Big news for Marriott Bonvoy members: if you have free night awards sitting in your account, they just got more valuable. Starting today, you can now add up to 25,000 points on top of your free night certificates. That's up from the previous 15,000-point cap.
Here's what that means, how to use it, and the catches you need to know about.
How Do You Earn Free Night Awards?
You can earn Marriott Bonvoy free night certificates in a few different ways:
- Marriott Bonvoy credit cards — each card comes with a free night award on your card anniversary (not the first year, but on renewal):
- Marriott Bonvoy promotions
- Elite status benefits
What Changed
Before today, you could add up to 15,000 points on top of each certificate. Now you can add up to 25,000 — an extra 10,000 points of flexibility.
Here's how the new caps break down:
That extra 10,000 points doesn't sound like a lot, but it can be the difference between a hotel that's 100,000 points and one that's 110,000 — opening up a whole new tier of properties.
How to Redeem Your Free Night Award + Points
The process is pretty simple and straightforward:
- Make sure you have the free night certificate and the supplemental points in your Marriott Bonvoy account
- Search for a hotel within your certificate's new range
- Click through to the booking page — it will automatically apply your free night award plus the additional points on top
- You'll also see the option to redeem with points alone, but obviously, you'll want to use your certificate to maximize value
Don't have enough Marriott points? You have a couple of options:
- Transfer credit card points — American Express, Bilt, and Chase all transfer to Marriott at a 1:1 ratio
- Purchase Marriott points directly to make up the difference
The Catches You Need to Know
Before you go booking, there are a few important limitations:
Standard rooms only. Certificates can only be used for standard, entry-level rooms. You cannot use a free night certificate for premium rooms or suites, even if the premium room costs fewer points than your certificate is worth.
No change given. If you use a certificate on a room that costs fewer points than the certificate's maximum value, you lose the remaining points. For example, if you use a 50,000-point certificate on a 43,000-point room, those extra 7,000 points are just gone. Try to maximize the value of your certificate.
Ineligible for 5th night free. Marriott offers a great benefit where you get the 5th night free on award stays, but nights booked with a free night certificate do not count toward that 5-night requirement. That benefit only applies when you book five consecutive nights entirely with points.
Your stay must be completed before the certificate expires. You can't book a stay that extends past the expiration date, so keep an eye on those dates.
The Bigger Picture
On the bright side, there is more flexibility and more options for booking hotels. But the thing is, hotel programs usually don't give us these added benefits just out of the kindness of their hearts. It's usually a precursor to something, or it's a catch-up thing to match the points inflation that's already happened.
Is this a sign that hotel point prices are already kind of up there and expected to get even more expensive?