Marriott Bonvoy: How to earn and redeem points, elite status and more
Marriott Bonvoy is a popular hotel loyalty program, especially among U.S. travelers. The program has introduced a number of changes in recent years, including increasing award prices with no notice earlier this year. However, you can still get value when you travel as a Marriott Bonvoy member if you know where to look.
Whether you’re a loyal Marriott customer or new to the program, knowing how to maximize your Marriott Bonvoy redemptions is important. This guide provides all the essential information you need.
Related: Best hotel rewards programs in the world: Which one is right for you?
What is Marriott Bonvoy?
Marriott Bonvoy was established after Marriott Rewards, Starwood Preferred Guest and Ritz-Carlton Rewards joined forces in 2018. With over 30 brands under its umbrella, Marriott Bonvoy has 9,000-plus properties in around 140 countries and territories worldwide.
As of March 2025, after the program’s recent devaluation, TPG values Marriott Bonvoy points at 0.7 cents apiece. However, since Marriott uses dynamic pricing, you may get more (or less) value, depending on how you redeem points.
What are Marriott’s status levels?
Marriott offers five levels of elite status: Silver Elite, Gold Elite, Platinum Elite, Titanium Elite and Ambassador Elite. Each tier requires a set number of nights stayed, but some Marriott credit cards can fast-track you to the next status tier or provide status outright.
It’s important to note that you can generally only enjoy elite status benefits when you book directly with Marriott (as opposed to online travel agencies and credit card travel portals). However, there are some platforms where you can now double dip — like The Edit by Chase Travel.
For a detailed breakdown, check out our guide to Marriott Bonvoy elite status.
Here’s a high-level overview of what each level offers.
Daily Newsletter
Reward your inbox with the TPG Daily newsletter
Join over 700,000 readers for breaking news, in-depth guides and exclusive deals from TPG’s experts
Member
Anyone who registers for a free Bonvoy account can access the following perks:
- Free standard Wi-Fi
- Discounted member rates
- Mobile check-in
- Points and elite night credits earned on paid stays
- Fifth night free on award stays
Silver Elite
You’ll earn Marriott Silver Elite status after completing 10 qualifying nights in a calendar year. Benefits include:
- A 10% points earning bonus on stays and eligible hotel purchases
- Late checkout, based on availability
Gold Elite
You’ll reach the Gold Elite tier after completing 25 qualifying nights in a calendar year. Perks include all the benefits of Silver Elite status, plus:
- A 25% points earning bonus on stays and eligible hotel purchases
- 2 p.m. late checkout, based on availability
- Space-available upgrades to “enhanced rooms” (excluding suites)
- A welcome gift of points each time you stay
- Reciprocal earnings with Emirates Skywards (earn Skywards miles on Marriott stays and Bonvoy points on Emirates flights)
Platinum Elite
Platinum Elite status requires a minimum of 50 qualifying nights in a calendar year. This level offers additional benefits beyond Gold Elite, including:
- A 50% points earning bonus on stays and eligible hotel purchases
- Space-available room upgrades (including select suites)
- Lounge access at brands with lounges
- Guaranteed 4 p.m. checkout, subject to availability at resort and convention hotels
- Choice of a welcome gift during each stay (varies by brand but often includes points, free breakfast or an amenity)
- Access to a 24-hour dedicated support line
- Fast-track to Hertz Gold Plus Rewards Five Star status
Upon staying 50 nights, Platinum Elite members can choose one Annual Choice Benefit. Options include five elite night credits, five Nightly Upgrade Awards, $1,000 off a mattress, a $100 charitable donation and gifting Silver Elite status to another member.
Titanium Elite
You’ll reach Titanium Elite status after completing 75 qualifying nights in a calendar year. The benefits are similar to those of Platinum Elite, with a few additions:
- A 75% points earning bonus on stays and eligible hotel purchases
- A 48-hour guarantee for room availability
- Complimentary Hertz Five Star status
- United MileagePlus Premier Silver status through Marriott’s RewardsPlus partnership with United Airlines
Titanium Elite members are also eligible for a second Annual Choice Benefit selection after completing 75 nights in a year.
Related: How to get Marriott Bonvoy elite status for life
Ambassador Elite
Marriott’s top published status tier is Ambassador Elite, which requires staying 100 qualifying nights and spending $23,000 on qualifying Marriott purchases in a calendar year. In addition to Titanium Elite benefits, Ambassador Elite members receive:
- Dedicated Ambassador service to help you out with booking and managing stays
- Choose the 24-hour period you want to stay (e.g., if you arrive on a 10 p.m. flight for a one-night stay, you could check out the following night at 10 p.m.)
- Complimentary Hertz President’s Circle status
Cobalt program
You won’t find “Cobalt” in any official Marriott Bonvoy promotional materials, but TPG received leaked information about this secret Marriott status level in August 2019. Cobalt status is so exclusive that it’s reportedly only available through an invitation from Marriott International’s president and CEO.
The benefits are largely the same as Marriott Ambassador Elite status but with additional touches, such as a personalized note from the general manager, a meeting with the general manager and a “distinctive experience on-property” at luxury brands.
Related: Invitation-only airline and hotel elite status: What it is and how to earn it
Guaranteed benefits
A great aspect of Marriott Bonvoy is that many of the elite status benefits are guaranteed — and if you don’t receive them, you’re entitled to compensation. Check out Marriott’s “Elite Benefit Guarantees” page to learn which benefits are guaranteed and how to request compensation.
For example, the “Ultimate Reservation Guarantee” promises elite members up to $200 and 90,000 Marriott points — plus accommodation at a nearby hotel — for being “walked” from a hotel (the exact numbers vary by brand and elite tier).
When does Marriott status expire?
Once you earn Marriott Bonvoy elite status, it is valid for the rest of the calendar year in which you earned it and an additional 14 months after that.
For example, if you earned status anytime in 2025, you’d enjoy benefits through the rest of this year, all of 2026 and the first two months of 2027. Your status beyond that period will be based on your qualifying activity during the 2026 calendar year.
Related: When does your hotel elite status expire?
How to earn Marriott Bonvoy points
There are several ways to earn Bonvoy points, from staying at Marriott properties to spending on cobranded credit cards.
Hotel stays
Bonvoy members earn 10 points per dollar spent on qualifying charges at most Marriott hotel brands, but there are a few exceptions. You’ll earn 5 points per dollar spent at some brands, including Element, Protea Hotels, Residence Inn, TownePlace Suites and Homes & Villas by Marriott, 4 points per dollar spent at StudioRes properties and only 2.5 points per dollar spent at Marriott Executive Apartments. See the full list on Marriott’s website.
You can boost your earning rates with elite status and hotel promotions.
Keep in mind that you’ll generally need to book directly with Marriott to earn points for a stay. Stays that don’t earn points include those booked through online travel agencies and most credit card travel portals, as part of an event, through a tour operator or as a comped stay. You also won’t earn points on stays where you redeem a free night certificate or Marriott Bonvoy points, though eligible on-property purchases should earn points.
Credit card bonuses and spending
There are several cards you can use to earn Marriott Bonvoy points. These all earn bonus points on Marriott purchases, and many of them come with additional perks like elite status and annual free night awards:
Two of these are currently offering valuable elevated welcome bonuses. If you apply and get approved for the Marriott Bonvoy Bevy American Express Card, you can earn 155,000 Marriott Bonvoy bonus points after spending $5,000 on purchases within the first six months of card membership. With the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant American Express Card, you can earn 185,000 Marriott Bonvoy bonus points after spending $6,000 on purchases within the first six months of card membership.
The information for the Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Organizing events
Event planners can earn 2 points per dollar spent, plus applicable elite status bonuses, for any qualifying event held at a Marriott property. Basic members can earn up to 60,000 points per event, while elite members earn more depending on their tier. You’ll also earn an additional elite night credit for every 20 room nights you book as part of your event, up to 20 elite night credits per event.
Referring friends
Marriott Bonvoy rewards you for referring friends to the program. You can refer up to five new members each calendar year and earn 2,000 points per stay for up to five of their paid stays within 365 days of enrollment. Friends you refer also earn 2,000 bonus points per stay for up to five paid stays in their first year, up to a maximum of 10,000 bonus points.
Related: Free points and miles for referring friends to loyalty programs and credit cards
Eating out
Like many hotel brands and airlines, Marriott has a dining rewards program that lets you earn points when you dine at participating restaurants. The Eat Around Town program gives Marriott elite members 6 points per dollar spent and nonelite members 4 points per dollar spent. Additionally, the program will sometimes offer a welcome bonus to new members.
To start earning, register for Eat Around Town, connect a credit card to your account and pay with the same card when you dine at participating restaurants.
Points earned through Eat Around Town are in addition to the rewards you’d otherwise earn on the dining purchase, such as with credit cards, apps like Seated and restaurants’ in-house loyalty programs.
Earning points with partners
Marriott Bonvoy partners with a handful of programs, allowing members to earn Bonvoy points on other purchases. These include:
- Car rentals: Earn up to 500 Bonvoy points per rental at Hertz or 250 points per rental at Dollar and Thrifty when you book through Marriott’s car rental page.
- Cruises: Earn 3 points per dollar spent — or 5 points per dollar spent when you pay with a Chase Marriott Bonvoy card — on cruises booked through Cruise with Points (up to 30,000 points per cruise).
- Starbucks: Marriott launched a partnership with Starbucks in 2024. You can link your accounts to earn 100 Bonvoy points when you make three qualifying Starbucks purchases during any Marriott Bonvoy Week.
- Uber and Uber Eats: Link your Marriott and Uber accounts to earn Bonvoy points on qualifying Uber rides and food orders. Plus, you get automatic Marriott Silver Elite status with an Uber One annual membership.
Buying a mattress
In case you didn’t know, Marriott sells mattresses. It has 15 online retailers where you can shop for a better night’s sleep. When you purchase, provide your Bonvoy account number to earn 10,000 points per mattress.
Transferring points from other programs
You can transfer Bilt Rewards Points, Chase Ultimate Rewards points and American Express Membership Rewards points to Marriott Bonvoy at a 1:1 ratio. In our experience, points transfer almost instantly from all these programs. You can also transfer Singapore KrisFlyer miles to Marriott Bonvoy at a 2:1 ratio, which can take up to four days.
United MileagePlus elite members can convert up to 100,000 miles to Marriott Bonvoy points per calendar year at a 1:1 ratio. We generally don’t advise this because United miles are more valuable than Marriott points, per TPG’s March 2025 valuations. However, transferring points to top off your Bonvoy account for a valuable redemption can make sense.
Combining points with other members
A fantastic aspect of Marriott Bonvoy is the ability to transfer your points to other members, which can help families or friends get closer to their next free vacation. You can do this online.
According to Marriott, both accounts must be in good standing and open for at least 30 days with qualifying activity or 90 days without qualifying activity. You must transfer in 1,000-point increments, with a limit of six transactions per year and two transactions per month. You can transfer up to 100,000 points total from your account per calendar year and receive up to 500,000 points per calendar year.
Elite night credits, lifetime status and free night certificates are nontransferable.
Related: How to pool United MileagePlus miles with family and friends
Buying points
You can buy up to 100,000 Bonvoy points each year. The purchase rate is generally $12.50 per 1,000 points, but Marriott sometimes runs promotions on buying points that lower the price. This isn’t generally the best way to earn points, but it might make sense if you’re short a few points for an upcoming redemption.
Earning miles instead of points
It’s also worth noting that you can earn airline miles with select airline loyalty programs instead of Marriott points on your hotel stays. Depending on the brand, you’ll earn 1 or 2 miles per dollar spent on qualifying hotel charges.
Related: We tested earning American Airlines miles for 3 different hotel stays — here’s what we found
Do Marriott Bonvoy points expire?
If your account has no qualifying activity, your Marriott Bonvoy points will expire after 24 months. You can avoid this by earning, redeeming or purchasing points at least once every 24 months. Note that gifting, receiving or transferring points does not keep your points active.
How to redeem Marriott points
You’ll typically get the most value from your Marriott points when you redeem them for hotel stays or transfer them to airline loyalty programs. Here’s an overview of the various ways to redeem Marriott points; see our complete guide to Marriott redemptions for more information.
Award nights
Since Marriott ditched its award chart in favor of dynamic pricing, award rates are now based on cash prices and occupancy levels (among other factors). This means you won’t know exactly how much your award stay will cost until you go to book. Thankfully, Marriott’s website has a useful calendar feature to help you see which dates have the lowest prices.
When booking a standard room, you can pay with cash, points or a combination of cash and points. Additionally, you’ll receive the lowest-priced night for free if you redeem points for five or more consecutive nights thanks to Marriott’s “Stay for 5, Pay for 4” perk.
You can also redeem Marriott points for upgraded rooms. This option isn’t available at every property, so you’ll need to search for award nights and see if upgraded rooms are bookable via “Redemption with Cash Upgrade” or “Redemption with Points Upgrade.”
When booking, don’t forget about Marriott’s Best Rate Guarantee. If you find a lower rate elsewhere and submit a claim within 24 hours of making your reservation on Marriott’s website, Marriott will match that rate — and give you a 25% discount or a 5,000-point bonus.
Related: Marriott 50K free night certificate: Best hotels in the world to use your award redemption
Marriott Bonvoy Moments
If you’re looking for a different type of redemption, consider exploring the Marriott Bonvoy Moments program. This lets you cash in your points for unique experiences like concert tickets, culinary events and tickets to see your favorite sports team. Packages change regularly; check out the current options here.
While most Moments are handled as auctions, others offer fixed-price redemptions, and some are available to a limited number of members for just 1 point. It’s hard to peg a value on these, as many aren’t easily replicable using cash. How do you put a price on living out your “Fast & Furious” fantasy in Los Angeles?
Room credits, merchandise and gift cards
If you don’t have enough points to book a free night, you can take what Marriott calls an “instant redemption.” This allows you to redeem your points for a specific dollar amount, which acts as a credit toward your total room bill. You can also redeem Marriott points for merchandise and gift cards.
However, the redemption rate for all the above is only 0.4 cents per point, so this isn’t the best use of your points.
Related: How to use points and miles to give gifts with zero out-of-pocket cost
Travel redemptions and airline transfers
Marriott has around 40 airline partners; you can transfer your points to most of these at a rate of 3 Bonvoy points to 1 airline mile. Air New Zealand Airpoints is the only exception, with a 200:1 ratio. You’ll also get 5,000 bonus miles for every 60,000 points you transfer to most airline partners (75 bonus miles for Air New Zealand) and 10,000 bonus miles when you transfer 60,000 points to United. However, transfers to American Airlines AAdvantage, Avianca LifeMiles and Delta SkyMiles are not eligible for the 5,000-mile bonus.
Keep in mind that transfer times vary by airline.
You can also redeem points toward cruises via Cruise with Points or toward flights and rental cars through Marriott’s Air + Car program, but these redemptions have a value of less than 0.4 cents per point.
Bottom line
There are many ways to earn and redeem Marriott Bonvoy points. Redeeming points for hotel stays has become less predictable with dynamic pricing, but this is still one of the best ways to get the most from your points. Despite the program’s devaluations, many TPG staffers remain loyal fans.
Marriott also offers several cobranded credit cards to help you earn elite status and get free nights faster. Some of them, like the Bonvoy Bevy and the Bonvoy Brilliant, are offering attractive elevated welcome bonuses — so now could be a great time to add one of these to your wallet.
