Marriott Rewards has had Rewarding Events for years where members have been able to earn 10 elite qualifying nights for any event (even renting a meeting room) and earn points or airline miles in the process.
Marriott is changing the name of the program from Rewarding Events to Meetings & Events and will cut the number of points per dollar earned by a third (from 3 to 2) while lifting the per event maximum from 50,000 to 105,000 points. Members will earn 10 elite qualifying nights for the first event of the year ONLY and one elite qualifying night for every 20 rooms booked (max 20 elite qualifying nights).
You can access Marriott’s page for Rewarding Events here.
READ MORE: Marriott Rewards Rate & Bonus Points And Miles Promotions
NOTE that even if you have booked events past August 18, 2018, they will earn under the new earning schedule per the information we have received from the Marriott spokesperson:
“If a member books on 8/10 and their event is 8/30 they will earn based on the post 8/18 T&C’s.”
You can book US and Canada meetings online!
There are many hotels in the United States and Canada that allow you to reserve their meeting space online without having to Request Quote first.
Half day!
Cuts the price in half too!
Conclusion
It is unclear if Rewarding Events booked before August 18 but consumed on or after this date are going to be credited under the current or the new schedule. I have requested clarification from Marriott regarding this. UPDATE: Events past August 18 will earn under the new T&Cs regardless when they were booked. There is no information about this program change on Marriott Rewarding Events website at all. UPDATE: They have the new program information up on the combined program website (access here).
Some members have been using this Rewarding Events to rack up their lifetime Marriott night count in anticipation of the program merger later this month (and probably much earlier too but in greater urgency now).
I have already qualified for the Platinum Premier on my SPG account alone but tested this Rewarding Events last month and the event eventually posted to my account with the 10 elite qualifying nights. Just booked the meeting space online and was thousands of miles away.
Surprised that Marriott didn’t close this loophole earlier!
