mary_228

Can anyone give me the inside scoop on how I can best leverage the business I will be giving Marriott for my daughter's wedding? The total (exclusives of taxes and service charges will be between 15-20K. I imagine I may want to pay for this using a co-branded card, as well. There are many cards to choose from. I currently have no status with Marriott. Thank you!

azepine00

Churn husbands annually. Those points will really add up

RCyyz

Depending on your current status, you can earn several tens of thousands of point - https://www.marriott.com/loyalty/ear...ding-events.mi

Just make sure your Marriott # is on the contract and the points will automatically show up once the final bill is paid.

Using a co-branded card is a good idea. You folks in the US have many to choose from; I'm sure you'll find something appropriate. Since you currently have no Marriott status, I'd recommend you get a card first that grants you some level of status as this can greatly affect the number pf points you earn via Marriott Meetings.

Jon Maiman

If you haven't already booked the event, verify with the intended property that it will qualify for earning points. Some properties will offer extra point bonuses. Even if you already have booked, best to ask about point earning before the event occurs. YMMV...

--Jon

P.S. I hadn't gotten into the whole loyalty game yet when I got married. I had the wedding reception for 150+ people and 20+ rooms at a full service Marriott hotel. Lord knows how many points I left on the table. Oh well, I have gotten much better at the loyalty game since then....

DallasEsq

You might want to get the card that gives you automatic Platinum status because you'll get a higher bonus on your spend at Marriott. You are welcome to thank me for this advice by giving me the 85k free night certificate you get by holding the card.

Duck1981

I would second that and point out that many guests will likely stay there plus spend additionally money at the bar etc. so maybe worth to give the hotel a little hint that if they like to have your business they should make a good additional points offer.

zip10001

Glad you are able to pay for your daughter's wedding.
I recently got married and my father-in-law barely covered 10% of the expense.

Intl359Widget

Cheeky! but I do like where your head is at.

Since I'm supporting this referral, you can also give me a 35k FNA to support your endorsement.

mary_228

I was not aware that there might be a benefit to the event planner for rooms paid for by the guests. A great number of the guests are from out of town, but I have not seen ant special price offered yet. Am I misinterpreting your comment?

Also, should I include a possible wedding breakfast to make it appear that I will be spending even more money to get better pricing? They are already throwing in an extra suite night for the bride and free rooms for the parents, complimentary valet.

RCyyz

If you want to benefit from the rooms the guests will pay for, it's worthwhile doing this whole thing through Marriott Meetings. It's more work for you, but you will reap some points for your efforts.

Basically you need to coordinate all the rooms to one master contract. You can still stipulate individual pay - meaning each person has to present a personal credit card on arrival - but all the spend will count towards your Marriott account. The downside is that you need to coordinate a list of who is staying, when they're checking in, when they're checking out, room preference (one king, two queens ...). The contract will also stipulate minimum room nights subject to a small variance; typically 10%.

So for example, if you have 50 guests checking in and staying 2 nights each, that's 100 room nights. The contract will stipulate that you're on the hook for 100 room nights, subject to a 10% variance = 10 room nights. So this means you could have only 45 guests show up (x2 nights each = 90 room nights) and still be contractually OK. If only 44 guests show up, you are responsible for paying those room nights as per the contract.

Note - the hotel doesn't care who pays for the rooms. They just want to be paid for x room nights total.

If you absolutely want to maximize points from this, then you should master bill everything (all charges go to one account and only one account) then charge back your guests after the fact. (Dear guest - thanks for coming to the wedding. Please pay me $1000.) You decide if this approach is worthwhile ...

Regardless, if you go through Marriott Meetings, you can likely get some sort of room discount depending on the number of room nights you generate, the total amount you spend on catering etc. Basically the more you spend at the hotel, the lower the room rates will go. You'll get a special SET code (or whatever they're called now in Marriott-speak) that guests can use while registering for their rooms to guarantee a lower rate vs whatever is published on the website.

mary_228

Thank you for this explanation. I am not willing to do that amount of work - wedding planning is stressful enough!

If anyone can check my math to help me determine if I should open the Bevy AMEX, I would appreciate it. I am pretty clueless about hotel loyaty programs, and typically use Hotwire to book my room when I travel.
$13880 F&B x 6= 82,800
sign up bonus 125,000
25% gold elite bonus 3,450
value of free night 50,000
Total 261,250 x .007= $1829 in value (per Nerdwallet) less the $250 fee: $1579

It seems like a no-brainer but I may be missing something in my analysis! I am planning on cancelling the card before the renewal, but is there a compelling reason to use the points before then?

lewis_m

Bonus points for an event as Gold would be 6940 for $13880 F&B:
https://marriottbonvoyevents.com/calculator

Out of my Element

My dad always told me "it's just as easy to fall in love with a rich girl as a poor girl"

We paid for our entire wedding

mary_228

I decided to open a Chase Boundless card instead of the Bevy. The welcome bonus is three free nights, plus I'll get an anniversary night each year and the 6x spend so it is all good.Thank you for your advice.