Marriott International

Marriott Rewards, loyalty program of Marriott International, is a program that allows you to book Marriott hotels, Ritz-Carlton hotels, Starwood hotels hotels, transfer points to/from Starwood Preferred Guest and earn airline miles. It is also the first hotel program I earned elite status in which I used to earn the Southwest Companion Pass.

Earning Points

Marriott points can be earned from Marriott brand hotel stays, spend with reward partners, friend referrals, the Marriott Rewards credit card, cruises, Hertz car rentals, and Reward Events.  Residence Inn and Townplace Suites stays earn 5 points per $1 spent.  All other Marriott and Ritz-Carlton stays earn 10 points per $1 spent.

Reward Events (meeting, conference, wedding, etc.) earn 3 points per $1 spent or 15,000 airline miles per event.  Event Planners earn points for each room night when 10 or more rooms are booked.  10 elite night credits are earned along with United Silver Elite status.

Airline miles with partners like United can also be earned from Marriott and Ritz-Carlton stays.

Redeeming Points

Marriott points are versatile and can be used in many ways.  Points can be used for Free Nights, Cash + Points, PointSavers, Room Upgrades, Instant Redemption, Points Advance, SPG transfer, Moments, convert to airline miles, Hotel + Air Package, cruises, shopping, share and donate, and stays at Ritz-Carlton.  The most value for your points are for Free Nights, transferring to SPG and the Hotel + Air Packages.

Membership Levels

Marriott offers four membership levels:

• Member
  • Earned after signing up
  • Elite night credit earned on paid and award stays
  • Complimentary in-room internet
• Silver
  • Same as Member plus
  • Earned after 10 stays
  • 20% additional bonus points on stays
  • Earn lifetime status after 250 nights and 1.2M points
• Gold
  • Same as Silver plus
  • Earned after 50 stays
  • 25% additional bonus points on stays
  • Complimentary room upgrade
  • Guaranteed 4pm checkout
  • Guaranteed lounge access and breakfast for two
  • Earn lifetime status after 500 nights and 1.6M points
• Platinum
  • Same as Gold plus
  • Earned after 75 stays
  • 50% additional bonus points on stays
  • Arrival gift of bonus points, food/beverage amenity, or airline miles
  • Earn lifetime status after 750 nights and 2M points

With a basic overview of the program, below are important items to consider.  You can book Marriott hotels by transferring your Chase Ultimate Rewards points directly to your Marriott account.  Simply login to your Ultimate Rewards account, select “Use Points,” select “Transfer to Travel Partners,” select “Transfer Points” to the right side of Marriott, and transfer the points necessary for your redemption.  The Points Guy has a detailed post from a few years ago that walks through how to do this.

Free Nights

When you redeem 4 consecutive nights, Marriott adds a 5th Night Free on to your reservation.  The Free Night can be combined with PointSavers (a 33% reduction in required number of points) to further reduce the points requirement.  For example, from April 20, 2018 – May 18, 2018, the Grand Residences in Lake Tahoe is participating in PointSavers, a category 8 hotel, and is offering 5,000 points off per night.

If you are wanting to utilize the 5th Night Free benefit, the JW Marriott Hanoi is a category 3 hotel requiring only 15,000 points per night.  Based on the pictures and number of high reviews, I will stay at this hotel on our next trip to Vietnam.

Another property that was recommended in several articles is the JW Marriott Grosvenor House in London.  The property is a category 9 requiring 45,000 points per night.

SPG Transfer

Marriott points can be transferred to Ritz-Carlton and SPG.  The transfer exchange rate is 3 Marriott Rewards Points equal 1 SPG Starpoint and vice versa.  Starwood partners with 30+ airlines allowing you to leverage additional partnerships with your Marriott points.  SPG points are considered the most valuable points and can be difficult to accumulate.  This is a great way to generate more points in their program.  SPG provides a bonus of 5,000 miles per 20,000 points when you transfer points to one of their airline partners.

Hotel + Air Package

The Hotel + Air Package, which I covered in detail in the Marriott Hotel + Air Travel Package post, provides the best value.  The Marriott points you use nets you both a 7 Night hotel stay + airline miles with the partner airline of your choice.  The Hotel + Air package can be booked by calling 800-321-7396.

I received tremendous value from the Hotel + Air Package in 2017.  I used 270,000 Marriott points to receive a 7 Night Marriott hotel stay + 120,000 Southwest Airlines miles.  The 120,000 Southwest miles earned me (no longer available) the Southwest Companion Pass from January 2017 through December 2018.  Two years of a free companion ticket by simply utilizing this benefit!

Conclusion

The Marriott program’s versatility reminds me of comparable airline programs in Flying Blue, Korean Air and Singapore Airlines.  I value programs that allow me to earn and redeem my points in many ways.  When I am evaluating where to put my dollars and loyalty, it is important to me to be able to redeeming points and miles creatively.

If you want to dive deep into the Marriott program, I found articles by AwardWallet and The Points Guy extremely helpful in understanding the program nuances.  Have you used Chase Ultimate Rewards on these redemptions or any others?  If yes, please let me know in the comments or by sending me an email pointswithq@gmail.com.

Thank you for reading!