How to use Chase & Amex Marriott Free Night Certificates (single night bookings)

November 3, 2021

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Chase and American Express both issue Marriott Bonvoy co-branded credit cards and these cards each offer an annually issued certificate that can be used to redeem a free night at select Marriott properties worldwide.

In this post, I showed how Bonvoy members can locate their free night certificates on the desktop site and the Bonvoy mobile app, so today I’m going to go through the simple process of making a single night reservation with a Marriott Bonvoy free night certificate.

Posts in this series:

Which Credit Cards Offer Marriott Free Night Certificates?

The following credit cards offer Marriott free night certificates each year, on the anniversary of card membership (value of certificate shown alongside – terms apply).

Cards open to new applicants:

Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® credit card – Up To 35,000 Points/Night
card_name – Up To 35,000 Points/Night (terms apply)
card_name – Up to 85,000 Points/Night (terms apply)

Cards no longer open to new applicants:

Chase Marriott Bonvoy Premier Card – Up To 25,000 Points/Night
Chase Marriott Bonvoy Premier Business Card – Up To 25,000 Points/Night
Chase Ritz-Carlton Credit Card – Up to 85,000 Points/Night
Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card – Up To 35,000 Points/Night

Using A Marriott Free Night Certificate

At the time of writing, it’s not possible to redeem a Marriott free night certificate in the Bonvoy app so the steps shown below are for the desktop site.

Unsurprisingly, the place to start is with Marriott’s search facility on the Bonvoy homepage.

Step 1 – The Bonvoy Homepage

Log in and fill in the search parameters on the homepage in the usual way, but just be sure to place a check mark in the box labeled “Use Points/Certificates” before you launch the search.

a man on a scooter

Step 2 – Select An Appropriate Property

From the list of hotel options that are now presented…

a screenshot of a hotel

…you should select one that appeals and which costs no more than your free night certificate is worth (you cannot use free night certificates to part-pay for a night).

Step 3 – Select Your Room

Next, select the room you’d like to book:

a screenshot of a hotel

Step 4 – Confirm Marriott Has Used Your Certificate

Once you’ve selected your room (i.e. you have clicked “select”), the “review reservation details” page should open up and you should find that Marriott has automatically added your certificate to your reservation – this will be confirmed by the fact that your “summary of charges” shows as zero:

a screenshot of a hotel reservation

Now proceed with your booking in the usual way.

What If You Don’t Want To Use Your Certificate?

There will be times where you have one or more certificates in your account but want to make a reservation without applying them to a booking (e.g. when the booking requires noticeably fewer points than the certificate is worth) – Marriott has you covered here.

All you have to do to make sure that a certificate isn’t applied to a reservation is to select the pay with points option that you’ll find directly below the certificate on the “review reservation details” page:

a screenshot of a hotel reservation

You can be confident that you’re paying with points and not with a certificate because your summary of charges will show the number of points that will be deducted from your account.

Bottom Line

Using a Marriott Bonvoy free night certificate to book a single night stay is easy and straightforward, so it’s unlikely that you’ll trip up anywhere in the booking process. Where things get a little more complicated is when you’d like to make a multi-night reservation for which you’d like to use a mixture of points, cash, and Bonvoy free night certificates to make your booking online – all of that will be covered in a post that’s coming tomorrow.

Featured image: The rooftop bar at the West Hollywood EDITION – image courtesy of Marriott

For Your Consideration

a black credit card with a white line and a chip

Currently, if you successful apply for the card_name (Amex's high-end premium Marriott credit card), you can bonus_miles_full.

(Annual fee annual_fees - rates & fees).

Select Benefit Highlights (terms apply & enrollment may be required):

Annual free night award worth up to 85,000 points
Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Elite status
25 elite night credits every year (limitations apply per Marriott Bonvoy® member account).
Fee Credit for Global Entry or TSA Precheck
Priority Pass Select membership
Up to $25/month in dining statement credits

Click for more details on the card_name

For rates and fees of the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card, please visit rates & fees

Regarding Comments

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