can you stack up those free night on the same reservation if you have personal and business spg? i.e. use 50k+50k of bonus points, plus those 2x 35k free night, then get the 5th night free?
AmEx Marriott Bonvoy Personal / Business cards ($120 / $150 AF), 50k pts, Annual Free Night Award
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- terracotta92
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- Feb 6, 2018
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- Handcake
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- Jan 17, 2018
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Yes you can. You might have to call them to have them do it. I did something similar back in October 2018.terracotta92 wrote: ↑ can you stack up those free night on the same reservation if you have personal and business spg? i.e. use 50k+50k of bonus points, plus those 2x 35k free night, then get the 5th night free?
- Jay-c
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- Aug 18, 2004
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- Toronto
Is the 15 night credit a for sure thing? I can't find this on the card details ANYWHERE. This would be a huge benefit for me as I have gold now with my amex biz plat but i'd get to Marriott platinum a little faster. Most hotels have been cool with giving me lounge anyway but to get it guaranteed would be nice.Handcake wrote: ↑ I think for people who are only staying a few nights a year in a Marriott hotel, the SPG card really isn't THAT great. If you are staying 35+ nights a year, it is great as the 15 night credit will push you to platinum status which gives lounge access. If you are staying 50+ nights and need that push for Titanium, again, it is great. I have the AMEX Plat and gold was great for the 18 months we got lounge access with it. Now gold is pretty useless, as there are a ton of plats, titaniums and ambassadors out there getting the upgrades.
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- terracotta92
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- EdisonL299
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Free night will show up after a month you pay the AF (2nd year and going forward).terracotta92 wrote: ↑ and you get the free night immediately after approval right? or do you have to wait for the AF to post?
You won’t get free night in the first year, instead, you will get welcome bonus if you meet MSR.
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- terracotta92
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+1EdisonL299 wrote: ↑ Free night will show up after a month you pay the AF (2nd year and going forward).
You won’t get free night in the first year, instead, you will get welcome bonus if you meet MSR.
- joeags
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- Sep 25, 2004
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Interesting, as far as I understood you could not use the free night certificates to stack for the free 5th night, although you could stack them for multiple nights by calling in.
- TorontoEh
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- Dec 11, 2005
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I'm with you on the above. I just got back from LA and we got upgraded on our entire 5 nights from a 2 double bed to a villa/penthouse. They give out 250 points upon reception, and late checkout as you mentioned. There were some hotels in Santa Monica which were going for 250-400 a night and 35K would cover each night CAT5 I think.thefusio15 wrote: ↑ Oh I totally agree on this. However, I still appreciate late checkout, room upgrade, "welcome bonus", and the 25% bonus points on hotel bookings, so I still see value in the program. Not as much, no doubt, but having a 25 nights per year head-start for Gold Elite + Lifetime status down the road is not a bad thing!
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- Handcake
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- Jan 17, 2018
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So what you are doing is booking 5 nights with points. Those certificates are in the same category as points, so you use 2 certs and points for the other 2 nights and the 5th is free. The 5th is always free on award bookings.
The new web system will most likely take the certs automatically now. When I do bookings on points it asks about using my certs first, there are usually 3 things I can click, and I have been clicking points only. I don't have 2 certs in my account atm or I would try a booking and see. Maybe someone who has 2 can try it and see? If not, I expect my 2nd cert to post within a month, so I'll do a booking and check
- Handcake
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- Jan 17, 2018
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The gold status you get with your AMEX Plat or with the SPG spend bonus doesn't give you any nights credited. You are still starting at 0 nights that year as you work your way towards Platinum, you still have to get 50 nights. I read your reply as implying that one might start at 25 nights and that these nights might apply to lifetime status, so I wanted to clarify. Yes, it does help you on the road to lifetime gold that you had xx years as a gold, however, you still have to get those nights. With the change, it is a lot of years and nights to get those lifetime status now (10 years of plat for lifetime plat now).thefusio15 wrote: ↑ Oh I totally agree on this. However, I still appreciate late checkout, room upgrade, "welcome bonus", and the 25% bonus points on hotel bookings, so I still see value in the program. Not as much, no doubt, but having a 25 nights per year head-start for Gold Elite + Lifetime status down the road is not a bad thing!
Gold will get you the 25% point bonus like you stated which is better than silver's 15%, as well you can get 2pm late checkout and sometimes an upgrade. If you dine at Marriott restaurants that do the fine dining, it gives you 15% off the price of the food not including tax/tip/service fees, which isn't a bad perk either. And like you stated the welcome bonus at some hotels of 250 points isn't bad either.
AMEX emailed card holders with the SPG card about the 15 nights coming in early 2019. ALL the American Marriott cards offer 15 nights, and the Canadian Chase used to offer 15 night credit, so it makes sense that the Canadian Marriott card with AMEX would start to do that as well.Jay-c wrote: ↑ Is the 15 night credit a for sure thing? I can't find this on the card details ANYWHERE. This would be a huge benefit for me as I have gold now with my amex biz plat but i'd get to Marriott platinum a little faster. Most hotels have been cool with giving me lounge anyway but to get it guaranteed would be nice.
If you read other forums about Marriott, you will know they have all kinds of IT issues as well the changes to their status/rebranding makes sense they would tell credit cards to wait a month after the rebranding to add 15 elite nights. I can foresee it being a nightmare and a lot of customers having to call AMEX/Marriott about where those nights are.
- mikeycanuk
- Member
- Mar 12, 2008
- 442 posts
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- Richmond Hill
I had a 3 night point booking with 1night being a free cert. when I changed to 5 nights it kicked the free night certificate out and took 4 nights worth of points. I had to call Marriott who had to call the hotel to give back the free night cert. I’m currently using it for a Kingston stay. It’s only a 25,000 point stay but $425 if I were to pay. Nice value
- joeags
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- Sep 25, 2004
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It'snot been allowed in the past to utilize a certificate or more in order to receive the 5th night free. I'm not saying that it can't be done, as I've heard about agents giving back points for a 25K certificate that people weren't able to utilize towards a higher category stay, but have only seen that once or twice in 10 years of Marriott stays. Possibly somebody can make it work, but I wouldn't count on it.Handcake wrote: ↑ So what you are doing is booking 5 nights with points. Those certificates are in the same category as points, so you use 2 certs and points for the other 2 nights and the 5th is free. The 5th is always free on award bookings.
The new web system will most likely take the certs automatically now. When I do bookings on points it asks about using my certs first, there are usually 3 things I can click, and I have been clicking points only. I don't have 2 certs in my account atm or I would try a booking and see. Maybe someone who has 2 can try it and see? If not, I expect my 2nd cert to post within a month, so I'll do a booking and check
Since you asked, here's a 5 night reservation at the JW Marriott in Khao Lak, Thailand. If you pay with points, it's 4 nights paid with the 5th night free, or 140K points. If you use 2 certs, it's 2 certificates and 105K points. If you use 1 cert, it's 1 certificate and 140K points. Basically the system does not allow the free night while using the certificates. You could possibly get an agent to override it, but I haven't had luck the couple times I've tried in the past.
- Handcake
- Member
- Jan 17, 2018
- 294 posts
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That's interesting they don't give the free night. I got the free night using 1 cert and points last year but I had to call Marriott to get it done.
Thanks for the update though. With the new system, I sometimes wonder if it is just luck rather than policy that things can happen.
Thanks for the update though. With the new system, I sometimes wonder if it is just luck rather than policy that things can happen.
- thefusio15
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- Mar 14, 2018
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My bad, wasn't aware of that: updating my initial comment so that it doesn't mislead someone. Either way, even without this, I still find some value in the program, so I am not gonna stop choosing Bonvoy hotels over Hilton or Radisson (which also offers Gold Status to Platinum Cardholder). I'm still thinking of adding the SPG to my wallet for the signup bonus, but waiting for the Bonvoy branding (and maybe new signup bonus) to be offered before doing the request
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- winjones
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- Sep 12, 2013
- 326 posts
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- Mississauga
i cant find any reference to the 15nights credit. That would be a nice bonus towards Platinum status.Handcake wrote: ↑
AMEX emailed card holders with the SPG card about the 15 nights coming in early 2019. ALL the American Marriott cards offer 15 nights, and the Canadian Chase used to offer 15 night credit, so it makes sense that the Canadian Marriott card with AMEX would start to do that as well.
If you read other forums about Marriott, you will know they have all kinds of IT issues as well the changes to their status/rebranding makes sense they would tell credit cards to wait a month after the rebranding to add 15 elite nights. I can foresee it being a nightmare and a lot of customers having to call AMEX/Marriott about where those nights are.
- Tommycoupons
- Member
- Jan 10, 2018
- 344 posts
- 198 upvotes
Logged into my App and it now shows a picture of the Bonvoy card and refers to my card as the Bonvoy Amex
- marty3d
- Member
- Sep 2, 2013
- 357 posts
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- Ontario
They must be rolling out gradually. Mine still shows SPG in the app, online and Apple Pay.Tommycoupons wrote: ↑ Logged into my App and it now shows a picture of the Bonvoy card and refers to my card as the Bonvoy Amex
- MHC111688
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- Oct 26, 2016
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- byewill
- Jr. Member
- May 23, 2018
- 102 posts
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- Montreal
Mine shows the Bonvoy name but still the old SPG card pic.
- byewill
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- May 23, 2018
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- Montreal
Amex website is updated and raised the welcome bonus to 60k Bonvoy points when spending $1500!
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