【2022.8 Update】Added some information about free night extensions. See:
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About Marriott Free Night Awards
Marriott co-branded hotel credit cards now offer Free Night awards through welcome bonuses, annual benefits, and spending bonuses, so many people are accumulating more of these certificates. As the name suggests, a Free Night award lets you stay for free in an eligible standard room at a hotel. The nicer and more expensive the hotel, the more value you can get from using a Free Night award. This article gives a general overview of how to earn Marriott Free Night awards, how to use them, and a few useful tips.
If you want to get a free night every year, keeping a Marriott Boundless card long term is one of the best-value choices. For just $95, you can get a free night award worth $200+. Ideally, both spouses should have one, since two nights are much more practical. If that is still not enough, you can add points to book more nights. The current welcome bonus is 3 free night awards worth 50,000 points each. A 50,000-point free night is worth about $350, so if you want to stay at higher-end hotels, this could be a good time to apply.
Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Marriott Credit Card
Comes with 1 free night certificate every year; a standout card
- Welcome bonus: 4 Marriott free night awards at the 50,000-point tier (spend $3,000 in the first 3 months) + $100 airline credit
- Rewards: 6x at Marriott hotels; 3x on gas, groceries, and dining; 2x on all other purchases
- Redemption: Can be redeemed at Marriott/Ritz-Carlton properties, or transferred to airline miles at up to a 3:1.25 ratio
- Annual fee: $95
- Apply now>>
Where Free Night Awards Come From
35,000/50,000-point Marriott Free Night awards mainly come from credit card welcome bonuses, annual benefits, and spending bonuses, so there are quite a few ways to get them. Previously, due to the pandemic, Marriott also extended a batch of free night awards, so many people may have accumulated quite a few of them. Sources include:
- Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless: welcome bonus awards (both 35,000 and 50,000 have been offered before), one 35,000-point award starting in the second cardmember year, and one 35,000-point award after $25,000 in annual spending
- AMEX Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant: welcome bonus awards (50,000, 85,000, and all-points offers have all appeared before), and one 50,000-point award starting in the second cardmember year
- Chase Ritz Carlton: one 50,000-point award starting in the second cardmember year
- Chase Marriott Business: one 35,000-point award starting in the second cardmember year, and one 35,000-point award after $60,000 in annual spending
All free night awards expire one year after they are issued. If there are special circumstances, such as the pandemic, Marriott may extend them. You can also try calling customer service to see whether a manual extension is possible. Once issued, the award will appear in your account, where you can view the details.
In addition, Marriott new-account registration promotions, regular hotel promotions, and elite account benefits may sometimes give out free night awards at different levels, but we will not go into those here.
How to Use a Free Night Award
Go directly to marriott.com and search for a room, then check the Use Points/Awards option. If you use the Marriott app on iOS, you can also use free night awards normally there.
From the search results, choose the room type you want. Free night awards can only be used for the most basic room type. Marriott has now switched to dynamic pricing, so if your dates are flexible, search around nearby dates to see whether they fall within your free night award range.
When booking, the system will show the free night awards you can use.
- If the required points are lower than the maximum value of your free night award, you can check out directly, but you will not get any unused points back.
- If the required points are higher than the maximum value of your free night award, you need to top off with additional points. Currently, you can add up to 15,000 points per night. In other words, a 35,000-point certificate can book up to 50,000 points, and a 50,000-point certificate can book up to 65,000 points.
- Click book and you are done. In most places, there are no additional charges or taxes.
- Some vacation destinations have extra fees and taxes, such as Hawaii. For example, the Hawaii room below has an amenity fee + tax. You would have to pay these even if you booked with cash or points.
- If you need to book multiple nights, you can search for the entire date range directly. On the checkout page, you can select the free night awards in your account, and any shortfall can be covered with points or cash. If you find that some nights require more points but are still within the value range of your free night awards, you may want to use the awards on those nights first. However, that means you may need to split one stay into multiple bookings. After booking, you can call customer service and ask them to combine those separate nights into one stay. In general, that is not a problem.
Combining with Suite Night Awards
Marriott Platinum members can receive Suite Night Award benefits. If you have suite upgrade awards, after making your booking you can go to the reservation details page and look for the upgrade option. If you do not see it, it may be because all eligible suites have already been booked, or the hotel simply has not made Suite Night Awards available. You can call the hotel to ask.
Just click upgrade. However, this is only a request. Whether the upgrade is approved ultimately depends on whether the hotel has an available suite for upgrade. It is usually harder to get upgraded during major holidays. If the upgrade is not approved, the award will be returned to your account.
Canceling a Reservation
One advantage of booking with a free night award is that cancellation is very convenient. You usually only need to cancel two days before check-in, with no cancellation fee. After you cancel the room, the free night award will be returned to your account immediately and can be used again.
Free Night Extensions
Marriott free night awards can be extended in some cases. For example, during the pandemic, Marriott proactively extended many free night awards. If your free night award is about to expire or has already expired, you can try calling customer service and asking for an extension. The phone numbers are:
- 800-535-4028
- (800) 399-4229
Based on reader reports, the rough extension rules are as follows:
- Agents can decide whether to extend them: Marriott does not appear to have a firm written policy on free night extensions. In other words, each customer service agent may decide for themselves whether to extend your award. So when you call, be sure to give a reasonable explanation, such as there being no standard room available on the dates you want, or the dates you want falling just a few days after the award expires. Also, if you are a Marriott elite member, mentioning that may help a bit.
- Call multiple times: If one agent refuses to extend your award, it is usually best to hang up and call again rather than argue too much. There can be a huge difference between agents, and if you call enough times, you may eventually find one willing to help. Also, it is recommended to call during US business hours. If you call in the middle of the night, you may reach an overseas call center, and they are generally less likely to grant an extension.
- A free night award can usually only be extended once: In general, once a free night award has been extended, it cannot be extended again.
- Extension length is one year: If the agent agrees to extend it, the new expiration date will usually be one year from the date you call, regardless of the original expiration date.
Besides calling, you can also try messaging Marriott customer service on social media platforms such as twitter and facebook. Sometimes that works surprisingly well.
Other Things to Know
- Marriott free night awards do not have date restrictions. As long as you can find an award room, you can use them.
- Marriott now uses peak and off-peak style pricing, so a room may require different point amounts on nearby dates. If your travel dates are flexible, consider adjusting them to reduce the points required.
- Marriott points bookings get the fifth night free, but bookings made with free night awards do not.
- If you want to book for someone else, you can book online first and then call the front desk to add the guest. It is best to let them know that the guest will arrive first to check in. This usually works fine in North America, but hotels in mainland China tend to check more strictly, and the front desk does have the right to refuse check-in.
- Free night awards cannot be used for stays after the award has expired. For example, if your award expires on May 1, even if you successfully book a stay for May 5 on April 1, your award will still disappear on May 1, and the reservation may get stuck unless you add points or cash to keep it valid.
Where Free Night Awards Are Best Used
Marriott has now eliminated all hotel categories and moved to dynamic pricing. Simply put, the more popular and expensive the hotel, the more points it requires. That means there is less room for outsized value than before. In general, redemption values are often around 0.6 c/p to 0.8 c/p, so a 35,000-point free night is worth about $240, and a 50,000-point free night is worth about $350.
Overall, free night awards currently offer the best redemption value at US vacation destinations and major cities.
- For example, Hawaii often has high-value redemptions. The property below reaches 1.5 c/p, and if you take into account the extra taxes and fees on paid bookings, the redemption value rises to 1.6 c/p.
- Of course, there are many hotels where the redemption value is only around 0.6-0.8 c/p, so in those cases you just want to maximize value by using your free night award close to its points cap.
Overall, paying a $95 annual fee in exchange for a free night award worth $200+ is definitely a good deal.