Marriott’s elite tiers have a variety of benefits. For Platinum Elite, Titanium Elite and Ambassador Elite members, members don’t just get complimentary breakfast and upgrades to suites, but they also get Annual Choice Benefits. The Marriott Choice Benefit 2023 is offered to members who achieved 50 and 75 elite nights in 2023 and is a holdout from the earlier Starwood Preferred Guest programme.

Marriott awards the first of these Choice Benefits when you reach 50 elite nights in a year and then awards one on getting 75 elite nights. For instance, I was offered the Platinum Elite Choice Benefit after posting 51 elite nights throughout 2023. I was delaying the choice to January 1, 2024, because who knew what last-minute travel plans had in store at the end of December 2023. And eventually, I did get out on one more trip.

Marriott Choice Benefit 2023 for members earning 50 Elite Nights

Let us quickly go over the Marriott Choice Benefits for those who earn 50-qualified nights in 2023:

• Get Suite Night Awards (five) to redeem for upgrades to select premium rooms or standard suites.
• Save USD 1,000 by purchasing a bed from any Marriott Bonvoy retail brand.
• Gift Marriott Bonvoy Silver Elite Status to a family member or friend.
• Donate USD 100 to the Arne M. Sorenson Hospitality Fund / UNICEF / World Wildlife Fund
• Add Elite Night Credits (five) to your 2023 total.

Marriott Choice Benefit 2023 for those who earn 75 Elite Nights

Let us quickly review the Marriott Choice Benefits for those earning 75 qualified nights in 2023. These include a couple of additions from the prior benefits listed above at 50 nights:

• Get Suite Night Awards (five) to redeem for upgrades to select premium rooms or standard suites.
• Save USD 1,000 by purchasing a bed from any Marriott Bonvoy retail brand.
• Gift Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite Status to a family member or friend.
• Donate USD 100 to the Arne M. Sorenson Hospitality Fund / UNICEF / World Wildlife Fund
• Add Elite Night Credits (five) to your 2023 total.
• Free Night Award up to 40,000 points

Picking Marriott Choice Benefit 2023 for Members who earned 50 Elite Nights

Let us review the Marriott Choice Benefits for those earning 50 Elite Nights in 2023.

• Five Suite Night Awards: Marriott Suite Night Awards allow members to get a 1-night upgrade (to a Suite or a Premium Room) for each SNA they apply on a reservation. The catch is that members must have enough SNAs for an entire stay. For instance, if there is a 6-night stay, you need 6 SNAs in your account. Five days before the stay, Marriott looks for suite upgrades and automatically clears them if available. It is primarily helpful for luxury stays at top-end hotels. In 2022, I was awarded ten of these (five for the year and five as an extension from a prior year due to the pandemic). I managed to use 7/10 to clear upgrades, with upgrades at St. Regis Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi, Sheraton Grand in Salzburg, and St. Regis Mumbai being the prominent ones. However, my upgrade at the W Amsterdam was not clear, and that was a significant rejection for the year. In 2023, I was given five of these, which did not clear both the times I tried to apply them for vacation stays.
• Gift Silver Elite status: Silver Elite Status is pretty limited use in the Marriott Bonvoy programme, as it gets you a 10% bonus of points earned on revenue stays and nothing more. With the American Express Platinum Card, you anyways get Marriott Gold Tier status at the minimum.
• USD 1000 off your favourite bed: Marriott will send you a promotional code that can be redeemed for USD 1000 off the total retail value of any bed available for The EDITION Bed, The Ritz-Carlton Bed, The Luxury Collection Bed, The St. Regis Bed, The W Hotels Bed, The JW Marriott Bed, The Marriott Bed, The Sheraton Bed, The Westin Heavenly® Bed, The Le Méridien Bed, The Renaissance Bed, The Gaylord Hotels Bed, The Courtyard Bed, The Four Points Bed, The Fairfield Bed. Some of these are fantastic products, but shipping them to India will cost a pretty penny, apart from the customs duty, which will have to be paid on arrival.
• Five Elite Night Credits: On selecting this benefit, Marriott would credit five elite nights to the year the benefit was earned. For instance, if you earned the Platinum Benefits in 2023, you get five elite nights added to your 2023 total (not your 2024 total) 
• A USD 100 charity donation to the Arne M. Sorenson Hospitality Fund/UNICEF/World Wildlife Fund.

Some of these benefits are a sitter for a NO. For instance, the Marriott Silver status does not get anyone anything beyond a 10% points bonus and a late checkout. USD 1000 off a mattress is primarily focused on the US-based patrons of Marriott. The USD 100 donation suits those with everything, but there are better ways to donate to your preferred charity.

That brings us to two applicable Choice Benefits: the five Suite Night Awards and the five elite night credits. The elite night credits are handy if you are close to the next status tier. My earned elite nights for 2023 were 56 eligible nights (paid, redeemed, and from the Marriott Bonvoy HDFC Bank Diners Club Credit Card), so adding another five would get me nothing extra. Remember, the elite night benefit works retroactively, so you don’t get it for the next year but for the year that has gone by.

The other benefit in contention is the Suite Nights Awards. Marriott Bonvoy needs 1 SNA for every night, as I wrote earlier. In India or most of Asia, benefits given to elites (Platinum and above) are much better than in the West. In many cases, one may already receive an upgrade to an open suite if available. Also, I’ve heard hit-and-miss reports from other members about the Suite Night Awards being cleared. However, if you have an upcoming vacation where you could use a Suite, choose the SNAs. This is the perk I picked up this year for my 50-night award. Marriott will also update this benefit later in the year, making more types of rooms available for this benefit rather than just Suites.

Remember, if you don’t choose by January 7, 2024, SNA is the benefit that will be automatically credited to your account.  The link to select your benefit is here.

Picking Marriott Choice Benefits for Members who earned 75 Elite Nights

The benefits for 75 Elite night-earning members differ slightly from those for 50 Elite night-earning members. The earlier listed five benefits remain, with the ability to gift Gold status instead of Silver status. The other benefit is a free night worth up to 40,000 points.

Another five elite night credits might be helpful for Titanium members if they have already spent USD 20,000 in annual spending at Marriott and are 1-5 nights short for Marriott Ambassador status. If you go for another five Suite Night Awards, you get 10 SNAs for the year. If you have plans to go to some of the top-end Marriott hotels, you should be able to get some good use out of the SNAs.

Gold benefit gifting is not a great option, given you already receive the Gold status in Marriott with the American Express Platinum Charge Card, and the benefits are modest, in the sense you only get room upgrades and not suite upgrades. The only significant benefit from Gold status is a 2 pm late checkout.

Marriott’s 40,000 points free night for Titanium elites is beneficial as well. The 40K certificates will allow standard and peak award redemptions at various properties. You can now add up to 15,000 points more from your pool of points to take the benefit’s value up to 55,000 points as well.

Again, just so you know, if you don’t choose by January 7, 2024, SNA is the benefit that will be automatically credited to your account.

Bottomline

Marriott’s Annual Choice Benefits are great to reward elite members who spend a lot of time away from home in Marriott hotels each year. The reliable options around here are the Suite Night Awards and the Elite Nights. If you are Titanium, you could also look into a free night of up to 40K points.

What would you choose or have chosen as a Marriott Platinum/Titanium/Ambassador elite? 

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