Originally Posted by
mahWYO
In my experience, it is becoming increasingly difficult to use bonvoy points for Marriott branded hotel rooms. For example, I recently tried to book a 5 night stay using points. Of the 8 hotels with available rooms, only 2 of the lower tier hotels were offering rooms for points. I am finding this situation becoming increasingly common.
Can anyone offer advice how to get around this problem? Or…..are our Bonvoy points eventually going to become useless?
Just as a counterpoint to the OP’s experience, I have had excellent experiences using my points this year, both on trips booked many months in advance and trips booked only a month or so in advance. Booking in late March for an early May trip to Arizona, I was able to use 35-point and 50 point credit card//promo free night awards at two different vacation-oriented properties, getting excellent value for each - far above the normal cost of hotels in those categories. I was also able to not only book a third resort on points (itself a bargain in terms of room cost vs. points category) but booked a prime-view room by adding some cash to my points. This was among the best values I have ever gotten for my points. I have also booked a five night points stay at a prime-location, luxury property in Florence for September, where I was also able to use either cash or more points to book an upgraded room, and my husband has booked two other hotels on our trip with points (all booked many months in advance.). While I had found points a bit harder to use in recent years on anything but the lowest room category, I have been pleased to see increased availability to book upgraded rooms as well.