Marriott International is the largest hotel chain in the world with more than 8,800 properties across 30 brands in 139 countries and territories. The company’s vast portfolio includes a wide range of properties from luxury brands like The Ritz-Carlton and St. Regis to value-priced properties like Fairfield and Springhill Suites.
For travelers, the Marriott Bonvoy loyalty program can offer tremendous value, especially with a lengthy list of options where you can use your rewards. The Bonvoy program offers several notable benefits including:
- A complimentary fifth night when redeeming points for four nights.
- The opportunity to transfer points to more than 40 airline partners.
- Multiple redemption options that include free nights, gift cards and entertainment experiences.
However, there are also some drawbacks to the Bonvoy program such as:
- Award nights during peak travel periods may require more points.
- Elite nights are typically not earned on reservations made through third-party travel sites such as Expedia or booked through a credit card issuer’s portal like Chase Travel℠ or American Express Travel.
- Elite status is typically not recognized on reservations made through third-party travel sites either, meaning you could miss out on valuable perks and benefits.
How is the Marriott Bonvoy program structured?
Like most travel loyalty programs, Marriott Bonvoy lets people earn points through stays or co-branded credit card spending and redeem those earnings for hotel stays and other benefits. However, a significant value in the Bonvoy program can be found with its elite status tiers. Depending on how many nights you’ve stayed at Marriott properties, you can earn all sorts of perks including free breakfast, bonus point gifts, discounted rates and room upgrades.
Here’s how Marriott assigns elite status and what travelers receive at each level:
Member (awarded to those staying 0-9 nights per year)
- Free in-room internet access
- Member rates on hotel stays (in other words, Marriott wants you to book through their websites and apps, and not other travel sites)
- Mobile check-in and mobile key option
- No blackout dates
Silver Elite (awarded to those staying 10-24 nights per year)
Includes Member benefits, plus:
- Earn 10% more bonus points on stays and eligible Marriott purchases
- Ultimate Reservation Guarantee which promises compensation or alternative accommodations if a reservation cannot be honored
- Receive priority late checkout
Gold Elite (awarded to those staying 25-49 nights per year)
Includes Member and Silver Elite benefits, plus:
- Earn 25% more bonus points on stays and eligible Marriott purchases
- 2:00 p.m. late checkout based upon availability
- Welcome gift of 250 or 500 bonus points (varies by brand) when you arrive for your stay
- Room upgrades based upon availability
- Earn Emirates Skywards miles on stays and Marriott Bonvoy points on Emirates flights (registration required)
Platinum Elite (awarded to those staying 50-74 nights per year)
Includes Member, Silver Elite and Gold Elite benefits, plus:
- Earn 50% more bonus points on stays and eligible Marriott purchases
- 4:00 p.m. late checkout
- Welcome gift of points, breakfast or other amenity – varies by brand
- Room upgrades including select suites, based upon availability
- Lounge access
- Dedicated support line
- Priority check-in and boarding on Emirates flights
- Earn Hertz Five-Star elite status after seven rentals within a 12-month period (normally it would take 10 rentals within that period to achieve that status)
- Annual gift from one of the following: five Nightly Upgrade Awards, give the gift of Silver Elite status, $1,000 off a purchase of a bed from any of the Marriott retail brands, five Elite Night Credits, or a $100 donation to an eligible charity
Titanium Elite (awarded to those staying 75-99 nights per year)
Includes Member, Silver Elite, Gold Elite and Platinum Elite benefits, plus:
- Earn 75% more bonus points on stays and eligible Marriott purchases that could be charged to your room, like dining or a spa visit
- Enhanced room upgrades
- Additional annual gift from the following: five Nightly Upgrade Awards, give the gift of Silver Elite status, $1,000 off a purchase of a bed from any of the Marriott retail brands, 40% off your favorite mattress, five Elite Night Credits, or a $100 charity donation to an eligible charity – Plus, choose a second gift of either redeeming one Free Night Award with a redemption value up to 40,000 Marriott Bonvoy Points or gifting Gold Elite Status to a family member or friend
- 48-hour guaranteed room availability
- Hertz Five Star status without any rentals required to achieve this status
- United Airlines enhanced benefits and Premier Silver status with the airline
Ambassador Elite (awarded to those staying 100+ nights per year and spending at least $23,000)
Includes Member, Silver Elite, Gold Elite, Platinum Elite and Titanium Elite benefits, plus:
- Ambassador Service offering personalized assistance with stays
- Your24 which offers travelers the flexibility to choose their 24-hour check-in and checkout time. In other words, if you check in at 9 p.m., and want to stay 24 hours and check out the next day at 9 p.m., you can
- Top-tier Hertz President’s Circle status
There is also the option to earn lifetime elite status in the following ways:
- Lifetime Silver Elite: Awarded after 250 lifetime nights plus five years of Silver Elite status or higher
- Lifetime Gold Elite: Awarded after 400 lifetime nights plus seven years of Gold Elite status or higher
- Lifetime Platinum Elite: Awarded after 600 lifetime stays + ten years of Platinum status or higher
How to redeem Marriott Bonvoy points
You can use Marriott Bonvoy points in the following ways:
- Redeem for hotel stays. You can do this entirely with points or use a combination of cash plus points. This is generally the best value for your points.
- Redeem for other types of travel booked through Marriott. This includes flights, rental cars and cruises.
- Transfer to airline partners. Marriott has a surprisingly robust number of airline loyalty transfer partners. You can transfer to any of 39 different airlines and in most cases Bonvoy points transfer at a 3-to-1 ratio.
- Redeem for a TSA PreCheck membership. You can redeem 25,000 points to cover the application fee for TSA PreCheck membership. Normally this would cost $78 or $85 depending on which provider you use. Either way, this is a low-value use for your points.
- Instant redemption: While staying at a Marriott property, you can use your Bonvoy points to pay for meals, drinks, spa treatments and golf. The current rate for instant redemption is 250 points per dollar. If you have 125,000 points stored up, you could redeem that for $500 worth of drinks and spa treatments.
- Shopping. Other redemption options include gift cards, merchandise and Marriott Moments. The latter allows Bonvoy members to use their points for exclusive experiences such as VIP access to concerts, meet and greets with celebrities and special entertainment packages.
How much are Marriott Bonvoy points worth?
Marriott Bonvoy uses something they call Flexible Point Redemption Rates, which essentially means that the number of points you’ll need to redeem for a free room is based on demand or what’s otherwise known as dynamic pricing. That means at times of peak travel – like the end of the year or peak summer vacation days – the number of points you’ll need to redeem for a room will typically be higher than at off-peak travel times.
Travel websites typically peg the value of Marriott Bonvoy points around 0.7 cents to 1 cent or more, depending on how they are redeemed. However, you can really stretch the value of your points using Bonvoy’s fifth night free option. For example, if you’re looking to stay in Manhattan at the Residence Inn Midtown East for five nights over Thanksgiving to see the famous Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, it will cost you 47,000 points for four nights with the fifth night free perk for a total of 188,000 points.
The cash price for that same room is $579 a night and you’d have to pay for five nights for a total of $2,899 for the stay. That’s a value of 1.5 cents per point.
How do you earn Marriott Bonvoy points?
There are three main options for earning Marriott Bonvoy points:
- Stays at Marriott Bonvoy properties
- Travel with Marriott Bonvoy partners
- Purchases made with Marriott Bonvoy credit cards
Stays at Marriott Bonvoy properties
At most properties, when you book a room Bonvoy members will earn 10 points per dollar spent and one elite night credit per night stayed.
Earnings drop to five base points per dollar at Residence Inn, TownePlace Suites, Element brand hotels, and at Homes and Villas and Apartments by Marriott, but you’ll still earn one elite night credit per night.
You’ll earn five base points per dollar at Protea hotels, City Express by Marriott, and Four Points Express by Sheraton, and one elite night credit for every two nights stayed.
If you stay at Marriott Executive Apartments or ExecuStay, only 2.5 base points per dollar are awarded, and those points are only for the room rate and not for any additional purchases. You’ll also have to stay three nights to earn an elite night credit.
However, all elite status holders earn bonus points based on their status tier. So, earning 2.5 base points per night could be doubled if you’re a Titanium Elite member, for example, and earning ten points per night could turn into 11 points per night for a Silver Elite member.
Points can also be earned through special promotions offered by Marriott Bonvoy or by booking travel through partners such Hertz.
What credit score is needed for a Marriott credit card?
Like most rewards cards, Marriott credit cards require good to excellent credit. A good credit score is generally considered a FICO score of 670 or higher, so if your credit score falls in this range, you have a higher chance for approval. If your score isn’t as strong as you’d like consider working to improve your score before applying. Keep in mind, too, that additional factors from your application and credit history may also be considered in the approval process.
Marriott Bonvoy credit cards
There are currently five Marriott credit cards available: Four personal cards and one small business card. The personal card options range from a $0 fee option, one with a moderate annual fee, a mid-tier option and a premium luxury card. There’s just one small business credit card.
The variety of card options means that whether you stay at Marriott Bonvoy properties a couple of times a year or if hotels are practically your second home, there’s a card option for every type of guest. Let’s break down the details:
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These co-branded cards have their place for those loyal to the Marriott brand or who want perks when they do stay at Marriott property. However, suppose you want a bit more flexibility with where you stay while still having the opportunity to earn points. In that case, you might want to consider a general travel rewards card that offers flexible rewards earned at a variety of spending types and allows you to redeem those earnings with a wide variety of hotels and airlines or, allows you to transfer your rewards directly to a travel loyalty program.
Additional travel rewards credit card options
If you don’t want to be locked into just staying with a Marriott Bonvoy property, a general travel rewards card that allows you to redeem rewards for hotel stays anywhere might be a better option. Several top travel rewards cards allow you to transfer your card rewards into hotel and airline loyalty programs which can be a more valuable option than redeeming your rewards through your co-branded credit card. For instance, Chase Ultimate Rewards points can be transferred to the Marriott Bonvoy program but can also be redeemed for hotel stays through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal.
A couple of these general travel rewards credit card options include:
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For additional options, see our top picks for the best travel rewards credit cards.
To see the rates and fees for the American Express cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: CardName (See Rates and Fees); CardName (See Rates and Fees); CardName (See Rates and Fees)
Ask the experts:
How have you benefited from the Marriott Bonvoy program?
