[UPDATE] It looks like your card’s anniversary date does not have to be in August only. Any month around August 26, 2018 worth calling up Marriott to ask for the match.
If you are holding a Chase Marriott Credit Card, you are already aware that you are entitled to a free night certificate on your card’s anniversary date each year. Due to the merger between Marriott and SPG, the free night certificate that gets deposited into your Marriott account BEFORE August 26, 2018 can only be used up to a 25,000 Marriott points properties only. If your card’s anniversary date occur AFTER August 26, 2018, then your free night certificate will be good up to 35,000 Marriott points properties.
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| JW Marriott Phu Quoc Emerald Bay Resort & Spa Requires 35,000 Marriott Points Photo Credit: JW Marriott Phu Quoc Emerald Bay Resort & Spa |
Long story short, I have a Marriott credit card and my anniversary date is August 10, 2018. As you can see, I am short by 16 days. The free night certificate has already been deposited into my account and shows as Anniversary Free Night up to 25,000 Points. I called up Chase to see if they could update and resend the certificate so that it’s good for up to 35,000 points instead as I am in between the anniversary date and the August 26, 2018. But Chase told me to talk to Marriott Rewards department instead. I went ahead and called up Marriott but it was a long wait on the phone as I figured they are probably busy now about what’s going on with the merger system that did not turn out so great. I got to talk to a nice agent and explained to her about what’s going on. She was kind enough to go check with her manager and then came back to me with a good news that as a one-time courtesy, she upgraded the free night certificate in my account to be used at any Marriott properties up to 35,000 points. Yay!
The update was pretty immediate. I signed into my account and saw the certificate has already been updated.
This obviously is a YMMV case. In my opinion, it may really depend on the agent that you talk to at Marriott Rewards center. However, one thing that my data point can provide is that Marriott does have ability to modify the free night certificate and if the agent tells you s/he cannot, simply hang up and hopefully you can talk to another agent that is more willing to help you out. Just be prepared for the long wait on the phone though. Good luck!
