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Offers for the Marriott Bonvoy® Premier Plus Business Visa Signature, The Ritz-Carlton™ Credit Card, Marriott Bonvoy® Premier Credit Card, Marriott Bonvoy™ American Express® Card, Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card, Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card, Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful™ Card and Marriott Bonvoy Premier Credit Card are not available through this site. Some offers may have expired. Please see our card marketplace for available offers
Think you have to stay at a Marriott hotel to earn Marriott Bonvoy points? Think again.
Whether you’re taking a break from traveling or just between trips, there are plenty of ways to build your Bonvoy balance without checking into a Marriott hotel. From everyday purchases to bonus-earning partnerships — and even hosting events or booking cruises — you can rack up thousands of points without ever stepping foot in a Marriott room.
Here are 13 ways to earn Marriott Bonvoy points without a hotel stay, including a few that might surprise you.
Page Contents
- Open and Spend on a Marriott Card
- Spend Some Down Time at a Marriott Hotel
- Dine at an “Eat Around Town” Restaurant
- Transfer Points to Marriott
- Spend Money at a MGM Property
- Refer a Friend to Marriott Bonvoy
- Host an Event at a Marriott Hotel
- Transfer Points from Friends or Family
- Link Your Marriott and Uber Accounts
- Rent a Car
- Book a Cruise
- Buy a Marriott Vacation Package
- Buy Marriott Points
- Bottom Line
Open and Spend on a Marriott Card
Chase and American Express both offer co-branded cards that earn Marriott points. These cards have varying welcome offers, with some bonuses offering multiple Marriott free night certificates in place of a standard points-earning sign-up bonus. Welcome bonuses are one of the quickest and easiest ways to rack up a ton of points.
Marriott cards that are currently accepting new applications include the following:
- Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card
- Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card
- Marriott Bonvoy Bevy® American Express® Card
- Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful™ Card
- Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card
- Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card
(Terms Apply)
- 6X points on purchases at hotels participating in Marriott Bonvoy
- 4X points on up to $15,000 in combined purchases per year at restaurants worldwide and at U.S. supermarkets
- 2X points on all other eligible purchases
(Terms Apply)
- 6X points on purchases at Marriott Properties
- 3X points at restaurants worldwide, including takeout and delivery
- 3X points on flights booked directly with airlines
- 2X points on all other eligible purchases
(Terms apply)
- 6x Marriott Bonvoy points on each dollar of eligible purchases at hotels participating in the Marriott Bonvoy® program.
- 4x Marriott Bonvoy points on each dollar of eligible purchases made at restaurants worldwide, at U.S. gas stations, on wireless telephone services purchased directly from U.S. service providers and on U.S. purchases for shipping
- 2x Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card points per dollar on all other eligible purchases
Additionally, you may already hold a Marriott card that allows you to earn points but is no longer open to new applicants. These include:
- Marriott Bonvoy® Premier Plus Business Credit Card
- Marriott Bonvoy™ American Express® Card
- The Ritz-Carlton™ Credit Card
- Marriott Bonvoy Premier Credit Card
Once you've opened a Marriott card and have earned the welcome bonus, you can put as much or as little of your everyday spending on the card as you desire. The more you use it, the more points you'll earn.
Related: Making Sense of the Marriott Bonvoy Co-Branded Cards
Spend Some Down Time at a Marriott Hotel
Marriott has a page dedicated to earning points on activities at local hotels and resorts. This includes eating at a participating hotel restaurant, playing a round of golf, or getting some relaxation via a spa day. You will earn 5 points per $1 spent at participating venues.
These points will post to your account whether or not you're staying at the hotel. If you are staying at the hotel, feel free to charge them directly to your room folio to earn points. If not, simply booking through this page will allow you the chance to have your account credited with bonus points.
Dine at an “Eat Around Town” Restaurant
Along with the ability to earn points by eating at Marriott restaurants, you can also earn points through one of the Marriott Eat Around Town partners. Marriott Bonvoy members earn 4 points per $1 spent, and Marriott Bonvoy Elite members earn 6 points per $1 spent when dining at a participating restaurant and paying with a linked card.
These restaurants aren't just ones located in your hotel. You'll find many of your local favorites from coffee shops to neighborhood sushi joints. If you're new to the program, you can earn 6,000 points in the first 60 days just by completing a few activities and eating at a few restaurants.
Transfer Points to Marriott
You can transfer points to Marriott from American Express Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, and Bilt Rewards. Points transfers from all three at a 1:1 ratio in increments of 1,000 points. Occasionally, there will be transfer bonuses where points transfer at a higher ratio, so always keep an eye out for those.
It should be noted that while you can transfer points from these programs, in most scenarios you probably shouldn't. Since free nights at Marriott hotels can soar to over 100,000 or more, transferring points from your credit cards isn't a great use of those valuable transferrable points. Consider transferring in as a top-off, as a best practice.
Spend Money at a MGM Property
As a benefit of the new MGM Resorts and Marriott partnership, points can be moved from MGM over to Marriott. For each 1,000 MGM points you'll get 800 Marriott points. Earning MGM points is easy, and goes well beyond staying at a hotel. Sure, you can put your Marriott number on your MGM reservation, but you can also earn from other activities like casino table play and slot machines.
Refer a Friend to Marriott Bonvoy
Marriott offers bonus points to members who refer friends to the Marriott Bonvoy program. You can refer up to five friends per year and earn 2,000 points per stay that each of your friends makes, up to five stays per referral. This means you could potentially earn 50,000 bonus points in one year.
Remember to tell your friends to book directly with Marriott in order to earn points for their stays instead of booking with a third party booking site like Expedia or Booking.com, as those stays will be ineligible to earn points. That way, the next time one of your friends ask you how to get Marriott points quickly, you'll be able to clue them in to your ways.
Host an Event at a Marriott Hotel
Host a business meeting, conference, family reunion, wedding, or other event at a Marriott hotel and earn 2 points per $1 spent — up to 60,000 points total — on eligible room, food, beverages, and audio/visual charges. Even better, elite status bonuses will boost those earnings by up to 75%. That means, Titanium Elite and Ambassador Elite members can earn up to 105,000 points per event!
Furthermore, you'll earn one Marriott Elite Night Credit for every 20 room nights you book — up to 20 Elite Night Credits per event.
If you want to double dip, consider inviting some of those attendees to sign up for Marriott Bonvoy at your next event. That way, you'll be able to earn points on their stay via the referral program and earn points from the meeting itself.
Related: Do Marriott Bonvoy Points Expire?
Transfer Points from Friends or Family
A huge perk of the Marriott Bonvoy program is the ability to transfer Marriott points between accounts, up to 100,000 points each year. While this isn't a way to earn points in the normal sense of the word, it's a great option for families to pool points together in order to get one big stay.
Alternatively, if you have friends with points expiring in their account, they could always send their points to you instead of having those points go to waste.
Starting a transfer is super easy, as you can get the process going directly on the website with Marriott's online transfer tool. One thing to note is that you must transfer in 1,000-mile chunks, so you may have some leftover points.
Link Your Marriott and Uber Accounts
Link your Marriott and Uber accounts and earn points for food and grocery deliveries with Uber Eats and on rideshares taken with Uber. Here's how the earning breaks down:
- 6 points per $1 spent on Uber Eats when delivering to any hotel within the Marriott Bonvoy portfolio. Orders are subject to a minimum charge of $40; both restaurant and grocery delivery orders qualify.
- 3 points per $1 spent on Uber rides in the U.S. (including Uber XL, Uber Black, Uber SUV, and Uber Comfort).
- 2 points per $1 spent on all other Uber Eats orders of $40 or more (orders not delivered to a Marriott hotel).
It may seem kind of counterintuitive to order an Uber Eats to your hotel, but I've actually done it a few times. The food and drink selection in a hotel lobby isn't necessarily the widest ranging or most diverse. Uber often will have access to dozens of restaurants and convenience stores close by, and you can earn points via the app quickly and easily. Just make sure to have the destination be the hotel name so the points credit properly.
Rent a Car
Marriott partners with Hertz to offer bonus points when renting with Hertz, Dollar, or Thrifty. Members earn 500 points per rental with Hertz or 250 points per rental with Dollar and Thrifty. Benefits of booking a rental car with a linked Marriott account include unlimited miles, free cancellations, and the ability to reserve now and pay later.
While 500 points per rental may sound like a win, it's not a significant amount in the grand scheme of things. You may be better off using a card like the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card and using the Capital One travel portal, as rental cars booked through here earn 10 points per dollar. A $300 car rental would net you 3,000 Capital One points instead of only 250-500 Marriott points.
Book a Cruise
Book your next cruise through Marriott's Cruise With Points program and receive up to 6 points per $1 spent. Options include many popular cruise lines like Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, and more. It's worth booking your cruise through Cruise With Points since Marriott honors the loyalty benefits available to you from the cruise line and guarantees the lowest prices.
Marriott recently ran a promotion where you could earn up to 11 points per dollar on cruise bookings. While these promotions don't come too often, when they do, it's a perfect way to rack up thousands if not tens of thousands of Bonvoy points and can be one of the most lucrative ways to earn Marriott points.
Buy a Marriott Vacation Package
Book a vacation package through Vacations by Marriott. You can bundle room and flight, room and car, or room, flight, and car into one vacation package. Choose your type of vacation — from family-friendly to romance-centered — and receive bonus points based on the package you book.
For example, a recent promotion offered 25,000 bonus points when you book 6+ nights to nearly any Marriott property worldwide. Each vacation package earns a different amount, so check regularly for the latest deals.
These bonus points are in addition to the points you'll earn on your regular stay, as booking a vacation package is considered a direct booking channel. Rooms are limited for the promotion, so if you're considering a package, book fast.
Buy Marriott Points
Finally, you can also earn Marriott points by pulling out your credit card and simply buying them. Although buying points isn't always a good idea, you can sometimes score a good deal during Marriott buy points promotions.
This can be a great way to get the needed points for a free night if you're a few hundred or a few thousand short, but buying in large quantities or buying speculatively can be quite expensive.
Bottom Line
You don’t need to check into a Marriott hotel to earn Bonvoy points. From credit cards and dining to car rentals and cruise bookings, there are plenty of ways to boost your balance.
Now, for the fun part: redeeming your points. Here's some inspiration on how to use them for Marriott stays:
- Marriott Bonvoy Redemptions for the Budget-Savvy Traveler
- Best Marriott Points Redemptions for Luxury Stays
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: Marriott Bonvoy Bevy® American Express® Card (Rates & Fees), Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card (Rates & Fees), and Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card (Rates & Fees)
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