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Note: This post was published on July 12, 2020. Card details and benefits may have changed since then.
In May, following an announcement that all 2020 Marriott Bonvoy membership tiers would be extended to the beginning of 2022, Marriott announced that they would also add bonus elite night credits to member’s Marriott Bonvoy accounts, based on the tier you have in 2020.
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In this article
Marriott Bonvoy Bonus Elite Nights Have Now Been Added to Most Accounts
If yours haven’t posted quite yet, give it a day or two as it appears to be running in multiple long batches. Many had theirs a full day before I saw mine.
Since I have Titanium status, I got 38 elite nights deposited to my account.
Since you can now earn up to 30 Marriott elite night credits per year from a combination of any personal and any business (15 elite nights each) Marriott Bonvoy credit card and I stayed 10 nights early in the year, I now have 78 elite nights for 2020.
And while we’d already been told these would also count as lifetime qualifying nights, I can confirm these did add to my lifetime total as well.
What Were the Bonus Elite Nights Being Awarded?
| ELITE STATUS TIER EARNED IN 2019 |
ANNUAL TIER REQUIREMENTS |
50% ELITE NIGHT CREDITS (ENC) DEPOSIT |
| Ambassador Elite | 100 Qualifying Nights AND US$20,000 stay spend |
50 Elite Night Credits |
| Titanium Elite | 75 Qualifying Nights | 38 Elite Night Credits |
| Platinum Elite | 50 Qualifying Nights | 25 Elite Night Credits |
| Gold Elite | 25 Qualifying Nights | 13 Elite Night Credits |
| Silver Elite | 10 Qualifying Nights | 5 Elite Night Credits |
| Member | Not Applicable | Not Applicable |
Why Does This Matter If Status Was Already Extended to 2022?
Well, for some it is a chance to jump up a tier if they have more stays. For me, I already had my Titanium status extended and now I simply have the nights to back that up, which wouldn’t mean anything except…
I’ll also now qualify for not one but two Marriott Choice Benefit Awards.
What are Marriott Elite Choice benefits?
At 50 nights (Bonvoy Platinum), you are offered a choice of:
- Five Elite Night Credits
- 40% off your favorite hotel bed
- Marriott Bonvoy™ Silver Elite status for a friend or family member
- US$100 donation to UNICEF
- Five Suite Night Awards™
And at 75 nights (Bonvoy Titanium), you are offered a choice of:
- Five (5) Suite Night Awards™
- 40% off bed
- $100 Charity Donation
- The gift of Gold Elite status for a friend or family member
- Five (5) Elite Night Credits
- One (1) Free Night Award
You can select your benefits here.
I’m going to select the 5 Suite Night Awards and the 1 Free Night.
Assuming at some point in 2021 I’m traveling regularly again, the 5 SNAs will be a “nice to have” while I can use the free night in combination with the annual free nights I get on my 4 Marriott credit cards (all valid for hotels up to 35,000 points a night). Sometimes, given peak and off peak prices, I’ll find a weekend where the same Category 5 hotel is 35k one night and 40k another night. Or, sometimes I find a nice Category 6 off-peak redemption which qualifies for this “up to 40k” Choice Benefit Free Night.
What about you? Did your bonus elite nights post?And what Choice Benefits will you select?
Let me know below in the comments, on Twitter, or in the private MilesTalk Facebook group.
You can find credit cards that best match your spending habits and bonus categories at Your Best Credit Cards.
New to all of this? My “introduction to miles and points” book, MilesTalk: Live Your Wildest Travel Dreams Using Miles and Points is available on Amazon and at major booksellers.
