I have heard a lot of people give Marriott Rewards a hard time but seemingly for all the wrong reasons. My problem is that spending 70,000 points on a Ritz Carlton seems absurd when 22,000 Hyatt points gets a room at a Park Hyatt. However, there are so many things to take advantage of with Marriott, and in many ways superior to the other hotel programs. If you come at Marriott from every angle, you can certainly get good value and a good experience. I’m going to tell you how you can earn over $200 in rewards from one $100 Marriott stay.
The basic outline is this:
- Refer-A-Friend and get 2,000 points per stay (each).
- Platinum status challenge will give you 50% more points and the option to choose points as a welcome gift.
- Buy a gift card for miles or cash back. Or maybe it’s wiser to use the Freedom card in it’s last quarter or the Marriott card (not the first card I’d recommend unless you’re a die hard Marriotter). Hopefully you’ll get 5% back or plenty of miles.
- Book through a portal, and get 5% back or Chase Ultimate Reward Points.
- Look No Further is their best rate guarantee that is pretty honest and gives 25% off the lower price you found.
- Megabonus Promo
- Other Promos
I don’t want to start a rebuttal of why Marriott is a good rewards program but commonly people complain about Platinum Status taking 75 nights – which would be more of a problem if they didn’t offer anyone a free trial with Platinum Status every year! You can get four months. And between my wife and I, that’s 8 months of the year “trying out” Platinum status for simply calling Marriott! My experience has been good as a trial Platinum. Good lounges and I get suite upgrades as often at Marriotts as I do Hyatt or Hilton… maybe more often since it’s a “harder” status to obtain.
Before you even create an account realize that the refer-a-friend promotion gives both parties 2,000 points per stay, for the first 5 stays. My wife referred me and when I completed 5 stays we both had 10,000 points just from that promotion. Here is my link to create your first account, and if you have the option refer your spouse or visa versa.
Another benefit of Marriott is how gracious they are with gift card promotions. Right now you can earn miles for buying Marriott gift cards like up to 5,000 United miles or 12,000 Southwest Points. This is pretty big for someone in both that airline and someone who stays at Marriott. But there are other ways to go about getting points. You can buy Marriott gift cards via a company with a big bonus via the ultimate rewards (Chase) portal, like Home Depot (which gives 5 points with the Ink Bold anyways).
But even eBates, TopCashBack and BigCrumbs offer a percentage back for buying gift cards. However, the Freedom Card is giving 5 points per dollar on hotels anyways this quarter. In fact you can get up to 5% back on getting a gift card for Marriott through eBates and a 10% bonus on the gift card for using the Amtrak promotion code. 15% just from eBates… not a bad deal! Simply start your order by clicking through to Marriott from eBates and then use the code “AMT” on your gift card purchase to get a 10% bonus.
If you decide to book on the Marriott website (even through a portal) you can still participate in Look No Further – their best rate guarantee. Basically, if you find a better rate on another website (like Expedia) and file a claim, they will reduce your rate 25% below the better rate. I have often booked on dates after finding a better rate on a different website to ensure the LNF rate.
In the end you really make it worth your time by registering for their Megabonus promotion. It is typically one free night (at a category 4) for every two stays. This is on top of the points you would already earn. But you can also click on your promotions thread when you log into Marriott to see any other promotions going on. Usually you’ll see bonuses for booking specific hotels, if it fits your schedule it can be a good bonus.
Now this can sound like a lot of work, but really all you’re doing is clicking an extra link and buying a gift card first. I would only get a gift card if I frequent hotels, especially Marriott hotels, and know I’ll make good use. But it adds up pretty well.
If we value points at 1 cent each and we pay $100 a night, we’ll get:
- 4,000 points a stay (from the Refer-A-Friend).
- 1,500 after our platinum bonus.
- 250-500 for checking in and choosing points for the platinum status welcome gift.
- and 100-500 points on your credit card (whether from buying a gift card or paying at the hotel).
For a minimum of 5,850 points worth at least $58.50. And you’d also get:
- 5% back on the gift card purchase, at least.
- 5% by booking hotel through a portal.
- 25% off your rate if you find a better rate (with LNF).
At the very least you can get 10% back.
And then through the Megabonus and other promotions you could earn half of a free night at the very least. And there are a number of category 4s that are worth more than $200 a night (Like the Renaissance Bangkok or Renaissance Saigon). That alone could be a $100 value. But the average category 4 is worth $170 so we can safely say it could be worth $85.
Total, you can imagine $58.50 in points, at least $10 in portals and $85 just from the Megabonus. Not to mention Platinum status gives you lounge access, you could get 25% with LNF, there could be more promotions, many hotels have a 500 point welcome gift and you could find a portal that gives more points and points you value more. But sticking to the minimum earnings; that’s $183.5 worth of awards from one $100 spend if you work it.
All that being said, there have been some amazing promotions that give that kind of reward in many hotel chains. The nice thing about this is it’s consistency.
That’s a good overview. I have a stay coming up at a Marriott where I have access to a cheap wedding group rate, so was looking to maximize the earnings from that stay.
can you participate in megabonus even if you book through a portal?
Sure. As long as your rewards number is on the paid stay.
I referred my wife, how will I know if the referral went thru other than the invitation email?
The only way to know is if you get 2k extra points. But FYI, Marriott is cracking down on this (even though they started it) for whatever reason. I know they started watching me… for whatever reason.