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Update: Marriott is refusing to further extend Free Night Awards beyond June 30, 2022. However, if your Free Night Award hasn't yet been extended, you can contact Marriott to request a one-year extension. See this post for more on how to use Marriott Bonvoy Free Night Award certificates.
Lots of news is coming out of Marriott Bonvoy this week. Yesterday we shared that Marriott is eliminating its award chart. But, not all of the news is bad. Marriott will extend elite status, Free Night Awards, and other elite perks yet again.
This isn't the first time Marriott has extended these perks either. So, let's highlight which perks are extended and until when — so you can plan accordingly.
Bonvoy Elite Status Extended Again
Firstly, let's talk status. Marriott Bonvoy will extend all members' elite status levels until February 2023. This comes after the previous extension we saw last year. After Hilton extended status again last month, we wondered if other hotels would do the same.
Marriott Bonvoy will extend your current status through February 2023. That's even if the status you are sitting on was originally earned in 2019 or 2020. All levels of status are eligible for extensions, and the extended year of your status will count toward lifetime status requirements.
Status Extended, But No New Choice Benefits
It's important to note that only your status is being extended. Platinum Elite and Titanium Elite members will still need to pass the required number of elite nights to choose new Annual Choice Benefits for next year.
Earlier this year, Marriott gifted all members elite night credits. So, you may be closer to earning these benefits than in normal years. Speaking of which, there's no news so far about Marriott gifting elite night credits again for 2022.
Perks Extended to June 2022
In addition to extending elite status, Marriott Bonvoy will extend the validity of other perks.
Suite Night Awards
The first of these is Suite Night Awards (SNAs). Any SNAs with an expiration in 2021 will be extended to June 30, 2022. This applies even if your Suite Night Awards have already been extended.
Free Night Awards
All unused Free Night Awards (FNAs) — such as those earned by having a Marriott co-branded credit card — will also be extended. Free Night Awards set to expire between January 3 and June 29, 2022 will now expire on June 30, 2022. Expiration dates will be updated automatically at some point in December 2021, so keep an eye on your account.
Change to Using Free Night Awards
Speaking of Free Night Awards, you will have more flexibility in how you can use these certificates. At present, if you have a Free Night Award worth 35,000 points, that's all it's worth. Even if a property prices at 35,001 points on the night you want to stay there, too bad.
Now, you will be able to use a Free Night Awards plus Bonvoy points. The maximum amount of points you can add to “top off” your Free Night Award certificate is 15,000 points. This will provide all members with more flexibility for using these certificates.
Points Expiration Pushed Back
Along with the announcement about status and perks, Marriott is again extending its pause on points expiration. Points expiration will resume after December 31, 2022. Remember that Bonvoy points only expire if there is no activity on your account within 24 months.
Bottom Line
As you can see, there are several pieces of good news in this announcement. Really the only negative is that Marriott is moving to dynamic pricing. However, we have time to adjust and this pain will be blunted by being able to enjoy our elite status, perks, and points into 2022.
Free Night Awards will be extended and become more flexible. Points expiration remains on pause, and both elite status and Suite Night Awards are being extended again.
Are you happy with these changes? Do they make up for the bad news about dynamic pricing?
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This pandemic never ends
I can’t wait when we can travel again
The top-off feature is well desired. So many times I have not been able to use my 35k reward from my boundless card but now I can. Not excited about the dynamic pricing though.
Point inflation is coming… better to use points asap.
Why can’t they update these now… I hate seeing “one week to expiration” in AwardWallet…
This really does not feel like they care at all about those of us who were still traveling and choose Marriott. This doesn’t surprise me and I already moved a lot of nights to Hyatt to get Globalist as well as having enough nights for Ambassador (but not the spend).
Why no rollover or partial rollover of actual nights stayed in 2021? Make it a little easier for those of us to stick around.
I am also curious as to how the nights toward status work now, I have 45 nights showing for this year toward status, do those roll in to 2022 and count toward status? Or will they be wiped out?
Unfortunately we haven’t heard anything from Marriott on rollover nights. Any chance you can get 5 more nights by the year end? Platinum is a huge upgrade over Gold.
Unfortunately, this is a standard Marriott practice we have seen since SPG merge. Give out temporary good changes to shift attention from the permanent bad changes. Yes, we will benefit from those changes in 2022, but after that the program is practically killed for planned ahead high value redemption vacation travel… sad. Just look at IHG – the award redemption do not make any sense, do not correspond $$ pricing, and change every day… impossible to plan anything.
Sucks.
I’m not sure if this is a good idea or will result in a bloat in elite membership. For 2021, they deposited some elite credits to jump start the status. That might have been a better way instead of outright extending the status.
I’ll take the few extra months, travel is far from back to normal.
Thank you for the article. The extension is good.
I am pleased with the extension of the expiration dates for the free nights. I was going to figure out a way to use my nights before the end of the year, but now I don’t need to. Adding points to increase the value of a free night is also great. The lack of an award chart is not great however, undoubtedly the required points will increase for almost everything.
It feels like Marriot wants to give us something back for the dynamic award pricing
Any idea when these will be extended? I’ve got about 14 nights set to expire in early Jan 2022 and I’ve been trying to find award space for biz class to Athens and Edinburgh through various airlines/credit cards to burn up some miles but am having no luck finding anything and would LOVE to know this applies to the vouchers I have! I’ve been looking for a booking service but none of them have phone numbers to actually speak to a person before I give them permission to use miles to book and I have questions about the process so this would be awesome…waiting to see.
Everything about Marriott’s dynamic pricing is a major disappointment for consumers. Marriott used to be a favorite of mine but now I am definitely open to other hotel brands.
A company that understands travel is not back to normal yet.
any word on IHG yet?
Hyatt are you paying attention, I have some nights expiring soon.
This is good news with the status and points expiry extensions unlike the devaluation announced yesterday.
Great news, the extention of the expiration helps a lot!
Good news.
yet…
“Marriott is moving to dynamic pricing.”
That says it all.
At least they’re doing something to offset the award chart changes.
The trend is the gradual deterioration of benefits.
this is excellent news. companies, in general, have been sympathetic, while we have not returned to normal life.
This is wonderful news, thanks for sharing.
Especially the free night certificates being extended. Our family has been postponing stays due to COVID-19, so this gives us more flexibility.
Eliminating the award chart is never a good thing but the other changes are beneficial!
Has this been confirmed on marriott channels anywhere?
Yep! It’s all detailed on this post on Marriott’s website: https://help.marriott.com/s/article/Article-24119