We appreciate the thought that Marriott recognized the lagging value of their free night certificates, but we think they took the wrong approach.

Marriott allows members to top off free night certificates

In case you weren’t aware of the Marriott Bonvoy program, there are a number of free night certificates you can earn in the program. As a member, you can earn:

• 25k free night certificate (potential new member promotion)
• 35k free night certificate (from the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless, Marriott Bonvoy American Express, or Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express credit cards)
• 40k free night certificate (an option for earning 75 elite nights in a year)
• 50k free night certificate (from the Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful or Marriott Bonvoy Bevy credit cards)
• 85k free night certificate (from the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant or Ritz-Carlton credit cards)

For each of these free night certificates, you could “top off” the value of the certificates with 15,000 points for your award stay. That meant that the 40k free night certificate would allow you to stay at a hotel costing up to 55,000 points. In the case of a hotel costing 55,000, it would cost you both the 40k free night certificate and 15,000 points in your account.

It’s fair to say that over time, the usefulness of the award degraded because Marriott has allowed hotel award prices to creep up over time. As hotel prices go up, it becomes harder to book the same hotel with these free night awards, especially if the award cost creeps up above potential top off on the award.

Now the limit is up to 25,000 points above the value of the certificate

Flash forward to March 12, 2026. Marriott announces that you can now add on 25,000 points on top of the value of the certificate. This should be welcome news, right? This expands the value of the certificates significantly.

• 25k free night certificates usable at hotels up to 50,000 points
• 35k free night certificates usable at hotels up to 60,000 points
• 40k free night certificates usable at hotels up to 65,000 points
• 50k free night certificates usable at hotels up to 75.000 points
• 85k free night certificates usable at hotels up to 110,000 points

Good, right? On the one hand, it’s great that Marriott acknowledges that the certificates themselves have reduced usefulness in today’s points environment. Marriott made a necessary change to increase the relevancy of the awards, especially for the certificates lower in value.

On the other hand…

Devaluations reduced the usefulness, Marriott should have expanded what each certificate covers

By increasing the points top off, Marriott places the burden of the devaluations straight on the member. Let’s remove the ability to top off with points from the certificates for a moment. Go back a few years. What were your opinions of the values of the free night certificates back then? Probably not too bad because Marriott award nights weren’t too expensive.

Now flash forward to present day and again don’t assume you can top off the value of the free night certificate. Has your opinion of the free night award changed? It’s possible it might not have if the hotel you frequent with them is still useable with the same award. But many have felt the cost of free nights going up, in some cases dramatically, over that same time period.

By topping off the certificate, Marriott has allowed you to make up for the shortcomings of the certificate by making it more flexible for your needs. But the end result is the same: the same certificate is less valuable now than it was a few years ago. It’s just masked by the top off, which has been expanded by 10,000 points over the prior limit.

So, while we’re appreciative of Marriott for addressing an issue, it doesn’t really resolve the problem. Most of these certificates are obtained via credit cards, and Marriott has been robbing these credit card holders of value with each annual fee they pay. It’s not like the annual fee is less because the value of the free night certificate went down.

And there lies the bittersweet nature of this change. Marriott had to make the free nights more useful in today’s world, but placed the burden on members. Good for the flexibility, but bad for leaving the onus on members to make up for the problems of the loyalty program.

What are your thoughts on the change to Marriott free night award top off?

• Marriott Bonvoy “Soft Landing” for Elite Status (2026)
• Case in Point: The Way I Value a Marriott Point
• Marriott Just Devalued Awards at Its Aspirational Properties… Simply Painful