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REGISTER NOW: Marriott Bonvoy launches its autumn hotel points promotion, ‘Unlock More’

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UPDATE – APRIL 2025:  This article is now out of date, but don’t worry.  We produce a monthly summary of the top hotel bonus point offers – please click HERE or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ menu above.

Marriott Bonvoy is offering double elite night credits and 1,000 bonus points per night on all stays between 11th February and 28th April 2025. Click here for our HfP article and click here to register.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

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Marriott Bonvoy has launched its third ‘bonus points’ promotion since the scheme launched in February.

You can register here.

Here are the key points:

The promotion is called “Unlock More”

It runs from 29th October to 14th January (registration via this link is open now and closes 31st December)

You will receive 2,000 bonus points for your second paid stay after registration

After you have received your 2,000 bonus points, you will unlock ‘a personalised additional offer’ which will run until 14th January.  Marriott has not given us any idea what these ‘additional offers’ will be!

All 7,000 hotels across all 29 hotel brands are taking part

The 29 brands you can stay at to earn bonus points include: AC Hotels, Aloft, Autograph, Courtyard, Delta Hotels, Design Hotels, Edition, Element, Fairfield Inn, Four Points, Gaylord, Le Meridien, Marriott, Moxy, Protea, Renaissance, Residence Inn, St Regis, Sheraton, The Luxury Collection, The Ritz-Carlton, Springhill Suites, Towneplace Suites, W and Westin.

What is the Marriott bonus worth?

This is, clearly, an odd promotion to calculate ‘value’ on.

I value a Marriott Bonvoy point at 0.5p.

You earn 10 base points per $1 spent on eligible hotel charges, except at Element, Residence Inn and TownePlace Suites hotels, where you earn five points per eligible $1.  Status bonuses are on top of this.

Assuming a 0.5p valuation, the 2,000 bonus points mean that you are getting an additional return of £10-worth of points after your 2nd stay.

This is not hugely generous, and is clearly more attractive on a two night stay than a 10 night stay.

What we don’t know, of course, is how generous the ‘personalised additional offer’ will be.  If we had a clue, you would have a feel for whether it was worth moving two stays to Marriott in the hope of something very generous.  As it is, you either need to take a gamble or wait a few weeks and see what starts to pop up for other members who have stays in early November.

What are your other hotel promo options?

Looking at the other major chains ….

IHG Rewards Club has launched its latest Accelerate promotion.  Everyone gets different personalised targets which you need to hit before 31st December.  This can be very lucrative if the targets fit around your travel patterns.  You can register here.

Hilton Honors new Autumn offer is double base points (triple points if you have the old Barclaycard Hilton Honors credit card).  This is valid for stays from 9th September until 5th January 2020.  You can register here.

World of Hyatt is offering double base points (triple points on stays at Hyatt Place) on stays between 15th September and 15th December.  This only kicks in from your second stay after registration.  Registration closes on 31st October. 

Accor and Radisson are not running global promotions at the moment.

Without knowing what sort of ‘additional offer’ Marriott will give you, it isn’t clear if it will be better or worse than the alternatives above.  Hilton’s double points offer is clearly better on longer expensive stays (and is handy for me as I have a £1k Hilton stay coming up) but it is marginal vs Marriott on a short cheap stay.

Register now

It makes sense to register for this new Marriott Bonvoy offer now.  It runs until the 14th January and registration cuts off early on 31st December.  Remember that only stays from 29th October count.

Click here to visit the registration page on the Marriott website.

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How to earn Marriott Bonvoy points and status from UK credit cards

How to earn Marriott Bonvoy points and status from UK credit cards (April 2025)

There are various ways of earning Marriott Bonvoy points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.

The official Marriott Bonvoy American Express card comes with 20,000 points for signing up, 2 points for every £1 you spend and 15 elite night credits per year.

You can apply here.

Marriott Bonvoy American Express

20,000 points for signing up and 15 elite night credits each year Read our full review

You can also earn Marriott Bonvoy points by converting American Express Membership Rewards points at the rate of 2:3.

Do you know that holders of The Platinum Card from American Express receive FREE Marriott Bonvoy Gold status for as long as they hold the card?  It also comes with Hilton Honors Gold, Radisson Rewards Premium and MeliaRewards Gold status.

We reviewed American Express Platinum in detail here and you can apply here.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

You can also earn Marriott Bonvoy points indirectly:

and for small business owners:

The conversion rate from American Express to Marriott Bonvoy points is 2:3.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which can be used to earn Marriott Bonvoy points.

Category

Marriott Bonvoy

Comments (84)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Jason says:
    16 Oct16 October 08:42

    OT anyone got a good phone number to complain to Hilton on (diamond) ?

    • John says:
      16 Oct16 October 12:07

      The diamond desk number is +18774449847, which you can call free using Skype. If you live in the UK, you need to edit your Hilton profile by moving your postcode to the “city” field and entering 5 random digits in the “zip code” field, as when calling that number you will be asked for your zip code to pass security.

  • BJ says:
    16 Oct16 October 08:48

    IHG Accelerate: 48K for 4 nights
    Hilton: Next 2 nights gets me 12.5k plus 2k MyWay plus 3x base on power up

    Marriott offers me second stay nonsense again…the £50 amex offer is not even going to swing it for me.

    • Lady London says:
      16 Oct16 October 12:10

      If your Hilton 2 nights promo is the same as I signed up for, beware Hilton snuck in some extra t’s and c’s that they sent out long after the signup. Key thing was stays only counted if made within 60 days after registration.

      I registered as soon as I saw it, and just stayed, am 64 days out and no extra points.
      So I cancelled the 2nd stay I had booked.
      As I didn;t receive the targeted email, I’ve got nowhere to go on complaining about this technically-should-not-be-allowed-after-signup, change in the t’s and c’s. Presumably after they realised a few of us had signed up without being invited.

      • BJ says:
        16 Oct16 October 12:45

        Thanks, very useful. Is this the Media promotion? So the stays have to be within 60 days of registration even though the offer does not expire until 31 January? If so then I’m too late like you, as I’ve opted to do IHG stays first. 7.5k of the 12.5k were for this, other 5k were for 2 stays within 90 days for which I received an email invitation.

        • Lady London says:
          16 Oct16 October 13:07

          They sent out an email “confirming participation” on the 7500 one some weeks after registering. about 4 or 5 weeks. Checking the small print they’d added in new text defining stays that would credit, as stays within 60 days after signup. Not strictly legal but I have no way to protest.

          if you didn’t get that “extra” email you might be OK. In any case I’d check very carefully what credited after the first stay. or, if you did receive the invite you could Hilton and clarify ahead of making the stay, I suppose?

          • BJ says:
            16 Oct16 October 14:46

            Will check out my emails but I don’t think I received the invite for the 7.5k either, nor can I recall receiving the follow up weeks later. As you say, what credits after the first stay will make everything clear. Doesn’t really matter though as I need to make the stats anyway and I’m currently running a negative balance, albeit with Hilton approval.

  • Ryan says:
    16 Oct16 October 08:57

    I’ve registered for this. I also received an “Exclusively for you” promotion of “Double Elite Night Credits” until end 2019. So each stay receives an extra night credit. Both promotions now running in parallel.

    Anyone else received this?

  • Scott says:
    16 Oct16 October 09:16

    Does anyone know whether it needs to be £200 in a single transaction or cumulative spend to qualify for the £50 Amex Marriott offer.

  • Doug M says:
    16 Oct16 October 09:18

    Why do those 3 brands only earn half points? Not like Residence Inn is particularly cheap.

    • Lady London says:
      16 Oct16 October 12:13

      Accor seems to do something similar on it’s “long stay” Adagio brand.
      Maybe it’s because they figure you are likely to stay more nights per stay at these and don’t want you to earn too much?

  • Lady London says:
    16 Oct16 October 10:24

    Omigod Google is showing an ad for Oriental porn comic – explicit but sadly not targeted for me – alongside this article on my screen. It’s quite put me off my morning coffee. Does Google have no standards!?!!

  • Rob says:
    16 Oct16 October 10:33

    OT – I’m booking a reward flight saver fare with BA. Cost is 4500 plus £15.50 or I can do 8000 plus 50p. If I cancel this flight am I right I get the miles back but lose the £15.50 only? (and this 50p only if I go down the 8000 points route?

    • Rhys says:
      16 Oct16 October 10:41

      Yes

    • Lee says:
      16 Oct16 October 11:28

      You will only lose 50p doesn’t matter how many avios used. Even booked with 4500 plus £15.50, you will have £15 back when cancelling.

      • Harry T says:
        16 Oct16 October 14:00

        I can confirm what Lee is saying, having booked and cancelled several RFS recently. There was a recent HFP article about this – unsure how long this loophole will last.

        • Waddle says:
          16 Oct16 October 15:40

          Wait so I can book a RFS at whatever price + avios and if I cancel I get the Avios and all fees+taxes back less 50p?

          • Tom H says:
            16 Oct16 October 15:49

            Yes I did this yesterday for a flight from Prague, only lost 50p and I paid the standard charges before.

          • Harry T says:
            16 Oct16 October 16:17

            Yes, you can cancel within 24 hours and get all your taxes and Avios back. After then, you get charged 50p for cancelling a one way RFS and £1 for a return.

            It will show this on the cancellation page before you confirm, so you can double check.

          • Tom H says:
            16 Oct16 October 18:40

            To confirm aswell it doesn’t have to be 24 post booking, I booked my flight months ago and cancelled yesterday paying only 50p

  • xcalx says:
    16 Oct16 October 12:55

    OT no bits

    I am getting a refund to an Amex card I no longer have. Will this be refunded to another card I do have or will I have to contact Amex.

    Thanks

    • xcalx says:
      16 Oct16 October 13:08

      Sorry the refund went to my Amazon account.

    • the_real_a says:
      16 Oct16 October 13:37

      In my experience – provided you haven’t been downgraded/upgraded (in which case the old card number is still linked to your present account) your old card account exists indefinitely just restricted and the refund will post to the dormant account. You will need to contact amex to have it transferred to your existing account or take a refund. In my case the refund was over £500 which they couldn’t transfer and i had to jump through KYC identification hoops to have it returned despite them allowing me to run up spend on other cards.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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