In early 2024, Marriott changed Suite Night time Awards with Nightly Improve Awards. Now, you should utilize Marriott Nightly Improve Awards at choose properties to verify a collection or different upgraded room sort. This is what it’s good to find out about Nightly Improve Awards, together with methods to earn and use them.
What are Marriott Nightly Improve Awards?
Marriott Nightly Improve Awards allow you to verify an improve to a regular suite or premium room at most Marriott Bonvoy resorts and resorts earlier than your keep. Every taking part resort or resort designates the room varieties you improve to utilizing Nightly Improve Awards. Nonetheless, these room varieties normally embrace suites or premium rooms with higher views, balconies, patios, further house or different particular facilities.
You have to apply one Nightly Improve Award per evening of your keep. So, if in case you have a five-night keep, you have to use 5 Nightly Improve Awards. Nevertheless, you possibly can solely apply Marriott Nightly Improve Awards to current reservations for which you’ve got paid an eligible Marriott Bonvoy price or redeemed Marriott factors (together with Marriott factors and money 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 5 days earlier than check-in at most manufacturers (three days earlier than check-in for stays at Version, Ritz-Carlton and St. Regis properties). What’s extra, there is not any assure that your request shall be permitted.
Moreover, the Marriott Bonvoy phrases and circumstances be aware that you may’t use Nightly Improve Awards on the following manufacturers and properties:
- Ritz-Carlton Reserve, The Ritz-Carlton Membership, The Ritz-Carlton Residences and The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Assortment
- Taking part Design Accommodations
- Sonder by Marriott Bonvoy
- Marriott Government Residences
- All-inclusive resorts
- Marriott Trip Membership, Marriott Grand Residence Membership, Sheraton Trip Membership and Westin Trip Membership
- Phoenician Residences, a Luxurious Assortment Residence Membership, Scottsdale
- MGM Assortment with Marriott Bonvoy
- Grand New Century Lodge, Hangzhou Boao, a Tribute Portfolio Lodge
- Wonderland Resort, Hangzhou Jiande, a Tribute Portfolio Resort
- Accommodations that don’t take part in Marriott Bonvoy
Associated: Tips on how to redeem Marriott factors for upgraded rooms
Tips on how to earn Marriott Nightly Improve Awards
You’ll be able to earn Nightly Improve Awards as a Marriott Annual Alternative Profit when you attain 50 and 75 elite evening credit inside a calendar 12 months. You too can earn Nightly Improve Awards as an Earned Alternative Award whenever you spend at the very least $60,000 on the Marriott Bonvoy Good® American Specific® Card in a calendar 12 months.
Nightly Improve Awards are the default possibility at these three milestones, however you possibly can select a special possibility at every milestone till Feb. 1 of the 12 months following the calendar 12 months during which you earned the profit in case you want.
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Tips on how to view your Marriott Nightly Improve Awards
You’ll be able to see what number of Marriott Nightly Improve Awards you might have and after 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 drop-down menu. Doing so will take you to your default account homepage. Scroll to the “Earned rewards” part, and you may see Nightly Improve Awards listed in a field if in case you have any in your account.
Click on “View Awards” underneath your Nightly Improve Awards to verify the expiration dates.
Nightly Improve Awards expire Dec. 31 of the 12 months following the one during which you earned them. So, in case you selected 5 Nightly Improve Awards as a Alternative Profit for incomes 50 or 75 elite evening credit in 2024, your Nightly Improve Awards will expire Dec. 31, 2025.
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Tips on how to use Marriott Nightly Improve Awards
You’ll be able to apply Nightly Improve Awards to current reservations inside your Marriott Bonvoy account. As soon as you’ve got logged into your Marriott Bonvoy account, click on on “My Journeys” alongside the highest menu bar, increase your reservation (if wanted) by clicking the arrow on the right-hand aspect of the tile after which click on the “Begin improve request” button.
As famous beforehand, the room varieties out there for Nightly Improve Awards fluctuate by property. For an upcoming one-night keep at a Moxy property, I may use a Nightly Improve Award to request a 366-square-foot room with a queen mattress and a settee mattress as an alternative of the 183-square-foot room with two twin beds I booked.
Likewise, I can request two room varieties with Nightly Improve Awards for an upcoming two-night keep at a Fairfield by Marriott property. Every of those rooms could be an enchancment over the one I booked due to the couch mattress.
To request an improve to a specific room sort, choose the verify field subsequent to the room sort and click on “Submit Request.” You must then obtain a affirmation message and an e mail titled “We Acquired Your Nightly Improve Awards Request.”
You too can 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 Nightly Improve Award(s),” evaluation the room choices and click on “Submit Request” to verify your improve request.
As soon as requested, the resort’s system will mechanically begin checking for improve availability 5 days earlier than your arrival (three days earlier than check-in for stays at Version, Ritz-Carlton and St. Regis properties) and proceed checking every day till round 2 p.m. at some point earlier than check-in. In case your improve is not confirmed by round 2 p.m. on the day earlier than check-in, Marriott Bonvoy will cancel your request and return the Nightly Improve Awards to your account.
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When you 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 complete 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” underneath the be aware stating “Your Nightly Improve Award request is pending.”
You’ll be able to choose completely different room varieties to your improve (if others can be found) or cancel your request on the web page that hundreds.
When you cancel your request, you will see a affirmation of the cancellation in your reservation and get a affirmation e mail. Marriott ought to instantly redeposit the Nightly Improve Awards into your account.
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My expertise utilizing Marriott improve awards
I’ve traditionally had good luck utilizing Marriott Suite Night time Awards. In 2021 and 2022, my husband and I used 15 Marriott Suite Night time Awards in 10 months and all have been confirmed.
Maybe one among my favourite makes use of of a Suite Night time Award was for a two-story suite at The Westin Siray Bay Resort & Spa in Phuket, Thailand. That property supplied so many several types of rooms via Suite Improve Awards that it appeared inconceivable to not have my improve clear.
Nevertheless, the JW Marriott Lodge Bogota in Colombia assigned me a worse room sort after my Suite Night time Award cleared in August 2021. A dialogue with the supervisor at check-in — throughout which I confirmed my Suite Night time Award affirmation e mail — finally secured me the suite I would initially confirmed. I’ve additionally had Marriott Bonvoy verify my Suite Night time Award by e mail 5 days out for a number of stays, solely to comply with up about an hour later and rescind the improve.
In 2024, my husband and I solely used one Nightly Improve Award regardless of having 10 throughout our accounts. This poor utilization was largely because of the properties we booked solely having a couple of notable improve choices that we may request with Nightly Improve Awards. We would slightly keep the chance to make use of a Nightly Improve Award afterward than use it for an improve we do not need. However in the long run, this choice led to us not utilizing a lot of our Nightly Improve Awards in 2024.
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Different TPG staffers’ ideas about Nightly Improve Awards
Particularly since I solely efficiently used one Marriott Nightly Improve Award in 2024, I requested a few of my fellow TPG staffers about their experiences. Senior director of product Gabe Travers instructed me, “It has been a toss-up — a few of my requests have been denied, however others come via. My largest win was an Government Suite at The Westin Palace, Milan — the primary and solely time I’ve had a full steam room in my suite!”
Engineering supervisor Zoe Jablow mentioned she used 5 Nightly Improve Awards “to get upgraded to a barely bigger room with extra privateness on the Domes Novos Santorini,” stating it was “completely price it.” Nevertheless, she additionally famous that she will not decide Nightly Improve Awards when she qualifies for Titanium Elite standing sooner or later, stating, “I get extra worth out of the free evening award as a result of I can assure utilization.”
Affiliate bank cards author Chris Nelson instructed me he all the time saves his Nightly Improve Awards for when he is touring overseas, noting, “Within the U.S., more often than not, they’re hit and miss, and the upgrades aren’t that substantial in my expertise.” So far, he used three Nightly Improve Awards final month for an enormous top-floor nook sky backyard suite on the JW Marriott Lodge Beijing. Nevertheless, he additionally submitted a number of Nightly Improve Requests in 2024 for stays within the U.S. and solely bought his requests permitted for one keep in a junior suite.
Lastly, director of content material Andrea Rotondo mentioned, “I actually wished to like Marriott’s nightly improve awards, and I do know many individuals have success with them, however I gave up on them final 12 months. Once they have been beforehand referred to as Suite Improve Awards, I attempted for a number of years to make use of them however by no means bought confirmed into a collection (or perhaps a higher room). The one time I bought the e-mail saying I used to be upgraded, after I bought to the resort, the entrance desk was like, ‘Psych. You are truly not upgraded’.”
Her detrimental expertise with Marriott improve awards inspired her to stop incomes Marriott standing organically. As a substitute, she now enjoys Platinum Elite standing as a advantage of her Marriott Bonvoy Good® American Specific® Card and focuses her efforts on incomes Hyatt Globalist standing every year.
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Ideas for utilizing Marriott Nightly Improve Awards
Listed below are some suggestions for getting good worth out of your Marriott Nightly Improve Awards:
- Go for shorter stays: There’s extra prone to be availability to your Nightly Improve Award request to clear on shorter stays of only a evening or two. And particularly since it’s good to redeem a Nightly Improve Award per keep evening, there is not any draw back to utilizing these awards to safe upgraded rooms or suites on brief stays.
- Begin early within the 12 months: Do not save your Nightly Improve Awards for a keep (or stays) close to the tip of the 12 months — you may not have one other alternative to make use of them earlier than they expire.
- Search for extra room varieties: The extra room varieties you choose to your Nightly Improve Awards, the upper the possibility they will get permitted. You could need to e book a property that provides many interesting room varieties with Nightly Improve Awards to maximise your probability of an improve.
- Contemplate off-peak dates or locations: Touring throughout off-peak dates or to properties with extra rooms than company generally is a good option to snag a premium room or suite via Nightly Improve Awards. After all, you could possibly additionally argue that Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Elite or Titanium Elite standing would seemingly get you a terrific improve on these stays even with out utilizing Nightly Improve Awards.
- Try worldwide locations: Every of the optimistic experiences famous by different TPG staffers was for a keep exterior the U.S. One option to get your Nightly Improve Awards to clear for a extra notable improve is to use them to stays overseas.
Earlier than reserving, you possibly can’t see what room varieties you possibly can request with 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 the very best Nightly Improve Award choices. Even so, simply because a resort or resort affords interesting Nightly Improve Award choices does not imply your request will get permitted. I normally e book resorts or resorts based mostly on the charges and high quality of the bottom room sort. Then, I take a look at what is accessible with Marriott Nightly Improve Awards and resolve whether or not to place in a request.
Lastly, since Marriott Nightly Improve Awards are solely confirmed, at most, 5 days earlier than check-in for almost all of manufacturers, do not depend on utilizing these awards to safe a bigger room or suite. For stays the place you want an upgraded room, contemplate reserving it outright utilizing a program like World of Hyatt that permits you to use suite improve awards to verify a regular suite at reserving.
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Backside line
Marriott Nightly Improve Awards allow you to verify a greater room a couple of days upfront. Nevertheless, some vacationers discover it extremely troublesome to get good worth from these Marriott improve awards, particularly since they hardly ever clear for any notable upgraded room varieties within the U.S. However, in case you regularly journey exterior the U.S. or need to verify a greater view together with your Nightly Improve Award, you could discover these awards present first rate worth.
