Marriott Launches First Promotion of New Program, Register Now

by Gary Leff

Marriott’s fall and early winter promotion is out: . Log into your account and then go to promotions, you won’t see details just going to the promotion’s page.

The idea is that this is the first promotion that is run across all of Marriott’s participating 29 brands. Of course prior to combining programs August 18th they had largely aligned their efforts already, but this is one promotion for the new program.

Details of Marriott’s New Promotion

Register by January 7, 2019 and stays of two or more nights between September 26 and January 31, 2019 earn 2000 bonus points. Plus you’ll earn 1000 bonus points per brand you stay at during the promotion period starting with your second brand.

They’ve also paired this with a ‘game’ “29 Ways to Stay” to “to learn more about our 29 brands and for the chance to win prizes, including points and free nights.”

The game (website) will run from October 4 through November 1 and will feature a grand prize of 29 two night stays at each of the 29 brands; 87 four-night stays; 2,421,500 point wins (odds of winning this reported at 1:2).

A Weak Offer – As Expected

Hotel promotions are weak because hotels are full, it isn’t necessary to spend significantly to put heads in beds since beds are largely being slept in to begin with. And this offer is no different, in fact it seems to continue the theme of the new Marriott program holding down costs.

They are bonusing only stays of two or more nights, and longer stays don’t earn more. And each brand you stay at only earns 1000 bonus points (333 old Starpoints, which is next to nothing) you don’t get any points for your first.

Nonetheless, you should definitely register. Do it now. Even if you aren’t planning two night stays or stays at multiple brands this offer runs several months into the future. You may wind up with stays you aren’t thinking about today. You will never remember to go back and register later. It takes a few seconds to do it, and that ensures you don’t miss out on the extra points.

How This Compares to Other New Hotel Promotions

IHG is out with their promotion, so is Hyatt and Hilton.

Comparing hotel programs I see 2000 points on a two night stay as being worth $7 per night. Hyatt’s promotion is about as un-generous as Marriott’s for infrequent stays and the most generous for heavy stay guests. IHG offers seem to be about an extra 6% rebate starting with second stay, plus extra points for other activities.


Conrad Bora Bora

Hilton is more generous with double points, an extra 6% rebate starting with first stay (and 12% at luxury properties and resorts). While overall Hilton is among the less generous programs they’ve got the strongest promotion overall.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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  4. Hilton is giving triple points for weekend stays.

    Marriott promo is lame, lame, lame, just like the “new” program.

  6. Marriott is making it difficult for me to care about my lifetime Platinum whatever status since they don’t seem to care about me.

  8. Can’t register for this, getting an error that says it’s not possible to register at this time. Nice work, Marriott IT.

  12. Maybe this has something to do with it???

    “TRAVEL ALERT: We are experiencing high call volume due to Hurricane Florence. For immediate action, please use Marriott.com or the Marriott mobile app to change or cancel your reservation.”

  13. Agree this is mediocre and counterproductive. For example you have a St. Regis or JW guest with a multinight stay. She gets zippo bonus on the high-rev stay, and then you want her to downgrade his next stay to a Four Points or Fairfield just to meet the 2-brand requirement? Idiotic. She will just go to Hyatt where she can use an upgrade cert for the first stay or to Hilton where she gets 12%.

  14. @ICC @Bill @DaveZ – Also unable to get the Promo link to work. Keeps landing on an error page. Sent Email to Marriott Customer Service. Should hear back, maybe by end of 2018. #marriottrewards #marriott #ritzcarlton @marriottrewards @marriott @ritzcarlton @spg #spg

  15. I just wish they’d get the programs properly aligned! I’ve been an SPG Lifetime Platinum for years. I’ve called, emailed, even tweeted. Not only were the call center’s employees rude (3 for 3!) but no replies to emails. We went into this with assurances that Lifetime status would be met. But even the supervisor at the call center has no idea why my new account is so messed up. I’m having flashbacks to the Continental/UA merger. So, will I get the promo points or not? 5 night stay in early November. I’ll certainly try!

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