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The Marriott Bonvoy program terms and conditions have over 34,000 words. For reference, that's more than four times the length of the U.S. Constitution (including all amendments). Marriott regularly updates these terms, adding new elite benefits or restrictions on how you can earn points with certain partners.
However, Marriott rarely announces when it makes changes to its novella-length terms, leaving it up to us to discover the changes and inform you about them. So, here's a recap of the changes Marriott has made to its program over the past few months.
Marriott Amends Elite Benefits, Updates Points Policies
Generally speaking, Marriott typically announces significant improvements to its terms and conditions. What usually gets tucked away are smaller things like adjustments to the elite benefits you get at a specific brand or new steps required to earn points with certain partners.
To make these not-so-sexy changes easier to digest, we’ve broken them into two sections: one on elite benefit updates and another on points and earning policy changes.
Elite benefit changes
Lots of travelers have Marriott Bonvoy elite status. But if you’ve stayed at more than one Marriott, you’ve probably noticed that the elite benefits you receive can vary from one property or brand to another. That is the crux of these elite benefit changes, as most of them pertain to specific perks at specific brands. Here’s a quick overview:
- Nightly Upgrade Awards: New exclusions include Delonix Tribute Portfolio properties, StudioRes, Trailborn, Postcard Cabins, Vacation Clubs, and MGM Collection. These awards can't be used at these brands.
- Ultimate Reservation Guarantee: Now applies to Postcard Cabins and Sonder, which were previously excluded.
- 48-Hour Guaranteed Availability: This is now excluded at Postcard Cabins, Trailborn, StudioRes, Vacation Club brands, and Ritz-Carlton Reserve.
- Complimentary Enhanced Room Upgrades: Complimentary upgrades for Gold and Platinum Elite members are no longer offered at StudioRes, Vacation Club brands, The Phoenician Residences, and Ritz-Carlton Reserve. But on the bright side, room upgrades for these elites are now offered at Sonder properties.
Points and earning policy changes
Marriott made a couple of important tweaks to the policies around how you earn or inherit points, including:
- Marriott and Uber partnership: Marriott clarified that you must select Marriott as the earning partner in the Uber app for bonus points to post. To do so, navigate to your Uber App, go to the settings, and then scroll down to look for “Rewards.” Action may not be required on your end, but it's worth checking nonetheless.
- Points inheritance after death: Now limited to a legal spouse or someone named in a will. The previous one-time transfer option to a family member or friend not named in a will is no longer allowed.
- Pre-enrollment stay credit: The retroactive request window has been extended from 60 days to one year. This means you to receive credit for stays completed up to a year before enrolling in Marriott Bonvoy. That's significantly longer than two months.
Related: Marriott Bonvoy Rewards Program Guide
Bottom Line
It’s common for Marriott to make small adjustments to elite benefits or other aspects of the Marriott Bonvoy program. More often than not, these changes are minor, but they’re still worth knowing about in case they impact how you participate in the program, such as now needing to update your earning partner in the Uber app if you want to keep earning Marriott points on Uber rides.
Marriott also makes its fair share of cosmetic changes, like renaming the website where you can buy a Marriott-branded mattress to “Marriott Bonvoy Boutiques.” Regardless of what Marriott calls it, the mattresses are still overpriced, and the $1,000 discount is still a poor use of an Earned Choice Award. But I digress.
Changes like this happen fairly often. And we’ll keep our ear to the ground so we can share the ones worth writing about.
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