Marriott Bonvoy seems to have raised award costs at some of its more expensive properties, which members certainly wont be happy about.
Continue reading: Marriott Bonvoy Increases Points Costs At Top Properties
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
I was only pricing up the JW Masai Mara for November 2025 a couple of weeks ago and I could get 5 nights for under 550k.
Redeeming Marriott points at hotels is the worst use of points. Transfers 60000 points to United for 30000 ua miles. Do that 3 times and you have 90000 miles. 88k gets you a lie flat Lufthansa Swiss Austria to Europe or Eva air to Asia. That $4000. Tell me where you can redeem 180000 points for a $4000 stay
Been Ambassador for number of years and last year I didn’t intend to requalify but a last min trip in late Dec earned me the nights.
Things like this plus just overall inconsistency and bad service/ROI from the Ambassador/support team is why I switched to booking hotels with cc that give 10x points and use those points for business and first class tickets. This year I’m actually making it a goal to avoid Marriott properties.
Where? How about Masai Mara (at least before this devaluation). We spent 468,000 Bonvoy points for a five night trip next June. The cash rate was in excess of $24,000 for two people. That's more than .05 per point compared to your .02 cent redemption! Mike drop.
Ben, while you have highlighted a few high-end properties, the point-price increase is hitting low/moderate properties quite hard on a percentage basis. Indeed, I'm seeing Hilton-like redemption values at some. And, as a practical matter, 35k Free Night Certificates granted to cardholders (even when topped up with 15k) have become unusable at so many properties. But, 85k FNCs are still good Aloft and Springhill Suites.
Absolutely, a skilled hobbyist can find a great redemption. I have one in my hip pocket. But, for the vast majority of people . . . perhaps not as skilled or adventurous . . . there's too little value in redeeming points for a hotel stay. For these people, transferring points to an airline results in higher value . . . even after a rotten transfer ratio.
Same here plus lifetime status. Adding to what you said has been the erosion of benefits. I forgot about upgrades after so many instances of "we're not going to simply give you an upgrade but we'll sell you one." No lounge access at virtually all luxury brands. Too many exceptions to the breakfast benefit. There are even exceptions to the WiFi benefit. What's left? So, like you, I took a different path.
Let this be a warning to all. The airlines have effectively eliminated tier-status-based complimentary upgrades by offering discounted paid upgrades (which are too attractive to pass up). At one level or another, Hilton, Hyatt, and Marriott have started to do the same. While upgrades will technically still be a benefit, for practical purposes, don't be surprised if complimentary upgrades become fewer and fewer.
Marriott points (or Hilton points, for that matter) have (almost) only been valuable on a few expensive properties like the ones mentioned in this piece. This type of value proposition has always been highly risky, as we've now seen.
Exactly. The primary reason we will be canceling four Marriott cards (Chase 2 - AmEx 2) on renewals. Even though P2 is lifetime platinum, Marriott is fading fast.
I was in Paris last month, December 2024. I booked about two months out. Starting a month out, the number of points needed for a 5-night stay dropped by 3,000 to 7,000 points per night almost every week. I had to keep rebooking and getting refunds. It was absurd. Lesson learned. Always, always monitor prices after you make a reservation because with dynamic pricing of award redemptions it can go both ways. Yes, it can get expensive, but it can also get cheaper.
Right now, looking at Paris for 5 nights using random dates in December 2025, all of the desirable full-service properties are 331,000 to 476,500 points per night. That's insane. Two of the less-desirable Renaissance properties are 260,000 to 271,000 points.
I'm fortunate in that I have 6 million-plus Marriott points, but how is someone just starting this supposed to accumulate enough points for a 471,000-point stay?
I read this all the time, but quite honestly as an AA Executive Platinum I get complimentary upgrades all the time. Might depend on airports, time of day, day of departure, dunno. I’m surprised how often upgrades come through. Most recent for me YUL/CLT/MIA, last week.
At the St.Regis Bal Harbour right now for 95k points/night versus $2,450/night cash rate. Also using a free night redemption using 10k more points. Then the free upgrade to a suite going for $3,200/night. Good value for me.
My guess is someone at Marriott actually did a pareto analysis of their where the program was spending $$ and did some revenue/cost work. Masai Mara and Maldives are pretty much always at 100% occupancy and if the program was paying 90% of actual rates they were taking a bath. The arbitrage opportunity was too enticing. Buy 400K pts for $3400 and receive 12-15K worth of stays, 70-80% discount.
They have all the data for each redemption they can analyze to the individual redemption the revenue they received vs the cost. The new rates are just their pricing algorithm reverse engineering the breakeven on the last X months of redemptions.
The new reality to this game is that really large value arbitrage opportunities are not going to last for long periods of time because data and tools are available to the programs to close them much quicker than in the past.
I don't understand. Can someone kindly explain the points to $$ conversion/equivalent that I often see mentioned.
Thanks.
Well if the rooms are above $550/$780/night on those redemptions a person could still buy points and get a discount. I am guessing that the 476.5 one is Prince De Galles, which looks to have about a $1100/night rate right now. So about 1.15 cents/point with the 5th night free. Still not a bad redemption, and even if you bought the points it would still be a 25-30% discount. The real value of using points is the 5th night free and ease of canceling.
It's really shocking how few f--ks Marriott gives about its customers. Let's say you spend $35k annually at Marriott properties, as I did last year. The earn on that is roughly 612,000 points (and forget about bonus points, which have been nearly non-existent for years). For spending half the year on the road and spending 35 grand, you're rewarded with 3-4 nights at a high end property. What absolute garbage.
Should get the card with free Platinum and voila, most of the benefits of $23k Ambassador spend
Once again, not really the point. The point is the points are worthless and even if you spend a ton, you get nothing in return.
Not sure what to say. I saw the coming downfall of Marriott in 2019 and dropped mid-Ambassador status to run to Hyatt. So glad to have made the decision.
Your money is better spent elsewhere.
At least with Accor you never have to worry about devaluations - 1000 points is always redeemable for 20 EUR.
When I visited the Ritz Carlton Maldives, I had a chat with the resort manager at the weekly manager's cocktail reception. I noted my surprise at how many Americans were in attendance given the remote location in the middle of the Indian Ocean. She replied, "Well, the Americans like to come and redeem their points!" I could have added, "And free cocktails, especially in Maldives," but figured the devaluation goose was cooked at that point.