Today, Marriott has finally introduced the ability to combine your Free Night Award (FNA) certificate with up to 15,000 Marriott Bonvoy points for hotel stays. This news was previously announced in October 2021 and provides better flexibility for members to use their Free Night Award certificate.
So, let’s explain this change and how it’s advantageous for certain Marriott hotel stays.
Top-up your Marriott Free Night Award with points
Starting today, Marriott members will be able to combine FNA certificates with up to 15,000 Bonvoy points to stay at a hotel that costs more points than the value of the certificate.
For example, the Marriott Bonvoy American Express card provides a yearly Free Night Award which is worth up to 35,000 points. With this new change, you can use your 35k point certificate and top up with points for a hotel stay worth up to a maximum of 50,000 Bonvoy points.
Greater flexibility using FNA and points
Previously, with your FNA certificate, you were limited to only Marriott hotels that cost a maximum of 35,000 points/night. But, now this new feature provides greater flexibility as you can redeem your certificate and top up the difference with points.
For example, the Montreal Airport Marriott In-terminal hotel is an expensive hotel ($250 to $300/night). It’s generally better to redeem Bonvoy points as it will cost between 30,000 and 40,000 Bonvoy points per night.
With this new Marriott points top-up feature, you can now stay any day at this hotel and add the missing Bonvoy points if your stay costs more than 35,000 points/night.
Looking at a night that costs 40,000 points, the process to top-up with points is easy!
- First you would log into your Marriott account and choose your room.
- Then, in the payment section, select your 35,000 point Free Night Award to pay and Marriott will automatically add the missing 5,000 points to your redemption.
- Confirm your selection and the points will automatically be deducted from your Marriott account!
Note that you can also redeem your FNA and top-up with points for a multiple night stay.
E.g. Say a 2-night Marriott stay costs 40k Bonvoy points each night. You could use your FNA and top up with 5,000 points for the first night and pay 40,000 points for the second night for a total of 45,000 Bonvoy points for your entire stay.
Summary
You can now use your Marriott Free Night Award (FNA) certificate and top-up with an additional 15,000 Marriott Bonvoy points for stays.
This is certainly a welcome and useful feature as it gives Marriott members more flexibility in redeeming their FNA certificates on hotel stays that cost more than 35,000 points/night.
Have you used redeemed your FNA and topped up with points? Let me know in the comments below.
Also, learn more about how you can earn a generous 65,000 Bonvoy points & $100 statement credit with the Marriott Bonvoy American Express card after spending $1,500 in the first 3 months if you apply before May 10, 2022.
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