marriott elite status It offers some great benefits for frequent travelers. But once you earn and qualify for at least 50 elite nights in a calendar year, the benefits become especially attractive. Marriott Platinum Elite Status.
One of the perks you receive is the ability to select Marriott’s annual selection benefits. You can select one after reaching 50 Elite Nights in a calendar year, and the second after reaching 75 Elite Nights in a calendar year. This is also a milestone you can earn. Marriott Titanium Elite Status.
Earn at least 50 elite nights Marriott Bonvoy During 2024, the deadline to select Choice benefits is February 1, 2025. This actually takes longer than in previous years, when the deadline was usually the first week of January.
To help you make the best choice, we’ll explain the Marriott Annual Choice Rewards options available at each tier.
Marriott Annual Choice Benefits Overview
Earn Marriott Annual Choice Rewards when you earn 50 elite nights in a calendar year. Once you reach 75 elite nights in a calendar year, you’ll earn a second annual Choice benefit. However, as explained later in this guide, Marriott’s annual selection benefit options are not the same for both tiers.
How to choose Marriott Annual Choice Benefits
To select your annual selection benefit, please visit: This page It’s on the Marriott website. You must be signed in to your Marriott Bonvoy account to select your benefits.
Once selected, it cannot be changed, so choose carefully. If you are eligible for 50 and 75 night benefits, you must select both during the same session.
Related: 29 of the world’s best Marriott hotels
When to choose Marriott’s Annual Choice Benefits
If you earn 50 or 75 elite nights in 2024, you must select your annual Choice benefit by February 1, 2025 at 11:59 PM EST. If you do not select by the deadline, Marriott will automatically select you. Nightly Upgrade Award for you.
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How to earn elite stays at Marriott Bonvoy
Earning 50 or 75 elite nights in a calendar year may sound like a lot. However, Marriott offers multiple ways to earn elite stays. Earn elite nights when you join marriott brand you Book directly with Marriotteven at any time Marriott point exchange Or use your free night award certificate.
You can also earn some elite night credits Marriott Bonvoy credit card. Earn up to 25 Elite Night Credits each year with the Marriott Consumer Card and an additional 15 Elite Night Credits with the Marriott Business Card. Some Marriott cards may also offer additional elite night credits if you meet certain spending thresholds.
Finally, note that you must reach the applicable Elite Knight threshold to unlock Choice Benefits. on the other hand, Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card As long as your account remains open, you will automatically receive Platinum elite status, but will not be eligible for benefit selection. To earn Choice benefits, you must reach 50 Elite Night Credits.
Related: Here’s why you need both a personal and business Marriott Bonvoy credit card.
50 Nights Annual Choice Reward Option
Earn 50 elite nights in a calendar year to unlock your first Marriott annual Choice benefit. Here are the options for the 50-night award you can earn on stays in 2024:
- 5 elite night credits
- 5 nightly upgrade benefits
- $1,000 off mattresses
- $100 Charitable Donation
- Gift Marriott Silver Elite status to another member
Most of these benefits are difficult to evaluate, so let’s take a closer look at each option. We’ll start with an option that doesn’t seem to make sense to most elite members.
Receive Marriott Silver Elite Status
give status to others It may sound like a good option at first. But Marriott’s Silver Elite status doesn’t have much value, since the main perk is a 10% points bonus on paid stays and priority late checkouts.
In exchange for gifting status with Marriott Choice benefits, you can also encourage your friends and family to: Earn Marriott status with your credit card. For example, cardholders with no annual fee Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card As a cardholder, you automatically receive Silver Elite status and five Elite Night Credits each calendar year.
Make a $100 Charitable Donation
As part of Marriott’s annual Choice Benefit, guests can choose to make a $100 donation to several charities, including the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, the World Wildlife Fund, and the Arne M. Sorenson Hospitality Fund.
A $100 charitable donation is a nice touch and may be the right decision when other annual elective benefit options are not available. However, I would like to Earn points and miles by donating I will donate to a charity of my choice and maintain the ability to choose any of the other benefits.
Related: How to donate points and miles to charity
$1,000 off mattresses
If you like a particular Marriott brand mattress, you can purchase a new one for your home. If you’re shopping for a Marriott mattress, consider choosing a promo code worth $1,000 off list price on select Marriott-branded mattresses and box springs as part of your annual Choice Reward.
However, the one-time $1,000 discount cannot be combined with other offers. Although this Choice perk provides great value, relatively few people buy a particular hotel’s mattress. Therefore, this option does not apply to most travelers.
Earn 5 Elite Night Credits
For some travelers, choosing five elite night credits for Marriott’s annual Choice benefits is a smart choice. Marriott lists Elite Night Credits in the year they are earned. So if you’re five nights or fewer away from earning Titanium Elite status or a new status, Elite Night Credit is a great option. Marriott Bonvoy Lifetime Status During the 2024 calendar year.
Earn 5 Nightly Upgrade Awards
Each Nightly Upgrade Award is valid for one night of verifiable upgrades to select premium rooms and suites designated by each property. Therefore, to request an upgrade for a 6-night reservation, you will need 6 Nightly Upgrade Award certificates.
Many members save up their Nightly Upgrade benefits for stays at the luxury Marriott Bonvoy, while others save up for nights when they need more space. However, some members find it difficult to take advantage of these benefits, and the upgrade process does not begin until 3 days before arrival.
If you select 5 Nightly Upgrade Awards as your Choice Reward, the awards will expire on December 31 of the year following the year in which they were earned. So, if you reach 50 nights in 2024 and select 5 Nightly Upgrade Awards as a Choice benefit by February 1, 2025, your Nightly Upgrade Awards will expire on December 31, 2025.
75 Nights Annual Select Benefit Option
Once you reach 75 elite nights in a calendar year, Earn Marriott Titanium Elite Status Receive your second annual selection benefit. If you reach this threshold in 2024, your options for this benefit are:
- 5 elite night credits
- 5 nightly upgrade benefits
- $1,000 off mattresses
- $100 Charitable Donation
- Gift Marriott Gold Elite status to another member
- Free night rewards worth up to 40,000 points
As you can see, the choices here are about the same as those available after you reach the 50-night threshold. I’ll skip over charitable donations, nightly upgrade awards, and mattress discounts, as I’ve already covered them in the previous section. Similarly, it’s relatively easy to earn Marriott status via credit card, so we won’t discuss gifting Gold Elite status.
However, let’s take a closer look at the other two options.
Earn 5 Elite Night Credits
Earlier in this article, we looked at how some travelers select five Elite Night Credits as a 50-night annual selection benefit to reach Titanium Elite or Lifetime Elite status. However, it might also make sense for Titanium Elite members to choose five Elite Night Credits to earn. ambassador elite status. This status level typically requires 100 elite nights and $23,000 in annual Marriott spending.
This option makes sense starting in 2024 with 5 or fewer elite nights in higher lifetime elite status tiers, or 95 to 99 elite nights with at least $23,000 in eligible annual spending at Marriott. It seems to only make sense in some cases.
Earn up to 40,000 points worth of free night rewards
The last option is unique to the 75-night Annual Choice Award and is a free night award worth up to 40,000 points. This free night benefit is 35,000 Points Free Night Award Certificate Associated with many Marriott Bonvoy cards.
Based on TPG December 2024 evaluation40,000 Marriott points are worth $340. So this is definitely a valuable option. However, if you already have a lot of Marriott Bonvoy points and great free night rewards for future travel, you may want to choose another reward.
Which Marriott Annual Choice benefit should you choose?
The best Marriott Annual Choice benefit for most loyalists in the 50-night band is the 5-night upgrade benefit. For the 75-night window, the maximum annual Choice award is typically an additional 5 night upgrade award or a free night award worth up to 40,000 points.
However, if your five Elite Night Credits qualify you for Ambassador Elite, Titanium Elite, or Lifetime status, it could be a great option. Similarly, if you want to buy a Marriott-branded mattress, a $1,000 discount is probably your best bet.
You may be wondering what I usually choose as my annual selection benefit. When I earned Titanium Elite status in 2021, 2022, and 2023, I chose five Sweet Night Awards (Nightly Upgrade Award now available) If you choose 50 nights, you can earn up to 40,000 points worth of free night rewards if you choose 75 nights.
However, since you only earned 71 elite nights in 2024, you will choose 5 elite night credits for your 50 night award. By doing so, you will reach 76 elite nights in 2024 and earn Titanium Elite status until February 2026, and you must select 75 nights by February 1, 2025 . For your 75-night selection, you’ll probably choose: I have 5 Nightly Upgrade Awards, so I put these into my account when I get data points for my stories. However, if you don’t want to access nightly upgrade awards for editorial reasons, we think free night awards worth up to 40,000 points are more valuable.
conclusion
Marriott’s annual Choice benefits offer a wealth of options and value depending on your criteria. These options are not valued equally, so carefully consider which benefits are most valuable to you before making a decision.
Before finishing this article, it is also worth mentioning the following points: Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Card It has similar benefits. Brilliant Earned Choice Award. Cardholders can earn a Brilliant Earned Choice Award after spending $60,000 on eligible purchases using their Bonvoy Brilliant Card in a calendar year. Brilliant Earned Choice Awards (must be selected by February 1st of the year of redemption) include your choice of five Nightly Upgrade Awards, up to 85,000 points or $1,000 worth of free Marriott Bonvoy retail-branded beds Includes accommodation benefits.
