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The Marriott Bonvoy program offers all of its elite members select benefits depending on their status tier (just like most other hotel loyalty programs) but Bonvoy Titanium Elite & Platinum Elite members are also given the opportunity to choose an additional benefit when they accrue enough elite nights to secure their status for another year. In this post, I’m going to take a look at what those choices are and how they can be selected
Marriott Platinum Elite Benefit Choices
Upon reaching the 50-night target required to earn Marriott Platinum Elite status, guests are given the choice of one of the following benefits:
- 5 elite nights credit
- 5 suite night awards
- A gift of Silver Elite status to a person of your choice
- A $100 donation to UNICEF
- A 40% discount on a Marriott mattress of your choice
5 Elite Nights Credit
The 5 elite nights credit applies to the current qualification year and so will only be of any use to guests seeking to hit the 75 night target required for Platinum Premier Elite status or the 100 night target for Platinum Ambassador status.
Guests don’t have to make their Platinum choices until 14 January of the year following the qualification year so it’s possible to wait and see how many nights you earn towards next year’s Marriott status before deciding if this benefit is of any use.
5 Suite Night Awards
There are a few important things you need to know about Marriott’s suite upgrade awards:
- One suite night award is good for a 1 night upgrade to a premium room subject to availability.
- Suite Night Awards can be requested on paid stays, award stays and cash & points stays.
- Suite Night Awards may be used only when there are enough in the Member’s account so that one is applied to every night of the reservation
- Suite night awards cannot be confirmed at the time of booking – Marriott will start searching for award availability within 5 days of your stay and will email you with progress updates.
- Not all of Marriott’s brands have to honor suite upgrade awards. Ritz-Carlton®, Protea Hotels®, Aloft®, Element®, Design Hotels™, all-Suite Hotels, Marriott Executive Apartments®, Marriott Vacation Club® EDITION, Ritz-Carlton Reserve, Ritz-Carlton Destination Clubs and Marriott Grand Residence Club properties are all excluded from the suite night award benefit.
- Marriott confirms that there are select properties that are also excluded from having to offer suite night awards but no list of such properties has been published.
Follow this link for more information on how to request a Marriott suite upgrade award online.
The fact that upgrades cannot be confirmed at the time of booking makes them a lot less useful that they otherwise would be as it makes it very hard to plan ahead (this is especially annoying if you need to know whether to book two rooms or whether you’ll be upgraded to a suite which will sleep everyone in your party).
The suite night awards are also devalued somewhat by the fact that Marriott allows some brands and some arbitrary hotels to choose not to offer the upgrade option. This is an important thing to bear in mind when considering how easily you will be able to use up any suite night awards you choose.
Gift Marriott Silver Elite Status
It doesn’t take more than a cursory glance at the Marriott Silver status benefits before you realise that this isn’t a benefit really worth choosing. With the exception of a 2pm check-out and a 10% bonus on points earned on stays there really isn’t anything on offer that most people would find useful – there are other more valuable benefits you can choose.
$100 Donation To UNICEF
If you don’t think you’re going to be able to use any suite night awards and if you don’t need any elite night credits then this would be a generous way to use your Platinum benefit choice….and its a choice which will actually cost Marriott real cash!
40% Mattress Discount
This is a very niche benefit and one that is unlikely to come in useful to the same guest year after year….but if you need a new mattress and you particularly like one that you’ve slept on at one of Marriott’s properties then this could be a genuine money saver for you.
Marriott Platinum Premier Elite Benefit Choices
Upon reaching the 75 night target required to earn Marriott Platinum Premier Elite status guests are given the choice of one of the following benefits (on top of the choices they would be given when they passed the 50-night mark):
- 5 elite nights credit
- 5 suite night awards
- One free night award
- A gift of Gold Elite status to a person of your choice
- A $100 donation to UNICEF
- A 40% discount on a Marriott mattress of your choice
I’ve already discussed the suite night awards, UNICEF donation and mattress discount under the Platinum Elite benefit choices so I’m just going to focus on the remaining choices Platinum Premier Elite guests are offered.
5 Elite Nights Credit
As with the 5 nights credit you can choose when you reach 50 elite nights with Marriott these credits can only be applied to the current qualification period.
This means that unless you’re someone looking to hit the 100 elite nights needed to reach Platinum Ambassador status these credits are not much use to you.
As guests don’t have to make their Platinum Premier Elite benefit choices until 14 January of the year following the qualification year it’s possible to wait and see how many nights you earn towards next year’s Marriott status before deciding if this benefit is of any use.
Don’t forget that Platinum Ambassador status also requires $20,000 in annual spend (it’s the only status level that currently comes with a spend requirement) so, even if the 5 extra elite nights credit are enough to take you over the 100 threshold, you’re still not guaranteed to get Platinum Ambassador Status.
A Free Night Award
This is an annoyingly deceptive award from Marriott because it would be very easy for someone to assume that this free night award can be used at any Marriott property worldwide….but that’s definitely not the case.
While selecting the award (which I’ll show you how to do a little later) there is no mention of any limitations to the award at all….but when you dig deep into the terms and conditions you’ll find that there’s one very significant condition attached.
The award is only valid for a 40,000 point redemption which means that it’s only valid at properties up to Category 5 in Marriott’s new award chart.
This may be useful if you can pair it with a “free night certificate” from one of the Marriott/Starwood credit cards but, as a stand alone award, it’s not exactly spectacular….but at least it should be easy to use and can cave you some money.
It’s also worth noting that the award expires on 31 December of the year following the year in which it was earned.
Gift Marriott Gold Elite Status
The primary benefits of Marriott Gold Elite status are as follows:
- 25% bonus points on stays
- 2 pm check-out
- Possible room upgrade (doesn’t include suites)
- A welcome gift of between 250 and 500 points
Not very exciting benefits are they?
If you already have more points than you know what to do with, you have no real need for any suite upgrades, you’re not a big fan of UNICEF and you don’t need a new Marriott/Starwood mattress then this is clearly then this option to go for…otherwise you should probably choose something else! 🙂
How To Make Marriott Platinum & Platinum Premier Benefit Choices
Marriott has set up a dedicated website where guests can make their Platinum and Platinum Premier Elite choices once they hit the required number of elite nights in the qualification year:
https://choice-benefit.marriott.com/en-us/marriott-rewards/
The page will require you to sign in (so make sure you have your login details to hand) and, once you’ve done that, things are pretty straightforward.
When selecting a benefit you should see a screen similar to this one in front of you….
…but be sure to read ALL the small print you can possibly find on any given benefit before you make your choices as there are details buried in T&Cs that may alter your decision.
There are two very important things to remember:
- All benefit selections must be made “by 14 January of the year following the applicable Qualifying Period” and, failure to make the choice(s) by then will see guests credited with suite night award by default.
- All Platinum Elite and Platinum Premier Elite benefit choices are final and cannot be changes once made….so think things through before making a final decision.
Bottom Line
Hopefully the information above is a good starting point for anyone wondering what the Marriott Platinum Elite and Platinum Premier Elite benefit choices are and how you can choose them but I can’t stress enough how important it is to read all the small print surrounding the options open to you.
The suite upgrade awards look great until you realise that a good number of brands don’t have to honor them and the free night award looks amazing until you realise that it’s only valid at Category 5 properties or lower…..and there are other examples like these too.
Be careful, think things through and don’t skip over paragraphs in the terms and conditions – following those three suggestions should see you make choices that are best for you.
Good post. To me the biggest difference between the two is the ability to earn United Silver with the higher Premier status. Not of value to those that already have United status or that don’t fly but to me it is a nice extra.
Nice information and thanks giving some guidance on award possibility
You’re very welcome
Thanks for his post. Are those of us who are Lifetime Platinum Elite entitled to the suite night awards, if we haven’t stayed the requisite number of nights?
Unfortunately not – as a LTPP I was hoping for 10 effortless upgrades a year but Marriott isn’t that generous
Should one be entitled to select these awards twice – first when they achieve the 50 nights and then again when they reach 75?
Yes. At 50 nights you’re selecting a benefit for banking enough nights for Platinum status and at 75 nights you’re being rewarded for attaining Platinum Premier status
This is how some guests get 10 suite night awards.
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