Marriott Bonvoy‘s latest global promotion for Spring 2022 is now live. Be sure to register for the promotion, and then start planning your stays this spring.
In keeping with last year, this is a relatively generous promotion by Marriott that may play a key role in helping you earn or retain Marriott Bonvoy elite status this year.
Every Night Counts Promotion
As part of the “Every Night Counts” Spring 2022 promotion, you’ll earn double elite qualifying nights and 1,000 extra Bonvoy points per night on all paid stays between February 8 and May 4, 2022.
Registration is required prior to your first eligible stay, so make sure to go ahead and register for the promotion now.
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Double Elite Nights: A Great Opportunity for Mattress Runs
The more exciting part of this promotion lies in the opportunity to earn double elite qualifying nights on all paid stays during the promotion period.
Even if you don’t have any trips planned, you can leverage some clever “mattress runs” to boost your Marriott Bonvoy elite status for the next few years.
Note that the definition of a “paid night” is exactly that: a night that’s paid with cash. Marriott Bonvoy points redemptions, Free Night Award redemptions, and Cash + Points rates are excluded from the promotion.
During the similar promotion last year, a multi-night stay consisting of one paid nights and multiple award nights still counted as a “paid stay”; however, that doesn’t appear to be the case this year.
Still, earning double elite nights is certainly going to be a very strong incentive to book your paid stays with Marriott over their competitors during the promotion period – unless we see similar promotions from the other major programs, of course.
1,000 Points: A Modest Nightly Bonus
You’ll also earn an extra 1,000 Bonvoy points per paid night as part of this promotion.
Since we currently value Bonvoy points at 0.9 cents per point (CAD), this translates into a discount of $9 (CAD) for every night of your stay.
That’s unlikely to make a significant impact on your more expensive stays, though it can be a more meaningful discount if you typically stay at cheaper properties.
These bonus points are in addition to the 5–10 base points per USD spent as a Marriott Bonvoy member, any bonus points you earn as an elite status member, and any points you might earn from paying with a Marriott Bonvoy co-branded credit card, such as the Amex Bonvoy Card or the Amex Bonvoy Business Card, which earn 5 Bonvoy points per Canadian dollar spent at Marriott properties.
How to Maximize Double Elite Nights
By this time last year, Marriott had generously offered up a 50% boost of elite qualifying nights to all members based on their 2020 status. This year, we’ve seen no such offering, and it’s looking unlikely that it’ll materialize.
Therefore, in my view, this Spring 2022 Double Elite Nights is likely going to be the easiest path to earning or retaining Marriott Bonvoy status that we’ll see this year.
Certainly, the promotion might sway you into booking hotels with Marriott for any travel plans you have in the upcoming few months, or perhaps shift some dates around for your travel plans to fit within the promotion period.
However, since “hybrid” stays of paid and award nights are excluded this time around, I think the value in “mattress running” (i.e., booking hotel stays purely for the elite qualifying nights) is less clear-cut than it was last year.
For example, if you were a Platinum member in 2021 and held the personal and business US-issued Bonvoy cards, you’d currently be sitting at 30 elite qualifying nights. Therefore, a 10-night stay under this Spring 2022 would help you retain your status for another year.
The cheapest Marriott hotels in Canada can be booked for around $80/night. At 10 nights, you’re looking at a cash outlay of $800 to mattress-run your way to another year of Platinum Elite – $700 if you use the Discover Canada Amex Offer before March 31.
And if you’re someone who doesn’t want to get into the US credit card game and would prefer to stick with Canadian offerings, then you’d only have 15 elite qualifying nights from credit cards, so the gap would be even larger.
(Cheaper pricing can be often found around the world, though. Perhaps you have a Bali-based friend who can help you out with the second guest trick?)
The good news is that we still have some time before the promotion begins on February 8. Take this time to carefully map out your organic travel plans in 2022.
Think about how many nights you’re likely to stay during and after the promotion period, and calculate how many elite nights you’d earn as a result. Then, determine if the cost of mattress-running the difference to Platinum Elite or Titanium Elite is worthwhile for the elite status level you’re getting.
My Hotel Elite Status Strategy for 2022
Personally, I’m at a bit of a crossroads with my hotel elite status strategy in 2022. With US travel completely reopening back up, I’m doubtful that the major hotel loyalty programs will show nearly as much generosity as they did in 2020 and 2021.
I’d love to aim for another year of World of Hyatt Globalist status, but I’d need to allocate a great deal of my stay activity to Hyatt over Marriott – although I’d certainly want to preserve my Marriott Titanium status as well.
Therefore, I’ll definitely be giving some thought to how I can maximize the “Every Night Counts” promotion this spring.
I plan to concentrate as much of my organic paid stay activity as possible with Marriott between February 8 and May 4, giving my Marriott elite nights an early boost so that I can consider focusing my efforts on Hyatt afterwards – while keeping my fingers crossed for a similar promotion from Hyatt sometime in 2022 as well.
Conclusion
Marriott Bonvoy’s Spring 2022 promotion is now live, giing you double elite nights and 1,000 bonus points on all paid stays between February 8 and May 4, 2022.
With this promotion, you can accelerate your progress towards your Marriott Bonvoy elite status goals through February 2024, allowing you to take comfort in elite benefits on any travels you’ve planned for the next few years.
And don’t forget: this promotion also stacks upon Marriott Bonvoy’s recent round of targeted promotions, so there’s an opportunity for even more earnings if you’ve been selected for one of the better promotions there.