Marriott’s fall 2019 promotion is both promising and underwhelming. Promising in the literal sense: You won’t really know what your personalized offer is until after you’ve made two qualifying stays. That’s what “Unlock More” means. But it’s also underwhelming because of the low teaser at the start. Members are only guaranteed a minimum of 2,000 bonus points after completing two stays.
Register until 31 December 2019.
Stay twice to earn 2,000 bonus points.
Two to three days after your second qualifying stay has been posted, you’ll automatically unlock an additional offer with Unlock More. Your additional offer will appear in your online member account and you’ll receive an email with offer details.
Choose from more than 7,000 participating hotels and resorts worldwide between 29 October 2019, and 14 January 2020.
Gone are the days of richly rewarding offers like the endless free night awards Hyatt gave out during the recession. It’s true, 2,000 points isn’t nothing, but it’s not a lot either. Chase has a Marriott Bonvoy credit card that earns 3X points per dollar on all Marriott stays. You’d only need to spend $667 to earn the same 2,000 bonus points that this promo offers.
One has to hope that, once the offer is unlocked, the promotion will be much more rewarding. Perhaps an extra 1,000 points for every stay? Or an escalating scale that offers 4,000, then 6,000, then 8,000 points with every two nights? I could get behind that.
And perhaps that is what we should expect as the new status quo. Complicated promotions that may or may not be worth your while but which certainly aren’t going to be clearly advertised in advance so that guys like me can tell you how to maximize them to your advantage.
If you have some travel plans coming up, definitely register just in case. However, I’ll be spending a quiet holiday at home with the baby and don’t see Marriott’s latest offer as enough motivation to change those plans.
