We are on the cusp of the summer travel season and right now the way things are shaping up it looks like for most Canadians who do choose to travel it will be within our own fine borders. That means staycations and road trips for the most part but even perhaps flights to another province. Of course when you get to your destination your going to need accommodations and one of the best ways to save money on those stays is by utilizing a hotel rewards program. One of the best in Canada is Marriott's Bonvoy program and the easiest way to rack up those points quickly is with their co-brand credit cards from American Express. In as little as one month and no more than three months you can have enough points for some amazing hotel stays in Canada this summer and beyond.
Back in March American Express sweetened the pot on their Marriott Bonvoy™ American Express® Card and the Marriott Bonvoy™ Business American Express® Card to 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy Points each. The consumer card requires $3,000 in spending to get the bonus while the business card requires $5,000. Both cards also had statement credit offers added whereby if you spend $10,000 on the consumer card within the first 12 months you'll get a $120 statement credit which is equivalent to the annual so this is essentially a first year free offer. The business card requires a $15,000 spend to get a $150 statement credit which matches that card's $150 annual fee.
That's brings us to those 60,000 points and what they can bring you in terms of some hotel stays for the upcoming summer and fall seasons! You should note that the points from these cards typically post to your Marriott Bonvoy account a few days after your statement date. That means if you don't have this card yet but want to grab it to redeem points for an early summer stay (say June/July) you'll want to apply right away and then try to get that $3,000 in spending done within that first statement period. Later summer and fall stays gives you a bit a leeway but you'll still want to try to get your spending done sooner than later. You do have one fallback option however - if you find a hotel right now that you want to book but don't have the points you can utilize Marriott Bonvoy's Points Advance option. The Points Advance option lets you book a hotel room award night or nights without having the full amount of points. You have to book at least 30 days in advance and then have to have the full amount of points in your account 14 days prior to arrival. Should you not have enough points 14 days prior you will lose the ability to lock in those award nights. You can hold up to three Points Advance Reservations at once and they only guarantee the room reservation - they do not guarantee the amount of points. That means Peak or Off Peak pricing may come into affect after you book meaning the stay may cost more or less from the first day that you book the reservation. Learn more about Points Advance here.
Recommended reading: Marriott Bonvoy™ American Express® Card Review
Now we'll look various hotel redemption examples in Canada where you can you redeem the 60,000 points for free nights. For many of you who may be new to
points and miles or just the Marriott program, you may not be fully
aware of what 60,000 points can really bring you. On top of the welcome bonus their credit cards have
lots of other benefits that extend the value of this card which you can see at the bottom of this post
Value in the the Welcome Bonus
Recommended reading: Awesome new increased welcome bonuses on the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Cards - 60,000 points + statement credits
Let's get down to business. I hear your yelling at your screen. Show me the value! What can I get for 60,000 points?
Muskoka
How about one of the most desired locations in Ontario? A one night stay at the JW Marriott The Rosseau Muskoka Resort & Spa. Here is what a night on August 6 looks like to pay cash:
Would you look at that? The same amount of points you get from the welcome bonus! You do still have to pay the resort fee of $55.37 which means those 60,000 points are saving you $882.63 (1.47 cents per point which is above our minimum valuation of 1 cent per point for Marriott). That's a pretty good welcome bonus value - not many cards will earn you nearly $900 with their welcome bonus points.
Burlington
How about two nights at the new Pearle Hotel & Spa Autograph Collection in Burlington Ontario? There is availability on opening night July 29 for two nights to the 31st:
60,000 points gets you two nights on the grand opening weekend and saves you $880.00 as this hotel does not have any extra fees on award nights. That works out to almost 1.47 cents per point again! You can learn more about the Pearle in our article: Marriott's New Hotel Openings in Canada for 2021 - 9 hotels in the works including the W Toronto & Humaniti Hotel Montreal or in this video
Kelowna
A one night stay right on Lake Okanagan at the Delta Hotels by Marriott Grand Okanagan Resort in August runs from 60,000 points per night:
Here you can see the value is less than what we see in Ontario but not bad still - just a tad under 1 cent per point.
Montreal
You could also redeem for three nights at the Courtyard Montreal Brossard in the middle of August:
60,000 points for a stay that would cost $689, here you have 1.1 cents per points so you again coming our valutaion above 1 cent per point.
Winnipeg
And now for a longer stay - 6 nights at the Fairfield Inn & Suites Winnipeg from August 19 to 25:
This hotel is 10,000 points per night but now that we have a booking that's 5 night or more it takes advantage of Marriott Bonvoy's 5th night free! When you book 5 or more consecutive award nights with Marriott they give you one night free. So in this case of a 6 night stay you only have to pay the points amount of 5 nights or 50,000 points. The cash rate is $855 for the same stay which means you'd be extracting a 1.71 cents per points value here and you'd still have 10,000 points left. Technically speaking you have the points to make this a 7 night stay as you'd only pay for 6 nights or 60,000 points.
Honestly we could go on forever here with many more examples as Marriott has over 260 hotels in Canada and every single one of them fall into the 60,000 points or less per night for a standard redemption:
There are only five Category 7 hotels that may fall out of reach should they happen to be charging the 70,000 Peak nights rate and one example is the Westin Resort & Spa Whistler - they have the entire two months of July and August pricing out at 70,000 points per night even though cash rates are only running in the mid $200 range per night! This is a good example of a hotel where you want to save your points and just pay cash for it!
Card features and benefits
The awesomeness of these cards doesn't end with just the new welcome offers. The cards have some great features and benefits including being some of the highest earning cards on non-category bonus spending since both earn 2 Marriott Bonvoy points per dollar spent on everyday spending. Then you have the annual free night award, automatic Silver Elite status and more:
Marriott Bonvoy™ American Express® Card
• New Marriott Bonvoy™ American Express® Cardmembers earn 60,000 Welcome
Bonus points after you charge $3,000 in net purchases to your Card in
your first three months of Cardmembership*
• Plus, get a $120 statement credit when you charge $10,000 in net
purchases to your card in your first twelve months of card membership.
Offer subject to change at any time*
• Earn 5 points for every dollar in eligible Card purchases at participating Marriott Bonvoy™* properties
• Earn 2 points for every $1 in all other Card purchases
• Receive an Annual Free Night Award for up to 35,000 points at eligible
hotels and resorts worldwide every year after your first anniversary
• No annual fee on Additional Cards
• Redeem points for free nights with no blackout dates at over 7,000 of the world’s most desired hotels
• Automatic Marriott Bonvoy Silver Elite status membership
• Receive 15 Elite Night Credits each calendar year with your Marriott
Bonvoy™ American Express® Card. These can be used towards
attaining the next level of Elite status in the Marriott Bonvoy program
• Enjoy an automatic upgrade to Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status when you reach $30,000 in purchases on the Card each year
Marriott Bonvoy™ Business American Express® Card
• Earn 60,000 Welcome Bonus Marriott Bonvoy™ points after you charge
$5,000 in purchases to your Card in your first three months of
Cardmembership. Plus, earn a $150 Statement Credit after spending
$15,000 in purchases in your first year of Cardmembership. Offers
subject to change at any time.
• Receive an Annual Free Night Award automatically each year after your anniversary
• Enjoy an automatic upgrade to Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status when you reach $30,000 in purchases on your Card each year
• Receive 15 Elite Night Credits each calendar year with your Marriott
Bonvoy Business American Express Card. These can be used towards
attaining the next level of Elite status in the Marriott Bonvoy program
• You can earn 3 points for every $1 in Card purchases on eligible gas, dining and travel
• Earn 5 points for every $1 in Card purchases at participating
Marriott Bonvoy properties. Earn 2 points for every $1 in purchases
charged to the Card everywhere else
• Make the most of a suite of business management tools that give you more control over your business anytime and anywhere
Wrapping it up
With travel being limited for most Canadians many of will be spending another summer exploring our great country instead of going to far off lands! I know much of what we discuss on our website is the utilization of points and miles for dream vacations to those far flung destinations but often we forget there can be great value and enjoyment from those points and miles here at home. And since most of the travels this summer will be by car that really means using points for hotel stays and that's where the Marriott Bonvoy program and its associated credit cards shine.
Title image via Marriott
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