Travel Better – How To Use Your Hotel Points For More Than Free Rooms

The Superbowl. Machu Picchu. The Oscars. F1 races. Live shows by the world’s major superstars. Private cooking classes with movie star cooks. VIP access to the world’s ideal food items festivals.

What all of these “Bucket List” activities have in common is that they have all been savored by tourists for totally free, by applying their hotel points – and in many conditions, they are unbelievable bargains.

Here’s a serious-lifestyle example: Imagine viewing superstars like Elton John or Billy Joel from a VIP suite in Madison Square Backyard garden, with complimentary foods and open bar with a guest of your preference. Now imagine that the entire special night time for the two of you fees a lot less points than it would choose to get a solitary cost-free evening at quite a few resorts. Which would you rather knowledge? Other than you are not imagining it, it is true, and it will keep occurring.

In simple fact, you could probably address a single of these VIP live performance (or NBA or NHL game titles) experiences just with the minimal time indication up bonuses supplied hotel branded credit rating cards – without the need of spending a solitary evening in a hotel.

Marriott is the biggest resort organization in the globe, and its recurrent guest loyalty plan, Bonvoy, is thought to be the major of its variety with very well north of 140 million associates. Still a lot of of these users have no plan that these awards, generally a much much better way to use details than for stays, even exist. I have a good friend who is a longtime road warrior small business traveler, life span Million-miler on United and so on, who has been earning Marriott factors for many years and investing them on hotel stays. I questioned him and he had no concept what Bonvoy Moments was. When I informed him, he immediately seemed at attending the Miami Grand Prix.

“We designed Bonvoy Times close to 2018, but with the pandemic it is even now 1 of the greatest held insider secrets in the software,” Mandy Gill, Vice President of World Brands & Promoting for Marriott Global advised me throughout the the latest NCAA “March Madness” Men’s Ultimate 4 in New Orleans. Constructed all-around particular activities, Bonvoy Moments is a little and lesser identified but effective portion of Marriott’s loyalty program for frequent attendees. The Last 4 was dwelling proof, as I was surrounded by a handful of savvy shoppers who experienced applied their Bonvoy details to go to a person of the most desirable “Bucket List” sporting activities in the entire world. The bundle bundled not only top quality tickets with hospitality suite to the past a few video games of the tournament, but lodge rooms in New Orleans the total time, personal hospitality at the lodge for breakfast and cocktails, gifts, and exclusive VIP ordeals like a Caesars Superdome tour and private coach’s breakfast with a person of the winningest coaches in the NCAA.

The greatest at the time-in-a-life time style deals like the Closing Four are usually auctioned, and the successful bids for the biggies commonly best a million points, which equates to a cost-free luxurious trip to Hawaii or such – free of charge lodging, that is. But the far more standard Moments are straight up gives of a certain selection of details, which can be as minor as 5,000 – fewer than a evening at a person of the lower conclude properties in the Marriott portfolio commonly operates.

“We did these ‘virtual’’ one on just one Zoom discussions with basketball legend Grant Hill (who gained two Nationwide Championships at Duke, an Olympic Gold Medal and played 19 seasons in the NBA before starting to be co-proprietor of the Atlanta Hawks) and we marketed them for 5000 details, and basketball followers loved it. Our Gen Z shoppers may have just started out with us and do not have tons of details, but they can go to live shows at the Moxy in downtown Nye York applying very handful of details and delight in it, and we are creating life time buyers. At the substantial conclude we have Ritz-Carlton Yachts and villas and the Superbowl,” described Gill. “Bonvoy parents have employed factors to choose their young ones to see Justin Bieber and Harry Stiles and then they are heroes to their people. There is actually anything for everybody. The key is to have a extremely vast assortment of redemption amounts, some straight for points, some auctions. The system is just getting more substantial and even larger, we’ve has 90 knowledge packages in the initial quarter of 202 by now. But it’s nevertheless a single of our most effective-kept strategies and we’ve experienced users inform us they really don’t tell their friends about the auction right until it’s about, so they never have to bid in opposition to them.”

Just one of the New Orleans auction winners was a frequent traveler named Charles. He informed me he experienced utilised his Bonvoy points to go to the Closing 4 a couple of situations in advance of, and also the Place New music Awards in Nashville as a VIP. Due to the fact he’s a Duke supporter, this calendar year he also used points to go to the Duke vs. Virginia activity at Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, a smaller facility exactly where tickets for non-college students are notoriously really hard to get, and the NCAA regional finals in San Francisco.

Due to the fact it has partnerships with the NCAA, NFL, unique NHL and soccer teams such as Manchester United, qualified tennis and personal venues which includes Madison Square Garden, the O2 arena in London and Los Angeles’ Crypto.com arena, in which the Lakers, Clippers, Kings and Sparks play, sports activities has very long been the largest aspect of the Times system, so much so that a buzzword all over the Marriott portfolio is that “there is a lodge model for every single admirer.” But the increasing platform has progressively focused on two other places expanding quickly in recognition, live shows and culinary events, as well as spectacles these kinds of as the Oscars, a Bucket Listing evening for entrainment enthusiasts. “Special events this kind of as the Oscars and State Songs Awards have been suspended in the course of COVID, and before the pandemic the Oscars rivalled the Superbowl, and we are hoping to get back to 100%. We also hope to increase Coachella as an option for 2023.”

In general, it is much easier to accrue and use factors with Bonvoy than any other resort application, simply just mainly because Marriott is the major lodge company in the planet, with practically 7,000 houses throughout additional than 30 models spanning each individual type and cost position – for this reason “a model for each admirer.” These incorporate some of the world’s best tier luxurious manufacturers (Ritz-Carlton, St. Regis, and Luxurious Assortment), “regular” luxurious stalwarts (Westin, JW Marriott, Le Meridien, Tribute, Renaissance), hipper manufacturers (W Hotels, Moxy and Edition), middle of the highway giants (Sheraton and of system, Marriott), uniquely independent lodges that really don’t fit chain molds and skew upscale (Autograph Assortment), numerous decreased priced, airport and regular company traveler staples (Courtyard, AC, Aloft, Fairfield, Four Factors and Springhill Suites), as nicely as many prolonged keep leaders (Component, Home Inns and Townplace Suites). More lodges in far more places signifies far more options for each and every variety of traveler.

And just like the airline courses, earning details has long gone way further than just stays, with many co-branded credit playing cards (in some cases featuring 60-100,000 point enrollment bonuses), partnerships with dining places, and most notably, a distinctive 1 with Uber that allows you hyperlink your Bonvoy account and earn details for rides and Uber Eats. The Points Person, sage of all items loyalty, pointed out that “Marriott Bonvoy also offers plenty of other benefits that enthusiasts of the software love… acquire edge of your points by booking activities ranging from tickets to the Super Bowl or Billy Joel in a suite at Madison Sq. Garden to non-public information excursions or VIP obtain to cultural functions like Miami Art Week and the Planet Expo in Dubai.” Viewers of ThePointsGuy.com internet site, who are likely to be hardcore regular travelers, just voted it the Most effective Lodge Loyalty Application.

“Since the pandemic, so a lot of individuals want to get again to leisure travel,” said Gill. “We want to have the ideal loyalty software in the lodge small business, and we often question ourselves, ‘How can you acquire a lot more points and use those details in an less complicated, much more entertaining way?’ For the Times plan, we drive for issues you could not get oneself, and we do this globally.” That can imply the F1 race in Sydney, soccer in the United Kingdom, live shows in Dubai or cooking courses with a celeb chef throughout just one of the quite a few premier foodstuff and wine festivals about the entire world. Some modern examples of a single-off activities redeemed contain a tennis clinic with Andy Roddick, obtaining a custom marriage ceremony robe designed by bridal designer Justin Alexander, and a personal eating practical experience with Chef Daniel Boulud at his new restaurant, Le Pavillon.

But there’s also a second noteworthy manufacturer extension, Marriott Bonvoy Excursions & Things to do. This is a compilation of neighborhood excursions and activities, these types of as going for walks tours, biking excursions, cooking courses, sightseeing cruises and private guides. It is equivalent to tour scheduling engines Viator or TripAdvisor, besides tours and functions are vetted by Marriott, and tourists earn a reward 5 Bonvoy factors per dollar spent. “We are quite picky about the tours and functions we provide, and it allows you prepare and do every thing on just one platform,” stated Gill.

As she stated, “People pick the location 1st, then a resort. They might say they want to go to New Orleans, and then dependent on their style and budget, they pick the Ritz-Carlton, the JW, the W, Westin, the Saint (Autograph Assortment), Sheraton, whatsoever. So normally, we test to aim on the desired destination and the community activities that enable them get the most out of it. The lodge is just element of that, inside the spot it is about the encounters.”

Both platforms mesh with a single of the largest developments in the vacation industry around the past ten years, termed “Experiential Vacation,” which has been epitomized by the move absent from laying on the beach and the greater interest in further dives into record, culture, delicacies, understanding something or accomplishing a specific exercise on holiday vacation. This is also recognised in the vacation market as “making memories,” and the best recollections arrive from what you do, not where you stay.

This is why Marriott has created Bonvoy Moments, a platform that goes way over and above the standard points for cost-free evenings redemption, and normally presents tourists a better price. For example, a pair of tickets to see the Clippers perform at the Crypto.com arena in LA from the Bonvoy Luxurious Suite with food and beverages for two can be experienced for just 30,000 points. The exact arrangements for a Knicks activity at Madison Sq. Garden (MSG) can be 50,000. On the current – and very common – Elton John farewell tour, you could go to Moments and without any bidding, purchase a pair of tickets in Marriott’s MSG VIP suite, which include totally free foodstuff and alcoholic beverages for two, for 75,000 factors. Billy Joel at MSG or Blondie at O2, both of those with VIP suites? 75,000 details.

To set these offers in standpoint, all of these are for two folks and much less factors than you would often want to redeem a one night at a Ritz-Carlton. I not too long ago stayed at the St. Regis Bahia Beach vacation resort in Puerto Rico and loved it, so out of curiosity I punched up a 2-night time non-holiday weekend remain this month (April) at the lodge in the most affordable space category. The selling price? 237,500 factors. Which is extra than a few VIP concerts and does not include anything but the home.

Or as Gill place it so eloquently, “To See Elton John for two people today in a suite with free food items and booze and all the things for 75,00 factors is just insane. Some of these are wonderful deals. We know there are customers who vacation a large amount for small business but what about everyone else? We want them to continue to be able to have encounters, so we have points at all degrees, and we are including much more all the time. It could price tag you 25,000 details to get a cost-free room at a Fairfield Inn, but you could have gotten in on our Moments NFL Draft package deal for just 8,000.”

There are around the major Bucket Listing VIP packages to the Superbowl and Kentucky Derby at 1 finish and really attainable nonetheless however unique and specific activities at the other, some thing for each and every level of Bonvoy members – but to start with they have to know that the system exists. So I am telling them.