After lamenting the lack of reasonable Marriott Platinum Choice benefits (why can’t you just give us some points?), I was pleasantly surprised when my first suite night award cleared with days to spare. For many people, Marriott suite night award certificates are the only decent benefit option, but I’ve heard very mixed reports about their success. If you’re hoping to use them at a property during peak demand times, you may be disappointed.
I was rather indifferent to whether this one would clear or not, but it was a good experience walking through the whole process. I was surprised by how easy Marriott makes suite night award redemption.
How to Use a Marriott Suite Night Award
Marriott suite night awards are a Platinum Choice Benefit, as I mentioned above. Super useful for some, not so much for others. I want to be clear that these are night awards, not stay awards like their Hyatt cousins. Five suite night awards mean a maximum of five confirmed nights in a suite.
You need to have an eligible reservation to apply a Marriott suite night award. Once you book and are on the reservation details page online, you’ll see a box that contains a button to “Start Upgrade Request”. Click this to apply suite night awards to the reservation.
Properties can have multiple suite options. Select at least one. You do not have to select them all. This is helpful if there is a particular suite that you’d rather not burn your certificate to book. I didn’t really care on this reservation other than seeing how the process worked, so I checked them all.
Once you’ve submitted your upgrade request, you’ll see another note in your reservation for your pending suite night award. Remember that Marriott doesn’t even try to confirm your suite night awards until five days or fewer before arrival. This is a huge pain, especially if you’re a family traveler and really want to confirm a larger room. Which is yet another reason I am partial to Hyatt…
Suite Night Award Success
Apparently, January is low season in Memphis, back-to-back Grizzlies games at the FedEx Forum during my stay notwithstanding. The Westin Memphis is conveniently located across the street from the basketball arena. Even with a lot of people at the hotel that night, my Marriott suite night award cleared without a hitch five days before arrival.
Final Thoughts
Where will I use my other four? I have no idea. I have just two other Marriott reservations for the year currently, one of which does not have any real suites where you can redeem awards (but apparently a two-queen room is a fine stand-in?). Go figure.
Have you had success redeeming Marriott suite night awards? When and where have you been able to confirm them?
