Marriott Chase Credit Card

[presley]

I just got approved for the Marriott Chase Bonvoy credit card. It's the one for $95./year that gives the 3 hotel certificates if I make the spend in the first 3 months. I compared all four of the Marriott credit cards and determined that this was the right one for how I will use it. I thought I'd check here if anyone else has it already and maybe get a couple questions answered.

The 3 hotel night certificates are worth 50K points each, which is not enough for most of the places that I plan on staying. Is there an option to pay the difference or to combine them into more expensive nights? Is it possible to use more bonvoy points to combine to the 50K certificates? For reference, let's say I want to stay at a place that is 70K points per night. Is there any possible way to use these certificates for that?

Are we able to book ourselves online or do we have to call to use our free nights? I always hated having to call Hilton to use my free weekend night reward.

 

[buzglyd]

No. You can’t buy your certs up. There are some pretty nice 50k hotels out there though.

 

[buzglyd]

Oh. Yes you can book your certs online. When they post you just make a reservation using points/certs and then select the cert you want to use.

 

[Fasttr]

Oh. Yes you can book your certs online. When they post you just make a reservation using points/certs and then select the cert you want to use.

Not sure if it’s just me, but the phone app will not allow me to attach a certificate, but using a normal browser via Marriott.com will.

 

[buzglyd]

Best uses for Marriott free night certificates

Marriott has a huge number of hotels worldwide. For this post, I’ve collected suggestions for the best hotels that are bookable with Marriott free night certificates. Marriott offers annual 35K and 50K free night certificates to cardholders of various Marriott credit cards. When booking a...

frequentmiler.com

 

[jwalk03]

Unfortunately you cannot combine the certificates or use additional points to pay the difference. You are limited to the 50k per night, but that will get you a Cat 6 at off peak or standard or a cat 7 at off peak. Cat 5 and below anytime so there are lots of choices!

the vast majority of the Marriott Vacation Club locations are cat 5 or 6. The only 7s are:
Frenchman’s Cove
Newport Coast
Crystal Shores
Waiohai Beach Club
Kauai Lagoons
Waikoloa Ocean Club
Custom House

The new tower at Maui Ocean club is cat 7( the older is cat 6) & some of Vail is Cat 6 and some is cat 7 depending on the building.

 

[BigMac]

These free nights all have an expiration date one year after issue, This may not be an issue for you but for me I prefer a pure points offer ( which the card used to have and may have again sometime in the future).

 

[jwalk03]

These free nights all have an expiration date one year after issue, This may not be an issue for you but for me I prefer a pure points offer ( which the card used to have and may have again sometime in the future).

If you apply through the Reservation Path offer on Marriott.com the current offer is a $250 Marriott e-Gift Card on approval and 50K points after spending 3K in 3 months.

 

[SueDonJ]

Unfortunately you cannot combine the certificates or use additional points to pay the difference. You are limited to the 50k per night, but that will get you a Cat 6 at off peak or standard or a cat 7 at off peak. Cat 5 and below anytime so there are lots of choices!

the vast majority of the Marriott Vacation Club locations are cat 5 or 6. The only 7s are:
Frenchman’s Cove
Newport Coast
Crystal Shores
Waiohai Beach Club
Kauai Lagoons
Waikoloa Ocean Club
Custom House

The new tower at Maui Ocean club is cat 7( the older is cat 6) & some of Vail is Cat 6 and some is cat 7 depending on the building.

Remember, though, the certs are good for Studio-size units at the timeshares so you do have to use more points for upsizing even if the timeshare doesn't have Studio-size units:

From marriott.com, What is an Upgrade Award? (bolding mine):

3.3 Upgrade Awards.

When using Points for an Award Redemption Stay, Members may have to redeem additional Points to reserve an upgraded room such as an ocean view room or a suite. This “Upgrade Award” may be required for certain room types in addition to a Free Night Award in a standard room.

3.3.a. Upgrade Awards may only be used when redeeming Points for a stay at a Participating Property. There are two types of Upgrade Awards:

i. Point Upgrade Awards. A “Point Upgrade Award” is issued when Points are redeemed to upgrade a Free Night Award in a standard room and is subject to availability at Participating Properties. Please refer to the details for the selected Participating Property at which you are making a reservation.

ii. Paid Upgrade Awards. At select Participating Properties, Members may pay for an upgrade to a Free Night Award reservation on a cost per night basis. The price for “Paid Upgrade Awards” varies by Participating Property and will be charged to the folio during the Member’s stay. Additional Points are not required with Paid Upgrade Awards. Members will not earn Points or Miles on Paid Upgrade Awards and Members are responsible for all applicable taxes and service charges associated Paid Upgrade Awards.

3.3.b. Upgrade Award requirements vary by Participating Property, hotel category, room type and by season.

3.3.c. Participating Properties, at their discretion, may offer premium room(s) that require an Upgrade Award, e.g. rooms with special views such as ocean or bay views. Where available, two (2) bedroom suites at Residence Inn by Marriott and TownePlace Suites by Marriott require the use of an Upgrade Award. Marriott Vacation Club and Marriott Grand Residence Club properties require Upgrade Awards for all unit types other than studio units.

3.3.d. Some Point Upgrade Awards require payment in local currency and cannot be purchased with Points. Check the room description for currency and other redemption requirements when booking an Award Redemption Stay reservation online.

 

[GetawaysRus]

The biggest beef that I have with the "free night" certs is that the hotels seem have learned from the airlines and many now tack on junk fees. So instead of getting a true free night, you may also have to pay a nightly parking fee and/or a daily resort fee.

This seems especially common with the 50K certificates. We tend to use the 35K certificates at places like Residence Inns or Springhill Suites, which don't typically have those junk fees. But the 50K certs work for "nicer" properties, and I'm finding that more and more of the full-service hotels and the resorts have those extra fees.

 

[wackymother]

Lately the phone reps have been telling me that it's better to call in to get certificates attached to a reservation. I did have some problems with one where I did the attaching a while back--when I canceled the reservation, it didn't go back into my account.

 

[tschwa2]

The biggest beef that I have with the "free night" certs is that the hotels seem have learned from the airlines and many now tack on junk fees. So instead of getting a true free night, you may also have to pay a nightly parking fee and/or a daily resort fee.

This seems especially common with the 50K certificates. We tend to use the 35K certificates at places like Residence Inns or Springhill Suites, which don't typically have those junk fees. But the 50K certs work for "nicer" properties, and I'm finding that more and more of the full-service hotels and the resorts have those extra fees.

Problem I am finding is the most of the residence inns in places that I am traveling to this summer are 60,000 per night for weeknights. Everything is 40,000-60,000 for weeknights. I actually can find some Marriott's sort of in the middle of nowhere between destinations that are 15,000 but I hate having to use the 35000 certs on those but 30,000-35,000 level resorts just don't seem to exists in my orbit.

 

[zentraveler]

Problem I am finding is the most of the residence inns in places that I am traveling to this summer are 60,000 per night for weeknights. Everything is 40,000-60,000 for weeknights. I actually can find some Marriott's sort of in the middle of nowhere between destinations that are 15,000 but I hate having to use the 35000 certs on those but 30,000-35,000 level resorts just don't seem to exists in my orbit.

We are also used to those 15,000 point middle of nowhere Marriott’s, but I am not surprised. There’s a huge summer travel season now that things are opening up, and no one really wants to go to Europe and even Hawaii is a bit of a headache at the moment. People are really traveling locally and I’m sure the travel industry is trying to make up for a year of lost revenue. We just found the same thing traveling from Oregon back to California. Either no availability or high points/dollars.

 

[GetawaysRus]

I learned a few things recently about certificates. We built up a number of these certificates of different values (35K, 40K, 50K) because we hadn't been traveling due to Covid-19 and Marriott extended the timeframe on our certificates from last year. It was time to burn them and it got tricky. Some of our certs expired soon and some were good as far as the end of next year.

1. Let's say you search the Marriott website and click the "use points" box for this search. You find a hotel that offers a basic room for points but also offers an "upgraded" room (it might be a larger room, or a room with a view, or a room on a high floor) for the same amount of points PLUS an additional cash fee. (This happened to us recently. For points plus an additional $30 cash per night, the website offered a guaranteed water view from your room. Since this property was already going to screw us (oops, I mean charge us) a $35 nightly parking fee and a $40 daily resort fee, I was willing to kick in the extra $30 to treat my sweetheart.) Well, your certs will be accepted ONLY for the basic room type. They will not work (i.e., you can't apply them) if you select the upgraded room and are willing to pay that additional fee. (I did speak with a Marriott phone rep. The rep couldn't get around this limitation either.)

2. This tip applies if you have a mixed bag of certs in your account. In other words, you have some 35K certs and maybe 40K or 50K certs as well (as we did). Also, let's say that some of your certificates expire relatively soon and some have an expiration date well in the future. Remember that certs are "use it or lose it." So you may wish to use a 40K or 50K cert for a room that normally will only require 35K points simply because that higher value cert is going to expire very soon. Be sure to keep an eye on what the Marriott website offers to do when it gives you the chance to use your certificates for that reservation. In other words, it may want to pull your certificates differently than you want to, and it might bypass your soon-to-expire 40K or 50K cert and instead try to use your 35K cert that's good for a long time to come. If that is happening, it may be necessary to make a temporary, dummy reservation with the lower value certificate you don't want it to use so that it will take the soon-to-expire cert you do want it to use. And I definitely agree with wackymother's comment above - if this is happening to you, call and speak with a representative rather than take the do it yourself approach. The rep can help you use the certificates you do want to burn, and make sure that any certificates used for dummy reservations are returned to your account when that dummy res is canceled. (Yes, this happened to us, and a very helpful Marriott phone rep spent a lot of time helping me sort this out.)

I hope that's clear.... Travel can get complicated.

 

[presley]

I hope that's clear.... Travel can get complicated.

That is getting complicated. I guess have zero knowledge of the program isn't helping, either. I feel like some of these posts are more about timeshares, which I don't have. I deliberately posted in the Lounge to avoid timeshare confusion as this is only a credit card that I will have for HOTEL only stays, but my post was moved to the Marriott forum. However, after reading your post, I am starting to think that I'll always need a certificate to use my hotel points. I thought I was going to have 3, 50K Certs and then earn points on the card. I planned to used the points to book stays for places that run more around 70K/night. Is that not an option? Do I have to spend my points on certificates and then use the certificates to book the hotel stays? I thought the certs were only an annual thing and a sign up bonus thing and that I'd be able to rack up points to use as I wanted without involving certificates.

 

[iowaguy09]

Think of the free night certificates as bonuses that are separate from the Bonvoy points program. However, when you make a points reservation, the Marriott online booking system gives you the option to use the free night certificates instead of points for specific nights that are at or below 50,000 Bonvoy points per night. The downside to the certificates is you cannot combine them with points on a single night, only with points on a multiple night stay. I hope I have made this less confusing for you. I have done several reservations recently, cancelled, and rebooked using multiple free night certificates I accumulated, and it is a relatively smooth and seamless process in the Marriott online booking system.

For more info on how the Marriott Bonvoy program works, go to their website, or Google it. NerdWallet has a good summary https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/travel/marriott-bonvoy-program-the-complete-guide, but there are many other good summaries out there.

 

[SueDonJ]

That is getting complicated. I guess have zero knowledge of the program isn't helping, either. I feel like some of these posts are more about timeshares, which I don't have. I deliberately posted in the Lounge to avoid timeshare confusion as this is only a credit card that I will have for HOTEL only stays, but my post was moved to the Marriott forum. However, after reading your post, I am starting to think that I'll always need a certificate to use my hotel points. I thought I was going to have 3, 50K Certs and then earn points on the card. I planned to used the points to book stays for places that run more around 70K/night. Is that not an option? Do I have to spend my points on certificates and then use the certificates to book the hotel stays? I thought the certs were only an annual thing and a sign up bonus thing and that I'd be able to rack up points to use as I wanted without involving certificates.

I moved your thread to the Marriott forum because it would get better exposure by TUGgers who don't read outside the Marriott forum but are very familiar with the Marriott credit cards, hotels and timeshares.

I think people focused on the Free Night certificates because in your first post that's where your focus was, too. In particular you wanted to know if 50,000 Bonvoy Points certs can be used at properties that cost more points by adding additional points to them (no, but add'l points can be used for view/size upgrades to standard rooms) and, if stays using FN certs can be booked online (yes.)

As for racking up Bonvoy Points through spends on the credit cards and using those to book hotel stays without involving certs, yes, that can be done either online or by phone.

 

[jwalk03]

That is getting complicated. I guess have zero knowledge of the program isn't helping, either. I feel like some of these posts are more about timeshares, which I don't have. I deliberately posted in the Lounge to avoid timeshare confusion as this is only a credit card that I will have for HOTEL only stays, but my post was moved to the Marriott forum. However, after reading your post, I am starting to think that I'll always need a certificate to use my hotel points. I thought I was going to have 3, 50K Certs and then earn points on the card. I planned to used the points to book stays for places that run more around 70K/night. Is that not an option? Do I have to spend my points on certificates and then use the certificates to book the hotel stays? I thought the certs were only an annual thing and a sign up bonus thing and that I'd be able to rack up points to use as I wanted without involving certificates.

The points you earn on the card you can use to book hotel stays directly. You don’t buy certificates with the points. The certificates are bonuses like the 3 when you sign up and you get an annual one worth up to 35K on the Bonvoy Boundless Card.

 

[buzglyd]

That is getting complicated. I guess have zero knowledge of the program isn't helping, either. I feel like some of these posts are more about timeshares, which I don't have. I deliberately posted in the Lounge to avoid timeshare confusion as this is only a credit card that I will have for HOTEL only stays, but my post was moved to the Marriott forum. However, after reading your post, I am starting to think that I'll always need a certificate to use my hotel points. I thought I was going to have 3, 50K Certs and then earn points on the card. I planned to used the points to book stays for places that run more around 70K/night. Is that not an option? Do I have to spend my points on certificates and then use the certificates to book the hotel stays? I thought the certs were only an annual thing and a sign up bonus thing and that I'd be able to rack up points to use as I wanted without involving certificates.

Points and certs are two different things. The values of the certs are related to the point value of the hotel room but you don’t use points to buy certs. If you want to stay at a 70k point hotel and you have 70k points, you certainly can. You just can’t use a 50k cert to stay at a 70k hotel. No way to add 20k on top of the cert.

Keep in mind, Marriott offers 5th night free on points stays. So 5 nights at a 70k room will only cost you 280k points. I’ve got a little more than 400k points in my account right now so we’re going to burn them all at a St. Regis or Ritz Carlton. I’m just about to earn Titanium status this year so we’ll book a fancy stay next year while I still have that status.

 

[buzglyd]

Marriott Bonvoy Complete Guide

This guide includes EVERYTHING you need to know about Marriott Bonvoy: Award chart, shortcuts to elite status, the key to free breakfast, how to share....

frequentmiler.com

 

[presley]

Thanks, getting much clearer now. I hadn't realized that the annual certificate was 35K and wasn't understanding why that level certificate kept coming up. As long as I can rack up points for stays for 70K without much thought, I am getting what I wanted. The certificates are just bonuses since in spite of having so many eligible locations, none of the places I am planning on staying in the next couple years seem likely to be that low. I don't mind adding in some other stays to use them up, though!

 

[frank808]

The certificates usually expire one year from issue date.

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

 

[wackymother]

Thanks, getting much clearer now. I hadn't realized that the annual certificate was 35K and wasn't understanding why that level certificate kept coming up. As long as I can rack up points for stays for 70K without much thought, I am getting what I wanted. The certificates are just bonuses since in spite of having so many eligible locations, none of the places I am planning on staying in the next couple years seem likely to be that low. I don't mind adding in some other stays to use them up, though!

Just to make things more complicated...some Marriott credit cards give you a 35K certificate, and some give you a 40K certificate, and I think some give you a 50K certificate. (I have the 35K kind of credit card.)

As others have said, the certificates expire one year from the date issued. But in the past, you could call a rep and easily get the certificate extended one year from the date you call. (That is, if the certificate expires April 1, you would want to call in late March for maximum extension.) After that one year, no more extensions.

Because the past couple of years have been so messed up, Marriott already extended all the 2020 certificates and a lot of the 2021 certificates. So I don't know if they will give another extension like they used to. But you could try!

 

[wackymother]

Thanks, getting much clearer now. I hadn't realized that the annual certificate was 35K and wasn't understanding why that level certificate kept coming up. As long as I can rack up points for stays for 70K without much thought, I am getting what I wanted. The certificates are just bonuses since in spite of having so many eligible locations, none of the places I am planning on staying in the next couple years seem likely to be that low. I don't mind adding in some other stays to use them up, though!

Also, where are the 60K Residence Inns? Yowtch!

 

[BocaBoy]

As others have said, the certificates expire one year from the date issued. But in the past, you could call a rep and easily get the certificate extended one year from the date you call. (That is, if the certificate expires April 1, you would want to call in late March for maximum extension.) After that one year, no more extensions.

That was easy to do with certificates like the ones from travel packages but NOT with the credit card certificates, although occasionally we get reports of someone finding an agent who will do it for you. I have extended many travel package certificates but have never been successful in extending credit card certificates. Marriott extended them automatically without a request during the pandemic, but that is a special case.