Marriott Will Allow You to Combine Free Night Certificate + Points in 2022
Starting in 2022, you will be able to combine a free night certificate with points for stays with Marriott. For guests, this provides greater flexibility and access to more premium hotels. However, there could be some drawbacks to this.
Update 4/30/22: This is now available online.
Marriott Free Night Certificate Basics
When you receive a free night certificate with Marriott Bonvoy, it’s worth a set number of poitns. For example, here are 2 awards that both say they are worth 35,000 points. Even if I would use them at a hotel charging 10,000 points per night, I can use the award for 1 night. I don’t get a voucher or residual points. This is the maximum the certificate is worth.
Depending on which Marriott co-branded credit card you have, the value of your free night certificate can range from 25,000 to 50,000 points. That’s a big difference. At present, points pricing at a Marriott hotel can range anywhere from 5,000 points per night to 100,000 points per night.
You Can Combine Points + Marriott Free Night Certificate in 2022
In a big change, Marriott has announced that you’ll be able to add points to your free night award, starting in 2022. Whatever your free night certificate is worth, you’ll be able to add up to 15,000 points to it.
Let’s say you want to go to Disney World in Orlando and want a hotel that offers extra perks but can be booked on points. There’s a whole list of benefits to booking your Disney stay this way.
Since my free night certificates are only worth 35,000 points, I wouldn’t be able to book this stay at the Dolphin hotel. That’s because this date is in peak pricing, charging 60,000 points per night. That’s more than 15,000 points over the value of my free night certificate.
However, I could book the Orlando World Center Marriott. It’s charging 40,000 points per night. That’s less than 15k over the value of my free night certificate.
The Details
There are a few important things to note:
- We don’t know exactly when this will go live. It’s not available yet but will start in 2022 sometime.
- The maximum number of points you can add on top of a free night certificate is 15,000.
Possible Drawbacks
Lest we think this is all sunshine, there could be some negatives here. Marriott is moving to dynamic pricing in March 2022. The award chart we’re accustomed to will go away. Thus, points requirements for a hotel can vary…and vary greatly. Using your free night certificates can become trickier. The ability to add a few points on top of the certificate to book a stay may seem like a good solution.
On the flip side, envision a world in which hotels routinely cost 36,000 points–just out of reach for your free night certificate. If hotels routinely price themselves just a bit above the value of free night certificates–thus you consistently need to add points to them–this will devalue your Marriott awards even further.
For anyone who complains that I might be giving ideas to unscrupulous hotels, I’ll reply that I have no doubt hotels are already considering this. I’m not telling them anything they haven’t had committee meetings about before now. I’m sure of it. So how easy or difficult will it be to use these free night awards in the world of dynamic pricing? It’s anyone’s guess.
Final Thoughts
I see some positives and negatives here. The ability to add points to a Marriott free night certificate can help you when traveling to a popular destination during a peak period. Think of holiday travel and Spring Break. However, the fact this is rolling out around the time that award charts will disappear gives me pause. I’m nervous about how this will play out.
Once this goes live, we’ll test it out and provide updates to show you how this new feature works in practice.
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Well, at least as of October 4, 2022 it is working!
Select the reward you want to use:
Redeem these awards and 5,000 points
Available Awards Exp. Date
Premier Free Night Award – 25K + 5,000 points 07/01/2023
Redeem 30,000 points
I didn’t have to do anything special. When I searched for a hotel, I selected “Use Points” as normal and then, when I selected my hotel, it gave me the option to pay straight points or to use my certificate plus points.
I’m looking at this a different way that I don’t think was mentioned here. The free night redemptions are quickly becoming useless due to the increased points needed for a free night redemption. So the way I see it, Marriott, Chase and AMEX get together and agree to allow the redeemer to use up to 15,000 of their hard earned points to secure a reservation. Chase and AMEX keep on pitching free night certificates but they’re useless unless you choose to redeem some of your own points. Sounds to me like the real winners are Marriott, Chase and AMEX.
It is giving a little back after taking much away for sure.
I was on the phone with Marriott yesterday and I was told while there is no specific roll out date it is supposed to be by end of April beginning of May. Make sure when you call you speak to Loyalty services. I spoke to a reservation rep first who was not aware of being able to combine certificates with points
Are you suppose to get 5th night free when booking a combination of point nights and e-certificate nights for 4 nights?
Ryan your article is disingenuous. I just got off the phone with Marriott and was told you cannot combine points & certificates for a stay in May 2022.
This is straight from Marriott that it will be available at some point this year. It was clearly stated in the article that we don’t know exactly when it will go live but it is promised at some point this year. So tell me how it was disingenuous?
Here is the info from Marriott’s website that states just that – https://help.marriott.com/s/article/Article-33250
Gigi – the Marriott rep is wrong. Before writing a hot comment insulting someone on the internet, pause to check sources. Marriott phone reps are wrong about Marriott constantly. You’re welcome for the correct information I have provided in this article to contradict the error of whomever you spoke to at Marriott.
Gigi, I think you are using disingenuous incorrectly. While you may find the information inaccurate, to call it disingenuous implies that there was deception involved which doesn’t seem to be the case.
So far (20FEB22) Bonvoy does NOT allow a combination of free night certificates and points.
According to Bonvoy Europe, they’re not informed of any starting date this would be possible!
Steffi – I just asked Marriott yesterday if there’s a date for this yet. Once they reply to my message on Twitter, I’ll post an update.
Did you hear back?
They now say it will be sometime in April.
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That takes the pressure off of Marriott to keep those certs being worth a night at a good hotel. This isn’t consumer friendly, but rather means the certs will just continue to dwindle in value.
Do you know if this will work with the old, 7 night, “Partial Package” certificates?
I am interested to know this, too!
As far as all the news Marriott has shared, it has been “you can add up to 15k points to your free night certificate”. I have not seen anything anywhere to indicate yes or no about these packages (to either direction). I contacted Marriott yesterday to ask when this will roll out (mostly for my personal interest, since I’m working on a trip for early January), and they said there’s no known date yet/just watch for emails. I guess we’ll find out then.
I use to do this with packages a lot in the past. Haven’t gotten a package since they devalued them so not sure if it still works.
They are only doing this so that the free night certs are dynamic like the award night cost are.
This has been the case for awhile now. I was able to do this on a reservation last month.
JJ – are you sure? I’d really like some details about this, because I’ve never seen that option. I’ve tested it 2x a week since we first heard this news, waiting to see if it goes live now for 2022 bookings (rather than waiting until 2022 starts). So far, I’ve done a ton of tests, so I’d be really surprised. What hotel was it? What combination of certs and points did you do? We’d love data points on this to share with others. Thanks!
I am also interested in the steps you took to do so. I’ve been trying for the last few days to use $5K points to book a hotel added to the free night certificate. Can you explain your process to do so?
JJ – as of today, Marriott still confirms this feature is not live. Can you share details on how you accomplished this? Points + free night awards are not something I have ever seen available in the site.