What Is the Marriott Bonvoy Moments Program?

Marriott Bonvoy Moments is a unique program that allows Marriott Bonvoy members to bid on — or buy outright — a wide variety of experiences, ranging from luxury boxes at sporting events to dinners at exclusive restaurants and even cooking lessons with celebrity chefs.

It’s an attractive program for cardholders who want to use their points to buy something other than airline tickets and hotel stays. But is it the best use of your Bonvoy points?

How it works

There are two different ways to buy experiences through the Marriott Bonvoy Moments program.

Auctions

Auctions allow any Bonvoy member to use their points to bid on a particular experience, with the highest bidder winning the prize.

You can even automate this process by entering the highest amount of points you’re willing to spend. The program will automatically place bids for you until either you win or the bidding exceeds your limit.

Fixed-price purchases

A fixed-price experience has a set price that doesn’t change. Once you submit the required number of points, the experience is yours. Often, there is a set number of spots or packages available at the fixed price, so while exclusive, it's rarely only available for one member.

» Learn more: Why I love Marriott Bonvoy

What kinds of experiences can I buy?

The Marriott Bonvoy Moments program allows members to select experiences from five different categories:

• Culinary: This includes anything from tickets for a food and wine festival to cooking lessons with a celebrity chef.

• Entertainment: This category covers items like backstage passes and luxury seats at concerts or other exclusive shows.

• Lifestyle: This includes cultural and travel experiences.

• Sports: These moments include luxury boxes and VIP experiences at sporting events.

• Partners: Experiences at any events that are held by Marriott's corporate partners, including the Chicago Cubs, the NFL and events at Madison Square Garden.

Over the course of the year, there will be new experiences to choose from that will take place in locations around the world. The program runs year-round, so as old experiences sell out, new ones are added.

There’s no way to predict what experiences will be offered in the future; however, by looking at their corporate partners, you may be able to guess. For example, Marriott’s partnership with Staples Center means that it’s highly likely that Moments will offer some kind of VIP package to a Lakers or Clippers game.

Restrictions

Cap

Regardless of how many points you’ve saved up, the Marriott Bonvoy Moments program allows members to purchase up to five Bonvoy Moments experiences in a calendar year. A single experience might have multiple packages within it, but members can only purchase two packages per experience.

No refunds

All Marriott Bonvoy Moments purchases are final — there are no refunds. Once you’ve purchased either an auction or fixed price experience, the points are immediately removed from your account and they cannot be returned.

No transfers

Experiences may not be transferred, so if Marriott believes that you have sold, marketed or reassigned your experience without Marriott’s explicit written consent, then you will lose the experience and your points will also be forfeited.

» Learn more: Your guide to the Marriott Bonvoy award chart

What value can you get?

Generally speaking, your best use of points will be to use them on hotel rooms with Marriott. But the point of the Moments program is that some of these experiences are unique, once in a lifetime opportunities that would be difficult to have otherwise.

Some of these experiences, such as concert or game tickets, can be purchased on the open market. To determine if it is a redemption worth pursuing, compare the cost of the ticket in cash to what the equivalent value in points would be and determine if it is a good value.

We value Marriott points at 0.7 cent each, so you can do some simple math based on the points cost of any experience you might have your eye on.

The bottom line

The Marriott Bonvoy Moments program offers members many redemption opportunities that can be paid upfront with points or bid on via an auction. Experiences range across five categories — culinary, entertainment, lifestyle, sports and partners. Purchases come with restrictions, including no refunds.

You will get more value from your Bonvoy points by booking qualifying stays at Marriott properties, but if you have a lot of points to burn or see an opportunity that you simply can't pass up, these redemptions can be a fun spend.