Bonus Bucks are a promotion that Marriott has been running at various hotels/areas for the last several months. They seem to have replaced the old free weekend night promos (Stay 3, Get 1 Free) for Category 1-4 properties.
You earn Bonus Bucks by staying at a full-service (Renaissance, Marriott) property offering a rate based on the 'OTP' promotional code. Currently, you receive a $100 Bonus Buck coupon for a stay based on the OTP promotion rate paid with a Visa. Here's an
example of such a promo.
The Bonus Bucks can be used towards the cost of a future stay of two nights or more at any full service property.
Notes:
-They do/did offer the same promo for $50 with some Courtyards and Residence Inns. I'm not sure if the BB awarded through this promo are interchangeable for full-service properties
-For some reason, this promo doesn't always show up when you search for promos from the 'Specials and Packages' tab on the front page of Marriott.com. You have to keep trying to use the OTP code when ever you make a reservation. This is kind of irritating to me.
-You can buy BB on E-Bay for about 30-40 cents on the dollar.
-Personally, I like this over the free nights promos. With the free nights, it made it more difficult to requalify for status. Last year, I used 6 of the old free night promo awards and it had an affect on my requalifying.