One of the latest programs to release the details of how they are helping their loyal members is Marriott. The details of the Marriott Status Extension were rolled out over the past 24 hours. This follows after Hilton, Hyatt, Shangri-La and Accor have already detailed some of their moves towards their customers due to CoVid-19.

Marriott Bonvoy will extend elite status by a year

If you qualified for Marriott Bonvoy elite status in 2019, for status valid through February 2021, your earned status would be extended by 12 months. Rather than your current status expiring in February 2021, it will expire in February 2022. This move applies to all status levels, including Silver, Gold, Platinum, Titanium and Ambassador. The extended status will count towards lifetime status in the Bonvoy programme.

Remember, Marriott Bonvoy only came around to downgrading status in March 2020 for those who did not qualify in 2019. Hence, one more year will be added to your current status, and your old status won’t be re-upped if you were downgraded.

However, some of the benefits of the status will still need to be earned. For instance, you will need to get 50 elite nights or 75 elite nights to be able to get Choice Benefits at the end of 2020. These benefits are tied to the number of elite nights banked in a year rather than to the status tier.

Marriott Bonvoy will extend Suite Night Awards

One of the popular perks for Marriott Bonvoy elite members at 50 or 75 nights per annum is Suite Night Awards (SNAs), which allow for a confirmable upgrade into a Suite before check-in. These expire at the end of the year, in this case, by the end of 2020. The SNAs expiring on December 31, 2020, have been extended by a whole year. That means you have until the end of 2021 to use the SNAs in your account.

Marriott Bonvoy will extend Free Night Awards

Another popular perk for Marriott Bonvoy members is the Free Night Awards. Free Night Awards are earned sometimes as a promotion to start a new account with Marriott, and sometimes as an elite member perk at 75 nights. In the US, you also get them as a credit card benefit, and so on. All these Free Night Awards are being extended till January 31, 2021. Unlike a 12-month extension for the SNAs, this is a smaller extension, but over a much bigger pool of people, so likely good enough. For members in mainland China, Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR and Taiwan the Free Night Awards will be extended 12 months into 2021 from the date of expiration

Marriott Bonvoy will pause points expiration

Marriott Bonvoy has also announced that points expiry will be paused till February 2021. Even at that point, points will only expire if your account is inactive for at least 24 months.

In addition to these moves, Marriott, along with its card partners American Express and Chase is providing $10 million worth of hotel stays to healthcare professionals in the US involved in the fight against CoVid-19. The initiative, called Rooms for Responders, will provide free rooms in some of the areas most impacted including New York City, New Orleans, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Washington, DC and Newark, NJ.

Bottomline

Marriott assures members that they are keeping a watch on the current situation and will continue to take steps as necessary. However, this seems to be a fair deal from Marriott Bonvoy, who will add a free year to the accounts of their members hoping they would come back later this year and next year onwards too.

What do you make out of the Marriott status extension move?

 

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