Marriott is offering new members a free night at any category 1-5 hotel for staying twice at participating hotels within 120 days from the end of the month in which you join.

That is of course in addition to the MegaBonus free nights category 1-4 (for most) after each two stays up to two free nights, between February and June.

Marriott is a great program for triple, quadruple, and quintuple dipping such as buying Marriott gift cards at office supply stores (to earn 5 points per dollar) or buying at an even bigger cash discount — plus making your reservation through a shopping portal like the Ultimate Rewards Mall to earn additional points, on top of the usual points in the Marriott Rewards porgram earned through stays.

Once this new member promotion ends, it’s still possible to refer friends where the new member and the person making the referral both get bonus points when the new member stays.

I don’t love the Marriott Rewards elite program (though since I wrote that, they’ve added breakfast benefits on weekends though not at Marriott Courtyard properties or resorts). They have properties everywhere though so the relevant benchmark is Hilton HHonors and IHG Rewards — not Starwood or Hyatt — and there they stack up reasonably well.

(HT: Lucky)

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