Oct 22, 2018, 11:18 am
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
Aug 19, 2018, 10:25 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: San Jose, CA USA
Programs: UA Platinum 2MM, Marriott Lifetime Titanium, Hilton Gold
Posts: 632
Marriott Branded Credit Cards Free Night Certificate FNA Discussion Thread
Been waiting to use my 2 Chase free nights at Le Meridien Stuttgart. Just tried. Logged into my marriott number, went to book reservation using points (25K/night required), and it said I didn't have enough points to book it and to call in to purchase new points. In the past with Marriott, it would simply say "points advance" and then (I think) on next screen say "do you want to use your chase free night awards" (or something to that effect).
I don't want to call in until chaos subsides. So my questions?
1) Can I use my chase marriott visa free nights on starwood properties now? If so, how?
2) What happened to points advance of award reservations? Does it only apply to Marriott properties or has it gone away altogether.
I did try (as an experiment) booking a single night (where I have enough points in my marriott account to cover) and when I clicked that I wanted to book on points, it went to the legacy SPG site to continue the booking. The entire "marriott" look & feel disappeared and the purple SPG user interface was reincarnated. Looks like more integration is needed.
Regardless, I'm sure I was led to believe that after Aug 18, I could use chase marriott free nights are SPG properties. Am I wrong? What gives?
I also believe I would be able to use my SPG Suite night awards on Marriott properties, but the suite night awards are only visible on my SPG account and of course there is no access from that account to my marriott reservations.
I don't want to call in until chaos subsides. So my questions?
1) Can I use my chase marriott visa free nights on starwood properties now? If so, how?
2) What happened to points advance of award reservations? Does it only apply to Marriott properties or has it gone away altogether.
I did try (as an experiment) booking a single night (where I have enough points in my marriott account to cover) and when I clicked that I wanted to book on points, it went to the legacy SPG site to continue the booking. The entire "marriott" look & feel disappeared and the purple SPG user interface was reincarnated. Looks like more integration is needed.
Regardless, I'm sure I was led to believe that after Aug 18, I could use chase marriott free nights are SPG properties. Am I wrong? What gives?
I also believe I would be able to use my SPG Suite night awards on Marriott properties, but the suite night awards are only visible on my SPG account and of course there is no access from that account to my marriott reservations.
Last edited by RobUAIntl; Aug 19, 2018 at 10:31 pm
Aug 20, 2018, 12:43 am
#2
Join Date: Apr 2005
Programs: Starwood:Lifetime Platinum, Air Canada:Basic, Asiana:Lifetime Diamond Plus, ANA: Basic
Posts: 980
SPG Program never had Points Advance - ie phantom booking a room without the points to back it up. There was some cases if you are Platinum or if you have an ambassador and you're points are in striking distance of the redemption needs, the rep would hold the room for you.
A Marriott Flyertalker replied to one of my posts (and I also read in posts on other threads) that legacy SPG properties do not participate on the former Marriott program of Points Advance. Make sense as there maybe contractual problems between franchisee hotel and Marriott (because original contract was signed with Starwood that doesn't have Points Advance)
A Marriott Flyertalker replied to one of my posts (and I also read in posts on other threads) that legacy SPG properties do not participate on the former Marriott program of Points Advance. Make sense as there maybe contractual problems between franchisee hotel and Marriott (because original contract was signed with Starwood that doesn't have Points Advance)
Aug 20, 2018, 12:54 am
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: San Jose, CA USA
Programs: UA Platinum 2MM, Marriott Lifetime Titanium, Hilton Gold
Posts: 632
Per PointsGuy, Marriott has stated that points advance will expand to legacy SPG post merger. https://thepointsguy.com/news/marriott-points-advance/ I think the issue is that parts of the IT became integrated over the weekend and parts still are separate.... I just wish they would clearly state -- you can do these things now and here are the timelines for other features.
Aug 20, 2018, 2:00 am
#4
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Toronto
Programs: AC, UA, IHG, SPG, Carlson
Posts: 193
I'm trying to use my Marriott free night certificate to book a SPG hotel. The website does not support this kind of booking yet - just like you said, it would redirect you back to SPG site where you can only book with points, not certificates.
Though, when you are on the Marriott booking site, before you click on any individual hotel, it does say the following below all SPG properties: "To use free night certificates at this hotel, please call Member Support at +1-888-625-4988 in the US, or our worldwide contact numbers."
Hence I'm calling them right now...
Though, when you are on the Marriott booking site, before you click on any individual hotel, it does say the following below all SPG properties: "To use free night certificates at this hotel, please call Member Support at +1-888-625-4988 in the US, or our worldwide contact numbers."
Hence I'm calling them right now...
Last edited by roubaolic; Aug 20, 2018 at 2:06 am
Aug 20, 2018, 2:10 am
#5
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Toronto
Programs: AC, UA, IHG, SPG, Carlson
Posts: 193
I'm trying to use my Marriott free night certificate to book a SPG hotel. The website does not support this kind of booking yet - just like you said, it would redirect you back to SPG site where you can only book with points, not certificates.
Though, when you are on the Marriott booking site, before you click on any individual hotel, it does say the following below all SPG properties: "To use free night certificates at this hotel, please call Member Support at +1-888-625-4988 in the US, or our worldwide contact numbers."
Hence I'm calling them right now...
Though, when you are on the Marriott booking site, before you click on any individual hotel, it does say the following below all SPG properties: "To use free night certificates at this hotel, please call Member Support at +1-888-625-4988 in the US, or our worldwide contact numbers."
Hence I'm calling them right now...
They checked with support and came back saying this functionality (to use Marriott certificate on SPG hotel) is not yet available. No ETA. This is very sad.
My plan/workaround is to use points to book the SPG hotel anyway right now just to secure the availability, and whenever this functionality becomes available, then call them to switch out the points with certificate (so that I get the points back). But if this functionality is not made available before my stay, then I'm screwed.
Aug 20, 2018, 2:54 pm
#6
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Toronto
Programs: AC, UA, IHG, SPG, Carlson
Posts: 193
Does anyone know whether they ever plan on actually integrating the booking systems and implementing the certificate feature for Starwood properties, or are they "satisfied" with the current workaround of redirecting SPG booking to old SPG site that this will last for months or years without change?
Aug 20, 2018, 4:07 pm
#7
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Southern California
Programs: AA EXP - 6 MM | Amex Platinum | Hyatt Globalist | Hilton Diamond | IHG Spire Elite | Bonvoy Plat.
Posts: 765
As a follow up question to this question (as I had the same question) but when I signed up for the Chase Marriott Rewards Business Visa (https://creditcards.chase.com/small-...emier-business) It said (and still says on the link) that it comes with Category 5 (up to 35,000 points hotels). But when I log into my Marriott account, it says it's only up to 25,000 points. What gives? Why is it only showing up to 25,000 points when the terms and conditions when I signed up show 35,000 points?
Aug 20, 2018, 9:57 pm
#8
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 101
Marriott free night certificates at SPG hotels post-merger
Has anyone successfully redeemed a Marriott free night certificate at SPG hotels since the merger?
When searching for rooms, the website has a message to book by phone when using free night certs at SPG hotels. I called the SPG hotline as indicated (twice), but the agents were unable to use the cert. Is this a systems issue or is it just that the agent doesn't know what to do? I'm not sure if calling back and trying again will work. If the former, I'm hoping that this problem doesn't last too long as my stay is coming up.
The agent referred me to status.marriott.com, but the website says systems are online and doesn't give any indication that the free certs can't be redeemed. Not helpful at all.
When searching for rooms, the website has a message to book by phone when using free night certs at SPG hotels. I called the SPG hotline as indicated (twice), but the agents were unable to use the cert. Is this a systems issue or is it just that the agent doesn't know what to do? I'm not sure if calling back and trying again will work. If the former, I'm hoping that this problem doesn't last too long as my stay is coming up.
The agent referred me to status.marriott.com, but the website says systems are online and doesn't give any indication that the free certs can't be redeemed. Not helpful at all.
Aug 20, 2018, 10:23 pm
#9
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Toronto
Programs: AC, UA, IHG, SPG, Carlson
Posts: 193
I had the exact same problem, and I shared my experience in another thread.
Their rewards programs are combined, but the booking systems are still separate. When you try to book a SPG property, you are redirected to the old SPG site, which only offers the option of points, not certificates.
When I called them (called many departments actually, none was able to help), they said this functionality is not yet available. Worst part is, no ETA. They cannot even say whether they are working on it or plan to work on it. As far as I know, they could be satisfied with their current workaround of redirecting to SPG site for SPG bookings and won't actually integrate the two booking systems for months or years.
I offered them the idea of booking the hotel using points, and then have them convert the certificate into the same number of points, thus crediting the points back to me and effectively using the certificate. They declined saying converting certificate into points is not possible, which is clearly not true since people have shared experience where they did manage to convert certificates into points in exceptional cases.
I'm going to give them a few more days. If this functionality is still not available, I'll be more forceful in my demands for implementing my method since they openly communicated before that Marriott certificates will be available for SPG properties going forward and they are reneging on their promise.
Their rewards programs are combined, but the booking systems are still separate. When you try to book a SPG property, you are redirected to the old SPG site, which only offers the option of points, not certificates.
When I called them (called many departments actually, none was able to help), they said this functionality is not yet available. Worst part is, no ETA. They cannot even say whether they are working on it or plan to work on it. As far as I know, they could be satisfied with their current workaround of redirecting to SPG site for SPG bookings and won't actually integrate the two booking systems for months or years.
I offered them the idea of booking the hotel using points, and then have them convert the certificate into the same number of points, thus crediting the points back to me and effectively using the certificate. They declined saying converting certificate into points is not possible, which is clearly not true since people have shared experience where they did manage to convert certificates into points in exceptional cases.
I'm going to give them a few more days. If this functionality is still not available, I'll be more forceful in my demands for implementing my method since they openly communicated before that Marriott certificates will be available for SPG properties going forward and they are reneging on their promise.
Last edited by roubaolic; Aug 20, 2018 at 10:31 pm
Aug 20, 2018, 10:56 pm
#10
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: San Jose, CA USA
Programs: UA Platinum 2MM, Marriott Lifetime Titanium, Hilton Gold
Posts: 632
I can't even book SPg properties using points. My accounts are now merged under my new Marriott number. When I go to book a SPG property using points, it says I have enough points, but when it goes to my name, address, etc, it says my SPG number is wrong and I should change it. The number can't be changed and is my new Marriott number. I'll wait a couple of days and see if this works itself out and then I'll start calling.
Aug 21, 2018, 1:13 pm
#11
Join Date: May 2009
Location: EUG
Programs: AS MVP, AA MM, HH Diamond, MR Gold
Posts: 8,220
Are the Chase certificates subject to that Aug 18 - Sept 18 blackout, too?
I was holding a reservation with a Chase 1-5 for a while. Then I saw that a better hotel was dropping to a 5 so I wanted to switch to that. I cancelled the original reservation, then called Marriott to switch the res, and she said first of all it hasn't been released yet from the other reservation, call in a couple of days (which is today). The Marriott person today first said something like "we can't do certificates", then transferred me someplace where I was on hold so long I hung up.
Not sure what to do now - I just want to have a reservation with my certificate so I'm sure I have it, and the "free" rooms don't run out or something.
I was holding a reservation with a Chase 1-5 for a while. Then I saw that a better hotel was dropping to a 5 so I wanted to switch to that. I cancelled the original reservation, then called Marriott to switch the res, and she said first of all it hasn't been released yet from the other reservation, call in a couple of days (which is today). The Marriott person today first said something like "we can't do certificates", then transferred me someplace where I was on hold so long I hung up.
Not sure what to do now - I just want to have a reservation with my certificate so I'm sure I have it, and the "free" rooms don't run out or something.
Aug 21, 2018, 3:36 pm
#12
Join Date: May 2014
Location: DEN
Posts: 256
After Aug 18th, the chase certificate became a points certificate vaild up to 25k, so most hotels in the Cat 5 are more than that so now you can probably only use it for a Cat 1-4 hotel I believe. Your situation may be different since it was an attached certificate and mine was a "floater" however I can only book Cat 1-4 now since Aug 18th and the new hotel rankings are in effect.
Aug 21, 2018, 4:02 pm
#13
Join Date: May 2009
Location: EUG
Programs: AS MVP, AA MM, HH Diamond, MR Gold
Posts: 8,220
After Aug 18th, the chase certificate became a points certificate vaild up to 25k, so most hotels in the Cat 5 are more than that so now you can probably only use it for a Cat 1-4 hotel I believe. Your situation may be different since it was an attached certificate and mine was a "floater" however I can only book Cat 1-4 now since Aug 18th and the new hotel rankings are in effect.
Aug 21, 2018, 8:32 pm
#14
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 325
Free night point level changed...
Not gonna lie I haven't paid much attention to the merger and details, but I have a Marriott card and a free night certificate. We have a possible trip planned to NYC and I wanted to use my free night there around times square. I see there is a cat 5 hotel available at 35,000pts and now my free certificate says only up to 25,000 points. I'm not sure what happened or if with the merger all the categories changed or not but if it was issued as a CAT 1-5 certificate, can I ask them to honor that? Any feedback is appreciated and sorry for not knowing more about the merger details /possible certificate changes.
Last edited by shand32783; Aug 21, 2018 at 8:34 pm Reason: spelling
Aug 21, 2018, 11:42 pm
#15
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: SFO
Programs: Marriott Ti/LTP
Posts: 1,329
Not gonna lie I haven't paid much attention to the merger and details, but I have a Marriott card and a free night certificate. We have a possible trip planned to NYC and I wanted to use my free night there around times square. I see there is a cat 5 hotel available at 35,000pts and now my free certificate says only up to 25,000 points. I'm not sure what happened or if with the merger all the categories changed or not but if it was issued as a CAT 1-5 certificate, can I ask them to honor that? Any feedback is appreciated and sorry for not knowing more about the merger details /possible certificate changes.