Marriott Bonvoy points aren’t worth as much as other hotel currencies, but the loyalty program makes up for it with its huge global footprint and more than 40 airline partners to transfer to. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the best ways to redeem your Marriott rewards.
Easily earn Marriott points with cobranded cards like the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card or the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card.
| Best Redemptions | Marriott Stays PointSavers Cash + Points Fifth Night Free Points Advance Airline Transfers Marriott Bonvoy Moments |
| Point Valuation | $0.009 |
MARRIOTT BONVOY BRILLIANT™ AMERICAN EXPRESS® CARD
Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more.
The Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card has an offer for 75,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 in the first 3 months. We value these 75k points at around $675.Â
This card earns 6 points per $1 at hotels participating in the Marriott BonvoyTM program and 3 points at U.S. restaurants and on flights booked directly with airlines. You’ll receive 2 points per $1 spent on all other purchases.
You’ll get a Free Night Award (redemption level up to 50,000 points) every account anniversary year, and up to $300 in statement credits each year for eligible purchases at hotels participating in the Marriott BonvoyTM program. Resort fees may apply. Other benefits include unlimited airport lounge visits with the Priority Pass Select membership and no foreign transaction fees.
This premium card comes with an Annual Fee of $450. See Rates & Fees, Terms Apply.
Marriott Stays
Of course, one of the best ways to use your Marriott points is towards a room at any one of Marriott’s properties. Hotels are priced by category. The higher the category, the more points you’ll need for an award stay. Just an FYI, premium hotels in popular locations are often categorized higher.
Below is Marriott’s award chart with how many points you’ll need for a one-night’s stay, according to hotel category and demand:
| CATEGORY | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| OFF PEAK | 5k | 10k | 15k | 20k | 30k | 40k | 50k | 60k |
| STANDARD | 7.5k | 12.5k | 17.5k | 25k | 35k | 50k | 60k | 85k |
| PEAK | 10k | 15k | 20k | 30k | 40k | 60k | 70k | 100k |
Because our most recent valuations peg Marriott points at $0.009 each, we recommend booking awards that yield at least that much per point.
Best Ways To Redeem With Marriott
Make your Marriott points go further with PointSavers awards. The program offers discounted award rates – up to 33% in savings – on a revolving list of properties worldwide.
Participating hotels change with new properties added every week. For the PointSavers award chart, as well as a current list of PointSavers hotels and dates, click here.
To maximize your rewards, book four nights with PointSavers to get your fifth night free (more on that later).
If you don’t have enough points for a full award stay, or you don’t want to use all your points on one booking, Cash + Points lets you pay with a combination of cash and points.
To stretch your points even further, use the Cash + Points option when you’re booking a longer stay to take advantage of the fifth night free benefit (more on that next). We recommend using points for four nights, so you get your fifth night free. Then, pay for the remaining nights in cash.
When you book an award stay of at least four nights, you’ll get the fifth night free at all participating Marriott hotels. As we mentioned before, this benefit applies to PointSavers awards and the Cash + Points option.
The fifth night free benefit is the simplest and most effective way to stretch your Marriott points to their limit.
Use Points Advance when you want to book an award stay, but you don’t have enough points. This is especially handy when you want to reserve a room before they sell out during peak season, or when you want to lock in a good award rate.
Keep in mind, you’ll need to come up with the total points needed for your stay within 14 days of check-in.
Best Marriott Properties To Redeem
Category 1: Courtyard Pilsen (Czech Republic) 
Category 1: Courtyard Guayaquil (Ecuador) 
Category 3: Renaissance Shanghai Putuo Hotel (China) 
Category 3: MOXY Milan Malpensa Airport (Italy) 
Category 3: JW Marriott Hotel Hanoi (Vietnam) 
Category 3: JW Marriott Hotel Chengdu (China) 
Category 4: JW Marriott Hotel Beijing (China) 
Category 4: JW Marriott Bucharest Grand Hotel (Romania) 
Category 4: Marriott Hotel Al Forsan (Abu Dhabi) 
Category 4: JW Marriott Hotel Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) 
Category 5: JW Marriott Hotel Bangkok (Thailand) 
Category 5: JW Marriott Phu Quoc Emerald Bay Resort & Spa (Vietnam) 
Category 5: Boscolo Budapest, Autograph Collection (Hungary) 
Category 5: Marriott Puerto Vallarta Resort & Spa (Mexico) 
Category 5: JW Marriott Macau (China) 
Category 6: JW Marriott Venice Resort & Spa (Italy) 
Category 7: JW Marriott Grosvenor House (England} 
Category 7: St. Regis Bora Bora Resort 
Category 8: St. Regis Hong Kong 
Category 8: The Ritz-Carlton New York, Central Park 
Category 8: St. Regis New York 
Category 8: Al Maha, a Luxury Collection Desert Resort & Spa (Dubai) 
Category 8: St. Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort 
Category 8: St. Regis Mardavall Mallorca Resort 
Category 8: W Koh Samui (Thailand) 
Category 8: W Maldives 
Category 8: The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong 
Category 8: Suiran, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Kyoto (Japan) 
Category 8: St. Regis Bali Resort (Indonesia) 
Category 8: St. Regis Florence (Italy)
Airline Transfers
Marriott Bonvoy lets members transfer points to over 40 different airline programs, many of which have an exclusive relationship with Marriott. Airline partners include:
All transfers are at a rate of three Marriott points to one airline mile, except:
- Aeromexico which transfers at 3:1.6.
- Air New Zealand which transfers at 200:1.
- JetBlue which transfers at 6:1.
- United which transfers at 3:1.1.
If you transfer 60,000 points, you’ll get a 5,000-mile bonus. Which means you’ll get 25,000 miles on most transfers, instead of 20,000. The bonus effectively changes the transfer ratio from 3:1 to 2.4:1.
For more information on loyalty program point transfer partners, click here.
*Transfer rate is accurate as of the posting date and will be updated from time-to-time; however, some of the information may have change since the last update.
Marriott Bonvoy Moments
Score tickets for premium sporting events, celebrity meet and greets and more with Marriott Bonvoy Moments. Past experiences include:
- Dinner at iconic Michelin-starred restaurant Per Se and a tour of its kitchen.
- Walking the red carpet at the premier of IT Chapter Two.
- A private swimming Masterclass with Olympic gold medalist Stephanie Rice.
- Access to the Chicago Cubs luxury suite at Wrigley Field.
Because these experiences are exclusive to Marriott Bonvoy members with no cash value, you can’t really put a price tag on them. So there’s no way to pinpoint the value of these redemptions. However, since they’re once-in-a-lifetime events, we’re going to say Marriott Bonvoy Moments are worth a lot.
Bottom Line
To maximize Marriott Bonvoy points, we recommend redeeming for stays that offer more than $0.009 per point, as well as utilizing PointSavers, Cash + Points, fifth night free, Points Advance, transfers to airline partners and Marriott Bonvoy Moments.
Need a boost to your Marriott Bonvoy balance? Take advantage of the welcome bonus from the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card, Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card or the Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card credit card.
READ MORE: SEE THE BEST BANK BONUSES HERE AND THE BEST INVESTING BONUSES HERE.
