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NEW: Marriott Bonvoy launches a generous hotel status match

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Marriott Bonvoy has launched a short-term status match. If you have elite status with Hilton Honors, IHG Rewards Club, World of Hyatt or Accor Live Limitless, it is worth a look.

How does the Marriott Bonvoy status match work?

Full details can be found on this page of the Marriott website.

Once you have submitted proof of your current hotel status to Marriott Bonvoy, and proof of one stay in the previous 12 months, you will receive either Gold Elite or Platinum Elite status for 90 days

If you complete five nights in 90 days, you will receive Gold Elite status until February 2022

If you complete 15 nights in 90 days, you will receive Platinum Elite status until February 2022

Marriott Bonvoy launches generous status match

What status levels will Marriott Bonvoy match?

Here is the list, which I believe is VERY generous, especially for Hilton Honors Gold members and IHG Rewards Club Spire Elite and Platinum Elite members:

Hilton Honors Gold receives Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Elite

Hilton Honors Diamond receives Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Elite

World of Hyatt Explorist receives Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite

World of Hyatt Globalist receives Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Elite

Accor Live Limitless Gold receives Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite

Accor Live Limitless Platinum receive Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Elite

IHG Rewards Club Platinum Elite receives Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Elite

IHG Rewards Club Spire Elite receives Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Elite

Who are the big winners?

Letting Hilton Honors Gold members have Platinum Elite in Marriott Bonvoy is HUGE. Platinum Elite comes with free breakfast at most brands, decent upgrades and guaranteed club lounge access. This easily trumps Hilton Gold which only offers free breakfast.

IHG Rewards Club Platinum Elite and Spire Elite members are laughing. They get NO guaranteed benefits at the moment, but can now get 90 days of free breakfast, decent upgrades and guaranteed club lounge access via Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Elite.

Marriott Bonvoy launches generous status match

What are the full benefits of Platinum Elite and Gold Elite?

Take a look here on the Marriott website.

To be honest, Gold Elite with Marriott Bonvoy isn’t worth much at all. You get a 25% bonus on base points and ‘on request’ 2pm check-out, which isn’t helpful.

Platinum Elite is the way to go:

  • 50% bonus base points
  • A decent upgrade, albeit not guaranteed
  • GUARANTEED 4pm late check-out at most hotels
  • Welcome gift, which includes the option of free breakfast at most brands
  • GUARANTEED executive lounge access (if there is one, of course)
  • Free high-speed internet

Note that the Marriott Bonvoy free breakfast benefit is so complex that I wrote a full article on how it works, brand to brand.

Assuming that you manage 15 nights within 90 days, your Platinum Elite status will last until February 2022.

How long do I have to apply?

It isn’t clear. Marriott told me that this is a ‘quantity limited’ status match which will be pulled when it reaches its unpublished target.

The snag, of course, is how easy you will find it to do 15 nights in the next 90 days.

The upside is that there are some great bargains around at the moment. This would be a relatively expensive project if all 15 nights were done as mattress runs however.

One upside is that Marriott’s current promotion gets you 2,500 bonus Marriott Bonvoy points per stay. I value these at £12.50 and you also receive your standard base points plus elite bonus. It would represent a decent return on a cheap mattress run night.

You can register for the current Marriott bonus points promotion here.

How do I apply for my Marriott Bonvoy status match?

You need to complete the form on this page of the Marriott website.

You will need to upload proof that you hold one of the statuses listed above, plus proof of a stay within the last 12 months, presumably from your account statement page.

Your 90 day period will start from the day you are upgraded.

Even if you know you will have zero chance of completing 15 nights in 90 days, it is still worth doing a Platinum Elite match if you have a Marriott stay or two coming up. This is especially true if those hotels have executive lounges (and they are open).

How to earn Marriott Bonvoy points and status from UK credit cards

How to earn Marriott Bonvoy points and status from UK credit cards (April 2024)

There are various ways of earning Marriott Bonvoy points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.

The official Marriott Bonvoy American Express card comes with 20,000 points for signing up, 2 points for every £1 you spend and 15 elite night credits per year.

You can apply here.

Marriott Bonvoy American Express

20,000 points sign-up bonus and 15 elite night credits each year Read our full review

You can also earn Marriott Bonvoy points by converting American Express Membership Rewards points at the rate of 2:3.

Do you know that holders of The Platinum Card from American Express receive FREE Marriott Bonvoy Gold status for as long as they hold the card?  It also comes with Hilton Honors Gold, Radisson Rewards Premium and MeliaRewards Gold status.  We reviewed American Express Platinum in detail here and you can apply here.

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

You can also earn Marriott Bonvoy points indirectly:

and for small business owners:

The conversion rate from American Express to Marriott Bonvoy points is 2:3.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which can be used to earn Marriott Bonvoy points. 

(Want to earn more hotel points?  Click here to see our complete list of promotions from the major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.)

Category

Accor Live Limitless, Hilton Honors, IHG One Rewards, Marriott Bonvoy, World of Hyatt

Comments (117)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Ian says:
    28 Aug28 August 05:36

    Does it mean a stay in a marriott in the last 12 months or a stay at for example a stay at a hilton

  • Si says:
    28 Aug28 August 05:37

    Since I’ve had to unfortunately postpone my Langley stay until March, as hotel hasn’t reopening yet, I need this offer to be open for another 115 days….

    If you could all please make sure to leave me one status upgrade for that time, that would be greatly appreciated

    Please organise it amongst yourselves 🙂

  • Tariq says:
    28 Aug28 August 05:41

    Of course the downside is that currently, breakfast is typically a crippled offering of its former self, and most club lounges are closed.

  • meta says:
    28 Aug28 August 06:08

    Do you get all the choice benefits of Platinum after 15 nights?

  • Waribai says:
    28 Aug28 August 07:19

    Can’t see this ending well. Stage 1: Crowded lounges and very mediocre breakfast. Stage 2: breakfast and lounge access becomes a Titanium benefit…..

    • KBuffett says:
      28 Aug28 August 08:09

      Agree.

    • TGLoyalty says:
      28 Aug28 August 09:10

      Most lounges are currently closed or have no food/service and most hotel rates have included breakfast to entice people back.

    • Kai says:
      28 Aug28 August 10:19

      Yawn. Do I need to remind you how easy it was/is to get Hilton Gold and Diamond status? Hilton has never gone the way you said, at least no worse than any other chains.

  • Riccatti says:
    28 Aug28 August 07:23

    I see promos that are going on are “behind the curve”.

    Either they should be very generous, so that numbers of people jump at them — and make effort to travel regardless of quarantine (and populate those hotels without pools and closed club lounges + 1 pastry for breakfast).

    5 for 7 night deals (or 3 for 4) — long-term stays are very appropriate to today’s situation. I remember those from Starwood.

    Or buy points very cheap for future travel. Or do nothing, but not run those regular run of the mill offers.

    Otherwise, please do nothing. 2,500 pts regular promotion will not make one book extra nights in Marriott. A free breakfast will not make me stay extra nights at Hyatt (and I can simply stay more nights to reach top tier — if I feel like it).

    Takeaways
    – seems that large corps benefited more thus far — Marriott happy to sell cheap points to Amex but none to its customers (what’s the matter!). I am sure that with -50% off and – 20% they can raise hundreds of millions from point sales direct. But of course, since it’s not core activity to them, points.com will make a hefty commission.

    – the creativity of those marketing and sales people in hospitality industry… can you not waste marketing budgets!

    • Riccatti says:
      28 Aug28 August 07:28

      To add to those narrow-minded current promotions, I have to book by October X, 2020 and travel by December Y, 2020…

      Can they let go of old tricks and repeating the playbooks/marketing gimmicks — people are not planning get aways “for next two months” and just need a marketing nudge to purchase — they are either planning an annual holiday for the next year, well ahead, or grabbing something last minute after a round quarantine bingo.

    • Rob says:
      28 Aug28 August 08:47

      A very sensible analysis, I think.

      There is an element of risk to Marriott here. Good prospects may sign up and not get the 15 nights. Marriott may then refuse to let them take part in future status match opportunities.

      On the other hand, if there is a £45 Courtyard near you, you could mattress run this for a net cost (net of the bonus points) of £500. There is some possibility that status would get rolled over again into 2023. Admittedly 15 nights of mattress runs would be a total pain though.

    • TGLoyalty says:
      28 Aug28 August 09:12

      Pre selling to Marriott drip feeds points over many years plus they are points that would be issued anyway.

      Selling cheap points to consumers floods the market today

      • Riccatti says:
        28 Aug28 August 16:45

        — Selling cheap points to consumers floods the market today

        That’s the lesson of MMT/QE: you have to flood the market with liquidity to show investors markets not going to drop (not for much, and not for long time).

        Same as — you have to give Basic Income to people to return them to the prior levels of confidence and spending.

        It’s not that there is a supply glut of hotel rooms — Loyalty Programs will actually make money by selling cheap points and paying for the rooms “at cost” at semi-empty properties. Yes, normally, hotel owners would be begrudged (at Marriott making money), but now it’s the question of paying heating and repairs bills for empty properties — and question of jobs in terms of social wealth.

  • SwissJim says:
    28 Aug28 August 07:40

    On a different note, I have Hilton Diamond & Spire Elite but zero Marriot status. I do however have a few hundred thousand Marriot points. Do all the benefits apply on points bookings? Could be a way to go. Other that I agree the lounge/breakfast experience is unlikely to be great right now – they need to be looking far further out to encourage.

  • BS says:
    28 Aug28 August 07:59

    I have booking for early Dec under the healthcare heroes for when I return to the U.K. for Xmas. The free daily breakfast will really make a difference! I will have to wait 14 or so days though to make sure my status covers the stay.

    • John says:
      28 Aug28 August 08:10

      Just make sure your chosen hotel is actually providing a reasonable breakfast before you book, otherwise you might be disappointed

      • BS says:
        28 Aug28 August 08:17

        Because of COVID restrictions? Should I just email them?
        I’ve seen places like the London Edition do not provide free breakfast for platinums anyway…

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