Marriott Bonvoy's top tier members have the choice of annual benefits. Five Suite Night Awards are one of the choices at 50 and 75 nights.

Marriott Suite Night Awards are easy to use: Book a standard room at a participating property and use Suite Night Awards to confirm an upgrade before check-in.

There have been difficulties with the use of Suite Night Awards. Suite Night Awards are argued to be a valuable Choice Benefit by other staff.

There is a lot of confusion about how Suite Night Awards work and how easy they are to use. We will discuss what you need to know about Marriott's Suite Night Awards, so you can decide if they're the right annual choice benefit for you.

What is a Suite Night Award?

The Hermitage, a Tribute Portfolio Hotel, Jakarta. KYLE OLSEN/THE POINTS GUY

Marriott Bonvoy Platinum, Titanium, and Ambassador Elite members can upgrade their suites.

Wait until you get to the hotel and hope for a space available upgrade at check-in. Suites at most brands are available for check-in, but only Titanium Elite and Ambassador Elite members are eligible.

If you're traveling for a special event or want to make your stay even more memorable, you may want to use Suite Night Awards to increase your odds of getting an upgrade.

Marriott Bonvoy members can choose Suite Night Awards as a choice benefit after reaching 50 and 75 nights. Suite Night Awards are only one of the options at these milestone. You can choose one of the following if you accumulate 50 elite nights.

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You can choose one of the following when you accumulate 75 elite nights.

  • Five elite night credits.
  • Five Suite Night Awards.
  • Free night award worth up to 40,000 points.
  • 40% off a mattress.
  • $100 charity donation.
  • Gift of Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status for a family member, friend or colleague.

The 40,000 point free night award after 75 elite nights in a year is appealing to some members.

Ambassador Elite members who earn 100 elite qualification nights and spend $20,000 will not be offered additional Choice Benefits. One of the complaints I have is about the AmbassadorElite program.

Marriott will choose Suite Night Awards for you if you don't select your Choice Benefits by January 8th.

How to use Marriott Suite Night Awards

Suite at the JW Marriott Bogota. KATIE GENTER/THE POINTS GUY

Suite Night Awards can be used to confirm a room upgrade before you get to a Marriott hotel. Suite Night Awards are valid on paid stays but not on advance purchase rates. Suite Night Awards can be used for "standard suites or other Premium Rooms as designated by the participating property" according to the program's terms and conditions.

If you want to use your Marriott Suite Night Awards, you need to make a reservation. You might see a section asking if you want to use Suite Night Awards for an upgrade. You can get Suite Night Awards if you see this section.

MARRIOTT.COM

One Suite Night Award per room is required. If you have enough in your account, you can request a suite night award upgrade. Suite Night Awards can't be used to request an upgrade on a stay of three nights.

There are a lot of differing opinions regarding Suite Night Awards. Premium rooms can only be requested at some properties. The more rooms you choose, the more likely you are to be upgraded.

Using a Marriott Suite Night Award at the JW Marriott Gold Coast Resort & Spa. MARRIOTT.COM

Marriott Bonvoy will check its upgrade inventory after you request an upgrade. Marriott will return your Suite Night Awards to your account if your upgrade hasn't been confirmed by 2pm the day before you arrive.

It's not possible to transfer Suite Night Awards to other Marriott Bonvoy members, but you can use them for friends or family travelling with you. If you have enough Night Awards for an upcoming stay with two or more rooms, you need to make separate reservations to request upgrades.

Can you use Suite Night Awards at all Marriott hotels?

You can't use Suite Night Awards at Ritz-Carlton properties. KYLE OLSEN/THE POINTS GUY

Can you use your suite night awards at Marriott hotels? Not quite. The terms and conditions for Suite Night Awards can be found here.

Some of the participating properties don't participate in the awards. The Ritz-Carlton, Ritz-Carlton Reserve, The Ritz-Carlton Club, The Ritz-Carlton Residences, EDITION, Aloft, Design Hotels, all-Suite Hotels, Marriott Executive Apartments, All-Inclusive Resorts are not the places where Suite Night Awards can be redeemed. Suite Night Awards can't be redeemed at certain properties. If you want to participate in the Participating Property Suite Night Award, you need to contact a Customer Engagement Center.

Marriott does not allow Suite Night Awards at Ritz-Carlton and Edition hotels. It's not clear if Suite Night Awards aren't redeemed at "select participating properties"

We don't know which properties don't participate in the awards. You can see if your reservation is eligible by looking at the Marriott app or website. The message "Suite Night Awards cannot be used for this reservation" is likely because you.

  • Don't have enough Suite Night Awards in your account.
  • Booked a rate that doesn't qualify for Suite Night Awards.
  • Made a reservation at a property that doesn't participate in Suite Night Awards.

I spent over 5 million Marriott Bonvoy points.

My experience using Suite Night Awards

Suite at the Sheraton Grand Rio Hotel & Resort. KATIE GENTER/THE POINTS GUY

There have been some negative experiences with Marriott Suite Night Awards this year.

Marriott does not allow you to use Suite Night Awards until you make a reservation. While a Marriott only has a high-floor standard room available as a Suite Night Award choice, the Westin around the corner will allow you to upgrade to a penthouse suite using Suite Night Awards.

It's difficult to plan an effective Suite Night Awards redemption strategy if you don't want to spend a lot of time on the phone with Marriott or booking flexible stays to check Suite Night Award options.

If there is a special suite that is better than what you normally get with the complimentary elite upgrade, I will request an upgrade using my Suite Night Awards.

I used my Night Suite Awards to find a 1,000- square-foot beachfront grand suite at the Marriott Mauritius Resort. When I was traveling with my father, I wanted a comfortable beachfront suite because of the long flights.

The standard room was upgraded to this suite. The upgrade was confirmed a few days before I arrived.

Email from Marriott Bonvoy. GMAIL.COM

The room we had booked was not as good as the suite steps from the beach.

The points guy is Kyle Olsen.

We speculated that it would not have been possible for it to receive a complimentary upgrade without Suite Night Awards.

It's possible to upgrade your hotel room for free.

Tips for using Marriott Suite Night Awards

KYLE OLSEN/THE POINTS GUY

You can't decide which trips are worth it. It's important to think about why you want a suite in the first place.

If you need the extra space to host friends or family, you might not care what brand you're staying at and instead want to find the best suite night award options. It's not certain that your upgrade will clear. If you need more space, you might want to book the room you want directly.

You could save your upgrade for stays at luxury brands like Marriott, Westin, W Hotels and St. Suite Night Awards can help you get a better room than you are likely to be offered at check-in, as these awards can help you get multiple categories of suites.

The Marriott Bonvoy program has a redemption process.

Bottom line

One example of the Marriott Bonvoy program lacking cohesiveness is Suite Night Awards, as the benefit varies greatly across the portfolio of properties.

Not everyone has had a good experience with Marriott Suite Night Awards. Some members think that the benefit is more valuable on paper than in practice.

Five Suite Night Awards are the best Choice Benefits option for members at 50 nights. The 40,000-point free night award certificate is more valuable to some members.

The additional reporting was done by the person.