One of the features offered by Marriott Bonvoy, Marriott’s 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, or 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. The feature helps those who are sure of earning points by the date of travel but don’t have them at the moment.
Marriott Hotel Downtown, Abu Dhabi
Marriott’s Points Advance being discontinued in March 2023
Marriott Bonvoy has announced that effective March 28, 2023, the Points Advance feature will no longer be offered as a part of the programme. Marriott states that the low demand for the feature contributed to them retiring this feature.
However, you can book a new Points Advance Reservation on Marriott.com through March 27, 2023, and all the existing bookings will be honoured. Points Advance reservations are supposed to be made at least 30 days before arrival and can be held for a maximum of 60 days from the time of booking or no later than 14 days before arrival, whichever occurs first. One can only make up to three Points Advance reservations with one Marriott Bonvoy account at a time.
I’ve used this feature in different shapes and sizes over the years a couple of times, although the last I used it was maybe 5-6 years ago, so I can attest to the fact that demand might be low or information about this feature might be low, especially since new curbs were placed on this feature.
Bottomline
Marriott Bonvoy will discontinue Points Advance, effective March 28, 2023. The feature enabled those without enough points to book a stay ahead of them earning the points. Bookings made through March 27, 2023, will still be honoured. In the future, you can always buy Marriott Bonvoy points (a bonus offer is ongoing for now) to compensate for the points deficit on upcoming bookings.
What do you think of Marriott Bonvoy’s Points Advance feature being discontinued?
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