Marriott Increases Award Pricing Without Notice Again
In a bit of news that’s all too common nowadays, it appears Marriott Bonvoy has raised award prices across its nearly 10,000-property network. While Marriott hasn’t had an award chart in several years, hotels and resorts are priced in bands based on demand. Now, it appears that most properties have increased by around 5% (or more) for an award night.
Let’s dig into all of the details for this disappointing news.
Marriott Raises Award Prices Across Its Program
As first reported by Loyalty Lobby, Marriott has made this change without notice to its members. That’s because on paper, this change isn’t as seismic as, say, Hyatt’s recent expansion of its award charts.
The changes are not one-size-fits-all across the program. Let’s take a look at an example from my hometown of Scottsdale, Arizona, during its low season.
The AC Hotel Scottsdale Old Town is priced at 38,000 points per night at the end of July.
Paying cash, the total price, including taxes and fees, is $189.28 for the member rate.
Doing the math, that roughly 0.50¢ per point redemption is well below the average redemption for AwardWallet users, which clocks in at 0.93¢ per point. In my personal life, I’ve tried to redeem at around 0.7 cents per point, but I may need to make adjustments based on this new pricing.
On the luxury side, the Phoenician is priced at 67,000 points per night for an award, while cash rates are $437.99, excluding the resort fee, which points wouldn’t cover. That’s a 0.65¢ per point redemption, so a little better, but still below historic redemptions.
And these are just a couple of examples. Lots of properties across Marriott’s network now cost more than they did just a short time ago.
Why You Should Never Hoard Hotel Points
Each time news like this occurs, it’s a great reminder of best practices in award travel. Many novice award travelers will hoard points for years, waiting for the right time to redeem them.
Unfortunately, like real-world currencies, points and miles are not immune to inflation. An award program’s credit cards and the points earned with them have become a large part of its value and profitability as of late. With that, more points have entered the award ecosystems, requiring programs to adjust rates upward from time to time.
Instead of hoarding points for that perfect redemption years away, consider using those points at regular intervals. Otherwise, you may find yourself subjected to surprise higher pricing when it comes time to redeem.
Other Effects of Marriott’s Latest Devaluation
I can’t help myself, I have to mention the news from a few months ago that Marriott is allowing members to use more points to “top off” their Marriott Free Night Certificates. Previously, it was possible to top off with only 15,000 points, and many celebrated the news as a positive change from Marriott.
In reality, this change wasn’t solving a problem, but instead sneakily creating opportunities for Bonvoy members to burn more points on the same redemption from the past. By keeping certificates locked at their previous valuations, they are now subjected to this new pricing structure. Members will find fewer and fewer properties priced at 35,000 points and below, for example. The only solution is to use Bonvoy points to top them off, or risk them expiring.
Bottom Line
This is no doubt a negative change from Marriott. Sneakily increasing award rates on an already dynamically-priced program is a low blow. Marriott members will now pay more for the same redemption as before, and those using certificates will need to top them off with more Marriott points than before.
