I believe that if a night for part of a stay falls on the beginning or end of the promotion's date, it should count towards the promotion, for either night or stay credit.

The Marriott Premier card gives 15 nights towards status each year. If you live in the United States, this card effectively reduces the nights required for gold and platinum status to 35 and 60, respectively. Some would argue that this is still too many nights, but Marriott has the largest frequent guest program. There are plenty of elites out there, and Marriott wants to restrict their highest levels for their most frequent guests. I ran into a situation in late July at the San Francisco Marriott where more than 10 % of the guests were gold, platinum, or platinum premier.

Do you feel that you cannot use Marriott points because of the required nights for elite status? One of the favorite award options on FT for Marriott is to get a travel package that lets use trade one Marriott point for one mile on certain U.S. carriers (up to 120,000 for each package) and get a week at a Marriott property for free. Marriott also has cruise rewards, and some people on FT have said good things about them.

Hi everyone~
Long time lurker, first time poster here

Since noone seems to be posting up the full MB choice list like they've done in the past, I decided to compile it myself based on the replies on this post as well as the spring megabonus list and the FAQ pages (see the point totals on the "Is there a limit to the number of points I may earn?" question)

MGF71-Earn 2,500 points every stay, beginning with second stay (up to 10,000 points)
MGF72-Earn 5,000 points every third stay (up to 25,000 points)
MGF73-Earn 35,000 points after completion of 20th night
MGF74-Earn 25,000 points after completion of 15th night
MGF75-Earn 10,000 points after your 3rd stay

It looks like they cut out the double point/nights options from the spring one and added another 10k point mark. As a reference, this was the spring megabonus list someone posted up earlier this year:

March 1st to May 31st 2007
MGS71 - Earn 2,500 points every stay, beginning with second stay (up to 10,000 points)
MGS72 - Earn 5,000 points every third stay (up to 25,000 points)
MGS73 - Earn 35,000 points after completion of 20th night
MGS74 - Earn 25,000 points after completion of 15th night
MGS75 - Earn double points every stay, beginning with second stay (no limit)
MGS76 - Earn double elite credits every stay, beginning with second stay (no limit)
MGS77 - Earn double elite credits and double points every stay, beginning with second stay (no limit)

MGF76 and MGF77 faq pages lead to error pages


And just to add to the whole number of nights/status relating to the megabonus offered:
I've been a Platinum thru the last 3 megabonuses (100+ nights/yr) and have been offered the 5 stays 10k point choice every time. Each time I was able to call and change to the 35k one w/o any problems though.
^

(I hope this doesnt double post... first submit didnt work)

How did you approach this? Did you tell MR you had a friend who got a 35k megabonus offer?? Since the amount seems to be random among members it seems MR would not honor this.

Great research on your post by the way!!

In general, I don't think the offers are random. I do believe they are based on a person's stay patterns for the previous year (or some similar period of time.) I was a Gold during the previous Megabonus and had only stayed about 30 or so nights and was offered the 25K offer. By the time this one came around, I was a Plat and have well over 100 nights this year, and I was offered the 35K promo.

As for how to ask, just be upfront. When I asked to change my last promo, I didn't tell the phone agent anything except that I wanted to change to the higher point offer. I was never asked how I knew there was one.

It's actually easier than it sounds. The Platinum MR reps I had each time didn't question it one bit and changed it right away for me. Each time, it went something like this:

me: Hi, I'd like to change my megabonus to different one
Rep: Sure, which one would you like?
me: The 20day/35k one please.
Rep: ok no problem, I'll add in the note right away.



Just as a note, the change isn't reflected on your online acct. Apparantly they just put a note in your account if you change megabonuses and add the difference later: Each megabonus, I had 10k pts automatically from the online 5stay/10k registration and when I completed the 20 nights, 25k was added manually by a rep. This also means that if I had not met the 20 nights, I would've still received the 10k points(provided I had 5 stays) since that portion is automatic in the system.
^

I second.

Just get off the phone and rep changed to 35K/20Nt , no questions asked.

Good Luck
-Rbnaidu

That's an extremely useful first post. Are the numbers in front of each promo, the actual promo code? I have received MGF74 which I have no hope of achieving. I would like MGF75. Can I just call MR Customer Service and request this promo? Everyone else seems to be asking for the more challenging promos. I want to downgrade.

It doesn't hurt to ask about changing your promotion. But if I remember some previous posts correctly, in the past Marriott has been more willing to change Gold/Plat elite's promos than non-elites and Silvers. But if you ask, you might get lucky.

for some reason I always get the toughest promo. However the only reason I didn't downgrade was that it overlaps into 2008 which is when I'll pick up the last five nights. I only need 15 for requalification this year.. i'm not doing extra just for the promo.. but since I can do the next five next year, it works out perfect for me as i'm in no rush for the points

I've never had a problem changing promos though

I'm pretty sure those are the actual promo codes since the faq url's end with them. The only ones I wasn't sure of were MGF71 and MGF75 since their faq's are almost identical, but seeing that MGS71 for spring megabonus was the 5 stay 10k choice, I figured it would be same this time around.

I've never tried downgrading, but I don't see why they wouldn't do it for you provided you are gold/plat. Silvers/nonelites have given varied success in changing promos from what I saw in the past posts.

I just tried changing from the 20k offer to the 35k offer. The rep told me they couldn't really do it, but could put a note on my file to change it at the end of the 15 stays (when I earn the 20k points).

I had a somewhat similar situation with the Spring promotion - my stay extended beyond the period. I asked MR (using the online form) and they answered saying that I would get the points and I did. My guess is that you should get the points. Good luck!

My past experience with Megabonus has been:

10,000 points for 7 nights in spring 2004 (I was silver.)
5,000 points after every third stay in spring 2005 up to 25,000 points. (I was silver.)
25,000 points for 15 nights in spring 2006. (I was gold.)
35,000 points for 20 nights in fall 2006. (I was platinum.)
35,000 points for 20 nights in spring 2007. (I was platinum.)

Except for the second promotion in 2005, when I was unable to get 6 stays in the promotion's timeframe, I have been satisfied with the Megabonus promos and have been able to get every other one. I knew there was no way that I could fit in the max amount of stays for the spring 2005 promo since I usually stay at least 2 nights for each stay, and I was not traveling that much back then.

Currently, I have the 35k/20 night promotion again, and I should finish it before December 1.

I called Customer Service and they won't let me change. Oh well, guess I'll focus on the Starwood and Priority Club promos.

Just send them an email, and they should be able to change you over to one of the other promotions

Daniel