Till early 2024, Marriott Bonvoy members might choose Suite Evening Awards as Annual Selection Advantages. After I chosen my Marriott Selection Advantages on Jan. 2, I chosen 5 Suite Evening Awards as my 50-night Selection Profit.
Nevertheless, I knew Marriott would convert Suite Evening Awards to Nightly Improve Awards in early 2024. So, I wasn’t stunned when the Marriott Suite Evening Award adjustments went dwell round Jan. 11. This is what you could know in regards to the new Nightly Improve Awards, together with what they’re and how one can use them.
What’s a Nightly Improve Award (previously Suite Evening Award)?
Nightly Improve Awards — previously often known as Suite Evening Awards — allow you to affirm an improve earlier than your keep to a typical suite or premium room at most Marriott Bonvoy resorts and resorts. The room varieties you possibly can receive with Nightly Improve Awards are designated by every collaborating lodge or resort however might embody suites or premium rooms with higher views, balconies, patios or further area.
You have to apply one Nightly Improve Award per night time of your keep. So, in case you have a five-night keep, you need to use 5 Nightly Improve Awards. Nevertheless, it is essential to know that Nightly Improve Awards can solely be utilized to current reservations for which you’ve got paid an eligible Marriott Bonvoy price or redeemed Marriott factors (together with Marriott points-and-cash charges).
You’ll be able to request to make use of Nightly Improve Awards till 2 p.m. the day earlier than check-in to your keep. However, even in case you submit your Nightly Improve Award request months earlier than your keep, your request will not be thought-about till three days earlier than check-in (Suite Evening Awards used a five-day window for affirmation). And there is no assure that your request can be permitted.
Moreover, the Marriott Bonvoy phrases and situations be aware you possibly can’t use Nightly Improve Awards on the following:
- Ritz-Carlton Reserve, The Ritz-Carlton Membership, The Ritz-Carlton Residences and The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Assortment
- Design Motels
- Marriott Govt Flats
- All-Inclusive Resorts
- Properties & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy
- Marriott Trip Membership, Marriott Grand Residence Membership, Sheraton Trip Membership and Westin Trip Membership
- The Phoenician Residences, a Luxurious Assortment Residence Membership, Scottsdale
- Properties that don’t take part in Marriott Bonvoy
Fortunately, this implies you should use Nightly Improve Awards at some manufacturers the place you could not use Suite Evening Awards — together with The Ritz-Carlton, Version Motels, Aloft, Component and Protea Motels.
TPG Director of Content material Nick Ewen checked his upcoming stays at a few of these beforehand excluded manufacturers, and he was pleasantly stunned to see all kinds of room decisions for his Nightly Improve Rewards. This included the choice to request full suites at The Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes; Component Miami Brickell; The New York Version; and Aloft Chicago Magazine Mile. And on the Protea Lodge Fireplace & Ice! Cape City in South Africa, he might request some fascinating bi-level lofts together with his Nightly Improve Awards.
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How one can earn Nightly Improve Awards
You’ll be able to earn Nightly Improve Awards as a Marriott Selection Profit when you attain 50 and 75 elite night time credit inside a calendar yr. You may also earn Nightly Improve Awards as an Earned Selection Award if you spend not less than $60,000 on the Marriott Bonvoy Good® American Specific® Card in a calendar yr. Nightly Improve Awards are the default choice at these three milestones, however you possibly can select a distinct choice at every milestone in case you favor.
For exercise inside the 2023 calendar yr, 5 Suite Evening Awards (not Nightly Improve Awards) have been accessible at these milestones. However these Suite Evening Awards have been transformed to Nightly Improve Awards round Jan. 11. So you will now see Nightly Improve Awards in your account in case you chosen Suite Evening Awards at any of those milestones primarily based in your account exercise in 2023.
As well as, any earlier requests to make use of Suite Evening Awards previous to the transition to Nightly Improve Awards stay in impact. In that case, Marriott’s assist web page states, “Current Suite Evening Award™ requests will nonetheless be honored and permitted primarily based upon availability.”
Nevertheless, a Marriott spokesperson confirmed to TPG that the brand new, three-day window for confirming these requests will apply.
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How one can use Marriott Nightly Improve Awards
You’ll be able to see what number of Marriott Nightly Improve Awards you may have and once they expire by logging in to your on-line account, clicking in your identify within the higher right-hand nook and choosing “Overview” from the dropdown menu. Doing so will take you to your default account homepage. Scroll to the “Watch your rewards add up” part, and you will see Nightly Improve Awards listed in a field in case you have any in your account.
Click on “View Awards” beneath your Nightly Improve Awards to examine the expiration dates. Nevertheless, know that Nightly Improve Awards expire Dec. 31 of the yr following the one through which you earned them. So in case you select 5 Nightly Improve Awards as a Selection Profit for reaching 50 elite night time credit in 2023, your Nightly Improve Awards will expire Dec. 31, 2024.
Observe that you need to use these upgrades for a stick with a checkout date on (or earlier than) the expiration date. So, in case you’re testing from a property on Jan. 1, 2025, you possibly can’t use a Nightly Improve Award that expires on Dec. 31, 2024.
Now that you understand how to see what number of Nightly Improve Awards you may have and once they expire, let’s talk about how one can use them. In brief, you possibly can apply Nightly Improve Awards to current reservations from inside your Marriott Bonvoy account. Click on on “My Journeys” alongside the highest menu bar if you’re logged in to your Marriott Bonvoy account, broaden your reservation (if wanted) by clicking “Particulars,” after which click on the “View/Modify” subsequent to the keep for which you wish to use Nightly Improve Awards.
Scroll down and examine whether or not a bit states, “Take an improve. You have earned it.” In that case, click on “Begin Improve Request” to see the room upgrades you would request.
As famous beforehand, the room varieties accessible for Nightly Improve Awards range by property. For an upcoming one-night keep at a Moxy, I solely see one improve choice that I might request.
To request this Household Sleeper room for an improve, I clicked the examine field subsequent to the room kind after which clicked “Submit Improve Request.” After doing so, a affirmation message appeared, and I acquired an electronic mail titled “We Obtained Your Nightly Improve Awards Request.”
You may also accomplish this through the Marriott Bonvoy app. Pull up an current reservation and faucet the bell icon on the prime proper. From there, faucet Request Improve, assessment the room choices, then click on Submit to substantiate the request.
As soon as requested, because the affirmation message and electronic mail state, the lodge’s system will routinely begin checking for improve availability three days earlier than your arrival and can proceed checking every day till 2 p.m. in the future earlier than check-in. In case your improve is not confirmed by 2 p.m. on the day earlier than check-in, Marriott Bonvoy will cancel your request and return the Nightly Improve Award(s) to your account.
If you happen to change your thoughts or discover a higher use to your Nightly Improve Awards, you possibly can cancel your improve request and return unconfirmed Nightly Improve Awards to your account till 2 p.m. on the day earlier than check-in. Nevertheless, you possibly can solely cancel confirmed Nightly Improve Awards by canceling your whole keep. And you will not get your Nightly Improve Awards again in case you cancel your keep later than 2 p.m. on the day earlier than check-in.
To cancel an unconfirmed Nightly Improve Award, head to “My Journeys” in your Marriott Bonvoy account and click on “Modify Request” beneath the be aware stating “Your Nightly Improve Award request is pending.”
You’ll be able to choose totally different room varieties to your improve (if others can be found) or cancel your request on the web page that hundreds.
I made a decision to cancel my request by clicking “Cancel Request” after which confirmed in a pop-up that I did wish to cancel my improve request.
After canceling my request, I noticed a affirmation of the cancellation on my reservation and acquired a affirmation electronic mail.
After I checked my account after canceling my request to make use of a Nightly Improve Award, it had been redeposited instantly.
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My expertise utilizing Marriott improve awards
I’ve traditionally had good luck utilizing Marriott Suite Evening Awards. In 2021 and 2022, my husband and I even used 15 Marriott Suite Evening Awards in 10 months with 100% approval.
Maybe certainly one of my favourite Suite Evening Award makes use of was for a two-story suite at The Westin Siray Bay Resort & Spa in Phuket, Thailand. That property supplied so many various kinds of rooms by Suite Improve Awards that it appeared not possible to not have my improve clear.
Nevertheless, the JW Marriott Lodge Bogota in Colombia assigned me a worse room kind after my Suite Evening Award cleared in August 2021. A dialogue with the supervisor at check-in — throughout which I confirmed my Suite Evening Award affirmation electronic mail — secured me the suite I would initially been confirmed into.
In the meantime, Marriott Bonvoy emailed me 5 days earlier than check-in to substantiate my Suite Evening Award request for a three-night keep at Italy’s AC Lodge Milano in November 2023. Nevertheless, 45 minutes later I acquired a second electronic mail stating Marriott had returned my Suite Evening Awards and a be aware they have been “sorry that you simply have been unable to get pleasure from an upgraded room in your current keep” (regardless of the keep being upcoming). Sadly, this wasn’t a fluke, as the identical occurred to my husband’s Suite Improve Award request for a keep a couple of month earlier on the Courtyard by Marriott Kuwait Metropolis.
So, though I’ve traditionally had good luck utilizing Marriott improve awards, I do not put plenty of worth in them. I nonetheless select Suite Evening Awards — now Nightly Improve Awards — as my 50-night Selection Profit since there is no higher choice for me. However I go for the up-to-40,000-point free night time award as my 75-night Selection Profit. And I attempt to give myself a number of choices annually to make use of Marriott improve awards at properties that provide a number of room varieties for awards and are not in peak season or excessive demand.
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Ideas for utilizing Marriott improve awards
Listed here are some ideas for getting good worth out of your Marriott Nightly Improve Awards:
- Shorter stays: There’s extra more likely to be availability to your Nightly Improve Award request to clear on shorter stays of only a night time or two. And particularly since you could redeem a Nightly Improve Award per keep night time, there is no draw back to utilizing these awards to safe upgraded rooms or suites on brief stays.
- Begin early within the yr: Do not save your Nightly Improve Awards for a keep (or stays) close to the tip of the yr, as then you could not have extra good alternatives to make use of them earlier than they expire if they do not clear as you hope or you could cancel your keep(s).
- Extra room varieties: The extra room varieties you choose to your Nightly Improve Awards, the upper the possibility they’re going to get permitted. You could wish to ebook a property that provides many interesting room varieties by Nightly Improve Awards to maximise your improve possibilities.
- Off-peak dates or locations: Touring throughout off-peak dates or to locations with extra lodge capability than company generally is a good approach to snag a premium room or suite by Nightly Improve Awards. In fact, there’s all the time the argument that Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Elite or Titanium Elite standing would possible web you a fantastic improve on these stays even with out utilizing Nightly Improve Awards.
Earlier than reserving, you possibly can’t see what room varieties are selectable by the Nightly Improve Awards. So, you could be tempted to make a number of freely cancellable stays in the identical vacation spot to find out which affords one of the best Nightly Improve Award choices. In fact, simply because a lodge or resort affords interesting Nightly Improve Award choices doesn’t suggest your request will get permitted. So, I normally ebook resorts or resorts primarily based on the charges and high quality of the bottom room kind. Then, I take a look at what is accessible by Marriott improve awards and determine whether or not to place in a request.
Lastly, since Marriott Nightly Improve Awards are solely confirmed at most three days earlier than check-in, you will not wish to depend on utilizing these awards to safe a bigger room or suite. For stays the place you want an upgraded room, contemplate reserving the room you want or utilizing a program like World of Hyatt that allows you to use suite improve awards to substantiate a typical suite at reserving.
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Backside line
Marriott Bonvoy not too long ago modified Suite Evening Awards into Nightly Improve Awards. Together with the identify change, Marriott Bonvoy added extra room varieties and collaborating manufacturers to its improve awards. However though Suite Evening Awards have been confirmed as much as 5 days earlier than check-in, you possibly can solely use Nightly Improve Awards to substantiate a premium room or suite as much as three days earlier than check-in.
Nightly Improve Awards are topic to availability, and a few Marriott Bonvoy members have struggled to make use of Marriott improve awards for prime worth previously. One Marriott Bonvoy Ambassador Elite member I spoke with even mentioned he by no means used Suite Improve Awards as a result of he believed they would not give him higher upgrades than he’d get at check-in together with his elite standing. However this is hoping Marriott’s shift to Nightly Improve Awards will present a greater expertise for many members.
