8 Marriott Bonvoy Sweet Spots to Earn and Redeem Points

When it comes to Marriott Bonvoy — the program representing more than 8,700 properties across 139 countries and territories — you can earn and redeem points almost anywhere you want to go. Marriott Bonvoy members can also choose from different price points and styles with more than 30 different brands.

But what are the best deals within Marriott Bonvoy, and are there some fast-track offers to get status, better redemptions and more perks along the way? It turns out there are plenty of sweet spots for redeeming your Marriott Bonvoy® points.

NerdWallet's valuation of 0.9 cent per point is a good way to study if you are securing the best value for a redemption, but each traveler has their own needs for their trips.

Whether you accrued your hard-earned Marriott Bonvoy points from hotel stays, Marriott co-branded credit cards or transferring from airlines or friends, here are the best Marriott point redemptions.

» Learn more: Marriott Bonvoy Program: The complete guide

Ready to redeem your points? You can vastly improve your travel experience if you have elite status with Marriott. There is a chance you may already have it. For example, The Platinum Card® from American Express includes complimentary Gold Elite status, which comes with bonus points and potential room upgrades. Enrollment required.

» Learn more: The best hotel credit cards right now

Your airline elite status may help you as well. If you are a United Airlines MileagePlus elite status member, you may also already have Marriott Bonvoy elite status.

A reciprocal elite status match program awards Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status to anyone with United’s Gold tier status or higher. You can also earn a 10,000-point bonus by transferring 60,000 United miles to Marriott as part of this program.

» Learn more: What to know about Marriott status matches

The fifth night free on award stays option is one of the best deals that can easily be overlooked. If you're booking a stay on points for four nights, consider staying a fifth night. Why? You will get it for free.

Dubbed “Stay for 5, Pay for 4,” this program comps the cheapest night using points when staying five consecutive nights in the same hotel.

Since Marriott Bonvoy uses a dynamic pricing model with the number of points changing by the night, a multi-day stay could have different prices. The lowest-priced redemption night will be given for free.

Competing with short-term rental companies like Airbnb or Vrbo, but with the ability to earn and redeem points, Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy is an option that allows travelers to save significant cash by using points for beautiful vacation rental properties.

If you want to earn points, you can do that, too.

These include ski chalets, beachfront homes, famous homes and even transparent igloos.

For many travelers who prefer to have more facilities like multiple bedrooms, kitchens and laundry machines, private residences can prove fruitful. The rates charged per night can often be cheaper than what you may pay in hotels in the same destination.

In many instances, a private home could unveil incredible value when compared with a standard room redemption at other luxury hotels.

For example, The Riviera Maya EDITION at Kanai in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, would cost 236,000 points total for a two-night stay, but a full duplex residence with two bedrooms is only 92,000 points for two nights.

While you won’t have access to the same resort amenities, you would have more space than a standard room.

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

Marriott has been growing its portfolio of all-inclusive resorts where travelers can pay for overnight accommodations, meals, drinks and most activities in one total points price.

When you can pack in all of your meals, fitness classes, resort activities, beverages, Wi-Fi and service charges, it can be a great deal.

The points price will vary based on destination and dates of stay, and the points rate is based on a per-person basis. If you have a stash of points, and you really want to indulge in onsite activities, food and drinks, this can be a great value for vacationers.

Marriott Bonvoy provides members with numerous opportunities to rack up points even when not traveling. Beyond the numerous Marriott Bonvoy credit card options for earning points on day-to-day spending, there are many other options. These include:

• Uber: After linking your Marriott Bonvoy and Uber accounts, you earn 6x Marriott points when ordering Uber Eats or groceries (minimum $40) to a Marriott hotel where you are staying. Any time, you can earn 3x points when using UberXL, Uber Comfort, Uber SUV and Uber Black rides and 2x points when ordering Uber Eats or groceries (minimum $40) to any non-Marriott address.

• Marriott Bonvoy Tours & Activities: When booking tours, airport transfers and other travel-related activities, rental cars and experiences through this website, you can earn Marriott Bonvoy points. These are available no matter if you’re traveling to another hotel brand or booking one from home. Take a Charlotte walking tour for example, where members would earn 450 points.

• Shop Marriott: Marriott has its own online shopping portal that allows members to click through and earn points on purchases from Marriott brands. This includes things like the famous Westin Heavenly Bed. 

• Eat Around Town: Earn points by dining at participating restaurants and paying with a registered credit card.

Marriott Bonvoy Moments are curated experiences that often can't be easily re-created on your own. They include VIP seats and meet-and-greets with famous athletes or kitchen tours and dinner at famous restaurants.

Marriott Bonvoy Moments can be a smart way to use points for special events or tickets that may be quite expensive otherwise.

The all-inclusive JW Marriott Masai Mara Lodge is a safari property in Kenya that bundles in experiences like meals, drinks and game drives into the redemption.

Coming soon in Tanzania is another JW Marriott Serengeti Safari Lodge. This gives Marriott Bonvoy members a way to redeem points for a bucket list trip without forking over at other expensive lodges.

» Learn more: How to book a safari with points and miles for cheap

Protea Hotels is a Marriott Bonvoy brand mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. Perhaps surprisingly, it can be one of the best places to use Marriott points as the brand tends to offer affordable redemption rates for great value.

There are some notable hotels like Protea Hotel Fire & Ice! Cape Town, South Africa, and the convenient Protea Hotel OR Tambo Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa. The latter was charging as few as 15,500 points for a redemption night on the dates we checked.

If you need thousands of Marriott points for a dream trip or to pay for multiple rooms for your family, the fastest way to get a huge chunk of miles is by opening a travel credit card and meeting the spend requirement to earn the sign-up bonus.

There is one additional consumer card and one business card in the Marriott credit card portfolio.

Terms apply.

• Marriott Bonvoy Bevy™ American Express® Card has a $250 annual fee. It comes with complimentary Gold status and earns 6x points at Marriott hotels. It also includes 1,000 bonus points per stay, a free night worth 50,000 points (after spending $15,000) and 15 Elite Night Credits.

• The Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card has a $125 annual fee. It grants Gold status and 6x points at Marriott hotels. The card also provides a free night award up to 35,000 points with the option to earn a second night, a 7% room rate discount and 15 Elite Night Credits.

» Learn more: The best Marriott credit cards

These are just a handful of sweet spots for Marriott Bonvoy members, and what some may consider a sweet spot may not be as attractive to others.

There are a lot of ways to accrue hotel points, and the best Marriott points redemptions stretch their use far. Each person will find their own value based on their travel needs, but one thing is for sure: Marriott Bonvoy can be packed with value if you know what you’re doing.

The information related to the Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful™ Card credit card has been collected by NerdWallet and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of this card.

To view rates and fees of The Platinum Card® from American Express, see this page. To view rates and fees of the Marriott Bonvoy Bevy™ American Express® Card, see this page. To view rates and fees of the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card, see this page. To view rates and fees of the Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card, see this page.

(Top photo courtesy of Marriott International)