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The Marriott Bonvoy® American Express®* Card is the best credit card for free hotel nights.
With this welcome offer, you can earn up to 70,000 Marriott Bonvoy points:
It’s a card we recommend you keep, because each year at renewal, you’ll get an Annual Free Night Award for up to 35,000 points, plus 15 Elite nights per year, counting towards your Marriott Bonvoy Elite status.
With this Card, you earn 5 points per dollar on all purchases at Marriott Bonvoy properties and 2 points per dollar on all other purchases.
Last but not least, this Card comes with a wide range of insurance coverages: baggage delay, baggage loss or theft, $500,000 travel accident, flight delay, hotel/motel burglary, rental car theft and damage, Purchase Security, Purchase Protection.
Like all American Express Canada Cards, there is no minimum income requirement.
The Marriott Bonvoy® Business American Express®* Card is the best credit card for the self-employed, professionals and small business owners who travel.
With this welcome offer, you can get up to 80,000 Marriott Bonvoy points:
With this Card, you earn 5 points per dollar for all your spending at Marriott Bonvoy establishments, and you can earn 3 points per dollar for :
And 2 points per dollar on all other purchases.
By subscribing to the Marriott Bonvoy® American Express®* Card, you can earn a significant number of Marriott Bonvoy points as a welcome bonus.
If you are a couple or with friends, this other person could also earn Marriott Bonvoy points with this offer.
You can then combine your points into a single Marriott Bonvoy account (everything can be done online or by phone). This allows you to accumulate a high point balance (not counting the points earned through the minimum spending required on each card).
Note that you can also subscribe to the small business version of the card: the Marriott Bonvoy® Business American Express®* Card. As part of this welcome offer, it allows you to earn a significant number of Marriott Bonvoy points (not counting the points earned through the minimum spending required).
For example, if you already have the personal card, this is a good time to get the small business version for your business expenses!
And if you don’t have either card, now is the right time to get one (or both)!
If you are a couple or with a travel companion, you can earn a high number of Marriott Bonvoy points depending on the number of Marriott Bonvoy cards each of you gets. Check the current welcome offers to estimate the number of points your duo could accumulate!
Having Marriott Bonvoy points gives you the opportunity to stay in one of the group’s 8,000 hotels in over 130 countries. And there’s something for every budget. For example, Bali is one of the least expensive destinations.
In addition, this program is advantageous and offers you a certain lesser-known benefit. Indeed, if you stay 4 consecutive nights in a hotel using points, the fifth night is free.
Under these conditions, you could get several free hotel nights with the welcome bonus from a single credit card and the points earned through the minimum spending required. And there will be even more free nights with the welcome bonuses and minimum spending from two Marriott Bonvoy credit cards (for couples or those who get both personal and small business cards).
Check at the end of the article our best examples of using Marriott Bonvoy points in Bali (Indonesia), Morocco, the Philippines, Egypt, or India.
With the welcome bonuses from both Marriott Bonvoy credit cards, you could get weeks of free nights (and without counting the points earned through the minimum spending required to get the welcome bonus).
The number of free nights will depend on the point balance accumulated and the properties chosen. Check the current welcome offers to estimate the number of points you could earn.
Here is an example for the Four Points by Sheraton Bali, Ungasan, where a certain number of points can allow you to book several free nights.
Or spend the holiday season in Spain for over a month and stretch your Marriott Bonvoy points as much as possible
Here is an example for the AC Hotel Algeciras for 243,000 points and 35 free nights.
Obviously, this is a theoretical exercise in optimization in countries where Marriott Bonvoy hotels are very accessible in points. You might just as well get only one to two free nights in the Maldives, for example! See at the end of the article our best examples of using Marriott Bonvoy points in Bali (Indonesia), Morocco, the Philippines, Egypt, or India.
It’s up to you to see how many free nights you could get depending on the destination you’re targeting.
But this is intended to demonstrate the power of Marriott Bonvoy points, especially if you travel as a couple, with family, or with friends to combine Marriott Bonvoy points into a single account.
Both credit cards have an annual fee, starting from the first year:
In return, you will get numerous nights in a choice of over 8,000 hotels in the Marriott group! There are over 280 in Canada.
Look, for example, at these hotels starting from 5,000 points per night in South Africa (we wrote a complete article on this destination here):
Or like in one of these hotels in Indonesia starting from 5,000 points per night:
For example, during our family world tour, we stayed in numerous Marriott Bonvoy hotels in Bali costing between 5,000 and 15,000 points per night.
Milesopedia exclusive! We have compiled the 8,000 Marriott Bonvoy member hotels in:
Maps already viewed over 1,000,000 times!
This way, you can easily find the one that suits you based on their location.
Check at the end of the article our best examples of using Marriott Bonvoy points in Bali (Indonesia), Morocco, the Philippines, Egypt, or India, as well as testimonials from members of the Milesopedia community.
A lesser-known advantage of Marriott Bonvoy: the ability to transfer up to 100,000 Marriott Bonvoy points per year from one account to another.
Thus, in our point accumulation strategies, we advise a couple or friends to each subscribe to the Marriott Bonvoy® Business American Express®* Card or the Marriott Bonvoy® American Express®* Card and then combine their points into a single account to book their hotel nights.
As a pair, it’s a good way to earn a high number of points, which opens the door to numerous free hotel nights.
You can make the transfer online.
By booking 5 consecutive nights in the same hotel with Marriott Bonvoy points, one night is free! This allows you to make even better use of the points earned through your Marriott Bonvoy® Business American Express®* Card or your Marriott Bonvoy® American Express®* Card.
Here is the example of the Element by Westin Bali Ubud hotel booked for 5 consecutive nights: it comes to 46,000 points instead of 57,000 points.
In other words, it’s a 20% savings in points on this 5-night stay! Discover the details on the fifth free night in this article.
Closer to home, here are reviews on the excellent hotel: Delta Hotels Sherbrooke Conference Centre:
Enjoy a local vacation to visit Parc de la Gorge de Coaticook and eat excellent ice cream right next door, thanks to free nights ranging between 12,000 and 25,000 points.
If free hotel nights don’t interest you, you can opt for another solution: earn airline miles.
Marriott Bonvoy partners with numerous airline programs such as Aeroplan, Flying Blue, United MileagePlus, etc. For most programs, Marriott Bonvoy points transfer at a 3:1 ratio.
So 30,000 points = 10,000 miles.
And for every 60,000 points transferred, Marriott adds a bonus of 15,000 points, or 5,000 miles.
Thus, 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points = 25,000 Aeroplan points / Flying Blue / Avios, etc.
The Marriott Bonvoy® Business American Express®* Card and the Marriott Bonvoy® American Express®* Card offer you numerous benefits such as:
After one year, if you renew your annual fee, you will automatically receive a free night certificate worth 35,000 points, which will be valid for one year (from the certificate issue date). You can supplement this certificate with up to 25,000 Marriott Bonvoy points. This allows you to get a free hotel night worth up to 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points.
Here are concrete examples of using Marriott Bonvoy points in various countries.
Bali has nearly 30 Marriott Bonvoy properties. For this article, we will focus mainly on properties accessible between 5,000 and 20,000 points per night.
Here is how much a stay of 10 consecutive nights at one of these hotels would cost in points:
These points are easily earned by applying for the Marriott Bonvoy® American Express®* Card or the Marriott Bonvoy® Business American Express®* Card.
Thus, with the welcome bonus from a single credit card, you could get approximately 12 free nights in a hotel costing 5,000 points per night:
If you are traveling as a couple or with a friend (OR if you subscribe to both Marriott Bonvoy credit cards), that’s nearly 25 free nights!
25-night stay = from 100,000 points !
Let’s take an example at this beautiful hotel in Bali, the Element by Westin Bali Ubud (where we stayed):
This hotel is accessible with Marriott Bonvoy points for only 11,000 points per night:
Here are some examples (and our photo reports on these hotels).
The Philippines has 5 Marriott Bonvoy properties.
With the welcome bonus from a single credit card, you could get nearly 6 free nights at a hotel:
If you are traveling as a couple or with a friend (OR if you apply for both Marriott Bonvoy credit cards), that’s more than 12 free nights!
By visiting two different destinations, 5 nights each, your 10-night stay in the Philippines will have cost you between 80,000 and 120,000 Marriott Bonvoy points.
India has nearly 130 Marriott Bonvoy properties. For the purposes of this article, we will focus primarily on properties accessible between 5,000 and 20,000 points per night. Here are some examples where we have stayed:
Thus, with the welcome bonus from a single credit card, you could get more than 12 free nights at a hotel costing 5,000 points per night:
12-night stay = from 50,000 points!
If you are traveling as a couple or with a friend (OR if you subscribe to both Marriott Bonvoy credit cards), that’s more than 25 free nights!
Jean-François stayed at several of these hotels during his trip to India: as you will see below, these are comfortable and particularly well-located hotels.
Morocco has 4 Marriott Bonvoy properties.
By visiting two different destinations (Casablanca and Marrakech), 5 nights each, your 10-night stay in Morocco would have cost you between 80,000 and 120,000 Marriott Bonvoy points!
12-night stay = from 100,000 points !
Egypt has 18 Marriott Bonvoy properties.
By visiting two different destinations (Cairo and Sharm El Sheikh), 5 nights each, your 10-night stay in Egypt would have cost you between 80,000 and 120,000 Marriott Bonvoy points!
The Marriott Bonvoy® American Express®* Card and the Marriott Bonvoy® Business American Express®* Card are currently the best credit cards for getting free hotel nights.
The $120 (or $150) fee should be seen as an investment.
This exceptional welcome bonus should be seized in anticipation of your upcoming travels. Here are our two promotional links for these Marriott Bonvoy credit cards:
Check out the page for the best Marriott Bonvoy credit card offers.
If you want examples of Marriott Bonvoy point usage by the Milesopedia community, check out this discussion topic in the Facebook group.
Here are some examples of how Marriott Bonvoy points have been used by the Milesopedia community!
We personally went to Manhattan last May: 35,000 pts for a night worth $350 US, so for 140,000 pts, we got 5 nights (with the 5th night free), which is worth $2,300! PL C.
We personally went to Manhattan last May: 35,000 pts for a night worth $350 US, so for 140,000 pts, we got 5 nights (with the 5th night free), which is worth $2,300!
PL C.
We are traveling as a family to Europe for 26 days in December/January and we booked 18 nights with our Bonvoy points. (New York 3 nights, Vienna 5 nights, Wroclaw 3 nights, Dresden 2 nights, Leipzig 2 nights and Paris 3 nights). Marie Andrée C.
We are traveling as a family to Europe for 26 days in December/January and we booked 18 nights with our Bonvoy points. (New York 3 nights, Vienna 5 nights, Wroclaw 3 nights, Dresden 2 nights, Leipzig 2 nights and Paris 3 nights).
Marie Andrée C.
8 nights in Louisiana between New Orleans, Houma, Lafayette and Baton Rouge + 1 night at the Montreal Airport Marriott to reduce fatigue and travel for my mother before a very early morning departure to Mexico. Pierre-Luc V.
8 nights in Louisiana between New Orleans, Houma, Lafayette and Baton Rouge + 1 night at the Montreal Airport Marriott to reduce fatigue and travel for my mother before a very early morning departure to Mexico.
Pierre-Luc V.
2 nights at Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel: 70,000 points. 2 nights in London, booked 4 days in advance at London Marriott Hotel County Hall: 120,000 points. And I transferred 126,000 points to 52,000 American AAdvantage miles. Jorge L.
2 nights at Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel: 70,000 points. 2 nights in London, booked 4 days in advance at London Marriott Hotel County Hall: 120,000 points. And I transferred 126,000 points to 52,000 American AAdvantage miles.
Jorge L.
I generally try to maximize the value of points. And it was precisely at the JW Marriott Hotel Ankara (mentioned in the article) that I managed to get the most value per point, followed by Le Méridien N’fis in Marrakech, then Element Me’aisam – Dubai. I generally avoid category 4 and above. Except when I have an annual certificate to spend. Poly G.
I generally try to maximize the value of points. And it was precisely at the JW Marriott Hotel Ankara (mentioned in the article) that I managed to get the most value per point, followed by Le Méridien N’fis in Marrakech, then Element Me’aisam – Dubai. I generally avoid category 4 and above. Except when I have an annual certificate to spend.
Poly G.
Sheraton Dubrovnik Riviera Hotel: 75,000 points for 5 nights! I mentioned it was my partner’s birthday and I received a free night, a bottle of wine and a small birthday cake! Patrick E.
Sheraton Dubrovnik Riviera Hotel: 75,000 points for 5 nights! I mentioned it was my partner’s birthday and I received a free night, a bottle of wine and a small birthday cake!
Patrick E.
AC Hotel Valencia – Late August early September last year. 5 nights for 30,000 pts. With a room upgrade and king bed, and the very friendly front desk clerk even gave us breakfast for two (16 euros each) for free!!!! Alain M.
AC Hotel Valencia – Late August early September last year. 5 nights for 30,000 pts. With a room upgrade and king bed, and the very friendly front desk clerk even gave us breakfast for two (16 euros each) for free!!!!
Alain M.
Three nights in Honolulu next March, five nights in Tokyo in April, and surely more bookings to come for our 2020 mini world tour! Dominique M.
Three nights in Honolulu next March, five nights in Tokyo in April, and surely more bookings to come for our 2020 mini world tour!
Dominique M.
The Ritz-Carlton – Tokyo when it was 60,000 points. 5 nights for 240,000 points. With the upgrade to a suite, we’re talking about a value of nearly $10,000 that cost me $500 in annual fees for Bonvoy/SPG cards. I don’t think I’ll ever sleep in a room/hotel of this caliber again. It is now a category 8 at 85,000 points per night, but if you can get it in low season for 70,000 points, I highly recommend it. Mathieu L.
The Ritz-Carlton – Tokyo when it was 60,000 points. 5 nights for 240,000 points. With the upgrade to a suite, we’re talking about a value of nearly $10,000 that cost me $500 in annual fees for Bonvoy/SPG cards. I don’t think I’ll ever sleep in a room/hotel of this caliber again. It is now a category 8 at 85,000 points per night, but if you can get it in low season for 70,000 points, I highly recommend it.
Mathieu L.
I am currently at the Residence Inn Toulouse-Blagnac Airport…upgraded to a superior room with a welcome gift (a plate of petit fours) – Very convenient for visiting the Airbus museum. Murielle D.
I am currently at the Residence Inn Toulouse-Blagnac Airport…upgraded to a superior room with a welcome gift (a plate of petit fours) – Very convenient for visiting the Airbus museum.
Murielle D.
We are leaving for 18 nights in South Africa in November. 9 nights for 97,500 Marriott points. Value of $2,372.37. Pascal J.
We are leaving for 18 nights in South Africa in November. 9 nights for 97,500 Marriott points. Value of $2,372.37.
Pascal J.
This summer in Italy, 385,000 points for 16 days worth $4,500 plus a savings of $800 on breakfasts thanks to Platinum status. Last summer, Paris, Nice and Marseille. 13 days. 260,000 points plus 2 certificates. Value of approximately $4,000. Then 5 days in Virginia during high season. 140,000 points, a value of $2,200. Mario D.
This summer in Italy, 385,000 points for 16 days worth $4,500 plus a savings of $800 on breakfasts thanks to Platinum status.
Last summer, Paris, Nice and Marseille. 13 days. 260,000 points plus 2 certificates. Value of approximately $4,000. Then 5 days in Virginia during high season. 140,000 points, a value of $2,200.
Mario D.
5 nights in San Francisco, 1 night in Sydney, 2 nights in Melbourne, 2 nights in Brisbane, 2 nights on the Gold Coast! Bénédicte P.
5 nights in San Francisco, 1 night in Sydney, 2 nights in Melbourne, 2 nights in Brisbane, 2 nights on the Gold Coast!
Bénédicte P.
Yes. It is possible to combine a free night certificate with Marriott Bonvoy points to book a room whose rate exceeds the value of the certificate. When booking on the Marriott Bonvoy website, the option to add additional points will automatically appear if the chosen night slightly exceeds the value of the certificate.
The Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card offers an annual free night certificate worth 35,000 Marriott Bonvoy points each year. This certificate is generally awarded after the annual renewal of the card and can be used to book one night at a participating Marriott Bonvoy program hotel.
Yes. Since May 2022, Marriott Bonvoy allows you to enhance free night certificates. You can add up to 25,000 Marriott Bonvoy points from your account to increase the value of the certificate and book a night worth up to 60,000 points.
To use your certificate, simply log in to your Marriott Bonvoy account, search for a hotel and select the “use points or certificates” option when booking. If the chosen night exceeds 35,000 points, you can add additional points to complete the booking.
The certificate can be used at many Marriott Bonvoy program hotels, but only if the price of the night in points corresponds to the value of the certificate (35,000 points, or up to 60,000 points if you add points). Availability also depends on dates and the inventory of rooms available in points.
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