Marriott International is best known as the largest hotel group in the world. At last count, it had over 8,000 properties globally spanning brands such as Aloft & Four Points by Sheraton to W Hotels and The St. Regis.

While it’s legacy business (hotels & resorts) is very well known, in May 2019, it launched another vertical called Homes & Villas by Marriott to compete with the likes of Air BnB and other home rental operators. If you are after long term rentals and looking for some extra space and privacy, Marriott Homes & Villas offer a nice alternative to your average hotel stay.

When it launched, accommodation was limited to places such as United States and Europe, then sometime last year Marriott expanded its offering by bringing its long-stay model to Australia & New Zealand. At the time of writing of this post, you can also book homes in Malaysia, Indonesia, India and much of Europe. Bookings can be made through this link.

Earn 40,000 Marriott Bonvoy Points on 4+ Nights Stay

Last week, Marriott Homes & Villas announced details of its upcoming promotion which can potentially be quite lucrative. The promotion is not LIVE yet, so don’t go rushing to make the booking. Additionally, it has very specific booking and stay requirement.

Under the terms of the promo :

• Marriott Bonvoy members will earn bonus 40,000 points on stays of 4+ nights.
• Booking must be made between 1 May and 3 May 2023.
• Stay must be completed between 1 May and 9 September 2023.
• You don’t need to register for the promotion and there is no minimum spend required.

A Marriott Homes & Villas Property, Image : Courtesy Marriott

As you can tell, it has a narrow booking window which isn’t ideal. But for those who can make it work, there is a very juicy reward in the form of 40,000 bonus points. I value Marriott points at A$0.008 (8/10th of 1 cent) which makes this bonus worth $320.

Of-course that’s just the price I consider to be fair for acquiring Marriott points, when redeeming them, you could extract up to A$0.02 (2 cent per point) in value which makes those points worth up to $800.

Earning Points with Marriott Homes and Villas

Marriott Bonvoy members who book a stay through Homes & Villas earn points at the same rate as Marriott’s other long stay brands. Earning rates are based on USD spend. Specifically:

• Members earn 5 points per $1
• Silver Elites earn 10% bonus – 5.5 points per $1
• Gold Elites earn 25% bonus – 6.25 points per $1
• Platinum Elites earn 50% bonus – 7.5 points per $1
• Titanium & Ambassador Elites earn 75% bonus – 8.75 points per $1

All members earn 1 elite night credit for each night of stay. Elite members also receive additional points as Welcome Gift.

• Gold Elites receive 500 points.
• Platinum, Titanium & Ambassador Elites receive 1,000 points.

How to Maximise the Promotion

The way I look at it, you can use this promotion to your advantage in two different ways.

• You could book a 4-night rental at a destination of your choice and have a nice holiday with friends and/or family. This is ideal if you were planning to book a getaway anyway, in which case the bonus 40,000 points are a nice little earner on the side.
  
  

• The alternative is to use the promotion to do mattress run’s to build-up your stockpile of Marriott points & earn elite night credits. You could do multiple 4-night rentals and earn 40,000 bonus points each time. Do it 5 times during the promotion and you collect a cool 200,000 bonus points.

For those unfamiliar, mattress run is a term frequently used in points and miles universe to define a booking made solely for the purpose of earning points or elite night credits without any intention to actually stay in the accommodation. This might seem like a waste of money, but sometimes the rewards are disproportionately higher which makes undertaking this type of exercise worthwhile.

A Marriott Homes & Villas Property, Image : Courtesy Marriott

Anyhow, if you were considering a mattress run, its best to focus on inexpensive properties preferably somewhere closer to where you live. The type or setting of the property is less relevant since you are not actually staying in it. The mattress running becomes significantly more valuable if you are already invested in the Marriott Bonvoy Program and make frequent stays at Marriott properties.

With that said, here are a few examples of properties that you may consider if you were looking to use this promotion for a mattress run. I have used properties in and around Sydney in my examples, but you can look for somewhere closer to where you live.

Example 1

What you see above is a property in Cessnock bookable through Homes & Villas by Marriott. Cessnock is a small town located in the Hunter Valley which is a major wine-growing region in NSW.

A 4-night rental at this property can be had for AUD 790 which is a cost of under $200 per night. Under the promotion this booking may earn approx 42,385 Marriott Bonvoy points, not including any status related bonuses. I value those points at about $381 which brings down the net cost of stay to just over AUD 400.

Note that this property can accommodate up to 5 guests, meaning if you bring friends or family along and split the cost, your actual out-of-pocket expense can be much lower.

Example 2

This is an example of a property at Nelson Bay which is located in the Port Stephens region, about 1.5 hrs North of Sydney. Port Stephens is very popular with Sydneysiders who regularly make a beeline for it on long weekends and during school holidays.

A 4-night stay at this property costs AUD 736 which is not far-off the previous example. This means that you can expect to earn somewhat similar number of points. However, the property can only accommodate 2 people, so just be aware of that.

Example 3

If you live in Canberra, this is one of many inexpensive properties you can book. At just AUD 508, your nightly cost is a piddly AUD 126 per night which is near perfect for a mattress run.

Under the promotion, this booking may earn approx 41,534 Marriott Bonvoy points, not including any status related bonuses. I value those points at about $373 which brings down the net cost of stay to AUD 135. Not a bad return at all.

Example 4

While you can scavenge for inexpensive properties in Australia, you will do infinitely better by booking a property in Asia. If you have travel plans that may take you to Asia over the coming months, here are a couple of example properties to consider.

The property you see above is located in the popular shopping precinct of Bukit Bintang in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. At a cost of just under USD 200 for a 4-night stay, the property offers tremendous value for those who can book a mattress run here.

Under the promotion, this booking may earn approx 40,850 Marriott Bonvoy points, not including any status related bonuses. I value those points at about USD 286 meaning your return in points actually exceeds what you pay in Cash. How good a deal is that 😉

Example 5

I left the best until the last as you can tell from the property above. This 1 bed, 1 bath property in Kuala Lumpur costs as little as USD 100 for a 4-night stay, that’s a scarcely believable USD 25 per night 😲

In return, you are looking at a haul of at least 40,400 Marriott Bonvoy points, not including any status related bonuses. I value those points at about USD 282 meaning your are getting back nearly 3x the value in points over what you pay in Cash. Home Run ⚾

In Conclusion

Homes & Villas by Marriott are about to launch their most valuable promotion till date. Marriott Bonvoy members can earn 40,000 bonus points on a 4-night stay when they make the booking between May 1 and 3 and complete the stay between May 1 and September 9.

If you have travel plans over coming months and are looking for ways to earn Marriott points, the promotion is all but a no-brainer. Even if you don’t, it might still be worth doing a mattress run or two and scoop-up Marriott points on the cheap.

There is no cap on the number of times you can earn the bonus during the promotional period, so you could book multiple 4-night stay and earn 40,000 bonus points each time. In theory at-least, that makes this promotion worth hundreds of thousands of points.

Generally speaking, Marriott points are pretty difficult to earn in Australia. There are no cards that earn Marriott points directly, transfers from American Express plus a few other cards remain the only accessible source of generating Marriott points. In that sense, this promotion offers a rare opportunity to Australians to walk away with a meaningful number of points.

Do you actively collect Marriott Points? Leave a comment below.