One of the interesting quirks of the Marriott Rewards programme is that you can use your points to ‘buy back’ your status if you fail to requalify.
If you would otherwise have been forced into mattress run stays at the end of the year in order to get the last couple of nights you needed, this is a lifesaver – using a few points to get your status back is a lot easier than spending real cash on hotel rooms you don’t need.
Because of the points bonus you earn for having status, you will even ‘earn back’ over the next year a proportion of the points you spend to get your status back.
Full details of the offer can be found on the Marriott website.
Here are the prices:
Until April 1, 2016, you can retain your status at an exclusive rate:
- Buy back your Platinum status – only 40,000 points
- Buy back your Gold status – only 25,000 points
- Buy back your Silver status – only 7,500 points
I tend to value a Marriott point at 0.5p, so buying back Gold would effectively cost you £125. Given that Gold status gets you lounge access at JW Marriott, Autograph Collection, Renaissance and Marriott Hotel properties, as well as a 25% points bonus, high speed internet, late check-out and a room upgrade, it is a decent deal if you will be doing more than a handful of stays.
PS. The photo above is the new JW Marriott in Venice. We were there in August but my review fell through the cracks – hopefully it will see the light of day at some point!
(Want to earn more hotel points? Click here to see our complete list of promotions from the major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Promos’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.)
About Head for Points
While the deal is available until 1 April 2016, is it worth rushing to take up the offer before end of February (when status expires) or do other offers ever arise for regaining status? I have had offers sent to me to regain status in the past but normally in Oct/Nov time with a “complete this before end of the calendar year”. Is the offer of buy back with points ever pulled early?
Can anyone tell me when the year-end for Marriott status is? I’m assuming not the calendar year end as I’m still showing gold.
It depends. Mine is Feb. So not automatically calendar year.
Calendar year is year end. It just doesn’t adjust until I think the end of January to allow for any missed nights to be logged.
If you’re monitoring your lifetime status points, these also decrease if you buy status back by the appropriate amount. It’s not treated the same as a redemption. Marriott don’t explicitly tell you that when you request this. Just something else to be aware of if you plan to do this.
Is there any guideline as to how close to achieving status you need to be to avail of this ? Presumably nearer 45 out of 50 nights for Gold rather than just 15 or 20 out of 50
I got the impression that, as long as you had Gold last year, they would happily renew you (in return for 25k points) however few nights you stayed. After all, the fewer nights you do, the less the hotels need to spend on your benefits!
I got Gold through their Taste of Gold promotion and it required 6 stays in a 3 month period – it would seem strange for them to give Gold again (and again the next year, say) after a minimum number of nights.
Presumably this only works to retain status? So you can’t buy up to the next level with points? I’m sure I’d know about this if you could…
Correct.