Marriott Extends Free Night Awards & Point Expiry Further Paused

Marriott Bonvoy today announced that it would extend Free Night Awards originally expiring in 2020 and 2021 through January 2, 2022, to allow members more time to use them.

Also, you don’t have to worry about your Bonvoy points expiring either. Marriott has paused all points expiration through March 31, 2022 (previously through August 1).

You can access Marriott’s page for Covid-19 policies here.

Note that the Free Night Awards extension applies to all kinds of certificates, including Annual Choice Benefit, targeted promotional nights, Travel Packages, and certificates that you earn from affiliated credit cards.

If you had certificates with an expiry date earlier than 2020 extended through 2021, they won’t see further expiry date extension (better use them!).

The points expiry waiver means that no points expire before March 31, 2022. You do have to be careful from that date your account has recorded qualifying activity in the previous 24 months.

Here’s information that Marriott shared with us

Members will now have more time to redeem eligible Free Night Awards (FNA) which is great as leisure travel is picking up and summer approaches.

Starting May 6, members who had a FNA with an original expiration date in 2020, or which will expire before January 2, 2022, as part of their Cobrand Credit Card Benefit, Annual Choice Benefit, promotions or travel package will be able to redeem it through January 3, 2022.

Please note that FNAs with an original expiration date before 2020 will not be eligible for the additional extension. Members do not need to take any action because the system will automatically update their account with these extensions on May 6, 2021.

We are now pausing points expiration through March 31, 2022.

You will recall, Marriott Bonvoy paused points expiration through August 1, 2021. This will give members whose accounts have been inactive for at least 24 months even more time for a points transaction to keep their account active and to redeem points in their account toward a stay. To learn more about what counts as a points transaction, please click here.

Conclusion

It is good that Marriott gives Bonvoy members more time to use their certificates and also pauses points expiry through March 31, 2022.

We have been living extraordinary times when traveling over the past 14 months, and likely won’t return to full normalcy before 2023.

It is of utmost importance for all loyalty programs and travel ones, especially (most affected sector), to keep members engaged and happy during these challenging times.