Marriott Bonvoy global promotion (Fall 2024): 4,000 bonus points per stay (2-night min.) or 6,000 at MGM

The Marriott Bonvoy program just announced its new seasonal global promotion for Fall 2024. There are actually 2 separate promotions that give you a nice return by combining them, a 4,000-point bonus per stay (minimum 2 nights). As always, that’s in addition to your 3 regular earn rates, which can give you a ≈ 54.7% total earn rate (sadly, many get just 1%). The bonus is even 6,000 points at MGM resorts.

The Marriott Bonvoy program belongs to the world’s largest hotel chain and is the best hotel rewards program for Canadian travelers. The Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card is really one of the best cards in Canada and all travelers should eventually have it and always keep it too (that’s very rare; it offers an amazing certificate).

And unlike with airline programs, with hotel programs, you can earn a worthwhile amount of points by actually buying travel. And it’s worth paying for the nights in cash sometimes since they’re rewards of the more lucrative type and their value varies based on how you use them.

It’s especially worth it when there are global promotions, which all hotel chains offer regularly (approximately every season). As is the case with this Marriott promotion for Fall 2024.

Here are the details and our analysis, followed by some details on how Marriott promotions work in general, if you want more info.

Overview of the Marriott Bonvoy global promotion

Here’s what the 1^st Marriott promotion gives you:

• 2,000 bonus points per stay of 2 nights or more
• 2,000 more bonus points per 2-night stay at MGM resorts
• No maximum for bonuses

Here’s what the 2^nd Marriott promotion gives you:

• 2,000 more bonus points per 2-night stay if you have a Marriott card
• You don’t need to PAY with the card; just to have it
• No maximum for bonuses

These promotions are stackable (can be combined), and the validity dates and logistics are the same for both. You need to register for both!!!

Here are the validity dates for the Marriott promotion:

• Stays from September 10 to November 26, 2024
• Registration required before November 12, 2024
• Bonuses apply starting with the 1^st 2-night stay

Here’s how to take advantage of the Marriott promotion:

• Register for free before your stay
  • With 1 click on the Marriott website
  • Always do it right away
• Book a stay paid in cash
  • Not paid in points
  • Not paid partially in points
  • Not paid in certificates
• Book with Marriott directly
  • On their website or app
  • Not on 3^rd-party sites or agencies

I remind you of the basics of all Marriott promotions:

• Bonus points are in addition to earned points:
  • Via your card (5 pts/C$ or even 20.5% back)
  • Via the program (10 pts/US$ minimum)
  • Via shopping portals often (1.5% or ≈ 3%)
• Stays booked previously are eligible:
  • As long as they take place during the promotion
  • As long as you have registered before your stay
  • The stay is eligible (payment/booking methods)
• Promotions can be global or targeted:
  • This one is global; everyone can take advantage
  • Your targeted promotions are on the Marriott website

Finally, here are some exclusions for this Marriott promotion (which are not relevant to most travelers):

• Hotel brands are all included, except BVLGARI
  • Not Marriott Executive Apartments
  • Not timeshare brands
  • Not The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection
• Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy are included
  • For the 1^st promo, not the 2^nd
  • Not always the case
• Multiple rooms are excluded
  • If they are on the same night
  • It’s for 1 room per member per night

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Analysis of the Marriott Bonvoy global promotion

Overall, this is a good promotion. 

Especially if you maximize by booking stays of only 2 nights, obviously. And by booking hotels with the cheapest price, obviously (like with most hotel promotions).

It’s even slightly better than the recent Marriott global promotions. If you maximize it, it will give you the equivalent of 2,000 bonus points per night (since everyone should have the card). 

At MGM resorts, it even gives you 6,000 points total (the equivalent of 3,000 per night). That’s very good. You can see the list of resorts in our guide about the new Marriott and MGM partnership.

But when you compare that to the 53,000 points you get with the welcome bonus from the Marriott Bonvoy Amex Card or the 70,000 from the Marriott Bonvoy Business Amex Card (which doesn’t require an incorporated business), it’s obviously not much.

Welcome bonuses are always the key to going faster. You can read our new guide on how to earn rewards.

There are some seasons when Marriott offers no global promotion, so no bonus. So it’s better to get a bonus of 4,000 points than no bonus at all.

But still, 4,000 points is just ≈ $36 based on our Flytrippers Valuation. 

I remind you that if you have the Marriott Bonvoy Amex Card, without even counting the promotions, you already earn a minimum of 5 pts per $C (≈ 4.5%) with your card, a minimum of 8 pts per $C (≈ 7.2%) with the Marriott program, and a minimum of 1.5% with shopping portals on most rates and rooms (this is the only earn method that isn’t 100% guaranteed).

So, the 4,000 bonus points improve your total return, but the exact percentage obviously depends on the cash price of your hotel stay.

Value of the Marriott Bonvoy global promotion

The value of points varies, of course. If you don’t know that, read the basics of Marriott points. We can at least estimate with our Flytrippers Valuation for average travelers.

I’ll use an example of a night in Bali at $76, taxes included. Instead of earning ≈ 12% with the Marriott Bonvoy Amex Card and the Marriott program directly, with the 4,000 bonus points for 2 nights, you earn ≈ 36% total. It triples!

For a more normal night at say $150 taxes included, instead of earning ≈ 12%, you earn ≈ 24%. That’s 100% more. The more expensive the room, the lower the percentage that a bonus of 4,000 points represents, obviously.

For MGM, the Excalibur Hotel & Casino is sometimes as low as $100 per night, with the taxes (and terrible Vegas resort fees) included. You get 6,000 bonus points on $200 spent: that’s a ≈ 27% return with the promotion plus a ≈ 12% base return, for a total of ≈ 39% back! I booked that hotel for my music festival in October and I’ll change it from a points booking to a cash booking because this promo makes it a better deal!

Finally, this is very niche, but it’s good to show you how stacking multiple promotions can be powerful! The Edmonton hotel promo we told you about last year ($225 back on a 3-night stay or $150 for 2 nights) is still offered. Stack that promotion with the Marriott promotion and you add another layer of rewards that might give you an overall return that’s even higher than 50%!

Total earnings with the Marriott Bonvoy global promotion (≈ 54.7%)

Regardless of the Marriott promotion, you also always earn points in the 3 normal ways in addition to the bonuses because those 3 earnings are always there:

• Earnings via your card (≈ 4.5% or even 20.5%)
• Earnings via the program directly (10 pts/US$)
• Earnings via shopping portals often (1.5% or ≈ 3%)

That can give you a total earn rate of ≈ 54.7% if you combine all earning methods… as you should obviously always do.

Earnings via your card (≈ 4.5% or even 20.5%)

All travelers will obviously earn points on their credit cards, as always.

All Canadian travelers should have the Marriott Bonvoy Amex Card and will therefore earn a minimum of 5 points per C$ (≈ 4.5%) on the amount spent with Marriott.

But welcome bonuses are always the key to earning more. So, if you’re already done unlocking the bonus on your Marriott Bonvoy Amex Card, it’s obviously more lucrative to use your spending to unlock a new welcome bonus (as is ALWAYS the case; it’s really that simple).

For example, the brand-new record-high welcome bonus on the TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite Card launched this week gives you the equivalent of 20.5% back on $5,000 in spending — and TD Rewards points are of the more simple type (they can be used for almost any travel expense).

Earnings via the program directly (10 pts/US$)

All travelers can always earn guaranteed points directly with the Marriott Bonvoy program with a simple free account.

In addition to what you earn with any Marriott promotion, the program has a base earn rate! You always earn 10 points per US$ — the equivalent of 7.4 points per C$ (≈ 6.7%). Well, actually at 8 of the 30+ hotel brands, you earn 5 points per US$ instead of 10 — the equivalent of 3.7 points per C$ (≈ 3.3%).

Members with the Marriott Bonvoy Amex Card have automatic Silver elite status and therefore earn 11 points per US$ — the equivalent of 8.1 points per C$ (≈ 7.2%). Members with the American Express Platinum Card have automatic Gold elite status and therefore earn 12.5 points per US$ — the equivalent of 9.2 points per C$ (≈ 8.3%)! Or half that at some hotel brands.

Earnings via shopping portals often (1.5% or ≈ 3%)

Finally, using the online shopping portals, like you always should for all merchandise or travel purchases, will give you even more rewards.

The Aeroplan eStore gives you an extra 2 Aeroplan points per $ (≈ 3%), or twice that if you have Aeroplan elite status. Rakuten gives you 1.5% in simple cash back (plus you can get $30 free if you create a new account).

As mentioned, for Marriott, this earning method is the only one that’s not guaranteed: some rates and rooms aren’t eligible to portal bonuses. You should still take a minute to go through portals, worse case it gives you nothing and best case it works.

Total earnings with the promotion (≈ 54.7%)

Sadly, many travelers don’t understand the value of welcome bonuses, will book their hotel without taking 30 seconds to create a free Marriott account, and won’t take the extra minute to go through a shopping portal.

That means they will only earn a pathetic 1% or 2% via their credit card’s earn rate. That’s it.

Terrible.

Savvy travelers can earn ≈ 54.7% for the exact same booking!!!

It’s simple:

• 20.5% earn rate by unlocking a welcome bonus (new TD deal)
• ≈ 7,2% earn rate with Marriott directly (base earn rate)
• ≈ 24% earn rate with Marriott directly (this 4,000-point promo)
• ≈ 3% earn rate with the Aeroplan eStore

Ouch! Just 1% when you can get literally 50 times more rewards so easily, for the exact same hotel expense!!! It’s normal when you just don’t know, but now you know!

No wonder so many people think rewards aren’t worth it when they get just a terrible 1% earn rate!

Details of how Marriott promotions work in general

Here are more details on the basics of Marriott promotions.

Types of bonuses with Marriott promotions

We’ll start documenting the history of Marriott promotions at the end of this article, but more generally, there are a few types of Marriott promotions.

Bonuses offered are either:

• Bonus points
• Bonus elite night credits

Sometimes the 2 are offered at the same time, like this winter.

Bonus points are simple: they can be used to get free hotel nights. Elite night credits are really just to reach elite status. Many people find the term “elite night” confusing, but the name says it all: it’s just for your count of nights to reach elite status.

Types of requirements for Marriott promotions

A major difference in Marriott promotions is how the bonus is offered.

Either:

• Per night
• Per stay

When there is a bonus of 1000 points per night, it is easier and the length of your stay is not relevant.

But if it’s 1000 points per stay, the number of consecutive nights in the same hotel greatly affects the value of the promotion and the bonus. It incentivizes shorter stays (by simply changing hotels during a trip).

Sometimes there are special bonuses like 2000 points per different hotel brand you try during the promo period.

Finally, sometimes there are extra bonus points for travelers who have the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card only, like right now!

Validity period for Marriott promotions

The 1^st of the 2 time periods to know about Marriott promotions is the period to take advantage of the promotion.

That’s the most important and it’s quite simple. Your stay must take place during the Marriott promotion period. 

For seasonal global promotions, the periods to take advantage of them usually last 2-3 months. 

Finally, sometimes the bonus starts with the 2^nd stay during the promotion’s time period, instead of the 1^st. This is to incentivize you to make multiple stays. It’s not common, but it’s one of the variables we’ll always list in the overview of the promotion at the top of this page.

Registration period for Marriott promotions

The 2^nd of the 2 time periods to know about Marriott promotions is the period to register for the promotion.

You must have registered before your stay to take advantage of the promotion. And the registration period always ends before the end of the promotion itself. It usually starts before too.

By the way, it’s normal for them to require registration: they certainly don’t want to give bonuses to travelers who didn’t even know there was a promotion and who clearly would’ve booked the hotel even without knowing about the bonuses!

Be a savvy traveler and always register. You should always register as soon as you see the promotion because it takes a minute and you never know if you will have to book a hotel later, for example with your flight delay insurance.

(So if you register when we share the post about the new promo, there’s really just the period for the promotion itself to worry about!)

Frequency of Marriott promotions

There are often periods between promotions when there is no global promotion going on, unfortunately.

There can be anywhere from 1 to 4 global promotions per year. It varies.

As mentioned, at the end of this guide there’s the history of Marriott global promotions that we’ll fill out (including those in the past once we have a bit of time to research it).

Payment methods eligible for Marriott promotions

To take advantage of Marriott’s promotions, you must pay with cash, not:

• With Marriott Bonvoy points
• With Marriott Bonvoy’s Cash + Points option
• With Marriott Bonvoy free night certificates

This is not the case with all hotel chains by the way. I’ve already taken advantage of some absolutely amazing Hilton global promotions thanks to the fact that they applied even to reservations made with points, I’ll talk about that in another post soon.

Marriott points are the easiest hotel points to earn in Canada. They are the most valuable too. But like all rewards of the more lucrative type, there are dates and/or hotels where it’s not a good value to use the points!

That means sometimes it’s better to pay with cash. To determine this, the basic rule is to look at the cost in cash of course. Including the earnings you’ll get, especially during Marriott promotions.

So to make the most accurate calculation, also consider the earnings you would get by paying with cash, which is at least ≈ 12% for those who have the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card and even more during promotions!

Booking methods eligible for Marriott promotions

Hotel chains are very different from airlines: to be eligible for the program benefits, you must book directly with them and not through intermediary booking sites or agencies.

This applies to promotions as well.

The hotel chains’ websites pretty much always have the lowest price too, unlike the airlines’ sites.

However, for the hotel chains you don’t stay with often enough, it’s probably better to get the simple 10% back from the Hotels.com Rewards program, even though that’s usually less than what you earn from the hotel rewards program directly. And at the last minute, Hotwire’s opaque deals can save you more.

Stays eligible for Marriott promotions

Any hotel reservations made before registration and before the promotion is announced are eligible, as long as:

• Your stay takes place during the promotion period
• You have registered for the promotion before your stay
• The stay is eligible (payment/booking methods)

Hotel brands eligible for Marriott promotions

You can check out our introduction to the 30+ different Marriott hotel brands, which will be updated and improved soon.

All hotel brands are included in the promotions.

What is often excluded are brands that are something other than traditional hotels:

• Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy: Marriott’s version of Airbnb and Vrbo
• Marriott Executive Apartments: a special brand of long-term rentals
• Apartments by Marriott Bonvoy: another brand of long-term rentals
• Timeshare Clubs: not hotels at all

Logistics to take advantage of a Marriott promotion

There are just 2 simple steps:

• Register for the promotion
• Book a stay with cash during the promotion period

Now here’s the step-by-step process if you want more information.

Logistics of registration for a Marriott promotion

You need to log in to your Marriott online account first.

(All Canadian travelers should have a free account, Marriott Bonvoy is 1 of the 5 in our free cheat sheet of the essential rewards programs for Canadians!)

I’ll do a separate post soon on how to create it if you want that step-by-step, but you just need to follow what it says on the account creation page of the Marriott website!

Once you’re logged in, you click on the link for the current Marriott promotion (always listed in a simple way for you in the overview at the top of this article).

On the Marriott promotion page, there’s always going to be a big purple button that says “Register”

You click and voilà, you are registered.

Logistics to see all Marriott promotions

I’ll take the liberty of adding this sidenote. You can also see the global promotion without the direct link, along with all your targeted promotions (if you have any).

Once logged into your Marriott account, you click on your name in the top right corner and then click on the “Promotions” option.

It takes you to the directory of all Marriott promotions, but most of the time, there is just the global promotion anyway.

You click on “Register” and it will take you to the specific Marriott promotion page.

Logistics of booking a stay during a Marriott promotion

There is absolutely nothing special to do when booking a hotel during a Marriott promotion.

(Except obviously being logged into your Marriott account, but you should always be logged in!)

You go to the Marriott website — as with everything, we appreciate it when you use the links on the Flytrippers website if you’re going to go directly. It’s at no cost to you, and it allows you to support us so we can share more free content to help you travel for less.

Then, you enter your destination and dates.

I still recommend clicking on “Use Points” because it will allow you to compare to make sure it’s worth paying in cash to take advantage of the promotion.

(Because the price in cash appears in addition to the price in points when you select this option — whereas there is just the cash price if you don’t select it!)

I shared pro tips to simplify your Marriott searches, whether in points or with cash. Don’t miss our ultimate guide soon by signing up for our free newsletter for travel rewards; you’ll also receive lots of other useful tips!

Historical Marriott promotions

Here’s the history of Marriott promotions (we’ll fill this in from now on and go back and fill in the more recent ones too shortly):

• Winter 2024: 1 elite night credit and 1000 bonus points per night
• Winter 2023: 1 elite night credit and 1000 bonus points per night

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Featured image: View of the sea from the Four Points by Sheraton Manado (photo credit: Marriott)

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