The Marriott Bonvoy® loyalty program offers plenty of perks for travelers who enjoy staying at Marriott hotels.
The hotel rewards program could help you score free nights and enjoy a more comfortable experience. We’ll show you how to make the most of your Marriott points.
How to earn Marriott points
How many points do you get for a Marriott stay?
Staying at Marriott hotels is the simplest way to earn Marriott Bonvoy® points.
As a Marriott Bonvoy member, you’ll earn between 10 points and 17.5 points for every $1 of eligible spending at participating Marriott hotels. The higher your status, the more points you’ll get.
On top of this, you could earn even more points by pairing your hotel stay with a Marriott credit card.
Transfer points to Marriott
You could also transfer points from another rewards program into your Marriott Bonvoy program account.
- American Express: For every 2 Membership Rewards points you transfer, you’ll get 3 Marriott points in return.
- Chase: For every 1 Ultimate Rewards point you transfer, you’ll get 1 Marriott point in return.
- United Airlines: If you’re a MileagePlus Premier member, for every 1 mile you transfer, you’ll get 1 Marriott point in return.
But just because you can do this, doesn’t mean you should. All three of these other rewards programs feature more-valuable transfer partners than Marriott. So you’d be selling low if you transfer to Marriott.
Are Marriott points worth buying?
It depends. Most of the time, you’ll pay a premium to buy Marriott points. Occasionally, Marriott offers promotions where points are sold for slightly less than they’re worth. But most of the time you’ll pay more than they’re worth to buy points.
The only time this might be worth considering is if you’re planning a vacation and are just short of the points you need to book four nights. If buying points to top off your account could help you earn the fifth night free, it might be worth it.
How to redeem Marriott points
You might be excited about all the Marriott points you could earn.
But it’s important to keep in mind that hotel points are typically less valuable than those from other rewards programs. In this case, Marriott points are worth less than 1 cent (0.87 cents) each, based on Credit Karma’s point valuations.
That said, the actual value you’ll get depends on how you use your points. So let’s take a look at the best redemptions you could get for your Marriott points.
Use your Marriot points for free nights
This might seem obvious, but the best way to redeem Marriott points is for free nights at participating Marriott hotels.
The number of points you need for a free night at Marriott depends on the type of hotel you’re staying at and when you visit. If you have expensive taste, you might be hard pressed to find such a low rate with some hotels costing as many as 100,000 points per night.
Some Marriott cardholders will also receive one Free Night Award Certificate each year. This perk allows you to stay at hotels with a redemption level up to 35,000 points. So that might be a better way to gauge how much a standard room costs as a typical hotel.
Get your fifth night free
Marriott gives you the fifth night free on reward stays. When you book five consecutive nights, if you redeem your Marriott points for the first four nights, the fifth night won’t cost you anything. But because nonconsecutive nights don’t add up and you can’t transfer the fifth night free to your next visit, it might be worth booking hotel stays in increments of five nights.
If you’re traveling with friends or family, you might want to consider pooling your points together. Marriott allows you to share up to 100,000 points each year with other members. So if you’re a few points shy of scoring the fifth night free, it might be worth joining forces with your traveling companions.
Next steps: Elevate your Marriott elite status
If you’re interested in opening a free Marriott Bonvoy account, start by learning about the various elite status levels Marriott offers, so you can take advantage of perks like enhanced room upgrades, lounge access, late checkout and Your24.