Understanding the program and knowing how to earn Marriott Bonvoy points during your stays can lead to free nights, status room upgrades, and many other benefits like free breakfasts.
In this guide, we detail how to calculate and earn Marriott Bonvoy points whether you’re a frequent traveller, a world adventurer, or simply someone who enjoys a comfortable hotel stay.
The Marriott Bonvoy Rewards Program offers its members the opportunity to earn points by staying at participating hotels in the Marriott international network. These points can be exchanged for free nights, exclusive experiences and other rewards.
To earn Marriott Bonvoy points, you must be a member of the loyalty program. Simply visit the Marriott website to register.
Every time you stay at a Marriott hotel, you earn points based on different criteria:
You don’t need to plan a hotel stay to see your Marriott Bonvoy points balance increase. There are many clever ways to earn these valuable points during your daily activities, including taking advantage of the dining options and other services offered by Marriott hotels.
Did you know that a meal or simply a coffee in one of the restaurants located in Marriott establishments can earn you points? For every dollar you spend at participating Marriott hotel restaurants and bars, even if you’re not staying there, you can earn points. Just be sure to present your membership number when paying the bill.
Lloyd’s Restaurant & Bar in Montreal’s Marriott Champlain Hotel is a well-known venue for the Milesopedia community, having hosted several events. Don’t forget your American Express credit card co-branded with Marriott Bonvoy in the next 5 à 7!
In addition to food and beverage, other services offered by Marriott hotels can contribute to your points pool. These services can include spa, golf, and other leisure activities available at the facilities. Again, don’t forget to provide your membership number when using these services.
There are recurring promotions to purchase Marriott Bonvoy points. Do you have American Express Membership Rewards points instead? You can convert them into Marriott Bonvoy points and take advantage of this yearly transfer promotion.
This can be advantageous in certain situations where you are short of points for a stay, or if you are using your points at a higher value than you paid for them.
You can earn between 2X and 5X Marriott Bonvoy points on your Marriott Bonvoy® American Express®* and Marriott Bonvoy® Corporate American Express®* Card purchases, plus start your points adventure with great welcome bonuses!
To calculate the points you’ll earn on a stay, take into account your room rate per night, eligible expenses, and any bonus points you’ve earned through Elite status. Multiply your total spend by the number of points you earn per dollar (this may vary depending on your loyalty level and the hotel you choose).
To give you a precise idea of how many points you can earn during your stay, it’s important to understand the specificities of each establishment and your status. Here are two detailed tables to help you calculate your Marriott Bonvoy points.
All Marriott hotel categories earn Marriott Bonvoy points (base) per U.S. dollar spent. However, the number of points accumulated differs from establishment to establishment, but the majority of hotel categories still give 10 points per dollar, regardless of your status.
A dollar spent refers both to the cost of the night and to eligible purchases such as expenses that can be charged to the room, like a restaurant or excursion bill.
These bonuses apply to the number of base points earned for each dollar spent (as shown in the first table), not to additional fees or taxes. For example, if you’re a Platinum Elite member and spend US$100 at a Marriott hotel with a 10X multiplier, you’ll earn 1,000 base points, plus a 500-point bonus, for a total of 1,500 points.
By understanding these details, you can efficiently calculate your potential points and plan your stays accordingly to maximize your Marriott Bonvoy rewards. Be sure to take this information into account when booking your next trips.
When I went to Miami, I stayed at the Courtyard Miami Airport for one night and earned 1,639 Marriott Bonvoy points for my stay.
You can find this information in the “Activity” tab of your Marriott Bonvoy account.
You can then calculate the number of points earned with an American Express credit card co-branded by Marriott Bonvoy. The Marriott Bonvoy® American Express®* Card and the Marriott Bonvoy® Corporate American Express®* Card award 5X Marriott points per Canadian dollar spent at Marriott establishments.
So for this stay totaling US$168.37 with taxes and fees, I earned about 1,150 additional Marriott Bonvoy points by paying with my co-branded American Express credit card. In fact, the US$168.37 was equivalent to approximately CAD$230 at the time of the trip. Please note, however, that the Marriott Bonvoy® American Express®* Card and Marriott Bonvoy® Corporate American Express®* Card charge a conversion fee.
The question “How do I choose the best credit card to pay for my trip?” often comes up in our Facebook community. In fact, it’s great to be able to see how many points you’ve accumulated after your stay and after you’ve paid. However, is it worth paying a conversion fee to earn Marriott Bonvoy points with our co-branded American Express credit card?
The answer to this question will depend on the individual since the valuation of points can differ from one person to another.
If I had used the Scotiabank Passport™ Visa Infinite* Card to pay for my room and avoid the conversion fee, the total price I would have paid would have been around $225 CAD and I would have accumulated 225 Scene+ points on my purchase.
According to Milesopedia’s estimate, the value of a Marriott Bonvoy point is 0.9¢ and a Scene+ point is 1¢.
So, here’s a calculation of the value you get in return according to each payment option:
You can clearly see that the value of the return is greater when you choose to pay for your stay with the Marriott Bonvoy® American Express®* Card or the Marriott Bonvoy® Corporate American Express®* Card. Then, if you use your Marriott Bonvoy points at a higher value, such as at luxury establishments, your return will be even greater by paying your bill with your co-branded American Express credit card.
However, if you intend touse Scene+ points to obtain a statement credit on your hotel expense and thus lighten your travel budget, you’ll need to choose your Scotiabank Passport™ Visa Infinite* Card instead to redeem points from this rewards program. That’s why we need to ask ourselves a lot of questions to determine what best applies to our situation, and our personal valuation of points and not just base our calculations on the “value” of the return on the purchase.
By booking directly or through our affiliate link with Marriott Bonvoy, you can earn the maximum possible points for your stay: purchases made through the booking portal of third-party sites do not earn points, elite nights or status benefits. In the event that you find a really cheaper room on a third-party site, you can request a Best Rate Guarantee with Marriott if the same room is available with them.
Did you know? You can support Milesopedia by using our Marriott Bonvoy affiliate link to book your hotel nights! You pay nothing more than the Marriott reservation portal, you benefit from all the advantages of your status and you contribute to the future of the site and its community!
Visit our partners’ pages regularly!
With a co-branded American Express credit card, you can earn points on all your purchases, and even benefit from automatic Elite status: in addition to their big welcome bonuses, the Marriott Bonvoy® American Express®* Card and Marriott Bonvoy® Business American Express®* Card offer you 15 elite nights per year, which translates into automatic Silver Elite status for as long as you hold one of these cards.
As a couple or with friends, you can transfer up to 100,000 points per year to book together. It’s great for matching family welcome bonuses!
Keep an eye out for special promotions offered by Marriott that allow you to earn extra points. Indeed, Marriott Bonvoy is used to running promotions such as doubling elite nights for cash-paid stays or offering bonus points after a certain number of stays. These offers may or may not be targeted. For example, I was once able to collect three free night certificates following two stays (a stay could be as little as one night) only. You can stay on top of these promotions with our free weekly newsletter.
Once you’ve accumulated enough points, you can redeem them for free nights, travel experiences, and more on the Marriott Bonvoy booking portal. To maximize the use of your hard-earned points, you can use a tool like Awayz to help you find the cheapest rates and decide on the most optimal way to pay for your stay (by comparing the rate in points or the price in cash).
In fact, with the Marriott Bonvoy program, the fifth night is free when you use points to pay! This means a 20% discount on your hotel stay!
Awayz doesn’t take points accumulation into account to guide your choice, but with this guide, you have all the tools to make your own calculations based on the price of your stay.
For more information on the Marriott Bonvoy program such as using the annual one-night free certificate, transferring points between members, transferring Membership Rewards points, etc., you can consult our Ultimate Guide or the many tutorials on the Milesopedia website :
Earning Marriott Bonvoy points is a great way to make your travels even more rewarding. By staying at participating hotels and maximizing the way you earn points, you can enjoy exclusive benefits that enhance your adventures.
Start by signing up for the Marriott Bonvoy® American Express®* Card and/or the Marriott Bonvoy® Corporate American Express®* Card today to make every stay an opportunity to get closer to your next trip with rewards programs! These cards come with generous welcome bonuses. What could be better than up to 25 free nights to get off to a great start with our rewards programs?
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