Depending on how many Chase and American Express Marriott credit cards you hold, it’s possible to end up with numerous free night certificates after renewing your cards each year.
You can also select a free night certificate valid for properties costing up to 40,000 points per night as your Choice Benefit when earning Titanium Elite status.
Redeeming your certificate(s) is fairly straightforward, though there are some quirks worth noting when booking. Here’s a quick guide to using Marriott free night certificates, as well as several ways they can’t be used.
How To Find Your Marriott Free Night Certificates
To see which Marriott certificates are available to you, visit the Activity section when logged in to your account. If you have any unused certificates available, you’ll see them listed there.
In the screenshot above, I mostly had certificates that could be redeemed for nights costing up to 35,000 points per night, although I did use my Choice Benefit from earning Titanium Elite status that year to choose a 40k certificate too.
If you have some older Chase Marriott cards that haven’t been upgraded yet, you might have certificates that can be used for properties costing up to 25,000 points, while the Chase Ritz-Carlton and Amex Bonvoy Brilliant cards both come with certificates good for properties costing up to 85,000 points per night at renewal. Welcome offers sometimes come with certificates valid for up to 50,000 points per night, and some cards also offer 50k certificates when spending enough on the card over the course of a year.
Marriott lets you top up certificates with up to 25,000 points from your account in order to book properties costing more than the certificate’s value.
How To Use Marriott Free Night Certificates
Unlike IHG certificates, where you have to click a specific link in your account to redeem them or select the certificate on the initial search screen when logged in, you only need to be logged in to your Marriott account to be able to redeem theirs.
Do a search as normal, checking the ‘Use Points/Certificates’ box so it displays the point requirements. Once you’ve found a property you like, click ‘View Rates’ to see the room options available.
As you can see in the above screenshot, you’ll see two options – one for Cash and Points and one for points (or free night certificates).
If you click ‘Select’ for the ‘Redemption’ option, Marriott’s website will show you a couple of options: redeem an eligible free night certificate or points. Marriott sometimes defaults to a free night certificate rather than points, but other times it defaults to a points booking.
If you’re happy to use your certificate, continue scrolling down the page and complete the booking process.
How To Redeem Multiple Marriott Free Night Certificates
Another way Marriott’s process for redeeming free night certificates differs from IHG’s is that IHG only allows you to book one night at a time with a certificate, whereas Marriott allows you to book multiple nights.
For example, let’s say you have lots of certificates to use up and want to use them for a five-night stay. After selecting your room, you’ll be provided with that option if there’s award availability.
In this example, I could redeem either five free-night certificates or 140,000 points for the stay. If you’d rather save some of your certificates and redeem some points towards the stay in their place, you can do that by unchecking the certificate(s) you don’t want to use. When doing that, it’s best to uncheck the certificate(s) with the furthest expiry dates.
Marriott Sometimes Redeems Multiple Certificates Weirdly
If you plan to redeem two or more certificates for a stay, keep an eye on how Marriott applies them, as they sometimes apply them sub-optimally.
For example, let’s say you want to book a weekend stay using a 35k certificate and a 40k certificate, with the two nights costing 32k points for the first night and 39k points for the second. In theory, your certificates are sufficient to pay for both nights without needing to top them up with points.
However, I’ve had instances where Marriott has applied them in a seemingly haphazard manner. In the above scenario, you might find them applying the 40k certificate to the 32k night and the 35k certificate to the 39k night. That would mean you’d have to top up the 35k certificate with an additional 4,000 points, which is annoying.
To force it to use the certificates you have for specific nights, you might have to book one night at a time, selecting which certificate you want to use for each night. It’s annoying because when checking in, you have to ensure they link your reservations to keep you in the same room, but it’s better than redeeming points you don’t need.
How Marriott Free Night Certificates Can’t Be Used
As I mentioned earlier, redeeming your certificates is straightforward. However, there are a few features and quirks worth noting.
Can’t Be Stacked With ‘Stay 5, Pay For 4’ Benefit
One benefit of the Marriott Bonvoy program available to all members (rather than just those with status) is that when you stay 5 nights, you’ll get one of those nights free on an award stay. For the purpose of this benefit, though, it’s only available when redeeming points – not free night certificates.
I showed earlier how to redeem multiple certificates at once. That example showed the results when booking a five-night stay. Despite Marriott having the Stay 5, Pay For 4 benefit, that sadly doesn’t mean you only need to redeem four certificates.
When looking at the Summary of Charges for a five-night stay using certificates, you’ll see that one night costs 0 points, but a free-night certificate is still required for that night.
That’s frustrating, and if you’re booking a five-night stay, it might be worth redeeming points to take advantage of the Stay 5, Pay For 4 benefit.
Can’t Book More Than One Night With A Single Certificate
Some Marriott award stays cost significantly less than 25k, 35k, 40k, 50k, or 85k. While it would be nice to book two or more nights with a single free night certificate, that’s sadly not an option.
For example, 35,000 points can book two nights at a property costing 17,500 points per night, but it’s not possible to redeem one 35,000-point certificate for those same two nights. Instead, those two nights would require two certificates.
Can’t Be Redeemed For Premium Rooms
Depending on the property and award availability, you might sometimes see multiple room types bookable at different point levels. Even if your certificate would be able to cover the cost of a higher-priced room, unfortunately, Marriott doesn’t let you redeem certificates for those premium room types – only standard room pricing.
Sometimes you might get lucky, though, and find a premium room bookable for a standard number of points. For example, if you have a 35k free night certificate and want to book a stay at a Residence Inn, you might see a studio king room for 34k points as well as a one-bedroom suite for 34k points. Despite the one-bedroom suite being a premium room type (and probably more expensive cash-wise), you can redeem the certificate for that suite, as it’s in their system at standard pricing. A two-bedroom suite at the same property costing 39k points wouldn’t be bookable, though, even if you wanted to top up with 4k points.
Can’t Get A Refund For Unused Points
Certificates can be redeemed for a free night at any property within their points limit, but Marriott won’t award you points for any unused balance above that limit.
For example, you can redeem a 35,000-point certificate for a property costing 25,000 points, but you won’t have the 10,000-point differential posted to your account – that potential extra value just goes to waste.
Can’t Gift A Certificate To Someone Else (Sort Of)
Unlike some other programs like World of Hyatt, Marriott Bonvoy doesn’t allow you to gift your certificates to someone else. Not officially, anyway.
There’s a potential workaround, but it does involve a little risk. You can add the other person’s name as a guest on the booking and ask the hotel to let them check in. I’ve successfully done this for family members in the past, but there’s no guarantee that every hotel will allow it. It might be that they had no issues, seeing as they had the same last name as me, but I suspect it could also depend on whether the person you’re booking for gets an ornery front desk agent.
Extending Marriott Free Night Certificates
In the past, it was often possible to extend the expiration date on free night certificates by contacting the customer care team. Unfortunately, that has come to an end, and it’s not longer possible.
Summary
As you can see, it’s easy to redeem Marriott free night certificates earned from credit cards and Titanium Elite status, but it’s good to be aware of how they can – and can’t – be used.
Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
Stephen, forgive me if you mentioned this and I missed it. FNCs can only be used on pure points redemptions. They can’t be used on points-plus-cash redemptions.
bro. just curious why no screenshots and more details about top up? u clearly cover it via words. but u dont dive too deep into the concept. also, if u wanna play musical chairs w/ certs on multiple night stays or booking uses wrong cert, u can just call for them to fix. thats way better vs inventory randomly disappearing.
It’s been some time since you could:
“You can add the other person’s name as a guest on the booking and ask the hotel to let them check in”.
That said I have called/app chat the hotel front desk and add family (Spouse/Daughter) -asking them to be added and that they would be arriving ahead of me but they have a Ritz Card in their name, but the same card number as used to secure the booking (award or cash). That my flight would be arriving later (I booked an an award flight to the effect so I can tell them the airline Flight Number and arrival time – then cancel after them adding them to the Reservation ( I don’t this very often only a few times with adult daughter – with no issues).
I have even had third party OTA bookings (not FHR/EDIT) added to my account “so I can track my bookings” – its hit or miss but have earned Points/EQN and received Elite benefits (upgrades and free brekkie – most recently was a Renaissance & Residence Inn both booked with Delta Stays (Delta Biz Gold/Plat $150/$200) one was even booked under my wife’s name.
But we gotten excellent Cash value vs AF from our three 35K and two 85K certs. Planning on referring wife to Boundless 4 x 50K and $100 – then will PC to RC.
I just tried to use one of these a few days ago for a property in Vail CO. The Hythe was letting me book the better room options but it was charging me more points than just the difference. For example, I have an 85k cert and was trying to book a room type that was 90k points. Instead of it charging me the 5k point difference, it was charging me like 28k or something. Is there some additional “points fee” for booking a non standard room? Are you familiar with this? It was happening for several room types I tried, and not all of them were the same amount of points difference…
I have five FNCs which all expire on the same day. I successfully booked 5 consecutive nights within one reservation – checking in and starting on the day of expiration. Although the reservation looks fine now, will I have any issues redeeming the four FNCs upon check out at the hotel – which are booked beyond the expiration date?
I’ve found when redeeming the annual certificate if I stay more than one night that i need two separate reservations. Which means I have to link the reservations and “check back in” and get a new key card the next day. Is there a work around for multiple night stays?
Hey, just a heads up regarding the property you highlighted with the photo in this article. I have a reservation with Inn at Bay Harbor early in October and received this email yesterday. I’m guessing Greg isn’t going to be very happy about them leaving Marriott.
“Dear Mark,
I wanted to reach out personally to share an important update about the Inn’s future.
Beginning October 30, 2025, the Inn at Bay Harbor begins its next chapter, transitioning from Marriott’s Autograph Collection to proudly operate as an independent luxury resort.
As the Inn enters this new chapter, we remain committed to maintaining the quality and exceptional service that brings our guests back year after year.
We are excited about the opportunity this change creates in allowing us to bring new dimensions to the guest experience with elevated offerings, enhanced seasonal programming, and a renewed focus on what makes the Inn so special.
As this transition will occur after your visit, your stay will be unaffected and remains exactly as planned.”
I have a question regarding the 5 free nights or 250,000 points. If i am looking at a hotel thats costs 60k per night over 5 nights or the total cost is 250,000 points because of stay 5 pay 4. Would i have top off 10k per night with the 5 free night certificates or would the cost still be 250,000 even though i have to use all 5 night certs. What would the actual cost be when staying 5 nights?
You’d have to top up the points because when using certificates the ‘Stay 5, pay for 4’ benefit doesn’t apply unfortunately.
However, it’s worth checking the award pricing for each individual night if you haven’t done that yet. If the total price would be 250,000 points for five nights with one of those nights free, that sounds like it’s an average of 62,500 points per night. You might find that one night is only 48,000 points though, while another might be 70,000 points. If that’s the case, you wouldn’t be able to redeem a 50k certificate for the 70k night because you’re capped at 15k points when topping off.
I would appreciate any data points on how long it take a FNC earned from AMEX Marriott Biz card renewal to post to my account. Both P1 & P2 had their renewal hit and paid in September 2024, still no FNC in either of our accounts. Does it really take 8-12 weeks to show up? Is there a way to use them prior to them showing up? My IHG ones with Chase show up even before the renewal fee hits the card. If I want to call – would I call AMEX or Marriott? Thanks for any tips and dp’s.
Call customer service. Mine arrive right after the AF is paid.
I have an 85k certificate expiring soon that I don’t really need to use beforehand. But is there a way to have the Marriott website apply the certificate for a stay (to be taken after the expiration date) but before it expires? Much like a non-refundable booking, I am more than willing to have the certificate redeemed now for a future stay even if it means that canceling the future booking results in the loss of the then expired certificate. Is there a workaround? For example, book a room before the certificate expires, then try to change the reservation date by phone, etc?
You’re not able to redeem the certificates for a stay after their stated expiry date. However, I’ve never tried making a reservation before the expiry date and asking the hotel to move the stay date until after the expiry date. That might work; I suspect your best chance of success would be if the hotel was to process that rather than an agent on the regular Marriott Bonvoy phone number.
Just an update. I made an online reservation with my free night certificate before it expired. I then directly messaged the hotel the following day asking if the reservation date could be changed to a different (post-expiration) date; unfortunately, the hotel informed me that they could not change a reservation made with “points”. Unfortunately, that means the 85k free night certificate will go to waste in the next 48 hours. 🙁
Im guessing the answer’s “no” but is it worth a hail mary calling Marriott to change the date? Interested in the datapoint if you do call.
How did you accumulate so many certificates. I thought you only could receive 1 night from a personal card and 1 night from a business card regardless of how many cards you have. In your examples were there extended cert as the dates were prior to the policy change?
You can only earn elite night credits from one personal and one business card, but you can get certificates on each of the Marriott cards you have.
In the screenshot in the post, that was taken during COVID when they were extending certificates and so I had more than I would normally have.
This is good stuff. I recently ran into another “can’t use” case. Was looking to book a free night at a Ritz and picked a club access room that cost 74,000 points. I’d assumed that my 85k cert would cover that. It wasn’t applied. If I tried to book a standard room that cost 58k it was applied. Someone on FT said the certs can only be used for standard rooms, even though I don’t see that in the terms and conditions. Bummer.
That’s another good point – I’ll add that to the post.
Re: “ Since 2022, Marriott has let you top up certificates with up to 15,000 points per certificate in order to book properties costing more than the certificate’s value.” I wish Marriott would let you top up any amount of points, like IHG does.
Just one data point. I book one night reservations for a multi-night stay all the time. Sometimes the hotel forces you into it (Ritz in Key Biscayne was unavailable for one four consecutive night stay but bizarrely was available for each of the four nights if booked one night at a time). Sometimes I book on points with the idea of substituting out free night certificates as I earn them. I have never had an issue with staying in the same room. I just let the hotel know shortly before the stay and every morning when I go to breakfast, they give me a new key. Often, they even combine all nights onto one folio (which prevents you from calling it multiple stays, which you couldn’t do anyway if booked as one reservation).
Great tips here. Also glad you covered the gifting thing in the comments, but might want to add that to the post since it’s very much a thing about how they can’t be used (without a workaround). Also, small spelling error: pints = points. Thanks Stephen!
Oops, thanks for the pints/points thing – just fixed that. Good idea about the gifting certificates thing too – I’ll get that added in.