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
#1456
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: GEG
Programs: Marriott Lifetime Platinum, Hilton Diamond, Lifetime SkyClub, AS MVP
Posts: 2,409
I'm still getting value from the 25k certificates from the "classic" Visa card. Just booked two nights in Tacoma, Washington downtown for a meeting at 29k points a night. Paid rates were $229 a night and have gone higher since I booked.
#1457
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Washington, DC
Programs: DL PM; IHG PlatAmb; Hilton Dia; Marriott Plat; Hyatt Discoverist
Posts: 7,318
Using the 35k vouchers is starting to be a hassle. I was trying to book a hotel at LAX the night before our return flight in November and pretty much all the hotels were more than 35k even though the paid rates started at $129. I know I can add points but I guess I’m questioning the overall value of these carts if you can’t even book a $130 hotel with them any longer. IMHO the points devaluation has killed most of the decent values you could get out of these.
indeed, I just picked a random night and every lax property is available for 35k or less- with cash rates up to $331.
#1458
Join Date: May 2022
Posts: 2,255
Folks have been saying this for years, but there are most certainly hotels for $130 or more that you can use 35k certificates at. As always, flexibility is important.
indeed, I just picked a random night and every lax property is available for 35k or less- with cash rates up to $331.
indeed, I just picked a random night and every lax property is available for 35k or less- with cash rates up to $331.
It took 23 hotels to find one that you couldnt use a 35k certificate on (with top off). None of the first 22 hotels were more than 38k points. 16 of the 22 would not need any top off. Pretty wide range of hotels brands too.
Sounds easy to use to me.
#1459
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2001
Posts: 10,965
I think given it is the summer high revenge travel season, the certificates might not be that useful. When the economy slows down and if paid rates come down, the picture will change. It would be interesting to see what happens if we end up with stagflation....
#1461
Join Date: May 2022
Posts: 2,255
If you cancel midway through the year you will get a prorated refund, which is why they wait the 10 weeks to issue the certificate. If you cancel in December you will get a 50% refund on the annual fee but already could have received and used the certificate.
#1463
Join Date: May 2022
Posts: 2,255
Still lots of great values out there
#1464
Join Date: Jan 2020
Posts: 213
Not fixed in the last 2 weeks -- can apply the certs to a stay of exactly 50k points, but nothing lower. The CSR I spoke with had no clue what to do. How can this be such an uncommon problem that they haven't at least alerted their phone reps? Meanwhile, our 1st choice of hotel has run out of award space.
#1465
Join Date: Jan 2020
Posts: 213
Not fixed in the last 2 weeks -- can apply the certs to a stay of exactly 50k points, but nothing lower. The CSR I spoke with had no clue what to do. How can this be such an uncommon problem that they haven't at least alerted their phone reps? Meanwhile, our 1st choice of hotel has run out of award space.
#1466
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 196
I just got off the phone with Marriott. The rep said that not only are there no further extensions of certs that were extended to expire on June 30, but that there will be NO EXTENSIONS OF ANY CERTS GOING FORWARD, even if there is no prior extension. If anyone said this above I missed it. One extension used to be almost automatic iirc. Has anyone else been told this? Marriott Lurker, any comment?
As a minor secondary question, does anyone know why my last cert issued in mid-October when my annual fee was charged on March 1? I would have thought they would be on or about the same date.
As a minor secondary question, does anyone know why my last cert issued in mid-October when my annual fee was charged on March 1? I would have thought they would be on or about the same date.
Last edited by kar120c; Jun 22, 2022 at 6:03 pm
#1467
formerly known as s2kdriver80
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: Long Island, New York, USA (JFK <--> OTP)
Programs: Delta SkyMiles, SPG, Marriott Rewards, Amex MR, Chase UR
Posts: 317
I just got off the phone with Marriott. The rep said that not only are there no further extensions of certs that were extended to expire on June 30, but that there will be NO EXTENSIONS OF ANY CERTS GOING FORWARD, even if there is no prior extension. If anyone said this above I missed it. One extension used to be almost automatic iirc. Has anyone else been told this?
#1470
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,755
I've been playing around with this for the last 30 min. The certs seems to work consistently online strictly above 40k points, and will let you top up for redemptions over 50k. I found one 40k redemption that worked and one that didn't. Nothing under 40k worked. The 40k randomness baffles me. Is there something hidden from us that governs these certificates?
The 40K seems to correspond to the FN cert from Titanium annual gift selection. There was also a 40K cert bonus in past history that was not able to attach.