Marriott

As a compliment to the previous post, Marriott Rewards (Marriott), the loyalty program of Marriott International, is a program I became familiar with in 2016.  The ability transfer points to/from Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) and Ritz-Carlton Rewards (Ritz), match elite status with SPG, complimentary Silver Status with United Airlines (United) with Marriott Platinum status, and Hotel + Air Packages are the reasons I’ve continued investing time in the program.

Marriott has four membership tiers: Member, Silver Elite, Gold Elite, and Platinum Elite.  The membership tiers are based on the number of completed nights in a calendar year.  I’ll dive into each level and the details I think are important to know.

Membership Tiers

Member

• Complimentary after completing application
• Elite night credit earned on paid and award stays
• Complimentary in-room internet when room booked directly with Marriott

Silver Elite

• Earn after completing 10 nights in a calendar year
• Elite night credit earned on paid and award stays
• Earn 20% additional point bonus on eligible stays
• Complimentary in-room internet when room booked directly with Marriott
• Earn Lifetime Silver after completing 250 eligible nights and 1.2M points

Gold Elite

• Earn after completing 50 nights in a calendar year
• Elite night credit earned on paid and award stays
• Earn 25% additional point bonus on eligible stays
• Complimentary enhanced in-room internet
• Complimentary room upgrade
• Earn Lifetime Gold after completing 500 eligible nights and 1.6M points

Platinum Elite

• Earn after completing 75 nights in a calendar year
• Elite night credit earned on paid and award stays
• Earn 50% additional point bonus on eligible stays
• Complimentary enhanced in-room internet
• Complimentary room upgrade
• Earn Lifetime Platinum after completing 750 eligible nights and 2M points

Marriott Ambassador

• Membership by invitation only – no direct qualification into the program
• Members receive an Ambassador who becomes their personal travel guide similar to SPG Ambassador

Marriott Hotel + Air Package

An additional benefit of the program is the Marriott Hotel + Air Package.  Marriott points can be transferred to their airline partners.  After your Marriott points are transferred, you will receive both Marriott nights and airline miles.  40+ airlines participate in the program with five different Hotel + Air Packages to choose from.

I chose the Southwest Hotel + Air Package in 2017.  At the time, Marriott allowed you to earn the Southwest Companion Pass in this way.  Marriott does not allow you do earn the Companion Pass anymore.

Throughout 2016, I focused my hotel stays and credit card points earning strategy towards generating the 270,000 points required to earn the 7 Nights + 120,000 Rapid Rewards Points (Rewards Points) Hotel + Air package with Southwest (see upper right of the chart).  If you’re interested in learning more about the different packages offered, here are the Marriott Hotel + Air Charts.

At the time, Marriott and Southwest allowed members to redeem 270,000 Marriott points for a 7 Night Stay at a Category 1-5 and 120,000 Southwest Rapid Rewards points.  One of the ways to receive the Companion Pass is to earn 110,000 Rewards Points in a calendar year.  After redeeming 270,000 points with Marriott, they credited the 7 Night Stay to my account and the 120,000 Rewards Points to my Southwest account.  An insane deal!

The package levels are driven by: 1) category/tier of hotel 2) airline program 3) number of miles you want to receive.  For example, if you want 7 Nights in a Category 1-5 + 55 United miles, you will need to redeem 200,000 Marriott points (see chart below).  If it’s still unclear, I found Award Wallet’s explanation in this post helpful Marriott Travel Packages: Hotel + Air = Amazing Value.

Extending the Expiration

After I earned the Marriott Hotel + Air package in 2017, I was under the impression that the package had to be used within 12 months of it being credited to your account.  With the end of 2017 looming and no trip lined up to use the package, I started digging into blog posts to find out whether you can extend the hotel portion of your Hotel + Air package.  It turns out it’s incredibly easy!

To extend the expiration of your package, call Marriott Rewards at 800-721-7033 and ask to speak to someone about an existing Hotel + Air package.  Tell the customer service rep that you’d like to extend the expiration of your package.  The customer service rep will then cancel your existing Hotel + Air package and you’ll receive an email like this:

After the package is cancelled, Marriott will then email your new confirmation.  You will have an additional 12 months to redeem the hotel package from the date it was reissued.  I received multiple confirmations from Marriott that members can continually extend the package expiration simply by calling Marriott Rewards.

Conclusion

Marriott was my preferred hotel loyalty program until I learned how valuable the SPG program was when you earn elite status and the 5,000 bonus miles on Starpoint transfers to their airline partners.  I focused my 2017 efforts on SPG, knowing I would receive reciprocal elite status with Marriott as a result of their acquisition of SPG.  If you’ve used the Hotel + Air packages, reciprocal benefits between the programs, or have any questions, please let me know in the comments below.  Thanks for reading!