With more than 8,500 hotels and resorts participating, the Marriott Bonvoy® program is the largest hotel loyalty program in the world. Marriott Bonvoy is also known for its popular rewards credit cards, and how easy it is to rack up points for a free stay. Free night awards also start at just 5,000 points, which is a major plus for travelers who want to stretch their rewards as far as they can go.
However, the highest-tier Marriott properties can set you back as many as 100,000 points, so it can be difficult to earn enough rewards for a luxury stay in a far-flung destination. In the meantime, earning the highest levels of Marriott status requires quite a bit of travel, and not everyone can get there.
| Marriott Bonvoy quick facts | |
|---|---|
| Redemption options | Free nights, rental cars, Marriott Bonvoy Moments, gift cards, transfer to airline partners, merchandise |
| How many Marriott Bonvoy points for a free night? | 5,000-100,000 |
| Marriott points value | $0.009 (10,000 Marriott Bonvoy points are worth around $90) |
| How many hotels does Marriott have? | 8,500+ in 138 countries and territories |
| Pros |
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| Cons |
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Because Marriott Bonvoy membership is free, joining the Marriott Bonvoy program is a no-brainer. You’ll get some instant perks just for being a member, and you’ll get the chance to earn points with each paid stay you complete with the brand.
If you’re a frequent traveler for business or leisure, this program is even better. You have more hotels to stay in when you travel, and you’ll have just as many hotels to consider when it comes time to book your points. You can even skip ahead to Marriott elite status just by having the right credit card, which can lead to more rewards and perks right away.
While this value is low compared with flexible rewards programs like Chase Ultimate Rewards®, it’s a very good redemption value for hotel loyalty points. In fact, we value Hilton Honors points and IHG Rewards points at just $0.005 each.
Generally speaking, hotel points are valued lower because they’re so easy to earn. With an abundance of hotel credit cards and opportunities to earn hotel points, this drives down the value of each point.
But when you use Marriott Bonvoy points strategically, you can increase their value.
Marriott Bonvoy points are generally valued around $0.009 per point — if a hotel stay is worth around $0.009 per point, then it’s likely worth it to use them. To calculate the value of Marriott Bonvoy points, use this simple equation:
When you join the Marriott Bonvoy program, you’ll quickly find that the program’s 8,500+ hotels range from quaint to luxurious. At each of these brands, you can earn Marriott Bonvoy points for your stay. The points you earn can be redeemed for free nights at Marriott properties, for other types of travel, or for gift cards.
As you explore the Marriott Bonvoy program and all it has to offer, you should familiarize yourself with the various properties you book with your points.
| Brand | # of locations |
|---|---|
| The Ritz-Carlton | 117 |
| St. Regis | 60 |
| JW Marriott | 124 |
| W Hotels | 55 |
| EDITION | 15 |
| The Luxury Collection | 112 |
| Ritz-Carlton Reserve | 4 |
| Bvlgari | 8 |
| Brand | # of locations |
|---|---|
| Marriott | 590 |
| Sheraton | 439 |
| Delta Hotels | 138 |
| Westin | 246 |
| Le Meridien | 120 |
| Renaissance Hotels | 165 |
| Autograph Collection Hotels | 298 |
| Tribute Portfolio | 93 |
| Design Hotels | 124 |
| Gaylord Hotels | 6 |
| Brand | # of locations |
|---|---|
| Courtyard | 1,323 |
| Four Points | 323 |
| Springhill Suites | 500+ |
| Fairfield | 1,316 |
| Protea Hotels | 63 |
| AC Hotels | 240 |
| Aloft Hotels | 241 |
| Moxy Hotels | 144 |
| Brand | # of locations |
|---|---|
| Residence Inn | 916 |
| TownePlace Suites | 400+ |
| Element Hotels | 107 |
| Marriott Executive Apartments | 35 |
| Homes & Villas by Marriott | 2,000+ |
While the Marriott Bonvoy program has the largest footprint of any other hotel loyalty program, it definitely has its pros and cons. That said, some of the major benefits and drawbacks depend on the type of traveler you are, whether you want to pursue elite status, and how you prefer to spend your points. Here are some of the pros and cons of the Marriott Bonvoy rewards program.
There are multiple ways to earn Marriott Bonvoy points. While staying at Marriott properties is the best option to earn points, there are other options for those who travel less frequently.
Marriott Bonvoy has a unique portfolio of credit cards, split evenly between two different issuers: Chase and American Express. These co-branded credit cards are excellent for earning Marriott Bonvoy points on your everyday purchases. On top of the base points you earn through your Marriott Bonvoy account for your hotel stays, you will earn additional points by using one of these cards to pay for your stay.
These cards also offer generous welcome bonuses, which can be worth up to three free nights or more right off the bat.
| Credit Cards | Our Ratings | Welcome Offer | Rewards Rate | Annual Fee | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card*
|
Earn 125,000 Bonus Points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in your first 3 months from your account opening. | Earn up to 17X total points at participating Marriott hotels. Earn 3X points on the first $6,000 spent in combined purchases each year on grocery stores, gas stations, and dining. Earn 2X points on all other purchases. | $95 | ||
Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card*
|
Earn 60,000 Bonus Points and a Free Night Award (valued up to 50,000 points) after you spend $2,000 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening. | Earn up to 14X total points for every $1 spent at thousands of hotels participating in Marriott Bonvoy® and 2X points for every $1 spent at grocery stores, rideshare, select food delivery, select streaming, and internet, and cable and phone services. Plus, earn 1X point for every $1 you spend on all other purchases. | $0 | ||
Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card
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Earn 3 Free Night Awards after you use your new Card to make $6,000 in eligible purchases within the first 6 months of Card Membership. | 6x Marriott Bonvoy Points on each dollar of eligible purchases at hotels participating in the Marriott Bonvoy® program. 4x points at restaurants worldwide, at U.S. gas stations, on wireless telephone services purchased directly from U.S. service providers and on U.S. purchases for shipping. 2x points on all other eligible purchases. | $125 | ||
Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card
|
Earn 95,000 Marriott Bonvoy® bonus points after you use your new Card to make $6,000 in purchases within the first 6 months of Card Membership. | Earn 6X Marriott Bonvoy® points for each dollar of eligible purchases at hotels participating in Marriott Bonvoy®. Earn 3X Marriott Bonvoy® points at restaurants worldwide and on flights booked directly with airlines and 2X Marriott Bonvoy® points on all other eligible purchases made on the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card. | $650 |
Marriott Bonvoy has a unique portfolio of credit cards, split evenly between two different issuers: Chase and American Express. These co-branded credit cards are excellent for earning Marriott Bonvoy points on your everyday purchases. On top of the base points you earn through your Marriott Bonvoy account for your hotel stays, you will earn additional points by using one of these cards to pay for your stay.
10 points per $1
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5 points per $1
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5 points per $1, plus 1 elite night credit for every two nights stayed
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2.5 points per $1, plus 1 elite night credit for every three nights stayed
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When you have Marriott Bonvoy elite status, you also earn bonus points for paid stays with Marriott.
| Status level | Additional points earned |
|---|---|
| Silver Elite | 10% points bonus |
| Gold Elite | 25% points bonus |
| Platinum Elite | 50% points bonus |
| Titanium Elite | 75% points bonus |
| Ambassador Elite | 75% points bonus |
Marriott runs promotions from time to time to encourage customers to book hotel nights. These promotions usually involve awarding bonus Marriott Bonvoy points. For example, if you register by Nov. 22, 2023, you’ll get 1,500 bonus points for each stay. Plus get an additional 3,000 bonus points for every three hotel brands you explore through Dec. 6, 2023 — all with no earning limits.
Marriott promotions are emailed regularly to Bonvoy members, so be sure to have your email notifications turned on in your Bonvoy profile.
The Eat Around Town by Marriott Bonvoy program lets you earn up to 6,000 bonus points during the first 60 days of joining. To earn bonus points, simply sign up for the program, link a credit or debit card, dine at or order takeout from participating restaurants, and pay with your linked card. You can also earn the following earning rate on dine-in and takeout orders (including tax and tip):
| Membership level | Earning rate |
|---|---|
| Marriott Bonvoy members | Up to 4 points per $1 spent |
| Marriott Bonvoy members with established elite status from credit cards and/or hotel nights | 6 points per $1 spent |
You can also buy Marriott points to add to your balance. However, this strategy is only recommended if you are short a few thousand points for an award stay, as purchasing points can be expensive.
If you need to purchase points, try to wait until there’s a promotional offer. These occur occasionally and can help you get a better value. For example, Marriott recently offered a 40% bonus if you purchased at least 2,000 points through Nov. 8, 2023.
Travel credit cards that earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points let you transfer your rewards to your Marriott Bonvoy account at a 1:1 ratio. Cards eligible for points transfers include:
American Express cards that earn American Express Membership Rewards points also let you transfer your rewards to your Marriott account at the same 1:1 ratio. A wider selection of American Express cards qualify as well, including options with no annual fee.
Marriott lets you transfer points to other members without any fees, although you can only transfer a maximum of 100,000 points per calendar year. Recipients are also capped at receiving 500,000 Marriott rewards points in a calendar year.
Either way, having the option to pool points is excellent for couples who want to earn together toward free stays, or even for family members saving up for a special group trip.
Marriott Cruise with Points lets you earn Marriott points when you book a cruise through their portal. You can earn up to 30,000 points for each cruise you book, and you may even be eligible for special offers.
Marriott also offers its own refer-a-friend program that lets you earn bonus points when friends sign up for membership and book paid stays. Currently, you can earn the following:
Your friends also get to earn points on their end: 2,000 points after their first five stays for a maximum of 10,000 points.
You can also earn points for referring friends to a Marriott Bonvoy credit card with Chase:
Marriott members can earn 500 hotel points each time they rent a car with Hertz. To qualify, you have to supply your Marriott Bonvoy number to Hertz when you pick up the car at the rental counter.
If you are someone who books work or business events regularly, booking with Marriott can pay off. Planners who are Marriott Bonvoy™ members get the chance to earn up to 60,000 points (2 points per $1) for qualifying events booked at participating properties.
Once you earn Marriott Bonvoy points, you can begin strategizing how to redeem them. Fortunately, this program makes it easy for Marriott Bonvoy members to use their points.
Free night stays
You can use your points for free night stays at Marriott properties. When searching for a stay online, enter the destination and date, and select the “Use Points / Awards” option. The amount of points needed to book a stay can vary depending on the date, location, hotel brand and room type.
For example — on the low end — we found a stay at a Fairfield Inn & Suites in Atlanta for 16,000 points per night in November 2023. On the higher end, we found a stay at The Ritz-Carlton New York NoMad on the same date for 126,000 points.
If you plan on using Marriott Bonvoy points in the future, be very strategic about how you use them in order to stretch the value of your points.
Marriott 5th night free
When you redeem Marriott Bonvoy points for a four-night stay, you will automatically get the fifth consecutive night free at the same hotel. This is an effective way to earn more travel for the same amount of points. And this promotion works for stays that are multiple of four. An eight-night stay will earn you two free nights, 12 nights will earn you three free nights and so on.
With this in mind, avoid using points for stays of three nights or fewer. Consider paying cash instead to save your points for a five-night stay.
TSA PreCheck
You can use your Marriott Bonvoy points to cover your TSA PreCheck application fee. But because this benefit will run you 25,000 points — and is only valued at $78 — it’s not a good use of your points.
Other travel
You can also use your Marriott Bonvoy points or points plus cash to book flights or rental cars with more than 250 airlines and car rental companies. Or, use points to book cruises through Marriott Bonvoy’s Cruise with Points program.
Upgrade with points
The Marriott Bonvoy program also lets you use your points for upgrades. Generally speaking, you have the option to book a stay with points then use additional points for an upgraded room such an oceanfront room or a suite.
Marriott Cash and Points
If you’re a little short on a Marriott redemption you want to make, you may also want to consider using a combination of cash and points. Just know that Cash + Points is not available at all-inclusive Marriott resorts.
Also keep in mind that, unlike an award night book entirely with points, you still have to pay taxes and fees for a Marriott Points + Cash booking. To know if using cash and points is truly worth it, you’ll need to run the math for the hotel stay you want (taxes and fees included) versus the cost in taxes and fees for using the Cash + Points option.
Marriott Pointsavers
The Marriott Bonvoy PointSavers program lets members save up to 20% on regular point redemption rates when available.
Transfer Marriott points
You can also transfer your Bonvoy rewards to an array of airline partners, although doing so is generally a poor value due to the lower transfer ratios. For example, most transfer partners offer a ratio of 3:1, which means you only get 1 airline mile for every 3 Marriott Bonvoy points you transfer.
Since Marriott points are worth approximately 0.09 cents each, you would need to get more than 2.7 cents in value for each mile for the transfer to be worth it. With that in mind, you should really only transfer your miles if you’re short on redemption and need to “top up” your account with a few thousand miles.
Marriott transfer partners and ratios are as follows:
| Airline partner | Transfer ratio (Points to miles) |
|---|---|
| AEGEAN Miles+Bonus | 3:1 |
| Aer Lingus AerClub | 3:1 |
| Aeromexico ClubPremier | 3:1 |
| Air Canada Aeroplan | 3:1 |
| Air China PhoenixMiles | 3:1 |
| Air France-KLM Flying Blue | 3:1 |
| Air New Zealand Airpoints | 200:1 |
| Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan™ | 3:1 |
| American Airlines AAdvantage® | 3:1 |
| ANA Mileage Club | 3:1 |
| Asiana Airlines Asiana Club | 3:1 |
| Avianca LifeMiles | 3:1 |
| British Airways Executive Club | 3:1 |
| Cathay Pacific Asia Miles | 3:1 |
| China Southern Airlines Sky Pearl Club | 3:1 |
| Copa Airlines ConnectMiles | 3:1 |
| Delta SkyMiles® | 3:1 |
| Emirates Skywards® | 3:1 |
| Etihad Guest | 3:1 |
| FRONTIER Miles | 3:1 |
| Hainan Airlines Fortune Wings Club | 3:1 |
| Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles® | 3:1 |
| Iberia Plus | 3:1 |
| InterMiles | 3:1 |
| Japan Airlines JAL Mileage Bank | 3:1 |
| Korean Air SKYPASS | 3:1 |
| LATAM Airlines LATAM Pass | 3:1 |
| Multiplus Fidelidade | 3:1 |
| Qantas Frequent Flyer | 3:1 |
| Qatar Airways Privilege Club | 3:1 |
| Saudia Alfursan | 3:1 |
| Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer® | 3:1 |
| Southwest Rapid Rewards® | 3:1 |
| TAP Air Portugal Miles&Go | 3:1 |
| Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus | 3:1 |
| Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles | 3:1 |
| United MileagePlus® | 3:1 |
| Virgin Atlantic Flying Club | 3:1 |
| Virgin Australia Velocity Frequent Flyer | 3:1 |
| Vueling Club | 3:1 |
Other Marriott redemption options
If you have a large stash of Marriott Bonvoy points and no opportunities for travel on the horizon, there are other ways to use them. You can:
With that said, you should avoid these options if you can since the redemption value is poor.
Elite status is a great way to earn extra benefits while staying at Marriott properties, such as upgraded rooms, points bonuses, late checkout, an in-hotel welcome gift and more. Hotel elite status is usually earned through staying at qualifying hotel properties within a calendar year. However, some Marriott credit cards give out automatic elite status just for being a cardmember.
| Status level | Requirements to earn |
|---|---|
| Member status | None |
| Silver Elite | 10+ hotel nights per year |
| Gold Elite | 25+ hotel nights per year |
| Platinum Elite | 50+ hotel nights per year |
| Titanium Elite | 75+ hotel nights per year |
| Ambassador Elite | 100+ hotel nights per year + $23,000 annual qualifying spend |
Here are the different elite status levels you can achieve with the Marriott Bonvoy program, and an overview of the perks that come with each.
Member benefits plus…
Gold benefits plus…
Platinum benefits plus…
Titanium benefits plus…
Marriott Bonvoy Escapes is a discount program that lets you save on paid stays at participating properties on Wednesday through Sunday. While Marriott Bonvoy members save 20% through this promotion, non-members only save 15%.
If you’re planning a paid stay with Marriott anyway, taking advantage of this promotion makes sense. After all, you’ll save money on your hotel stay, and your paid night will count toward requirements for elite status.
Marriott status can be valuable for all types of travelers, including people who only take a few trips per year. However, elite status can be difficult to achieve when you only travel for business or leisure infrequently.
One common fast track to Marriott elite status is signing up for the right travel credit card. You can automatically qualify for Silver or Gold status, depending on the card (enrollment required).
| Credit Cards | Our Ratings | Marriott Bonvoy elite status | Annual Fee | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card*
|
Automatic Silver elite status with a path to Gold elite status when you spend $35,000 on purchases each calendar year | $95 | ||
|
Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card*
|
Automatic Silver elite status | $0 | ||
|
Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card
|
Gold elite status (enrollment required) | $125 | ||
|
Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card
|
Platinum elite status (enrollment required) | $650 | ||
The Platinum Card® from American Express
|
Gold elite status (enrollment required) | $695 |
Marriott Bonvoy is the hotel loyalty program associated with the Marriott hotel brand. Members of this program can earn points and enjoy elite status benefits. When it comes to redeeming their points, they can use them for paid hotel stays, room upgrades and more.
If you live in the United States or Canada, you can contact Marriott Bonvoy at 800-627-7468. The brand’s customer support page lists various contact numbers for members of other countries.
World of Hyatt is a separate hotel loyalty program that is not affiliated with the Marriott brand.
Joining the Marriott Bonvoy program is free.
Marriott Bonvoy points expire after 24 consecutive months of inactivity. However, you can keep your points alive by completing an eligible stay, earning points through qualifying activity, or redeeming any amount of your points.
Marriott Rewards changed its name to Marriott Bonvoy in 2019. However, both terms refer to the same program.
To see rates & fees for American Express cards mentioned on this page, visit the links provided below:
The information related to the American Express® Green Card, Amex EveryDay® Credit Card from American Express, Amex EveryDay® Preferred Credit Card from American Express, Business Green Rewards Card from American Express, Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express, Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card and Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card has been collected by LendingTree and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of this card prior to publication. Terms apply.
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