Today Marriott has announced a huge boost for members interested in qualifying/re-qualifying for elite status this year. They have also reduced redemption rates at many properties for those who travel by July 31st by charging only off-peak rates in some markets for those who reserve stays for next month by the end of June 2020. While elite status had already been extended until 2022, this should make it much easier to pick up a new set of elite choice benefits this year to stack with those which have already been extended.
Elite status boost
Marriott has announced that they will give all members elite night credit for 50% of the number of nights required to reach the elite tier they earned in 2019. This is on top of up to 30 elite nights from credit cards and any you may have already earned and these extra nights count toward lifetime status. Here is a look at how many nights members can expect:
| Status earned in 2019 | Regular requirement | 50% elite night credits deposited in late July |
| Ambassador | 100 nights + $20K spend | 50 nights |
| Titanium | 75 nights | 38 nights |
| Platinum | 50 nights | 25 nights |
| Gold | 25 nights | 13 nights |
| Silver | 10 nights | 5 nights |
| General Member | None | None |
That’s a pretty incredible boost, especially when you consider the fact that having a single Marriott credit card gives you an additional 15 elite night credits. Those who have both a Marriott consumer and a business Bonvoy card earn a total of 30 elite night credits from credit cards. That means that someone who qualified as Platinum last year and has both forms of credit card will already be at 55 nights this year without having stepped in a hotel — qualifying for an annual choice benefit like 5 Suite Night Awards.
For a full rundown of Marriott elite benefits, see our Marriott Bonvoy Complete Guide.
Those who qualified as Titanium last year and have the credits from both types of credit card will be at 68 total nights this year without having stepped in a hotel — just a stone’s throw from two choice benefits.
And perhaps making out the best in this is those Gold members who have both types of credit card, who will get 13 extra nights with this boost. Take that on top of the 30 they could get from both forms of credit card and they will be just 7 nights shy of Platinum status. That is a very big upgrade over Gold as it includes free breakfast and/or lounge access at most brands, 4pm late checkout at most brands, and an annual choice benefit (See: Which Marriott elite benefits apply? for a full run-down of elite benefits by brand). Picking up all of that with as few as 7 nights spent in hotels this year would look pretty good. My wife is in this boat and even though I have Titanium status, I may look to get her those 7 nights in order to ensure Platinum benefits on her free night certificates moving forward for next year. Granted, we currently have no travel plans, so I’m not positive that we’ll pursue this — but I’ll be keeping it in mind.
The only “loser” in this announcement (and I use that term here loosely) is an Ambassador member. While Ambassador status typically requires 100 nights and $20K spend, and Marriott is giving those members credit for 50 nights (and thus an easy choice benefit), there was no mention of a reduced spending requirement for Ambassador status in 2020. I’m only marginally surprised about this: since status has been extended until February 2022, anyone who earned Ambassador status with $20K spend last year is keeping that status until February of 2022 and only needs to worry about re-qualifying with $20K spend next year — this year’s qualification is really about choice benefits. My guess is that Marriott isn’t looking to expand cost in terms of offering Ambassador status to people who only previously earned Titanium and weren’t close to the spending threshold on Ambassador, so I’m not surprised that they aren’t making the tier easier to achieve. I should note that Marriott will also allow Ambassador members to “gift” Platinum elite status to one other member, which is a nice touch.
While 2020 travel has been remarkably disrupted, this elite night credit boost should prove very advantageous for those who also have Marriott credit cards and end up spending at least a few nights in hotels this year.
Note that Marriott reports that these extra elite night credits will be deposited into your account sometime in late July. As noted above, these bonus elite night credits will count toward lifetime status requirements.
Reduced redemptions at 5,500 hotels
For those looking to travel by the end of next month, Marriott has also announced that they will be offering off-peak pricing only at about 5,500 hotels worldwide and no hotel that participates in Marriott Bonvoy will be at peak pricing through the end of July. Both of those things apply to bookings made from June 15-30th for stays through July 31, 2020.
As a reminder, here is the full Marriott Bonvoy award chart:
Marriott did not provide a complete list of properties available at off-peak only, but they indicated that this will be determined by market. In other words, in markets where only off-peak pricing applies through the end of July, all hotels in that market will be off-peak only.
To illustrate what this means, here is a list of example properties that Marriott gave us (along with their category and normal points pricing).
- The St. Regis Bahia Beach Resort, Puerto Rico (Category 8. Standard = 85K, off-peak= 70K)
- Cadillac Hotel & Beach Club, Autograph Collection (Category 6. Standard = 50K, off-peak = 40K)
- The Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel (Category 7. Standard = 70K, off-peak = 50K)
- The Ritz-Carlton, Half Moon Bay (Category 7. Standard = 70K, off-peak = 50K)
At the very least, we know that the other hotels in the same market as those above should be off-peak through the end of July as long as you reserve by 6/30 (and find award availability).
For example, the Cadillac Hotel & Beach Club is in Miami Beach. That tells me that all hotels in the Miami Beach market (likely within the greater Miami area) will be off-peak when available for redemption. The story checks out on that, with hotels like the Aloft Miami-Brickell (Cat 4, ordinarily 25K standard) and the W Miami (Cat 6, ordinarily 50K standard) pricing at off-peak rates for a random day in July:
That means that the W Miami should be bookable with a Titanium 40K choice benefit free night certificate.
In some cases, I noticed that hotels were not only off-peak, but also available at PointSavers rates. For example, I saw the Cadillac Hotel noted above, a Category 6 hotel that would ordinarily be 50K at standard pricing is actually available for 35K as an off-peak PointSaver rate. That means it should be bookable with a 35K credit card free night certificate.
That was not the only Category 6 property available for 35K in the Miami market:
Of course, with Florida showing increased cases of COVID-19 in recent days, Miami is likely not as popular a destination as it normally would be (and cash prices certainly reflect that right now). The above is meant to illustrate how this is working. Note that if you see a mix of properties showing off-peak and regular rates, that means nights at any hotel within that market may vary.
This could make for an opportunity for a relatively low number of points. For example, a Category 6 property with standard pricing would ordinarily be 50K points per night. If you’re able to find 5 nights of off-peak availability, you would pay just 140K points for five nights given the 5th night free on award stays (an average of 28K points per night).
Another interesting opportunity will be for those with a free night certificate from the Ritz-Carlton credit card. With Category 7 properties pricing off-peak (like those in California listed above), one could get a pretty solid deal with a 50K certificate.
Of course, the major wrinkle here is that these lower rates are only available through the end of July. Personally, I don’t think I’ll be ready to relax and enjoy a multi-night vacation by the end of next month, so I doubt this promo will come in handy for me. On the other hand, I’m sure that some folks are ready to head out and with restrictions lifted in much of the country, Marriott is making a safe bet that some people will be willing to begin traveling again. With a pregnant wife at home, I’m not in a rush to be the test case that proves whether or not it is safe, so I’ll likely sit this out.
Bottom line
Overall, this announcement is pretty good news for Marriott Bonvoy members. The additional elite night credits will be very useful for many readers, especially those with Marriott Bonvoy credit cards. It should be very easy to earn an extra set of Marriott elite choice benefits this year. Reduced redemptions for near-term travel certainly makes sense to try to entice customers to bring some business to Marriott and though I’m not personally in a hurry to travel just yet, there will be some savings available for those who are.
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[…] certainly seems to be doing everything it can to swell the ranks of elite status this year. Between giving everyone credit for half the elite nights required for the status they earned last year and some good targeted offers, we’ve previously asked if it might be worth mattress running […]
Just booked 7 nights for me and six nights for my wife at a local cat 1 to bump us both from gold to platinum. Cat 1 was also a pointsaver, so 44,000 points total for both of us to move up. This will make the 6 free nights certs we already have much more valuable, in addition to the 6-9 we will earn and use over the next year and a half. Even if we book no other nights with them, about 3000 points per night for breakfast, lounge access, and much better chances of meaningful upgrades seems like a pretty sweet deal.
[…] to more heavily consider Marriott than Hilton would be those chasing Marriott elite status. Given the status boost Marriott is giving to members who earned any level of elite status in 2019, many members will find themselves within reach of qualifying for a higher tier and/or elite choice […]
Lifetime Platinum – Will the free extended status for 2021 count as a status year towards 10 years required for Lifetime Platinum? If not, there’s another potentially very good reason to earn Platinum in 2020. Glad to hear you discussing this at the end of the podcast.
Any thoughts on whether or not they’ll give elite nights for both personal and business cards next year? Also, at one point in the year do they grant them (i.e. when do you have to be in possession)?
I don’t think that was a response to the pandemic but rather just a business decision of some sort. I expect it’s a long-term change (in other words, yes I expect that’ll continue next year and beyond indefinitely).
You get the nights within 60 days of applying and then they have traditionally posted on March 1st each year thereafter, but this year they posted within the first few days of January, so YMMV on that. It is my understanding that as long as your account was open on December 31st, you’ll get the 15 nights for the next calendar year, but I’ve not tested that theory as I don’t intend to get rid of all of my Marriott cards.
Right. I’m curious about the nights cause I received 15 nights for my personal cards, but I also received 15 nights for my two business cards, which I had closed a few days before. If this is enduring, I plan to reapply for the AMEX business card, but have to get rid of a couple business cards due to the new restrictions, and navigate through the maze of getting a Bonvoy card.
I haven’t been able to glean the answer to my question elsewhere. I have platinum elite status extended to 2022. I achieved this status in 2019 primarily by overspending on the bonvoy brilliant card. It seems like my timing was good. I have 2 credit cards, so i’ll get 30 nights off of those and i should get 25 extra elite night credits for a total of 55. I was NOT planning on spending anymore on the brilliant card this year. But, if i did would that plus the nights credited bump me up to Titanium? I think probably not, but this makes my head hurt….
or, is the only way to get to Titanium to do 20 nights at a property?
thanks!
Nick, I apologized if I missed this somewhere, but has Marriott said when we should be able to see the “elite credit boost” in our account?
Interesting. I was platinum in 2019, dropped to gold in 2020, but asked for and was granted an extension of my platinum status. So I’m currently Platinum with 31 nights (30 from credit cards + 1 actual stay). I’m wondering if I’ll get treated as a gold or platinum at end of July.
We are considering a road trip later this year to visit my 93yo grandmother—would stay in a hotel and visit in her back yard sitting 6ft away wearing masks. The Marriott closest to her has a few individual cottages (at a premium)…so this promo has likely swung my business.
[…] Marriott gifting elite night credit & dropping many redemption rates […]
[…] I am not sure the point behind Marriott’s move here, I guess they decided it can’t hurt their evaporating bottom line too much: Marriott gifting elite night credit & dropping many redemption rates. […]
Please, please use correct English when writing. The word is “giving,” not “gifting.” You can’t always make nouns into verbs, especially when perfectly adequate verbs already exist.
This is from Merriam-Webster (https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/gift-as-a-verb):
“Gift as a verb has a 400 year history of use and means “to present someone with a gift.” Some feel strongly that give is the correct word, but gift-as-a-verb is an acceptable and efficient alternative. Since the 1990s the word has surged in popularity, perhaps in part because of a well-known Seinfeld episode concerning “regifting” and “degifting.””
Amazing article. Great work and guidance , also helpful post. Thank you for sharing it , I would revisit your blog.
Next year – Senator Level. (Lufthansa?) After that – Cabinet Level. Later – Presidential Level. (Hertz?) After that – Kaiser Level. Later…Dictator Level
I thought we received elite night credits from only one card, even if we have multiple Marriott cards. Was that changed back to how it used to be: receiving elite nights for all the cards we have?
Forgive me if this has been covered.
Earlier this year Marriott started giving both 15 elite night credits for holding a personal Marriott CC (either Chase or Amex) and 15 more elite night credits for holding a business Marriott CC (I think Amex is the only CC company to offer a business CC now).
Note that if you have two or more Marriott personal CCs but no Marriott business CCs you still only get 15 elite night credits.
I hope this helps!
HPN-HRL is correct (though I’ll note although it is only possible to get the Amex Bonvoy Business card as a new applicant today, you can alternatively get 15 nights from the Chase business card if you still have it open from before they stopped issuing it new).
FYI, in the first paragraph under “Elite Status Boost” in this post, the words “up to 30 elite nights from credit cards” are a link to this post for further info (we always try to include links to stuff like that for further explanation when we’ve previously written about key elements):
https://frequentmiler.com/marriott-now-offering-up-to-30-elite-nights-from-credit-cards-15-personal-15-business/
Thank you, Nick! I appreciate your help.
Yes. Thank you!
Good: I’ll be at 74 nights with the 38 extra. So that should be an easy 50 and 75 night elite choice.
Bad: seems like lots of gold can become platinums.
Annoying: I’ll be at 840 lifetime nights next January. Which is good for nothing since 600 is all that is required to make the highest tier of lifetime status. Any chance they introduce a lifetime 1000 night titanium level? Gotta have something to strive for!