February 16, 2024
Are the Marriott Five Free Nights Offers a Great Deal?
Pam
Currently, the American Express Bonvoy Business Card has a welcome offer of five free nights (up to 50K points per night) after hitting the minimum spend. We must ask, “Are the Marriott five free nights offers a great deal?” It depends. Here are some things to consider.
Things to Keep in Mind
Initially, these offers sound impressive. But there are some things to keep in mind:
- These certificates have a one-year expiration from the time they are deposited into your Marriott account. You want to be sure that you can use them before they expire.
- 50K Marriott certificates are NOT as valuable as even 25K points at a Hyatt hotel that offers outsized value. The key is to do a little research and know where you would redeem them before you apply. You can top them off with up to 15K of your own Marriott points.
- Are they worth a 5/24 spot? Take some time to consider this. If you have the ability to sign up for the business card, that might be a better option for you as it won’t count towards 5/24.
- Several readers have said that they have had trouble getting the value they were hoping for out of these free night certificates, so we urge you to do some research. We think they might work for some people, but not everyone. I applied for this offer years ago, and it worked well, but that was before Marriott got rid of their award chart and switched to dynamic pricing.
- The business card requires a higher minimum spend of $8,000, but you have 6 months to meet that spend.
Bottom Line
It’s always wise to consider whether a new welcome offer makes sense for you. Make sure to do some research on this offer (and all offers). Are the Marriott five free night offers a great deal? That will vary from person to person, so do your due diligence before applying.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities. American Express is a Travel Mom Squad advertiser, but we always show the best public offer even when we don’t earn a commission. Terms Apply.
Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
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Have you stayed at The Grand in Fairhope, AL? It’s one of my all time favorite places to stay in the Southeast and have been able to redeem the free night certificates each time we’ve gone! We absolutely love it!
I just checked to make sure I could use them at the Grand. It’s my fave property just down the road!
Do you all have any recommendations on where to redeem these even with top off?
Thank you!
We have a post coming out on Monday giving some ideas.
Isn’t the 5th night on award stays free? So if you do them all in a row technically it’s 6 nights?
You can only book one room at a time when using your Free Night Award. The Stay for 5, Pay for 4 deal is only good when using points, not certificates, sadly.
Stay for 5, Pay for 4 Award does not apply to Cash + Points Awards, Upgrade Awards, Suite Night Awards, and Promotional Awards (e.g. issued through Co-brand Credit Card, Annual Choice Benefit, etc.).
Ohh ok! Do you can’t stay more than one night in the same hotel? Or can you just make multiple different reservations for a few nights in a row using the certificates?
Yes, you can make multiple nights in a row using your certificates.
Hi!
I got the American Express Marriott Bonvoy Business card at the end of March when they had the promotion for 5 free nights after spending $6,000 within 6 months. I reached the minimum spend earlier this month but I only earned 13,726 points. Did I do something wrong? I’ve never used this card before so I’m not as familiar with these cards and how they work. Thanks for your help!
Can you view your available Free Night Awards on the Activity section of your Marriott Bonvoy account?
How do you book sequential free nights- do they need to be booked one by one and does each night need to be under 65 k or can the average of sequential rooms be under 65k for topping off?
Yes, you have to book them one by one and can only add up to 15K to each night separately.