Marriott Rewards members choosing miles instead of points have the option to earn up to 30,000 bonus miles for hotel stays from September 1-December 31, 2011. Unlike MegaBonus, this promotion does not require VISA payment. There are six participating airlines and members must select one of these partners when registering for this bonus miles promotion:

• Delta Airlines SkyMiles
• United Airlines Mileage Plus
• British Airways Executive Club
• Lufthansa Miles & More
• GOL/Varig Smiles
• LanPass

Bonus miles earning begins with the second stay after September 1 based on the following earning chart.

• Stay 1 = regular base miles of 2 miles/$1 (JW Marriott, Marriott, Renaissance, Ritz-Carlton, Edition, Autograph Collection) or 1 mile/$1 at Courtyard, Residence Inn, Fairfield Inn, SpringHill Suites, TownePlace Suites).
• Stay 2 = Base Miles + 1,000 bonus miles.
• Stay 3 = Base Miles + 1,500 bonus miles.
• Stay 4 = Base Miles + 1,500 bonus miles.
• Stays 5 to 17 = Base Miles + 2,000 bonus miles.
• Maximum 30,000 bonus miles is reached after 17 stays.
• All Marriott brands worldwide, including Ritz-Carlton participate in this promotion. LT Note: the new Marriott AC brand in Europe is not listed on the Marriott miles earning page or in this promotion’s terms.

Loyalty Traveler Analysis:

This “More Stays, More Miles” offer is an alternative promotion to the Marriott Megabonus for Fall 2011 running Sep 15, 2011 to Jan 15, 2012 for members who choose to earn miles. This miles promotion does not require VISA card payment. Your Marriott Rewards account earning preference must be set to miles rather than points to view this offer.

New members must enroll in Marriott Rewards and existing members must register for this promotion either online at www.MarriottRewards.com/MoreStays-MoreMiles or via the Marriott Rewards service center in the U.S. and Canada at 800-859-0686.

The primary points offer for Marriott’s MegaBonus is a possibility of one free night at a category 1 to 4 hotel after two stays, with a maximum bonus of two free nights after four stays when payment is VISA. You must register for MegaBonus by October 31.

MegaBonus is a targeted offer and Marriott Rewards frequent guests are likely to have a points based offer for 15 to 25 nights. There is also a version awarding 5,000 points every two stays. Here is my August 16 Loyalty Traveler post on Marriott MegaBonus.

Since Marriott Rewards members must choose between earning either points or miles and members have the ability to switch earning preference between stays, there may be potential to earn both MegaBonus and More Stays, More Miles bonuses by switching earning preference from miles to points during the overlapping promotion period of Sep 15-Dec 31 for these two offers.

I’d love to hear Marriott Rewards member input about the feasibility of earning miles for some stays, switching to points and earning MegaBonus credit for some stays, and switching back to miles again for other stays. Does it work to switch earning preference and alternate between a miles promotion and points promotion with Marriott Rewards for different stays?

Marriott Rewards More Stays, More Miles for up to 30,000 miles Sep 1-Dec 31, 2011

Marriott Rewards Megabonus from September 15, 2011 - January 15, 2012 offers most “low stay activity” members the opportunity to earn one free night after two Marriott brand stays paid with VISA for a maximum of two earned free nights at Category 1-4 hotels for redemption from September 15, 2011 – May 31, 2012.

Paid with VISA means any VISA card is acceptable. You do not need to use a cobranded Marriott Rewards Visa card.

MegaBonus promotion registration is required by October 31, 2011.

Why I like Marriott Rewards MegaBonus for my primary backup promotion.

Not all Marriott Rewards members receive the targeted two stays earns one free night offer. Infrequent guests with Marriott typically get the free night as a default offer. More active Marriott Rewards members may have a targetted points version for meeting a nights threshold.

This Loyalty Traveler post is written for people like me who rarely stay at Marriott Hotels. Marriott Rewards MegaBonus is a high value rebate for the infrequent Marriott Rewards guest.

This is the third Marriott Rewards MegaBonus promotion for 2011. Marriott Rewards does not seem to put a whole lot of effort in designing clever promotions since MegaBonus has basically been the same deal all year for the infrequent guest with two stays earns one free night at a category 1 to category 4 hotel for a maximum of two free nights during the promotion.

Marriott Rewards is my primary backup hotel plan.

This is the third time this promotion has run in 2011 providing an opportunity to earn 6 free nights with just 12 paid nights at Marriott brand hotels. The redemption restriction of category 1 to 4 hotels in the Marriott Rewards system prevents using the free nights in many major cities where most hotels are category 5 or 6 and the top of line resorts and luxury hotels at category 7 and 8. But there are plenty of $200 per night hotel redemption opportunities in the category 4 hotels and it is quite easy to earn a free night with Marriott Rewards MegaBonus for less than $200 with two one-night sub-$100 rates.

Marriott MegaBonus 2011 #1 – Earn February 1-April 30, 2011. Redeem free nights by September 30, 2011. Register by March 31, 2011.

Marriott MegaBonus 2011 #2 – Earn June 1-August 31, 2011. Redeem free nights by December 31, 2011. Register by June 30, 2011.

Despite Marriott Rewards being two-time Hotel Program of the Year in the Americas winner at the Frequent Traveler Awards 2010 and 2011, my stays at Marriott brand hotels are rather infrequent. I like the Marriott brand hotels I visit and I have seen plenty of new build Fairfield Inn properties alongside the new Holiday Inn Express and Hampton Inn hotels dotting the American landscape.

I only have need for so many hotel nights in a year and Marriott takes 50 nights to reach mid-tier Gold elite. Most hotel loyalty programs offer routes to top elite level with high value benefits for far fewer hotel nights in a year. That makes Marriott Rewards a backup program for me. Free nights are a valuable asset to have in reserve and Marriott Rewards free nights are easily earned with MegaBonus. Marriott currently has more than 3,000 hotels in the USA and over 500 international hotels with plenty of choices for paid and free nights.

Marriott Rewards MegaBonus is a recurring promotion for infrequent Marriott Rewards guests to earn one free night after two hotel stays.

Other targetted variations of MegaBonus promotion offer bonus points with VISA payment. Here are some other offers posted on FlyerTalk.

• 5,000 bonus points every second stay, up to 20,000 bonus points (8 stays) - Marriott Rewards Platinum member.
• 25,000 bonus points after 15 paid nights + additional 15,000 bonus points after 20 nights – Marriott Rewards Platinum member.
• 35,000 bonus points after 20 paid nights + additional 15,000 bonus points after 25 nights – Marriott Rewards Platinum member.

Finding the Fall MegaBonus promotion:

Register online or call 1-888-627-7468 and register by phone through October 31, 2011. You must have your account earning preference set to “points” to see the Fall MegaBonus promotion offer. When I did not see this offer last week I checked my account and saw it was set to miles. Once I changed my account earning preference to points the Fall MegaBonus offer for one free night after two stays paid with VISA showed up immediately in “Promotion Central” under “My Account”.

Loyalty Traveler Promotion Rating = 4 keys out of 5. This is my primary backup promotion for a high value rebate when I can’t find higher value in any other hotel program. Over the course of 2011 it has been possible to stay 12 nights and earn six free nights. Marriott Silver elite requires only 10 nights in Marriott Rewards and earns 20% bonus points for hotel stays.

Marriott Rewards MegaBonus Fall 2011 - Earn one free night after two stays.

Marriott has a limited time offer giving 10 points per $1 for Marriott gift card purchases made between October 25 and December 31, 2010. Members may earn up to 25,000 bonus points for $2,500 in gift card purchases.

Marriott gift cards have a minimum $50 purchase level and maximum $9,999 per gift card.

This offer is essentially double points for Marriott hotel stays since the Marriott Rewards member earns 10 points per dollar for gift card purchase, as well as the regular 10 points per dollar when paying for Marriott, Renaissance, Courtyard, Fairfield Inn, Autograph Collection and SpringHill Suites hotel stays using the Marriott gift card. Marriott hotel brands Residence Inn and TownePlace Suites earn 5 base points per dollar for hotel stays.

Another feature of the Marriott gift cards is they work as a Visa card for Marriott promotions like the current MegaBonus requiring Visa card payment to earn two free nights after four hotel stays by January 15, 2011.

Marriott Rewards Gift Card Offer Terms and Conditions

To earn points, you simply add your Marriott Rewards number at check-out.

Offer valid on purchases of GiftCards and Certificates made online at gifts.marriott.com and Marriott reservations from October 25 – December 31, 2010. Offer not valid on Marriott GiftCards and/or Certificates purchased via other channels (IE: cards purchased at a hotel or third party channels.) Marriott Rewards members earn 10 point per dollar for each GiftCard and/or Certificate purchase made online at gifts.marriott.com. Points are earned on card and certificate value only and not on shipping or packaging. A maximum of 25,000 Marriott Rewards Points may be earned per member. Points will be posted to your Marriott Rewards account within six weeks after the promotion ends on December 31, 2010. Marriott reserves the right cancel this promotion at any time without notice. For all other terms and conditions of Marriott Rewards membership, visit marriottrewards.com.

https://gifts.marriott.com/promo_terms.aspx

TMTravelWorld blog directs you to a FatWallet.com link for 2.5% cash back on the cost of Marriott gift cards. This is not considered a third-party channel since the FatWallet.com link directs the purchase back through gifts.marriott.com.

20 bonus points per £ for Marriott UK gift card purchases

There is an additional offer through the Marriott UK site for 20 bonus points per GBP gift card purchases. This offer also has a 25,000 bonus points limit. You can earn bonuses through both the U.S. purchase site and the U.K. purchase site.

Loyalty Traveler Analysis:

Getting a cash equivalent value of more than $10 per 1,000 points is common with Marriott Rewards hotel nights using points. Many upper upscale hotels are available for 20,000 or 25,000 points when the nightly rate can be $300+ per night. Even more common are 15,000 point Category-3 Marriott brand hotels with room rates over $150 per night.

• Buy $2,500 in Marriott gift cards.
• Earn 25,000 bonus points for purchase.

Assume 25,000 points can be redeemed for $250 as Marriott hotel night reward. There are many opportunities to get this cash equivalent value by redeeming points rather than pay for the hotel room.

You earn an additional 10% savings through the cash equivalent value of points earned on your overall Marriott hotel spend when buying gift cards. You also can receive 2.5% cash back by purchasing Marriott gift cards through FatWallet.com.

$2,500 in Marriott hotel spend can reasonably earn an additional 75,000 points with recurring promotions like Marriott MegaBonus or perhaps another $500 to $600 in Marriott hotel credit through Marriott’s frequent Bonus Bucks promotions offering $25 to $100 future hotel stay credit.

Three situations using these cards: 

Situation 1:

Marriott Rewards frequent guest on the cheap stays 25 times on $100 per night hotel stays averaging one-night. This Marriott Rewards member earns 25,000 base points from the hotel stays, at least 7,500 elite bonus points as Marriott Silver after 10 hotel nights and status earned in 2011 will last through February 2013. Possibly the member will earn a free night or two from ongoing promotions during the Marriott gift card paid hotel stays or perhaps earn an extra 25,000 points from promotions.

Assume 25 paid nights at Marriott brand hotels in one year paying with $2,500 in Marriott Hotels gift cards. You will likely earn 75,000 to 100,000 or 3 to 10 free nights in Marriott Rewards points cash equivalent value, depending on how you spend your points.

This can be a great offer if you plan your hotel stays to maximize the Marriott promotions.

Situation 2:

Marriott Rewards member is going to Hawaii for seven days and will have a projected $3,000 check-out bill. She wasn’t even a member of Marriott Rewards before booking this trip, but figured earning 30,000 points from the Hawaii trip is essentially a free hotel night rebate.

She buys $3,000 in Marriott gift cards and in addition to earning 30,000 points from the  hotel stay, there is the 2.5% FatWallet.com cashback on the gift cards purchase and an additional 25,000 points earned buying gift cards. That $3,000 Marriott Hawaii vacation price tag just dropped by $75 and she will have enough points after the trip for another two to five free hotel nights with Marriott.

Situation 3: 

Of course you do not need to max out this offer with $2,500 in gift card purchases. This can be a good deal even if buying $400 in Marriott gift cards. That is an extra 4,000 bonus points and after $400 in hotel spend on four hotel stays you may have  earned two free nights from the current MegaBonus and enough points for another free Marriott rewards category 1 hotel reward night at 7,500 points. Seven nights with Marriott for $400 is a Priceline priced deal.

Marriott Rewards is offering up to 25,000 bonus points (10 points per US$1 GiftCard amount) for purchases of Marriott GiftCards from November 2-December 31, 2009. Offer is valid on purchases made online at https://gifts.marriott.com/.

Marriott Rewards members earn 10 points per dollar on the gift card amount. Shipping and handling fees do not earn bonus points. No packaging frills USPS shipping is only $1 for USA delivery. Other fancy gift packaging and delivery options are available.

Marriott gift cards are valid at all Marriott hotel brands worldwide and may be used for all charges applied to the hotel folio. Gift cards may also be used for any Marriott owned-and-operated services at Marriott brand hotels like restaurants, retail outlets, spa, and golf, even when not staying as an overnight guest. Gift cards may be used for shopping at ShopMarriott.com. Gift cards are transferable. Purchases above the gift card amount can be paid with cash or credit.

Gift card credit does not expire, however, gift cards do have a renewal date. A gift card can be renewed with a new card with the same remaining balance if the card becomes inactive.

On FlyerTalk this recurring end-of-year promotion is referred to as the “Triple Play”. The deal for Marriott Rewards members is the opportunity to earn 10 points per US$1 buying Marriott Hotels gift cards. You also earn points at the regular rate for your hotel stays and elite status when redeeming gift cards for Marriott brand hotels. Pay for the card with a Marriott-branded credit card and you earn another 5 points per US$1. Marriott gift cards are Visa branded debit cards and gift card payment for hotel stays counts for the Marriott Rewards MegaBonus promotion.

Looks like some Marriott Rewards may hit a homerun with Marriott GiftCards.

Basically this is an easy way to 20+ points per US$1 spent on most Marriott brand hotel stays over the next year (a little less if you frequent Residence Inn and TownePlace Suites 5 points/$1 Rewards points).

Marriott GiftCard FAQ link

Marriott Rewards platinum member can earn 30 points per $1.

Marriott Rewards platinum members purchasing a $200 card and redeeming the card on a $200 hotel room at the Renaissance Hotel in Las Vegas can earn:

• 2,000 points for the gift card purchase.

• 1,000 points for GiftCard purchase made with Marriott Rewards Visa card (5 points/1$)

• 2,000 points for a $200 base-spending hotel stay paid with $200GiftCard.

• 1,000 points Platinum elite 50% base points bonus.

And Marriott Rewards MegaBonus points are additional. Loyalty traveler Marriott Rewards MegaBonus post from August 12.

There are at least two other Marriott GiftCard and Marriott VacationCard promotions.

Gary Leff discusses a 10% GiftCard bonus on the purchase amount in his blog. According to reports on FlyerTalk this is not combinable with the Marriott points bonus. The member has a choice between bonus points for GiftCard or bonus credit on the gift card.

There is also a Skymiles promotion for a 10% discount on the purchase price of $1,000 or $2,000 Marriott VacationCards along with a 1,000 or 2,000 Skymiles bonus. The promotional catch here is the high price of a minimum $1,000 VacationCard.

Marriott GiftCard Bonus Points

Marriott Rewards is big on targeted promotions for their recurring MegaBonus. The current promotion offer runs September 15 thru January 15, 2010 and hotel stays must be paid with VISA credit card.

Registration is required by October 31. Marriott rewards members need to log into account or call to register for promotion.

Here are some of the MegaBonus variations received by different Marriott Rewards members:

1.       Double points and double night elite credit.

2.       Earn 50,000 points (35,000 for 20 nights; additional 15,000 points after 25 nights).

3.       25,000 points at 2,500 points per stay, beginning with second stay.

4.       25,000 points at 5,000 points every other stay.

5.       40,000 points (25,000 after 15 nights and additional 15,000 after 20 nights).

The promotion requirement for VISA card payment is a major obstacle to many travelers who must use a different brand credit card for corporate travel.

FlyerTalk evangelist Craz posted a method on FlyerTalk for getting around VISA credit card requirement for Marriott Rewards members who prefer to use a different brand credit card.

Link to Delta/Northwest Marriott Rewards Vacation Card 10% promotional discount

Marriott Rewards Vacation Card is a VISA gift card that can be purchased with a $1,000 face value for just $900 + 5.75 shipping fee (10% savings through Delta/Northwest promotional link + earn 1,000 airline miles).

You pay $905.75 for a $1,000 Marriott Rewards Vacation Card that can be used for VISA payment of hotel stays and make your stays eligible for the Marriott Rewards MegaBonus.

According to Craz, the Vacation Card works for Marriott Rewards MegaBonus credit. I did not see anything on the Marriott Rewards Vacation Card webpages stating it is a VISA card, but I assume Craz is familiar with the cards and is more familiar with the Marriott Rewards MegaBonus promotion.

Readers should research this Vacation Card option in more detail if interested.

FlyerTalk thread on current Marriott Rewards MegaBonus.

Delta/Northwest Promotion for Marriott Rewards Vacation Card