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One of the best ways to use Marriott Bonvoy points is the ability to get the fifth (5th) night free when you redeem Marriott Bonvoy points for every 5 consecutive nights.
The 5th-night free benefit is available to everyone that has a membership with the Marriott Bonvoy program. You do not need to hold any Marriott Bonvoy Credit Cards or have any high elite status with Marriott.
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How does Marriott Bonvoy’s fifth (5th) night free benefit work?
Marriott Bonvoy program offers the 5th Night Free benefit that is automatically applied when you use Marriott points to redeem for five (5) consecutive nights at the same hotel/resort. You receive a free night for EVERY 5 consecutive nights you redeem with Marriott Bonvoy points. This means that:
- If you stay 5 nights on points, you’ll receive one free night.
- If you stay 10 nights on points, you’ll receive two free nights.
The value of the free night(s) will depend on whether your booking consists of Marriott Peak, Standard, and Off-Peak award pricing that I’ll cover more below.
For instance, if you redeem 5 nights stay at the JW Marriott Guanacaste Resort & Spa in Costa Rica and each night requires 35,000 Marriott Bonvoy points per night*, your total points required for your entire 5 nights stay are 140,000 Marriott Bonvoy points (35,000 x 4 = 140,000 Marriott Bonvoy points).
* The JW Marriott Guanacaste Resort & Spa requires only 35,000 points per night (equivalent to a Category 5 Marriott Bonvoy property) because of Marriott PointSavers promotion at the time of this writing.
How does the 5th-night free work with Marriott peak & off-peak award pricing?
Marriott still has an award chart (as shown above), but it uses peak, standard, and off-peak award pricing models. This points pricing model basically just means that when you redeem points for a stay during a peak time, the points required are more than the standard points required per night at a particular category Marriott property. On the other hand, if you redeem points on a stay during an off-peak time, the points required are less than the standard points required per night at that particular category property. These are varied and set by the property.
For every 5 consecutive nights you pay with Marriott Bonvoy points, you will receive one night free. This is true if all your entire 5 nights occur during the standard nights based on Marriott’s award chart above. However, if your booking consists of a mix between peak, standard, and off-peak nights, you’ll receive the lowest point-value night free, no matter when they occur.
- If you stay 5 nights on points during peak, standard, and off-peak nights, the one free night will be the lowest point cost night of your entire 5 nights.
- If you stay 10 nights on points during peak, standard, and off-peak nights, you’ll receive two free nights that have the lowest point cost night of the entire 10 nights.
- Same thing with 15 nights, 20 nights, etc. your free nights will be the lowest point cost night of your entire stay.
For example, you are using Marriott points for a 5-nights stay at the Renaissance Aruba Resort & Casino (home to the most Instagram-able private Flamingo island) with the following redemptions:
- 2 nights at 60,000 points per night during the standard time – 120,000 points total.
- 3 nights at 50,000 points per night during the off-peak time – 150,000 points total.
- You’ll receive one night free that’s worth 50,000 points per night because that is the lowest point cost night of your entire 5-nights stay.
- So the total points come to 220,000 Marriott Bonvoy points required for the entire 5 nights (120,000 plus 150,000 minus 50,000). See the screenshot below.
But don’t worry. Marriott’s reservation system will automatically do the calculation for you before you finalize your booking.
Do you have to have enough points for 5 nights to use the 5th-night free benefit?
No. As long as you have enough points for 4 nights, you are good to go.
Can you use the 5th night free with points and cash booking?
No. Marriott Bonvoy’s 5th-night free benefit can not be used on points plus cash bookings. The benefit can be used for bookings all on points only.
Can you use Marriott’s free night certificate plus Marriott Bonvoy points on one reservation?
Yes – There’s a benefit of having just one reservation. It’s easy to manage and it removes the hassles to contact the property in advance to combine the reservations for you so that you do not have to change rooms.
Unlike Hilton Free Weekend Night Reward, Marriott’s free night certificates can be booked online yourself on Marriott Bonvoy Hotels & Resorts website (currently, Marriott’s mobile app does not support this).
You can mix your Marriott Bonvoy points and free night certificate(s) on one reservation. The way it works is that you use the certificates to cover some nights and then pay with Marriott Bonvoy points for other nights. The good news is, you can also do that all online yourself on Marriott Bonvoy Hotels & Resorts website.
Can you combine Marriott’s free night certificate with the 5th-night free benefit on one reservation?
Yes – Marriott allows you to combine Marriott Bonvoy points and Marriott Free Night Certificate on one reservation. It also allows you to mix Marriott’s 5th night free with points benefit and a Marriott Free Night Certificate on one reservation.
You can do this all by yourself online on Marriott Bonvoy Hotels & Resorts website. To do so:
These steps assume that you want to use just one Marriott Free Night Certificate
- Book an award stay that consists of at least 6 consecutive nights at the same Marriott hotel/resort.
- On the final booking page, under Select the reward you want to use, select one of your free certificates.
- Click on the Summary of Charges
- Your one e-certificate is used for one night.
- You receive one free night because of the 5th-night free benefit.
- You pay the rest of the points needed for 4 nights.
It’s worth mentioning too that you can combine Marriott points and the 5th-night free benefit with multiple Marriott’s free night certificates on one reservation if you have multiple eligible free night certificates in your account at the time of booking.
