Due to COVID-19, I’m not traveling these days, which makes me worry about my hotel loyalty points. You might be like me, and you may be wondering: When do my Marriott points expire?
Marriott Bonvoy points expire in February 2021 or after 24 months of no activity, whichever comes LAST. Before the coronavirus outbreak, your points would expire with 2 years of no activity. But Marriott has paused points expirations until February 2021 due to COVID-19.
(In case you were wondering about other hotel loyalty programs, I’ve covered other questions here:
- When do my IHG points expire?
- How long are my Hyatt points and free night certificates good for?
- When do my Hilton points and elite status expire?
- What can I do to keep my Radisson points active? )
How can I keep my Marriott points from expiring?
You have some options to keep your Marriott Bonvoy account active and avoid having your points expire. Not all of these require you to travel or even to spend money!
All of these methods were possible pre-coronavirus. The only thing that’s changed is that your expiration date of points has been extended to February 2021 or 24 months of no activity, whichever comes LAST. So now, just make sure you do one of these things before that date:
| How to keep your Marriott Bonvoy points from expiring | Travel required? (Y/N) | Cash spend required? (Y/N) |
| 1. Book a paid stay at any Marriott property. Simple enough. | Y | Y |
| 2. Spend any amount of money on a Marriott credit card. Getting a new Marriott credit card works too, of course. | N | Y |
| 3. Book an award stay at a Marriott property. Also pretty simple! | Y | N |
| 4. Transfer Marriott points to airline miles. Marriott has the largest list of airline partnerships of any transferable points “currency” with over 40 airlines. Most of these airlines transfer at a rate of 3 Marriott points to 1 airline mile, with a minimum of 3,000 Marriott points; check their official list to be sure. If you transfer 60,000+ Marriott points at a time, you get a bonus of 5,000. | N | N |
| 5. Transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points OR American Express Membership Rewards points to Marriott. Both of these “currencies” transfer at a ratio of 1 Amex or Chase point to 1 Marriott Bonvoy point, with a minimum of 1,000. (Sometimes there are promotions where the ratio is 1:1.4 or around there, but it’s rare.) I normally don’t recommend this because Chase and Amex points are each worth roughly 2 cents, whereas Marriott points are worth 0.9 cents apiece or less. But for 1,000 points, it’s a free way to keep your Marriott account active without traveling or spending cash. | N | N |
| 6. Hold a meeting at a Marriott. You can earn 2 points per $1 spent for hosting a meeting at a Marriott of any size. In the past, you were able to earn 10 elite qualifying nights too, which meant you could book some cheap, small meetings (usually in hotel conference rooms) for $200 or less. This is no longer an option, but you will earn 2 points per $1 spent, and this will keep your Marriott Bonvoy points active. | N | Y |
| 7. Purchase Marriott points. I usually don’t recommend this option because you can get a better value for your money, but it’s a way to keep your points active if you buy a minimum of 1,000 points (at the regular cost of $12.50). | N | Y |
| 8. Rent a car with Hertz. You can earn up to 2,000 Marriott points for renting a car with Hertz, but you need to rent it through Marriott’s Reward Partners page. | Y | Y |
When do my Marriott Free Night Awards expire?
All current, unused Free Night Awards set to expire in 2020 are extended through January 31, 2021.
This is an extension, but it isn’t as generous as Hilton’s policy, which extends through August 31, 2021.
One exception, which Marriott notes on its website here, is that for members who reside in certain Asian countries, Free Night Awards are extended 12 months into 2021 from current expiration date. But if you’re in the U.S. as I am, your Free Night Awards will expire on January 31, 2021.
What about my Marriott Suite Night Awards?
All current, unused Marriott Suite Night Awards won’t expire until December 31, 2021. This represents a one-year extension.
When will my Bonvoy elite status expire?
Whatever Marriott status you had in 2019, you will keep until at least February 2022. Yes, that’s nearly two years from now. Whatever your Marriott Bonvoy elite status was on December 31, 2019, that will be your status through February 2022.
Note, if you have an Amex Platinum card, you automatically receive Marriott Gold status as long as you have the card. The Marriott co-branded credit cards also offer a way to fast-track you to elite status; you can see the details here.
Bottom line
I appreciate the changes Marriott made to its loyalty program in light of COVID-19. Your Marriott points won’t expire until at least February 2021 or after 24 months of no activity, whichever comes LAST. Your Suite Night Awards won’t expire until December 31, 2021, but your Marriott Free Night Awards will expire January 31, 2021.
I covered this same topic on Hilton, Hyatt, and IHG; check out those links to see how they compare to Marriott. (Spoiler alert: Hilton, Hyatt, and IHG are somewhere between a little more generous and a LOT more generous than Marriott.)
And in case you’re wondering what major hotel chains are doing about cancellations during coronavirus, Travel On Points has a handy guide you can check out here!
I’m sure this will prove really useful to those wondering about their hard earned points. I always use Agoda to book my hotels and they have a reward program but they run out really quickly.
Thanks for the comment! Hmm, I haven’t used Agoda before but maybe I should learn and write about their rewards program updates, if any! You can probably tell, I tend to book direct with large hotel chains because of the benefits my elite status provides. But when I want to stay at a boutique hotel, all bets are off, of course.
Yeah, it maybe something worth investigating and writing about it. It’s not much of a rewards program though, to be honest. You get “Agoda dollars” for certain places of different amounts depending on the place. So they may give you $5 if you book with a certain place for example. Because I was traveling constantly for 3 months it really added up and I was able to book a few places for free. That’s really the only way I could see it being useful because the amounts are small. Still, there are people like me into long term travel that would probably like to know about that sort of thing.
For those of us with the 7 nite category 1-4 rewards we received for mega points in August 2018, when will this expire if currently scheduled to expire in August 2020?
Hi Robert! I think I have good news for you. This reward should expire on January 31, 2021 because it is set to expire in 2020 and is a “promotion or travel package.” Marriott’s full statement is at the bottom of this page: https://marriott-re-2019ncovc.com/ I think it’s safe to say you’ve got some extra time here, but it’s always better to be safe than sorry. If I were you, I’d carefully read the terms and conditions of the award in my account, and if it still seems questionable, I’d call or email to be sure. Let me know what happens!