from flying. Benefits of Elite Frequent Flyer Status.
All you need to do is to register with the Rewards Plus program.
Marriott also has a partnership with Emirates. Marriott elites (Gold and above) earn 3 points for every dollar spent on Emirates This is on top of the normal frequent flyer miles. And they earn an Emirates mile for every dollar they spend on Marriott rooms on top of their normal Marriott points.
Emirate elites don't get actual Marriott status, but they do get benefits like 4pm checkout and free enhanced Wi-Fi. Your World Rewards.
Shortcuts to Status
- If you have some upcoming stays with Marriott, you may be able to take advantage of their status challenge. It is open to people who don't already have status with Marriott (Silver is okay), have status with one of the other hotel programs, and have completed at least one stay with that program over the past 12 months. As soon as they approve your application, you'll have corresponding status (usually Marriott Platinum) and can enjoy the benefits on any upcoming stays.
- You can earn up to 30 elite night credits each year with Marriott credit cards (without any spending requirement). This drops the requirement from 50 nights to 20 nights and brings Platinum status into the reach of many more people. You'll earn 15 elite night credits if you have one of the Marriott personal credit cards and an additional 15 elite night credits if you have one of the business cards (you can't earn additional credits by having multiple different personal or business cards).
- Each Marriott card also gives you either automatic Silver or Gold status, but this doesn't provide that much in the way of benefits. Silver only entitles you to the potential for late checkout and 10% bonus points on stays. Gold bumps the bonus points to 25% and gives you a small points boost on each stay, enhanced internet access, and the possibility of an upgrade to a slightly better room. Spending $35,000 per year on one of the cards that normally gives you Silver status will bump your status to Gold, but this is almost certainly a bad idea.
- United Gold elites can also be matched to Marriott Gold status. But no level of United status is good enough for Marriott Platinum. Register Here.
- You can also earn Platinum status (without any stays) by spending $75,000 in a year with the Brilliant or Ritz Carlton cards. Obviously that's a lot of money, but if you aren't going to spend at least 20 nights, it may be your only option for Platinum. At a 1% opportunity cost, it would "cost" about $750 to earn Platinum status for up to two years. While the Brilliant card has a high annual fee, it is offset by a $300 credit you can use for stays and a free night certificate (good at hotels at up to 50,000 per night).
Normally, you'd need to spend 8 nights in 90 days to lock-in Gold status and 16 nights in 90 days to stay qualified for the much more valuable Platinum status. But for the current promotion, they've dropped it to 5 and 15 nights respectively. Status Match Webpage.
Marriott Credit Cards
You'll receive 15 elite night credits if you have any of the personal cards and an additional 15 elite night credits if you have any of the business cards. Unfortunately, you can't earn even more credits by having multiple personal or multiple business cards.
|
Bonvoy Boundlesss. The personal version of the card is issued by Chase. Every year when you renew, you receive a free night certificate, good for a hotel night that would cost up to 35,000 points. Typical signup offers are 75-100,000 points. Provides nearly worthless Silver status. 6x points on Marriott purchases. $95 annual fee. | |
|
Bonvoy Business. The business version of the card is issued by Amex. It has nearly identical features as the personal version, except that it has a $125 annual fee. The business card does offer 4x Marriott rewards on a variety of bonus categories, but since 4x Marriot rewards is only valued at 2.8%, that doesn't make that much of a difference. | |
|
Bonvoy Brilliant. Amex also issues Marriott's premium card. Typical signup bonuses are 75-100,000 points. It costs $450 per year, but come with an annual $300 Marriott credit that works on room rates. As a result, the out-of-pocket expense is typically only $150. For this extra annual fee, you'll get a 50,000 point certificate (rather than a 35,000 point certificate), automatic Gold status (instead of Silver), a Priority Pass membership (no access to Amex-run lounges or Priority Pass restaurants), a TSA credit, a possibility of getting up to $100 discounts on 2+ night stays at Ritz and St. Regis hotels, and a non-compelling bonus reward rate on airfare and restaurant spending. You'll also have the opportunity to earn Platinum status through $75,000 of annual credit card spending. | |
|
Bonvoy Bold card makes a good downgrade option from the Boundless card. It has a lower sign up bonus than the other cards and doesn't provide an annual free night certificate, but it also doesn't have an annual fee. Since you are limited to the number of Chase cards you can get, you are better off starting with the regular Boundless version. But if you no longer want to pay the annual fee to access the free night certificate, you can download to the Bold card. You'll retain access to the 15 elite night credit benefit and the option to change back to the regular version of the card. | |
|
Ritz Carlton Card. The Ritz Carlton Credit Card is no longer available for new signups, but you can still get it by converting a Chase Boundless or Bold card. It has an interesting set of benefits that might justify its $450 annual fee. It has mostly identical benefits as the Bonvoy Brilliant card, including the $300 Marriott credit, an annual 50,000-point free night certificate, and a Priority Pass membership. But the Ritz card provides Priority Pass memberships to an unlimited number of (free) authorized cardholders, three annual upgrades to the club level on paid Ritz stays (of up to 7 days each), primary rental car insurance and better travel insurance benefits. |
For most people, the annual free night certificate are more valuable than each card's annual fees.
These card earn higher rewards for spending at Marriott than a general-purpose reward card, but not as much as one of the cards that earns the best reward rates on travel spending. 6 Marriott points is worth about 4.2 cents per dollar. Best Credit Cards for Travel Spending.
None of these cards are worthwhile to use for other purchases.
