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In the second week of January, Marriott announced a series of measures that would make it considerably easier for guests to earn and retain elite status in 2021. One of those measures was a new promotion that’s launching later this month, while another other measure involved Marriott depositing elite night credits into members’ Bonvoy accounts. Those promised elite night credits have now posted.
Marriott Bonvoy 2021 elite status changes
The number of elite night credits required to earn Marriott Bonvoy status in 2021 is not changing from previous years. The elite night requirements remain as follows.
- Marriott Bonvoy Silver Elite – 10 nights
- Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite – 25 nights
- Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Elite – 50 nights
- Marriott Bonvoy Titanium Elite – 75 nights
- Marriott Bonvoy Ambassador Elite – 100 nights
The only elite status threshold that will be changing is the spending requirement for Ambassador Elite status which has been reduced to $14,000.
However, even though Marriott has not lowered the number of elite night credits needed to earn or retain status, its January announcement confirmed that all Marriott Bonvoy elites would have a set number of elite night credits deposited into their accounts “in February 2021”.
Specifically, Marriott Bonvoy members who earned Elite Status in 2020 were told that they would receive a deposit of 50% of their tier’s annual Elite Night Credit requirement in February 2021. This is what that looks like:
- Silver Elite members will receive 5 elite night credits
- Gold Elite members will receive 13 elite night credits
- Platinum Elite members will receive 25 elite night credits
- Titanium Elite members will receive 38 elite night credits
- Ambassador Elite members will receive 50 elite night credits
Well, we’re now in February and true to its word, Marriott has posted the elite night credits to members’ Bonvoy accounts.
Bonus Bonvoy elite night credits are here
I hold lifetime Titanium Status with Marriott Bonvoy so, after what Marriott announced in January, I was expecting to see 38 elite night credits appearing in my account.
At around 16:00 PT this is what my Bonvoy account looked like:
But no more than an hour later, the dial had moved considerably as 38 elite night credits were posted:
The 15 elite night credits that I already had in my account had come as one of the benefits of the card_name (update: since this article was written, the number of elite night credits offered by this card has increased to 25), so I’ve now got 53 elite night credits in my account without having set foot in a Marriott property this year.
53 elite night credits qualify me for another one of Marriott’s Elite Choice benefits…
- Add 5 Elite Night Credits to your 2021 total
- Get five Suite Night Awards to redeem for upgrades to suites and premium rooms
- Gift Marriott Bonvoy Silver Elite status to a family member, friend, or colleague
- Make a US$100 Charity Donation
- Save 40% on a bed from your favorite hotel brand
… but as I already have Suite Night awards to use up and as I still have no clear idea what my future bookings will look like (I’m focusing a lot more of my stays on Hyatt this year), I’m going to hold off making any decision on which benefit to pick until much later in the year.
Bottom line
Marriott has now posted the elite night credits it promised its Bonvoy elites back in January so everybody should now be seeing these nights in their accounts. If you hold a Marriott co-branded credit card that offers 15 elite night credits as a benefit there’s a good chance that you’re now a Platinum level elite (at the very least), so with a promotion offering double elite night credits on the way, this is probably going to be one of the easiest years ever in which to earn Marriott’s top-tier status.
It posted for me as well. I had 8 years of Platinum and Lifetime gold by end of 2020. About 30 Nights came from Credit Cards and 25 from last year status. Early 2020, I have 3-4 paid nights stay are Marriott.
For 2021, I have noticed that # of total nights have changed but Years as Platinum didn’t change from 8 to 9 years, which counts towards lifetime status.
Is anyone familiar with this issue? Is there minimum stay requirement to get credit towards Lifetime platinum? Would it post later?
If I remember correctly, Marriott usually updates the numer of years a member has had status at some point in February every year. You’ll probably see your counter go up by 1 year in the next couple of weeks.
Thanks Ziggy for your reply to Steve.
He had asked a question that has been bothering my mind regarding minimum stay requirements. Thumbs up.