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As reported by both View from the Wing and Doctor of Credit, Marriott is planning to revamp Suite Night Awards which are Choice Benefits available to those who earn 50 elite nights in a year (and again at 75 nights). This is potentially great news since the current Suite Night Awards are fraught with frustrations. They’ll also rename Suite Night Awards to… we don’t yet know what, but it’s a good bet that they’ll follow their Bonvoy habit of picking random words that start with the letter B. Regardless of the new name, I’m excited by the possibilities here, but won’t celebrate until I’m settled into a suite that was made possible by the new Suite Night Awards (Blissful Bedroom-Bump Badges?).
Current Suite Night Awards
As things stand today (pre-2024), 5 Suite Night Awards are available as a Choice Benefit when a member earns 50 or 75 elite qualifying nights within a calendar year. These have the potential to be valuable because they allow the possibility of upgrading to an expensive suite on a stay booked with points or cash at base-room rates. Unfortunately, Suite Night Awards are fraught with frustrating limitations:
- Brand limitations: Many Marriott brands do not allow the use of Suite Night Awards: The Ritz-Carlton®, Protea Hotels®, Aloft®, Element®, Design Hotels™, all-suite hotels, Marriott Executive Apartments®, Marriott Vacation Club®, EDITION®, The Ritz-Carlton Reserve®, The Ritz-Carlton Destination Club®, and Grand Residences by Marriott® properties.
- Hotel opt-outs: A frustratingly large number of individual hotels within participating brands do not allow the use of Suite Night Awards. The only way to find out for sure is to call and ask Marriott Member Services or to book a stay and try to apply your upgrades (but even that approach isn’t foolproof).
- Length of stay limitation: You must use a Suite Night Award for every night of your reservation. If you have 5 awards, for example, you cannot apply them to a 6 night reservation.
- 5 day window: Once you’ve applied your Suite Night Awards to a reservation, Marriott begins checking for suite upgrade availability 5 days before your stay. If you are not upgraded 5 days beforehand, Marriott will check again each day up until the day before your stay. If the upgrade isn’t successful, the Suite Night Awards will be credited back to your account.
New Suite Night Awards
View from the Wing reports that Marriott plans to address each of the above limitations as follows:
- Brand limitations: Starting in 2024, the following brands will become eligible for Suite Night Award use (in addition to the brands that currently allow them): Ritz-Carlton, EDITION, Protea, Aloft, and Element hotels. This leaves Marriott’s Design Hotels as the primary hold-out.
- Hotel opt-outs: Hotels will get paid more by Marriott when members redeem Suite Night Awards. Hopefully this will lead to fewer hotels opting out.
- 5 day window: View from the Wing reports that Marriott is “considering changing the current window to fulfill upgrades which currently starts 5 days prior to arrival and continues until a day prior to check-in. That decision will be made later this year.” I don’t know why they wouldn’t start the clock immediately upon applying these certificates.
- Length of stay limitation: Unfortunately Marriott does not seem to have plans to change this one. Most likely, you will still need to use a Suite Night Award for every night of your reservation. If you have 5 awards, for example, you cannot apply them to a 6 night reservation.
Another change that is expected is for hotels to make more room types available for upgrades. Many hotels (of the relatively few that accept Suite Night Awards at all) already do this. The idea is that you should be able to use these certificates to pre-upgrade to an ocean front room, for example, rather than a suite if that’s your preference.
My Take
I’ve used Suite Night Awards successfully quite a few times in the past several years. But for every success there have been more frustrations. In most cases where I’ve most wanted to use Suite Night Awards, the hotel brand was excluded or the individual hotel opted out.
One example that frustrates me year after year is at the Inn at Bay Harbor (pictured above). Most of the rooms bookable with points here offer parking lot views (they call them “quarry view” rooms), but what I really want is a lake-front room. The Inn at Bay Harbor used to accept Suite Night Awards, but they haven’t accepted them for years now. This is because Marriott allows individual hotels to opt-out. I really wish Marriott would make acceptance mandatory, but short of that, the plans to increase compensation to hotels that accept them could change the equation. Maybe the Inn at Bay Harbor will start accepting them again? Time will tell. It’s also notable that Marriott’s new focus on letting you use the certificates for upgrades to different types of rooms and not just suites is particularly relevant at the Inn at Bay Harbor. Here, the big score isn’t necessarily a suite, but rather a full-on lake-front room. As long as I’m traveling with just my wife, I’d happily use the certificates to secure a lake-front room rather than a suite.
A harder choice: 50 and 75 Night Choice Benefit selections
My post, Marriott Bonvoy Choice Benefits. Which to pick?, includes complete details about Marriott’s 50 and 75 elite night Choice Benefit options. In general, my advice has been as follows:
- 50 Night Choice Benefits: If you’re planning to earn 75 night status (Titanium) then consider picking 5 Elite Nights as your Choice Benefit to help you get to 75 nights. Otherwise, pick 5 Suite Night Awards.
- 75 Night Choice Benefits: Pick the 40K Free Night Award unless you’re a glutton for Suite Night Award punishment.
Now, we’re in a quandary. Marriott’s changes have the potential to make Suite Night Awards more valuable, but we won’t really know if they’ve succeeded for quite a while into 2024 and beyond. Personally, my 50 Night choice is easy since I don’t need 5 more elite nights to reach Titanium status this year. So, I’ll definitely pick Suite Night Awards for my 50 night choice. But what about at 75 nights? Do I give up a guaranteed to be valuable 40K free night in exchange for the maybe-or-maybe-not valuable Blissful Bumpgrade Awards? For this decision, I’ll probably wait until the last moment (January 7 2024).
What do you think?
Will the revamped Suite Night Awards make Bonvoy elite status more valuable? Or will we all get Bonvoyed again? And… what do you think the new name for these things will be? Blissful Bumpgrade Awards? Bodacious Bedroom Bumps? Beautificial Bedroom-Bump Badges?
Please comment below.
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The VFTW post concerns me with Marriott exploring selling upgrades for cash to elites. This is a plausible revenue bump, but may substantially decrease the likelihood of free suite upgrades for elites at check-in.
If Marriott goes this route, my guess is that elites would be given a list of upgradable rooms with a cash option next to a “Use Your Upgrade Night” option. I would hope that this coincides with a guaranteed upgrade rather than the inscrutable process of the status quo. (This would also give a better idea about the market value of SNAs.)
As long as the upgrade prices are reasonable, then I’d expect very few suites empty at check-in time. I hope I’m wrong!
Does anyone how how lifetime titanium members will be awarded Suite Night Awards?
Maybe Marriott will offer an enhanced approach to suite night awards. Spend X amount at such and such brand on select Sunday nights and you can use your enhanced SNA for a room that is guaranteed to not overlook the dumpster area (subject to availability – some exclusions may apply)
In some way a rename would make sense. At some properties you can only use the certificates for one or two levels of room higher but not a suite per say. I have avoided this reward because of the difficulty in using them and because of the annoying aspect of fighting to get a coupon refunded if it shows I used it but I in fact did not.
You highlight an interesting point. Apparently, Marriott’s franchise or licensing agreements with an owner don’t require the owner or the owner’s management company to put all rooms and suites into the room inventory that Marriott sells. Several properties exclude suites from Marriott’s booking channels. Not only does this exclude a complimentary suite upgrade for platinums and higher but it also precludes the use a suite night award certificate.
Bonvoy is a train wreck all-around. Hyatt and Hilton (definitely in that order) have simpler, more consistent, and enjoyable programs.
Globalist is JAL business class (nice enough hard product, great soft product). Diamond is generic economy plus. Bonvoy is a standby reservation on a red-eye Spirit Airlines flight from Houston to Dallas (asking yourself, “Why am I even doing this?”)
St. Regis, fifth-night free, is the only reason I’ll ever collect a Bonvoy point.
Nice article. Thanks for the info,
I have never been able to get a “decent rate” to use my suite night upgrades with the Ritz Carlton Credit card. Any ideas here or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Keep up the good work.
Sorry — let me clarify. To use my Club Level Upgrades at the Ritz….
The Club Level Upgrade can only be used on a standard room booking and not a suite booking. The Club Level Upgrade can only be used on a particular booking rate for that standard room booking. The particular booking rate is not available via the website or the app — one must call in to obtain the particular booking rate and the Club Level Upgrade. For practical purposes, the particular booking rate is a full, non-discounted rate. The Club Level Upgrade cannot be used in combination with ANY discounted rates. For practical purposes, the Club Level Upgrade can be difficult to use. And, while people will disagree with me, I find the RC Clubs to be only slightly nicer than the executive lounges at other brands . . . and certainly not worth $X more per night for what you’re getting. If you’re in New York (or wherever), is a person seriously going to forego all of the City’s great restaurants simply to take advantage of the RC Club?
I’ve never had luck either and so I stopped even trying to use them years ago. To me they’re worthless (or worse than worthless because they clutter up my Marriott account)
To be equitable, Hyatt club access awards are also worthless (and actually worse than worthless because they clutter up my Hyatt account.)
@JC You can try to call hyatt and see if they’ll give you points for those club upgrade awards, unlike marriott.
Thanks Scott!
I personally think that even with incentive for Marriott property owners on Suite Night Awards, it will not solve the problems of Marriott properties opting out. Marriott needs to have all properties accept the SNA, otherwise this is a nothing burger and just further devalues the Bonvoy program as a whole.
The Marriott at the Detroit airport is a great example. The property has suites but you can’t book the suites through any of Marriott’s booking channels. This means the suites are never available for an upgrade, both complimentary as a platinum or higher and with suite night award certificates.
There are countless other properties that do this.
View from the Wing has even documented how one major franchiser has put the suites only on Airbnb.
Thanks for sharing.
Personally, I prefer Hyatt (best in class) and Hilton (Ease for elite status) versus Marriott. Marriott has great specific properties, but as a loyalty program they make it very difficult for elite members to maximize benefits
Hyatt isn’t a realistic alternative to Marriott because there are too many markets in the United States without any Hyatt properties. If there is a Hyatt-flagged property, it’s almost always a dumpy Hyatt Place.
In the markets where Hyatt is strong they are only better because Hyatt, unlike Marriott or IHG, still operates the majority of full-service properties within its system. That is starting to change with all these Hyatt additions that seem to be mostly all-inclusive resorts or licensed JdV properties in Europe. But still, at the end of the day, Hyatt manages way more Hyatt Regency, Grand Hyatt and Park Hyatt properties than Marriott manages Marriott, Renaissance, Sheraton, JW Marriott, Westin, Autograph Collection, Luxury Collection, Edition, W, and Ritz-Carlton. The only brands that Marriott almost always manages are Edition, Ritz-Carlton and W. For example, I believe there are only three licensed or franchised Ritz-Carlton properties: Chicago, Montreal and Kuala Lumpur.
Ignoring Hyatt’s bad footprint, Marriott is better than Hyatt because key Marriott elite status benefits have a $100 compensation guarantee. I’ve never had a problem not collecting. Hyatt doesn’t have a comparable benefit.
Agreed. Although Hyatt has a smaller global footprint vs Marriott, Hyatt manages their properties much more efficiently than Marriott. Thus much more consistent as a hotel brand and loyalty program.
My only gripe with Hyatt that unless you are Globalist, there is a black hole on benefits for the other elite tiers (Explorist and Discoverist). I wish they would improve that.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve stayed in all types of Marriott properties (From Courtyards and Sheratons to Disney Swan/Dolphin properties to JW Marriott). Inconsistent, hit and miss for the most part.
For me I like Hilton (Diamond member) because you get the best of everything – strong global footprint, F&B credit for Elite members, and you know what you’re getting, whether staying at a Hampton Inn or Waldorf Astoria.
I don’t think Marriott can really be considered a chain or brand anymore. It’s really just a booking platform for hotels; some of which are through legacy agreements operated by Marriott itself.
Agreed. Well said.
100% this. Marriott’s “great footprint” is just an overgrown, unmanageable footprint of inconsistencies.
You’re on fire today. Well stated. I’m globalist and I agree with this. Were I not globalist Hilton would be my first choice for the reasons you stated.
Thanks JC
Marriott is an incredibly old and wildly oversized ship that is falling apart.
Why does Bonvoy need that “guarantee”. People don’t have faith the’ll receive program entitlements due to the smoke and mirrors flow chart that is Bonvoy benefits (and then properties “opt out” without notice.) Marriott’s response was that silly “guarantee” that neither Hilton nor Hyatt need.
Hyatt’s footprint works well for almost every major US market (and many international markets). Consolidation has often meant that Marriott and Hilton just have grander numbers by having redundant properties (dozens of properties in the same market vs. a few.)
I don’t disagree that Marriott has challenges. But it’s hardly falling apart judging by the number of pipelined properties it has in the works.
I do think Marriott’s biggest challenge may be the U.S. market.
What happens to all those mediocre old Marriott, Sheraton, Westin and Renaissance properties in big cities that still haven’t recovered from the pandemic? Chicago, Cleveland, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Seattle come to mind. I don’t how that newish Ritz-Carlton in Portland is going to make money. Opening a 5-star hotel in Portland right now seems really foolish.
Then there are all the Courtyard, Marriott, Residence Inn, and Sheraton built around suburban office parks — office parks that right now are struggling to hit 50% occupancy because of remote work.
I also wouldn’t like to be the owner of an existing Marriott resort competing against all the new all-inclusive Marriott resorts coming online.
But at the end of the day, the $100 guarantee is meaningful. It’s a huge benefit for customers.
I also disagree with you that Hyatt has a presence in most major U.S. markets.
Detroit, Grand Rapids, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Ottawa, Quebec City, Montreal, Boise, Bozeman, Colorado Springs, Spokane, Omaha, Nashville, Charlotte, Tampa, New Orleans, Fort Lauderdale, Miami Beach, Cincinnati, and San Juan are all markets in the United States and Canada that either (a) lack a full-service Hyatt brand property or (b) need a second full-service Hyatt brand property. And those are just places that come to mind. I’m sure I could easily find other markets.
Sounds like Hyatt doesn’t meet your unique needs in those specific markets.
I can’t imagine trading my concierge, annual suite upgrade awards, and full breakfasts for a better Bonvoy footprint in lower markets. Fortunately, we both have options to serve our specific travel goals so we both win.
I’ve had the highest status with all three at various times over my decades of frequent travel. Globalist continues to provide me with the most enjoyable, least stressful experience, by far, of the three so I’ll continue to roll with Globalist. If Bonvoy does the same for you then that’s terrific for you!
Can’t research this for every market you stated but I recently stayed in Nashville and New Orleans.
In Nashville, the Thompson (FABULOUS restaurant/bar/breakfast) and Holston House (downtown) are great properties with terrific locations and bars. There’s also the Grand Hyatt right in downtown with an executive lounge.
I also stayed recently at the Eliza Jane in New Orleans. Great property! There’s also the Centric and Regency.
The idea that Hyatt’s map is limited is more or less an outdated cliche, in my experience…from someone who stays at Hyatts often.
I said some of those markets had no full-service Hyatt property and others had only a limited service. Look at Pittsburgh. One full-service. A dumpy Hyatt Regency at the airport. That’s it. Miami Beach doesn’t have a Hyatt Regency. Other cities like New Orleans, you’d expect a Park Hyatt.
I’m not going to take the time for each city but I go to Miami often (plenty of full service properties) and I just stayed in Nashville (at least three full service properties, maybe four). Your data is inaccurate or maybe just old. You might be missing out if you’re using old data?
If Hyatt doesn’t work for you, that’s ok.
I travel to nice places where Hyatt most often works for me. If there’s not a Hyatt, I happily chose Hilton (Diamond). I have enough stays to keep Globalist. Maybe you don’t have enough stays to do that…I don’t know.
Both chains are consistent and I don’t have to quote the T&Cs to the property and fight for benefits. Marriott properties were so incredibly bad about not recognizing status and benefits that corporate had to put a $100 punishment in place if they kept doing it (and spun it to customers as a benefit).
If having a dedicated concierge (shout out to Alice), legit free breakfast for four (including tip), and at least four SUAs (that work at booking, for the entire stay) don’t hold value to you then keep rocking the Marriott flow chart and that $100 guarantee that if the property screws you out of a benefit then you get to fight them for the $100 (OMATT has a good article about having to do that. Read the comments section. The stories about Marriott properties screwing people out of benefits and saying no to the $100 is terrible. I’ve never had that at a Hyatt or Hilton.)
To be clear, Hyatt is NOT perfect and I have my WOH beefs (club “awards” and games some properties play with award nights). Also, I don’t care where anyone else stays. Competition is good.
I do want Bonvoy to stop Bonvoying people so there is legit competition in this space to keep Hyatt and Hilton honest. Right now, Bonvoy as a program is convoluted and lackluster.
Completely agree with you on competition. It would be nice if Marriott would step up to provide better elite program competition with Hyatt and Hilton. I’m not sure how much they will though as they seem to be able to rest largely on their enormous hotel portfolio (with many desirable properties) and their corporate agreements. Marriott is extremely popular with the executive staff of the company I work at because of negotiated rates in all of our service areas, some at rather nice JW and Westin properties, and their desirable hotels in travel destinations they can burn those accumulated points at. It’s clearly working with a lucrative market segment so I’m not sure if there is enough incentive for Marriott to make big changes.
I’m going to disagree on Hyatt’s small footprint being an outdated belief though. They are largely a big city focused brand and even there have some odd gaps. My work and personal travel tend to be in more small to mid-sized cities so I’ve noticed it when considering jumping to Hyatt for my stays. One actual hotel in all of Tucson, won’t have a hotel in Flagstaff until 2024, basically no options around major US national parks like Grand Canyon, Yosemite, and Yellowstone. There are a combined 3 Hyatts in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming. Their Canadian footprint is particularly small – 19 Hyatts across the whole country, and major cities like Edmonton and Vancouver have a single Hyatt despite being metro areas with over a million people. Austin, TX alone has 14 Hyatts for comparison. It makes it hard to earn enough elite nights for Hyatt to be worth staying loyal to if your work is not confined to major urban cities.
I wish Hyatt had more coverage so I could consider them. They have great reviews of service overall and I’ve liked the few properties I’ve stayed at (Manchester Grand in San Diego was great!). But that’s not going to fit their business model, so Marriott needs to fix their program so I can have less FOMO.
Agreed. Marriott’s portfolio is incredible and unequaled. They have many, wonderful properties! I have a particular affinity for St. Regis. When Bonvoy points are low hanging fruit I’ll collect them just for a St. Regis getaway.
Hyatt’s footprint doesn’t hold a candle to Marriott’s. That’s probably why the WOH program *has* to be that much better than Bonvoy (to compete with that monstrous footprint.)
That said, Hyatt’s footprint is good enough for my travel to earn globalist without feeling like I’m missing out on a decent stay in markets I frequent. There are definitely times I wish the footprint had better coverage (specifically Quebec City, Banff, and Copenhagen.) However, I prefer the combo of Hyatt’s footprint and loyalty program over Marriott’s footprint and Bonvoy. Not everyone is in the same boat as me and I understand that.
Hopefully Hyatt will continue to increase their footprint (which they have been doing) without watering down the loyalty perks. Bonvoy was just not enjoyable for me as an end user. Marriott’s footprint isn’t good enough to treat customers that way, IMHO. A Hyatt/Hilton combo is nicer alternative for me.
Disagree. Plenty of Hyatt full-service brand properties in Miami and Miami Beach (HR, Hyatt House, Hyatt Centric, The Confidante, etc.)
Hyatt House is not a full-service brand. Hyatt Centric is hardly a competitor to big full-service brands like Sheraton, Westin, Renaissance, JW Marriott, Marriott, Intercontinental, Hilton, etc.
Why does Centric need to be a competitor to “big brands”? It isn’t trying to be. Centric is a (full-service) boutique brand with terrific locations in great cities (like Tokyo, Park City, Miami, Nashville, New Orleans, etc.)
Attempting to frame the Hyatt footprint in a poor light doesn’t improve the Bonvoy experience. It’s ok to just enjoy Marriott if that’s what you prefer. Marriott has some nice properties, but I found the Bonvoy experience failed to meet my expectations so I moved on to something I find to be far nicer for me.
My family is grateful I did! Those jokers have been spoiled staying in suites and getting whatever they want for breakfast. To each their own.
You nailed it.
SNAs will not be more bountiful. No amount of change that Marriott makes will alter what happens at specific properties. For fear that it will lose a property as a revenue source, it will not enforce benefits earned by loyalty program members.
Imagine trying to use SNAs at a particular property and, in spite of “regular” suites being shown as available, a suite upgrade is not granted. Now imagine arriving at that particular property and, in spite of “regular” suites still being shown as available, a suite upgrade is not granted via the tier status benefit. Further imagine identifying the availability to the hotel manager, who then says, “Well, we’re simply not going to give you a suite.” You could pay for the upgrade but you were not getting one as the result of a benefit. This scenario happened on more than one occasion and, as a result, I stopped selecting SNAs as a choice award.
FYI: Accor has something similar to SNAs except an upgrade is confirmed at the time of booking.
The Marriott at the Detroit airport is a great example. The property has suites but you can’t book the suites through any of Marriott’s booking channels. This means the suites are never available for an upgrade, both complimentary as a platinum or higher and with suite night award certificates.
There are countless other properties that do this.
View from the Wing has even documented how one major franchiser has put the suites only on Airbnb.
Similar scenario at the JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn on my recent first ever stay as a Platinum, 2 nights in early Summer with P2 so not busy season. Submitted a SNA for a couple different room types, they did not go through. Checking in I received an upgrade to a Deluxe Casita (next room class up) from status but not a suite or even a second floor View or Sundeck room which is what I was most interested in. Funny thing is I know they had them available because those room types were directly above us for our stay – in our building of 10 or 12 rooms only 2 were occupied for the weekend. And you could see multiple of the same rooms empty in other buildings around the property as well.
I don’t want to poo poo them too much, the staff service there was really good and they had an excellent Platinum breakfast buffet with a small up charge for made to order omelets. Our Deluxe room was nice and not getting upgraded high enough is first world problems. But it’s their benefits program they advertise… Marriott makes sure to Bonvoy you early on to set expectations.
I would much rather Marriott change the elite benefits to have some real, tangible differences between platinum and titanium and titanium, and ambassador. With the exception of a dedicated concierge agent, there is really no substantive difference between platinum and ambassador.
Also, I would like for them to fix the breakfast benefit. Giving free breakfast at most properties across all brands has to be cheaper for hotel owners and operators than giving me an upgrade to the presidential suite.
Totally agree, especially about the breakfast benefit.
Wow didn’t know Marriotts suite upgrades were that bad. As a Globalist every suite upgrade I requested I was granted at booking with Hyatt and each certificate is good for the entire length of stay. It’s been great for traveling with the family. When I’m traveling for work I don’t really care about a suite upgrade but I’ve gotten a couple without using any certificates. Footprint is not as big but it works for me.
Same here. I just booked five nights at the Park Hyatt Kyoto in the Park Suite. Cash rate is $3k/night, but I’m using 40k points/night and one of my five SUAs. I’m traveling with family so a guaranteed suite holds incredible value when planning a trip.
Guaranteed suites at time of booking are unmatched in any other program and enable group travel that doesn’t exist with any other program. I’d rather have a guaranteed suite than a $100 guarantee or $25 credit LOL. It’s not even close.
Yeah the credit is a joke as it rarely covers the whole thing. I just stayed at the Hyatt in HB breakfast would have been $100 but was taken off the bill at checkout including the tip I added to the bill! No stupid resort fees or $35 per night valet fees. Only thing I paid for was the pool side food service and fancy steak dinner. I hope they never go the free top tier status for a CC like Hilton. The Aspire card was great when it first launched now diamonds are a dime a dozen and the hotels have caught on. Last stay at the Hilton next door to the Hyatt I seemed more of an inconvenience than a diamond. No upgrade still paid all the fees and no late checkout. Not much better than a gold to be honest.
Every program has pros/cons. I’ll take less property options in lower tier cities, and getting suites/breakfast at nice properties in tier 1 cities. Suites and breakfast are gold for a traveling family of four. We travel to cool cities together, not Cleveland.
If Hyatt’s footprint doesn’t work for someone else then they should do what’s best for them. The Hyatt footprint works for me enough of the time to easily make it worth it. Besides, sometimes I do stay at a St. Regis (Bahia PR is under-heralded IMHO) or a Waldorf (In Cabo, Pedregal is everything the blogs say it is & Park City has been generous with upgrades.)
Overall, for my family of four, securing a suite and full, nice breakfasts in NYC, Carmel, Aruba, Papagayo, Paris, Tokyo, Kyoto, etc., etc. holds significantly more value to me than having more options on a business trip to Omaha or Boise. If I don’t want to stay at a Hyatt Place in Boise, then I don’t. (Sidenote, check out the Hyatt Place in Kyoto – pretty nice.) When it comes to actually using perks and program benefits, I don’t want to have to use a flow chart. I don’t want the anxiety of wondering if my family are going to be on top of one another. I do want a suite and nice breakfast before we head out for the day.
Funnily enough Cleveland has the Hyatt Regency at The Arcade which is a pretty unique looking property in a great location for seeing the major attractions and sports events in Cleveland. Hyatt doesn’t have a ton of historical properties so it is one that has stuck out as one to try if I make a trip out there.
Ha! Truthfully, Cleveland is a fine city and I shouldn’t have been so snarky about it. I’m incredibly fortunate to most often travel to places that have beaches, mountains, or are incredible cities (like Tokyo.) Cleveland is a fine place, just not a place I go to (but maybe I should?)
What fees? Resort + Destination fee waived for Diamond members points reservation.
SNAs can also deliver enormous value when they hit at the right property. I’ve had incredible success at high end Luxury Collection and St. Regis properties.
Like many things in points and miles, SNAs get ripped up by bloggers as they seem to suffer from group think – just look at all of the similar articles bloggers post in sequence.
SNAs aren’t perfect, but they can be a great tool.
[…] Read More: Marriott to enhance and rename Suite Night Awards (bodacious bedroom bumps?) […]
The 50 ENC choice might become a little more difficult now, but for me, I’d still always take the near guaranteed value of a 40K cert over the chance to get an upgrade. A bird in the hand. We’ll see if this change to the SNA mechanism has any real impact when it goes into effect.
Stick with the certificate.
Sucks the cert is just for a chance to upgrade and not a guaranteed upgrade.