There’s no more divisive hotel loyalty award than the Marriott Bonvoy Suite Night Award. While you’ll read endless complaints from Marriott loyalists about how the SNA certificates you earn by reaching the 50-night threshold are useless, it’s still the best option for most members.
Members of the Marriott Bonvoy program receive a Platinum Annual Choice benefit when they reach 50 nights. The award options are:
- 5 Suite Night Awards
- $1,000 off a bed from Marriott Bonvoy retail brands
- Gift Marriott Bonvoy Silver Elite status to a family member or friend
- $100 donation to the Arne M. Sorenson Hospitality Fund, UNICEF, or the WWF
- 5 Elite Night Credits
The majority of people choose the 5 Suite Night Awards. While the upgrades are not confirmable at booking and will only be confirmed 5 days before your arrival, there’s still a chance you’ll get an amazing upgrade. We’ve used our Suite Night Awards to get a room in the Chambers Wing at the St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel. Our friends used a Suite Night Upgrade at The Stoneleigh in Dallas and were upgraded to the Presidental Suite.
You can also use Suite Night Award upgrades at lower-grade Marriott hotels where there’s a higher chance of getting an upgrade. We received a higher floor at the Residence Inn in Manhattan with a nice view of Times Square.
There are some restrictions on using a Suite Night Award for a reservation. One of them that trips up the most guests is that you need to have enough Suite Night Awards for your entire stay. If you’re staying for five nights, you need to have five upgrade nights remaining.
But what if you’re staying for more than 5 nights?
Fortunately, Marriott lets you stack the SNAs from subsequent years. For example, we have an upcoming 6-night stay at a Marriott hotel and I wanted to apply for an upgrade. However, I only had 5 SNAs in Sharon’s account.
She’s already reached Platinum for this year so we were able to select a Platinum Annual Choice Benefit for 2024. The SNAs are awarded when you reach 50 nights and are good until the end of the following year. Once I chose the SNA benefit, the upgrades immediately showed in her account. This means we’re able to use up to 10 nights for a reservation in 2023.
I viewed the reservation we have for December and was given the opportunity to apply for an upgrade.
I rolled the dice and put in for an upgrade. There are no amazing suites at this hotel but if this SNA clears we’ll have twice the space of a regular room for the same price.
Am I counting on the upgrade to clear? Obviously not. If I end up in the same room that we booked, that will be fine. But if we do get the upgrade, it would be worth it for the 6 SNAs used on the reservation.
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4 comments
I only apply when my wife and I are traveling on vacation to Europe and only for suites that have a separate living area. Interestingly, my 3 SNAs just cleared, 24 hrs prior to checking, at our Bonvoy property in Greece.
Also remember can only be used after making the reservation if eligible it will say take an upgrade you’ve earned it towards the bottom
While Bovoy’s 50 night choices are uninspiring, SNA’s can once in a while make a big difference.
I almost always get an upgrade when I request, including at the Danieii, no longer a Marriott, in Venice, Italy. Was given a room that was going for $5,250 per night. We paid $269
Also got a $2,400 suite in Salzburg, Austria. Those were my best scores, but almost always get the upgrade. Generally only try at full service hotels. Mattiott is not perfect and sometimes you run into a Marriott that should be a Motel 6, but overall they are very good.