Marriott Bonvoy elite status offers some impressive benefits to frequent travelers, but the perks get particularly compelling once you accrue at least 50 elite nights in a calendar year and reach Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Elite status.
One of the benefits you’ll receive is the ability to choose an Annual Choice Benefit. You can select one once you reach 50 elite nights in a calendar year and a second when you get to 75 elite nights — enough to earn Marriott Bonvoy Titanium Elite status.
If you accrue at least 50 elite nights with Marriott Bonvoy during the 2023 calendar year, you may wonder which Choice Benefit you should choose. So, in this guide, we’ll examine each option so you can choose the best Choice Benefit(s) for you.
Related: The award traveler’s guide to Marriott Bonvoy
Marriott Bonvoy Annual Choice Benefit overview
You earn an Annual Choice Benefit once you net 50 elite nights in a calendar year. You’ll earn a second Annual Choice Benefit after reaching 75 elite nights in a calendar year. However, the Choice Benefit options aren’t identical at both tiers, as you’ll learn later in this guide.
How to select Marriott Choice Benefits
To select your Annual Choice Benefit(s), visit this page on Marriott’s website.
You must sign in to your Marriott Bonvoy account to choose your benefit. You can’t change your selection once you make it, so choose wisely. If you’re eligible for both a 50-night and a 75-night Annual Choice Benefit, know that you must select both simultaneously.
Related: The 26 best Marriott hotels in the world
When to select Marriott Choice Benefits
If you accrue 50 or 75 elite nights in 2023, you must select your Annual Choice Benefit(s) by 11:59 p.m. EST on Jan. 7, 2024. If you don’t make your selection by the deadline, Marriott will automatically choose Suite Night Awards for you.
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How to earn Marriott Bonvoy elite nights
Earning 50 or 75 elite nights in a calendar year may sound daunting. However, Marriott provides multiple ways to earn elite nights. You’ll earn elite nights at participating Marriott brands when you book directly with Marriott, even if you’re redeeming Marriott points or using a free night award certificate.
You can also earn elite night credits from select Marriott Bonvoy credit cards. You can earn 15 or 25 elite night credits each year if you have a Marriott consumer card and an additional 15 elite night credits with a Marriott business card. Some of these cards offer additional elite night credits when you hit specific spending thresholds with select Marriott cards. To learn more, check out our guide to earning Marriott elite status with credit cards.
Related: Here’s why you need both a personal and business Marriott Bonvoy credit card
50-night Annual Choice Benefit options
As noted above, you’ll unlock your first Annual Choice Benefit when you accrue 50 elite nights in a calendar year. Your options for the 50-night Annual Choice Benefit are as follows:
- Five elite night credits.
- Five Suite Night Awards.
- $1,000 off a mattress.
- $100 charity donation.
- Gift of Marriott Bonvoy Silver Elite status for a family member or friend.
Most of these benefits are pretty tough to value. So, let’s take a closer look at each option. I’ll start with the options that are unlikely to make sense for most elite members.
Gift Marriott Silver Elite status
Giving status to someone else might initially sound like a good option, but Marriott Bonvoy Silver Elite status isn’t worth much. TPG only values Silver Elite status at $35 — and it’s worth $0 if the person you gift it to doesn’t end up using it. After all, the primary perks of Silver Elite status are a 10% points bonus on paid stays and priority late checkout.
Instead of using your Choice Benefit to gift status, you could encourage your friend or family member to earn Marriott elite status with a credit card. For example, primary cardholders of the no-annual-fee Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card get automatic Silver Elite status thanks to the 15 elite night credits they get each calendar year as a cardholder perk.
Make a $100 charity donation
You can select a $100 donation to several charities, including UNICEF and the Arne M. Sorenson Hospitality Fund, as your Annual Choice Benefit.
The $100 charity donation is a nice touch and could be the right decision if you can’t use any other Annual Choice Benefit options. However, I’d prefer to earn points and miles on a donation to a charity of my choice and maintain my ability to select one of the other benefits.
Related: How you can donate your points and miles to charity
Get $1,000 off a mattress
If you love the bed at a particular Marriott brand, you can buy a new one for your home. If you’re going to buy a Marriott mattress, you should consider selecting a promo code worth $1,000 off the full retail value for mattresses and box springs from select Marriott brands as your Annual Choice Benefit.
However, you can’t combine the one-time $1,000 discount with other offers. Although this Annual Choice Benefit can be a great value, relatively few people are in the market for a specific hotel bed. As such, this option doesn’t apply to many travelers.
Receive 5 elite night credits
The five elite night credits can make a lot of sense for some travelers. In particular, the elite night credits can be useful if you are just a few nights short of leveling up to Titanium Elite status or earning a new tier of Marriott Bonvoy lifetime status.
However, it might be worth waiting until the end of the year to select your Choice Benefit. If a work or last-minute personal trip arises, you might close the gap toward Titanium Elite or lifetime status through stays. Just note that you must select your Choice Benefit by Jan. 7, 2024.
Related: Last-minute strategies for Marriott elite status
Receive 5 Suite Night Awards
Each Suite Night Award is valid for a one-night confirmable upgrade to select suites and premium rooms designated by each property. So, you’d need six Suite Night Award certificates to request an upgrade for a six-night reservation.
Many members save these upgrades for stays at luxury Marriott Bonvoy properties. It also may be worth trying to identify properties that make higher-category suites available for upgrades since not all Marriott hotels offer Suite Night Award upgrades and some may restrict availability. If you have a particular property in mind when selecting this Annual Choice Benefit, check whether the property participates before making your selection.
Remember that these awards expire on Dec. 31 in the year following the one in which you earned them. So, if you reach 50 nights in 2023 and choose five Suite Night Awards as your Choice Benefit, they’ll expire on Dec. 31, 2024.
Related: How I used 15 Marriott Suite Night Awards in 10 months with 100% approval
75-night Annual Choice Benefit options
After you reach 75 elite nights, you’ll earn Marriott Titanium Elite status and receive a second Annual Choice Benefit. The choices for the 75-night Annual Choice Benefit are as follows:
- Five elite night credits.
- Five Suite Night Awards.
- $1,000 off a mattress.
- $100 charity donation.
- Gift of Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status for a family member or friend.
- Free night award worth up to 40,000 points.
As you can see, the choices here are mostly the same as those available after hitting the 50-night threshold. I’ll skip over the charitable donation, Suite Night Awards and mattress discount since I’ve already discussed these options in the previous section. Likewise, I won’t discuss gifting elite status since obtaining Marriott Bonvoy status via credit cards is relatively easy.
However, let’s take a closer look at the other two options.
Receive 5 elite night credits
Earlier in this article, I considered how some travelers might select five elite night credits as the 50-night Annual Choice Benefit to reach Titanium Elite or lifetime elite status. However, it could also make sense for Titanium Elite members to choose it to earn Ambassador Elite status. This status tier typically requires 100 elite nights and $23,000 in annual Marriott spending to qualify.
This option will only make sense if you end the year within five elite nights of a higher lifetime elite status tier or with 95 to 99 elite nights and at least $23,000 in annual qualifying spending with Marriott. Unfortunately, there is no way to get around the Ambassador Elite spending requirement, making this worthwhile only for big spenders short on elite nights.
Again, this Annual Choice Benefit is one reason you might want to wait until the end of the year to make your selection.
Related: 6 ways Marriott can improve Ambassador Elite status
Get a free night award worth up to 40,000 points
The final option, unique to the 75-night Annual Choice Benefit, is one free night award worth up to 40,000 points. This free night award is slightly more valuable than the 35,000-point free night award certificates associated with many of the Marriott Bonvoy cards.
Based on TPG’s valuations, 40,000 Marriott Bonvoy points are worth $336. So, this is undoubtedly a valuable option. However, if you already have lots of Marriott Bonvoy points and outstanding free night awards to cover your future travels, you may want to choose another benefit.
Keep in mind that this award will expire on Dec. 31, 2024.
Related: How much are Marriott Bonvoy points worth 1 year after removing award charts?
Which Annual Choice Benefit should you choose?
The best Annual Choice Benefit for most Marriott loyalists at the 50-night tier is the Suite Night Awards. At the 75-night tier, the best Annual Choice Benefit is usually more Suite Night Awards or the free night award worth up to 40,000 points.
If you plan to stay with Marriott frequently, the free night award and Suite Night Awards can provide significant value. But if you can use the Suite Night Awards before they expire and get considerable value from these upgrades, this is likely the more valuable option.
However, suppose you are only five or fewer elite nights shy of qualifying for Ambassador Elite, Titanium Elite or lifetime status. The five elite night credits may be a great choice in that case. Likewise, the $1,000 discount is likely your best bet if you plan on buying a Marriott-brand mattress.
You may wonder what I select for my Annual Choice Benefits. After all, I earned Titanium Elite status in 2021 and 2022. Both times, I picked five Suite Night Awards for my 50-night choice and a free night award worth up to 40,000 points for my 75-night choice.
Related: Marriott Suite Night Awards: How TPG staff has used them this year and how they can be improved
Bottom line
Marriott’s Annual Choice Benefits are a great way to reward elite members. There are ample options at both the 50- and 75-night thresholds. The options aren’t valued equally, so carefully consider which benefit will be most valuable for you before making your decision.
Additional reporting by Andrew Kunesh, Ethan Steinberg, Nick Ewen and Kyle Olsen.
