One of the features offered by Marriott Bonvoy, Marriott Hotels‘ loyalty programme, is Points Advance, where you can book hotel redemptions without offering the points upfront for them, and make good on the points closer to the date of the stay, else your reservation gets cancelled.

This means that even if you don’t have enough points, you can call dibs on a room reservation. You need to present the points at least 14 days out, and if you don’t, your booking gets cancelled. In a way, this is lucrative because it provides for engagement with the customers, and Marriott benefits eventually by either stay activity from the customer or purchase of points.

Marriott Bonvoy tweaks Points Advance feature.

Marriott Bonvoy has tweaked the Points Advance programme to enable a more judicious use of the feature. The outer limit to book the hotel reservation and hold on to it was from when reservations opened to 14 days out. However, now, Marriott Points Advance reservations will only be available for 60 days from the time of booking or up to 14-days before the check-in date. Additionally, your stay has to be at least 30 days away to use points advance

If you don’t provide the points in your account by the earlier of these two cut-offs, the reservation will be cancelled. As earlier, one can only make up to three simultaneous points reservations for now.

Here is an example from Marriott to illustrate these changes:

The changes have been made because Marriott is witnessing, at many popular properties, a lot of last-minute cancellations. At this stage, it is a disadvantage for other members who could have been accommodated. Also, the properties are unable to sell inventory at such a late stage in some cases.

Bottomline

Marriott has put a new timeline on how long can Points Advance reservations be held. Hereon, one will need to provide enough points within 60 days of booking or 14 days before check-in, whichever comes first. Ultimately, this is a good change, allowing everyone to judiciously use the feature and help more economical use of the property’s resources.

What do you think of the new amendments to the Marriott Points Advance feature?

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