Last edit by: rrgg
If you need to cancel a reservation booked using a free night certificate, follow the process in this post before cancelling to avoid potentially losing your certificate. If the certificate is lost it should be re-enstatable by Marriott customer service, but it may take a while and require some extra work on your part.
Certificate “top-off” is available as of April 30th: and discussed in a separate thread. Marriott has announced that starting “in early 2022,” members will be able to combine free-night certs with up to 15,000 points when making redemptions. See the FT thread discussing the 10/26/21 announcements and Marriott’s FAQ for current info.
EXTENDING AN EXPIRING CERTIFICATE:
Before 18 Aug 2018, Chase issued certificates good for specific categories of hotels. Post 18 Aug 2018, all certificates have been converted or will be issued at a specific level of points. SPG AMEX and Ritz Carlton credit cards have also begun to issue certs.
25K points - lower level certificates
35K points - higher level certificates
50K points - luxury level certificates
Marriott will introduce peak and non peak levels for hotels after 1 Jan 2019. Certificates will be capped at the points level where they can be redeemed rather than for a specific category of hotel. Thus, if a hotel is 25K at the non peak level and the peak level is higher, it cannot be booked in the peak level window.
Nine co-branded credit cards offer an annual free night worth up to 85,000 points:
NEW EXTENSION OF CERTIFICATES announced in October 2021:
The expiration date on certificates this year is pushed to 1/31/21.
Certificate “top-off” is available as of April 30th: and discussed in a separate thread. Marriott has announced that starting “in early 2022,” members will be able to combine free-night certs with up to 15,000 points when making redemptions. See the FT thread discussing the 10/26/21 announcements and Marriott’s FAQ for current info.
EXTENDING AN EXPIRING CERTIFICATE:
- A blogger reported that as of 12/7/2023 Marriott removed the internal tool to extend an FNA, so it may or may not still be possible.
- Your best chance for an extension is to call Marriott within 1 month of the expiration and consider having a specific property and date in mind to book. It's not necessary but even without one in mind, pick something you might use and change it later. 1-800-MARRIOT
- Most importantly, have a good reason for needing the extension, like illness or injury.
- If granted, the new expiration date is 1 year from the date of the request. You cannot get a 2nd extension on the same certificate, meaning the maximum life of a certificate is 2 years.
- If not granted, some have luck by calling later a few times.
- In 2022, Marriott seemed to deny all extension requests except a few exceptions such as here, here, and here. They may be allowing some again in 2023.
Before 18 Aug 2018, Chase issued certificates good for specific categories of hotels. Post 18 Aug 2018, all certificates have been converted or will be issued at a specific level of points. SPG AMEX and Ritz Carlton credit cards have also begun to issue certs.
25K points - lower level certificates
35K points - higher level certificates
50K points - luxury level certificates
Marriott will introduce peak and non peak levels for hotels after 1 Jan 2019. Certificates will be capped at the points level where they can be redeemed rather than for a specific category of hotel. Thus, if a hotel is 25K at the non peak level and the peak level is higher, it cannot be booked in the peak level window.
Nine co-branded credit cards offer an annual free night worth up to 85,000 points:
- Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant American Express Card (formerly Starwood Preferred Guest Luxury Credit Card from American Express) - up to 85K (Second with $60k spend)
- Marriott Bonvoy Boundless (formerly Rewards Premier Plus) Credit Card - up to 35K
- Marriott Bonvoy Premier (formerly Rewards Premier) - up to 25K
- Marriott Bonvoy from American Express (formerly Preferred Guest) - up to 35K
- Marriott Bonvoy Business from American Express (formerly Preferred Guest Business) - up to 35K
- Marriott Rewards Business Premier Plus Credit Card - up to 35K
- Ritz Carlton Rewards - up to 85K
- Marriott Bonvoy Bevy - up to 50k (with $15k spend)
- Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful - up to 50k (with $15k spend)
- Amex credit card free night certificates are issued 2 months after the anniversary date of the credit card. For example if the Brilliant fee posts 7/1, the certificate is available in your Marriott account on 9/1. Chase FNA certificates can appear much sooner, within 1 week.
- The certificate expires one year after it is issued. You must complete your stay by the expiration date.
- Can NOT be combined with a 3-night award to get a "Stay for 5, Pay for 4" award.
- Can be used for a standard room only
- Cannot be used for "redemption with cash upgrade" or any points and cash combination
- According to Marriott's terms, points reservations can be gifted to another person but certificates earned from a credit card cannot. This means the certificate owner (cardholder) must check-in even if someone else is listed as a guest on the reservation. In some cases a property has given leeway and allowed just the guest to check-in anyway without the certificate owner present, but it is risky to depend on this.
- If you use "top-off" with a certificate and the room price later decreases, you can modify the reservation to rebook the same date and recover the difference in top-off points.
- If you made a reservation with a FNA and want to know its expiration date, you can find it by editing the reservation as described at this link.
- If you downgrade the Amex Brilliant to the $95 Amex Bonvoy card, you can still get your anniversary FNA.
- Search for a points booking at an eligible hotel and the option to use the certificate a replacement for some of the required points should appear during the booking process
- Some have had trouble booking certificates from the 2020 credit card offer to get 5 free nights. In that case, try this website for booking: https://www.marriott.com/loyalty/red...free-nights.mi
- Officially Marriott allows gifting of points awards but not gifting of free night certificates from credit cards. For the latter, your name will still need to be the reservation. Whether the property requires you to be present for check-in may depend on the hotel.
- If you have 2 certificates of different value and try to redeem one, the Marriott website offers the one expiring first. If that's not what you want, work around this issue by making a dummy booking with that certificate. Then book the real reservation with the desired certificate. Then cancel the dummy. Be sure to pay attention to any cancellation terms since a few properties are more strict than others.
NEW EXTENSION OF CERTIFICATES announced in October 2021:
- Free night awards, Suite night awards, and travel certificates will be given a new expiration date of June 30, 2022
- The Marriott Bonvoy app shows the original issue date of your free night certificates. Go to Account -> Free Night Certificates to find the issue date in small print above each certificate. It's unlikely you have a certificate that won't be extended. If you don't see the issue date in the app, you'll have to wait for the actual extension to happen to check the new expiration.
- Expiration of points is paused through December 31, 2022. At that time, your points will only expire if your account has been inactive for at least 24 months
- In March 2022, Marriott will eliminate hotel categories and use variable point pricing for awards. Only a small number will be affected at first, so you won't see an immediate sweep of all properties at once.
- "Starting May 6, members who had a FNA with an original expiration date in 2020, or which will expire before January 2, 2022, as part of their Cobrand Credit Card Benefit, Annual Choice Benefit, promotions or travel package will be able to redeem it through January 3, 2022.
- Please note that FNAs with an original expiration date before 2020 will not be eligible for the additional extension. Members do not need to take any action because the system will automatically update their account with these extensions on May 6, 2021."
The expiration date on certificates this year is pushed to 1/31/21.
- “...Members who currently have an active Free Night Award (FNA) expiring in 2020 as part of their credit card benefit, annual choice benefit, promotions or travel package will be able to use it through January 31, 2021.”
- Expiration dates will be updated by the end of April, giving priority to those expiring soonest.
- If yours will expire within just a couple days, contact a Marriott representative here by private message.
Marriott Branded Credit Cards Free Night Certificate FNA Discussion Thread
#1426
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Iowa
Posts: 727
Any idea how quickly a FNA would be put back into your account if you cancelled a FNA stay? I may just reserve some FNA nights before their June 30, '22 expiration and if I can't make that destination, I'd like to cancel them and use them some place even more lame.
#1427
Join Date: May 2022
Posts: 2,255
Mine showed back up immediately after canceling
#1428
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Carlsbad,CA USA
Programs: Marriott Bonvoy Titanuim/Lifetime Platinum, Hilton Gold, United Silver
Posts: 1,534
I found out yesterday that if you have multiple certificates in your account and you try to make a reservation online using a certificate it will automatically default to the certificate with the earlier expiration no matter the points associated with the certificate. I made a reservation online for a 40k property and wanted to use my 35k FNA and add 5,000 points but online it would only allow me to use the 85k certificate in my account. Had to call and the reservation agent had to have the supervisor make the reservation to use the correct certificate.
#1429
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 7,903
The wikipost mentions this and a possible way to work around it.
#1431
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 49
Can I use two certificates to book two rooms on the same night?
I found I can’t use two certificates to book two rooms on the same night, so I booked separately. Will it be any problem for checking in? Any one has the experience? Thanks.
#1432
Join Date: May 2022
Posts: 2,255
Call the hotel once booked and they will link the 2 reservations on their end so when you check in/out it is seemless. Note you will only get credit for 1 night stayed.
When you look at My Trips before you go you will see both separately. When you look at past trips afterward it will have them merged and bill will all be one PDF (app will ask you to chose which room you want to view).
Clear as mud?
#1433
Join Date: Jan 2020
Posts: 213
just did this the past Saturday- 2 FNC /2 rooms. Booked online one at a time. Called the hotel to request connecting rooms.
#1434
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Iowa
Posts: 727
Adcess Denied
Access Denied
You don't have permission to access "http://www.marriott.com/aries-reservation-black/v1/submitReviewDetails.comp" on this server.Reference #18.66671160.1655475194.1856a41bIs this due to my error or something on Marriott's end?
thanks
#1435
Join Date: May 2017
Posts: 301
Delete all your cookies related to marriott (the little lock to the left of the address --> cookies --> remove, remove, remove)
#1437
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 14
I had six 35K certs expiring on June 30, 2022. Figured I had nothing to lose as I was either going to lose them or burn them to get the nights so I sent a message through the website asking if I could get them extended. It took a few days but I got a reply today that all six were extended to June 7, 2023.
#1438
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Iowa
Posts: 727
I had six 35K certs expiring on June 30, 2022. Figured I had nothing to lose as I was either going to lose them or burn them to get the nights so I sent a message through the website asking if I could get them extended. It took a few days but I got a reply today that all six were extended to June 7, 2023.
So I call shens on the quoted post above.
#1439
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Saipan, MP 96950 USA (Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands = the CNMI)
Programs: UA Silver, Hilton Silver. Life: UA .57 MM, United & Admirals Clubs (spousal), Marriott Platinum
Posts: 15,043
I had six 35K certs expiring on June 30, 2022. Figured I had nothing to lose as I was either going to lose them or burn them to get the nights so I sent a message through the website asking if I could get them extended. It took a few days but I got a reply today that all six were extended to June 7, 2023.
Many of your fellow FlyerTalkers are eager to learn how you attained such Beaucoup Bonv∘y!
Last edited by SPN Lifer; Jun 18, 2022 at 4:39 am
#1440
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,760
If you have followed this thread, you should know by now the only extensions Marriott would grant are for those certs that were not extended before the last extension - most likely certs issued in late 2020 early 2021. There are only 2 successes reported in this thread so far. The successes no doubt prompt many people to call but seemingly no new success.
It is quite obvious no that certs that have been extended since 2020 would not be manually extended again. There is no magic bullet for such, and it is actually one cannot fault Marriott on that either. Find a local property where you can just go for a get away from home night or simply let the cert expire... versus keep calling, waste time and get frustrated. That is exactly what we will do on my husband's 3 35K certs.
It is quite obvious no that certs that have been extended since 2020 would not be manually extended again. There is no magic bullet for such, and it is actually one cannot fault Marriott on that either. Find a local property where you can just go for a get away from home night or simply let the cert expire... versus keep calling, waste time and get frustrated. That is exactly what we will do on my husband's 3 35K certs.