Marriott Bonvoy has just announced and opened registration for its newest global promotion, which is the program’s first of the year. Marriott’s Q1 promotion tends to be the most generous of the year, and I suspect this year will be no different.
Marriott Bonvoy offering bonus points & elite nights
With Marriott Bonvoy’s new global promotion, members can earn 2,500 Bonvoy bonus points per stay, plus one bonus elite night credit for each unique brand stayed at during the promotion period.
Registration is required for this promotion, and as you’d expect, there are some details to be aware of:
- The promotion is valid for stays between February 25 and May 10, 2026, regardless of when they’re booked
- Registration is required prior to your first eligible stay, and registration closes on April 26, 2026; if you’re having issues with the link, log into your Marriott Bonvoy account and go to the “promotions” tab
- Only stays paid with cash qualify toward this promotion, so award stays (including Cash + Points stays) don’t qualify
- The bonus points and elite nights will typically post within 10 days of when the standard points from a stay post
- You must select Bonvoy points as your points earning preference (rather than airline miles)
- You can only earn this bonus for one room booked per stay (so if you book multiple rooms, you wouldn’t earn this multiple times)
- The bonus elite nights are per brand stayed at during the offer period, so you earn one elite night for each distinct brand you stay at during the promotion dates
Let me emphasize that this isn’t a targeted promotion. All too often people do have issues registering for Marriott Bonvoy promotions, but that’s due to glitches. So if you’re having issues, try a different browser, use the app instead of the website, etc.
The math on this promotion is easy. I value Marriott Bonvoy points at 0.7 cents each, meaning that the promotion offers an incremental $17.50 worth of points per eligible paid stay. That’s obviously more lucrative for a stay at an inexpensive property than at an expensive property.
Then you earn one bonus elite night per eligible paid stay at each distinct brand. Unfortunately this isn’t quite as lucrative as the similar promotions we’ve seen in past years, where Marriott has typically offered a flat one bonus elite night per night stayed, regardless of the brand.
To be clear, with this offer you only earn one bonus elite night per stay at a new brand, so if staying at a new brand for five nights, you wouldn’t earn five bonus elite nights.
Marriott Bonvoy promotions aren’t terribly lucrative nowadays, so this is probably one of the offers that will most interest members.
Normal Bonvoy points earning rates for hotel stays
Not factoring in this promotion, Marriott Bonvoy members ordinarily earn:
- 10x Bonvoy points per dollar spent at most brands
- 5x Bonvoy points per dollar spent at select limited service brands
Then there are elite bonuses:
The above doesn’t include the points you can earn for credit card spending at hotels:
As an Ambassador member with a co-branded credit card, I ordinarily earn 23.5x Bonvoy points per dollar spent at full service brands. At a valuation of 0.7 cents per point, that’s like a ~16% return on hotel spending.
Bottom line
Marriott Bonvoy has opened registration for its latest global promotion, so make sure you register. With this, members can earn 2,500 bonus points per eligible paid stay during the promotion period. On top of that, members can earn one bonus elite night for each distinct brand stayed at.
The first promotion of the year tends to be Marriott’s most lucrative, so I know many members were anticipating this offer. It’s just a shame that Marriott isn’t offering a flat double elite nights this year (or I guess to look at it differently, maybe it’s actually a good thing, since it could help with inflated elite ranks… or is that a lost cause?).
What do you make of Marriott Bonvoy’s new global promotion?