The End Of Marriott’s Points Advance Feature

Marriott has announced that they will be withdrawing their Points Advance feature from the 28th of March 2023 due to varying factors such as low demand. In truth since Marriott started ‘tweaking’ it back in 2019 it was obvious this day would eventually occur…

What happened to Points Advance?

Points Advance used to be a great feature of the Marriott Bonvoy programme. It would allow you to lock in the availability/cost when making points booking without needing the points when booking. All you needed to do was ensure you collected the points by the time your booking comes around. This removed a lot of the difficulty for customers who wanted to switch stays to Marriott but didn’t want to risk the redemption they wanted not being available by the time they earnt the required points.

In theory, it was to the benefit of customers AND Marriott as it encouraged loyalty/pushing stays to Marriott over other hotel brands to earn the required points. Unfortunately, like most good features, Marriott has been gradually removing the benefits of the Points Advance feature. Firstly they removed the ability to lock in the rate and only allowed you to lock in the availability. Finally, they changed the timeframe you were given to get the points required, reducing it to a measly 60 days. Is there any wonder there has been low demand for the feature? 60 days would certainly give you time to make a transfer from your American Express card but if you were collecting points from stays it is a very limited timeframe.

Can I still make a Points Advance booking?

Yes! You can still make a Points Advance booking under the current rules until the 27th of March. This would give you 60 days to get the required points but would only lock in the availability rather than the pricing.

Conclusion

To be fair the removal of the Points Advance feature won’t really affect many. Ever since 2019, the benefits of using it have been gradually removed until there aren’t really any left! Full details on the removal of the Points Advance feature are on Marriott’s website here – https://help.marriott.com/s/article/Article-22133