For those that are lucky enough to qualify or re-qualify for Marriott Bonvoy Platinum or Titanium elite status, it’s time to select your Marriott Bonvoy Annual Choice Benefits. This is a simple process but it requires a little thought towards your own travel patterns in order to maximize the benefits. In this post, I’ll go through what I think are the best value benefits for selecting your Marriott Bonvoy Annual Choice Awards.

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Maximize Your Marriott Bonvoy Annual Choice Benefits: Which Ones to Select?

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For those of you that are fortunate enough to spend over 50 or 75 nights in a Marriott Bonvoy hotel last year, it’s time to select your elite benefits for the upcoming year.

There are typically quite a few to chose from, so I thought I would go over the selections that I find to be of value, compared to the other selections I typically skip over.

Getting Invited to Select Your Elite Benefits:

Shortly after you pass your elite threshold of staying fifty and seventy five qualifying nights, you’ll get invited to sign in to select your elite benefits.

The fifty night level offers the basic level of Annual Choice Benefits. There are two additional benefits offered at the seventy five night level.

There’s no urgency to select your benefits mid year. However, if you won’t accept your benefits by January 7, 2025, you’ll automatically be assigned default benefits for the year.

What you Earn at 50 Elite Night Credits:

The fifty night elite credit gifts are the base level Marriott Bonvoy Annual Choice Benefits. Marriott Bonvoy members that qualify (or re-qualify) for Marriott Bonvoy Platinum status by crossing this threshold get the opportunity to select from the following:

• Select Nightly Upgrade Awards (five) to redeem for upgrades to select premium rooms or standard suites on your next adventure.
• Choose Your Favorite Mattress and save US$1,000 on your purchase of a bed from Marriott Bonvoy® retail brands.
• Gift Marriott Bonvoy Silver Elite Status to a family member or friend
• Support the Arne M. Sorenson Hospitality Fund by donating US$100 to champion the next generation of diverse leaders in hospitality.
• Support the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) by donating US$100 for children’s aid worldwide.
• Support World Wildlife Fund (WWF) by donating US$100 to their global conservation work.
• Add Elite Night Credits (five) to get you closer to higher Elite status and enhanced benefits in 2024.

You’ll likely be prompted to make your selection upon re-qualification, although there is no need to actually make your selection until the end of the year.

What you Earn at 75 Night Credits:

At seventy five nights, you’ll have qualified (or re-qualified) for Marriott Bonvoy Titanium status. You’ll get the opportunity to select from same fifty night benefits, in addition to these two selections:

• Select a Free Night Award with a value of up to 40,000 points to redeem for a stay on us.
• Gift Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite Status to a family member or friend.

Which Selections Offer the Most Value?

The selections that offer the most value really depend on your travel patterns and knowledge and use of the Marriott Bonvoy program. Depending on what you select, you have the ability to come out ahead if you make the right selections.

• Select Nightly Upgrade Awards (five – default selection)
  • If I have a personal trip planned in the next year, I generally select five nightly upgrade awards. While I haven’t had much luck in using them against a 7 night beach holiday, I have used them to upgrade to great suites in several locations for shorter stays under 4 days.
    • Examples of these fantastic upgrades include:
      • The Westin Paris Vendôme, France
      • Al Manara Luxury Collection Resort, Aqaba, Jordan
      • The Westin Europa Venice, Italy (now the St Regis Venice)
      • The Hotel Alphonso XIII, A Luxury Collection Hotel, Seville, Spain
• Choose Your Favorite Mattress and save US$1,000 on your purchase of a bed from Marriott Bonvoy® retail brands.
  • I don’t find this option to be all that useful. The beds retail for over $2,300 CAD. Unfortunately, the $1,000 US promotion code is not stackable with any discount that might be on the website. As a result, you might actually be better off waiting for a black friday / boxing day sale than selecting this option.
• Gift Marriott Bonvoy Silver Elite Status to a family member or friend
  • Marriott Bonvoy Silver Elite status is pretty useless in itself, aside from an additional 10% earning of Marriott Bonvoy points. While it might turn someone into a Marriott Bonvoy loyalist, I usually skip this option.
• Support the Arne M. Sorenson Hospitality Fund by donating US$100 to champion the next generation of diverse leaders in hospitality.
  • While charitable donations are always nice, I generally prefer to donate directly and obtain a tax receipt. In addition, I find you can get better value from Nightly Upgrade Awards greater than $100 USD. I usually skip this option.
• Support the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) by donating US$100 for children’s aid worldwide.
  • While charitable donations are always nice, I generally prefer to donate directly and obtain a tax receipt. In addition, I find you can get better value from Nightly Upgrade Awards greater than $100 USD. I usually skip this option.
• Support World Wildlife Fund (WWF) by donating US$100 to their global conservation work.
  • While charitable donations are always nice, I generally prefer to donate directly and obtain a tax receipt. In addition, I find you can get better value from Nightly Upgrade Awards greater than $100 USD. I usually skip this option.
• Add Elite Night Credits (five) to get you closer to higher Elite status and enhanced benefits in 2024.
  • On years when I am short re-qualifying for Titanium level status, this option can be really useful if you find yourself at 70 elite nights with no furhter travel planned for the rest of the year. I’ve used this option once (in 2022 just after the pandemic) to get me over the threshold of 75 qualfying nights.
  • It’s important to remember that these night credits are awarded for the current year, and not a future year ahead. As a result, you’ can’t game the system by getting a jump start on next year’s qualifying nights.

For the seventy five night benefits, these are the ones I end up selecting:

• Select a Free Night Award
  • The free night award can be used against any properties up to 40,000 Marriott Bonvoy points. While it’s not as easy to use this as it was in the past, it’s the obvious choice.
• Gift Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite Status to a family member or friend.
  • While this is a nice gift for a friend that allows them to earn 25% more Marriott Bonvoy bonus poiunts, this is easy accessible through many American Express Marriott Bonvoy credit cards meeting a minimum spend limit.

While some have reported difficulty redeeming the free night award at a 40,000 point level, with a little advance planning, it can provide some solid value.

As with all elite programs, it helps to take the time to complete a little research to maximize the benefits. If you’re prepared to do that, you can come out with some terrific value.

However, if you want a “set and forget” option, then I’d probably select the ten Nightly Upgrade Awards, which can then be used throughout the travel year when and as needed.

Selecting your Marriott Bonvoy Annual Choice Awards:

Within about 2 – 3 days of qualifying or re-qualifying for Marriott Bonvoy Platinum or Titanium status, you’ll be invited to sign in to select your Marriott Bonvoy Annual Choice Awards.

There is nothing wrong with making your selection at the end of the year. You just have to make a selection before the first week of January. Otherwise, you’ll automatically be assigned five (or ten) Nightly Upgrade Awards into your account.

By waiting until the end of the year, you can determine which awards work best for you. For example, if you are short Elite Qualifying Nights, it might be better to select these dependent on your travel patterns. If you have no personal trips planned, it might be better to forgo Nightly Upgrade Awards for something else.

In my case, I ended up selecting Nightly Upgrade Awards for my fifty night Marriott Bonvoy Annual Choice Benefit.

For my seventy five night benefit, I went with the Free Night Award with a value of up to 40,000 points to redeem for a stay on us.

Shortly after making the selections, I was asked to confirm the selections with a caution that there was no going back after a selection was confirmed.

After confirming the selections, I had my choices confirmed and in my account almost instantly (within the hour).

Overall, the selection process was about as easy as could be expected.

In Summary: Selecting your Annual Choice Benefits

Selecting your Marriott Bonvoy Annual Choice Benefits is a pretty straight forward process.

OVerall, I recommend you wait until the end of the travel year before selecting your Marriott Bonvoy Annual Choice Benefits. This will allow you to select the best benefits to fit your personal travel situation and make sure any benefits don’t go to waste.

I typically select the Marriott Bonvoy Nightly Upgrade Awards combined with the Free Night Award, as I find that the combination works best for my travel patterns.

However, if you just want a “set and forget” option, I’d probably just select the ten (five – five) Nightly Upgrade Awards and use them when needed.

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What Marriott Bonvoy Annual Choice Awards are your favourites ?

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