Marriott Bonvoy Will Ditch Award Charts, Move to Dynamic Pricing Soon
Marriott has revealed some big news today that will affect the value of your Marriott Bonvoy points. We can’t call it a complete shock, because it has been rumored for a while. But it has now been confirmed that Marriott Bonvoy will move to dynamic award pricing.
One of the benefits of accumulating hotel or airline points, is so you can get look for those sweet spots where you get extra value for your points. But with what Marriott calls ““flexible points redemption rates,” award prices will be based on cash prices. So your Marriott Bonvoy points will have a somewhat fixed range of value. That’s similar to some other hotel programs such as Hilton and IHG.
One Mile at a Time was first to report this change, but we still do not know all the details. But this is bad news, regardless of the full details. One good thing is that you have a few months to continue redeeming points based on the current award chart. The change will go into effect starting in March 2022. The exact date has not been announced yet. But even after March, you will still see most properties use the current award chart.
Between March 2022 and the end of that 2022, award pricing for more than 97% of properties will continue to range between the current off-peak and peak redemption rates. But, each hotel will be able to set its own points prices within that range. 3% of hotels might have redemption rates in a higher range during that period. Then starting in 2023, there will be no more points restrictions on any properties.
Even after these changes, you will continue to get the fifth night for free, when you redeem Marriott Bonvoy points for four nights.
Guru’s Wrap-up
Even without knowing all the details, we can be sure that this is a negative change. With no award chart restrictions, hotels can price their properties as they wish, the same way they set their cash prices.
The only good news in this announcement is that you have until March and likely until the end of 2022 to book your properties at current award pricing. Plus elite status and some other benefits have been extended once again.
