Usually my mail consists of credit card bills and junk – that could be because I sign up for everything under the sun. However, today I received a nice note from Marriott giving me the opportunity to earn a FREE night by just using my Marriott Rewards credit card. My assumption is that this is a targeted offer and there might be different versions of this offer out there. Just make sure to not simply throw out your mail too quickly! If you did receive an offer in the mail, you do not need to register as it is already linked to your card.
With this offer, if I spend $1,500 both in February and March on my Marriott Rewards credit card, I will earn a free night certificate to be redeemed at any Marriott category 1-4 hotel. While this is a great offer it will take away from earning points on my Starwood American Express. I value a free category 1-4 Marriott hotel over 3,000 SPG points since I’ve been able to use prior category 1-4 free night certificates at hotels that would have otherwise cost about $150/night (with taxes). While this was unexpected, I am pretty content with this offer! Although I do not use my Marriott credit card often, these random offers plus the annual free night certificate at a category 1-5 night are reasons why I still keep this card in my wallet (prior blog post). This year alone I’ve used my category 1-5 certificate at a $250/night hotel and will value this free night at a conservative $100. The $350 is well worth my $85 annual fee!
If you have a Marriott Rewards credit card and did not receive any mailing, I’d suggest calling your credit card and inquiring.
Any other readers receive an offer in the mail?!
While many of you think category 1-4 hotels are useless, I’ve identified some locations to use them. While I clearly did not list every location, this shows some great cities to use your free nights.
- New Orleans (many great options!)
- Salt Lake City (central option for many ski mountains and right in downtown)
- Boston (Cambridge, South Boston)
- Philadelphia (Courtyard Philadelphia Downtown)
- Washington, DC (Fairfield Inn & Suites Washington, DC/Downtown AND Courtyard Washington, DC/Dupont Circle)
- Naples, FL/Ft. Myers, FL (many just a few miles from the beach)
- San Diego (Old Town, Mission Valley, La Jolla)
- Los Angeles, CA (Courtyard Los Angeles Marina del Rey – a mine or two from amazing beaches!)
- Bangkok, Thailand (a few options)
- Spain (Madrid, Sevilla, etc. – the new AC hotels!)
- Hong Kong (Courtyard Hong Kong – a room here is over $200/night)
- Vienna, Austria (Renaissance Wien Hotel and a few others)
- Berlin, Germany (Courtyard Berlin City Center)
- Jakarta, Indonesia (JW Marriott Hotel Jakarta)
- Kuala Lumpur (JW Marriott Hotel Kuala Lumpur AND Renaissance Kuala Lumpur Hotel)
- Malmo, Sweden (Renaissance Malmo Hotel – relatively new hotel closer to Copenhagen, cool area to spend a day)
- Stockholm, Sweden (Courtyard Stockholm Kungsholmen)
- Saigon, Vietnam (Renaissance Riverside Hotel Saigon)
Offer terms: You will receive your bonus if you meet the requirements specified in this offer. Please allow 6 yo 8 weeks after the last day of the promotional period for your Free Night E-Certificate to be automatically deposited into your Marriott Rewards Account. Free Night E-Certificates are valid for hotels in categories 1-4. For participating category 1-4 locations, log onto MarriottRewards.com or call 1-800-321-7396. E-Certificates must be redeemed within 6 months from date of issue. E-Certificates may not be transferred, extended beyond the expiration date, or re-credited for points.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
Are there even any good cat 4 hotels? 🙂
@TWF – while this will not get you a free resort night on the ocean, I’ve always been able to use them. New Orleans actually has some great category 4 hotels.
I got this offer too. Category hotels are great if you are staying outside of a big city, but you’ll never use them if your travel is in a US major city (at least in my experience)
It’s also important to not that you’ll also get credit for an additional night because of the bonus for spending $3000 on the card. This would help get or maintain elite status.
@Weekly Flyer there are tons of great Cat 4 hotels including a quite few international JW Marriott. We used our credit card free night this year at JW Marriott in Quito which had a going rate $273 (with tax).
@dealswelike Chase sends these promos from time to time quite a bit (I also got this offer as well). I have seen offers like this for most of the branded chase cards. Late last year the Marriott card had 1000 points per 10 transaction not as lucrative as this one but for ~$40 I was able to add 3000 extra Marriott points.
I have updated the post to include some of my recommended category 1-4 hotels. This includes many full service hotels as well! You might be surprised the value that they contain. Again, if you have no desire to go to these locations or no planned stays, then this promotion probably isn’t for you. However, I’ve always found a way to use them, whether a friends wedding, airport hotel, etc.
I received he same offer and will switch to this card for now except when I am at Hyatts (think I need to use the Hyatt Visa there for the current Hyatt promo) and see where my spend is at the end of February. Category 4 as the max is fine in smaller places, and I am always happy to not spend cash on a hotel as those entertainment dollars can then go elsewhere. The Marriott Visa promo may be targeted to people who don’t use the card much. I have had the card about a year and have not used it much as Marriott is not my main stay.
@MJM – For the Hyatt promotion you do not need to use your Hyatt card for the bonus, just need to be a card member. However, would recommend using your Hyatt card for the bonus points for your stay.
I received it, but was a bit confused. I think I already get a free night cert with every $3,000 in spending? Would this mean two free nights for spending the $1500 in two months?
Never mind, it’s elite night credit with every $3000, not a certificate (big difference). Somehow it seems I’m always ending up with more certs than I expect though…
@Jules – That is correct. Every 3k spend gives you another night towards earning status. Currently, you can also earn additional certificates with the Mega Bonus promotion. 1 free night after 2 stays – could that be it?
this is a good promotion and the Marriott card is definitely worth keeping for the Silver status and Category 1-5 free night certificate. I stayed at Cat 4 Courtyard Marriott in Key Largo, FL that was going for $180+tax with AAA discount.
I’d use this card for flights or restaurants to get the 2 points per dollar on the $3k spend.
@Mint Cilantro – I agree. I actually love my Marriott card for the extra perks it brings me. While I do not use my Marriott card much on purchases (aside from Marriott stays), the annual free night, guaranteed silver status, and these random promotions are well worth the annual fee!
@Mint – That’s great! I’ve always been able to get a great dollar value out of my free category 1-4 certificates!
This one is targeted — I have the card and called to see if I could participate, but they said no, not unless I received it in the mail (and they can tell by looking whether or not it is mailed to you). Sigh. Stupid really, b/c I would have moved spending from one card to their card if they had let me. Now they will lose out.
@CU – That really is too bad that they aren’t opening this up to all credit card holders, but it is pretty common for these type of Marriott promos. You are correct though, not very smart on their part as they are losing out on $3k being spent on their credit card.
Mine is for $2500 for each month. I guess spending 20 nights a month counts against me for this one – they could make it $5 per months and I’d still get it…