Marriott Elite Night Credits Posted – Here’s How To Choose Your Benefits

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July 13, 2020

Back on June 15th, Marriott announced that they would be taking steps to re-engage with their top tier members and incentivize them to stay at Marriott hotels again.

For those that didn’t read the article, I’ll give a brief synopsis. If you were a status member for 2020, you would receive half of your Elite Night Credits (ENCs) to help you “qualify” for status for the 2021 year. This was a bit of a moot point because if you have earned your status for 2020, it was automatically extended for the 2021 status year, however, this promotion gave you a way to re-earn additional benefits such as Suite Night Awards (SNAs) and a free hotel night (up to 40,000 points) if you made it to Titanium.

Below is a chart of how many ENCs you would receive if you made status for the 2020 Status Year:

Nights Have Been Credited

Over the weekend, my Elite Night Credits landed in my account and bumped me up to 61 nights. That was comprised of 23 nights of stays in 2020 and Marriott’s promised ENCs of 38 nights.

At 50 nights, you cross the threshold to become a Platinum member and at 75 nights, Titanium. Crossing both these tiers allows you to choose your Choice Benefits but finding the link to do so isn’t exactly user-friendly. So how do you do it?

How To Choose Your Benefits

When you cross the threshold for Platinum or Titanium, you should receive an email notifying you of the fact but there have been plenty of reports suggesting that some people haven’t been receiving those emails so I thought I would just give you the direct link and a walkthrough of the process.

Simply go to https://choice-benefit.marriott.com/en-us/marriott-bonvoy and sign in. Here you will see your options to choose your benefits.

Suggested Benefits to Select

At the Platinum level, there are five choice benefits you can select from:

Add five Elite Night Credits to your 2020 total
Save 40% on a bed from your favorite hotel brand
Gift Marriott Bonvoy Silver Elite status to a family member, friend or colleague.
US$100 Charity Donation to WE.
Get five Suite Night Awards™ to redeem for upgrades to suites and premium rooms.

I have bolded the 5 ENCs and the 5 Suite Night Awards as the most valuable benefits. The other benefits are fine but really only suit a select group of people. I personally have chosen the 5 Suite Night Awards.

At the Titanium level, there are only two choice benefits:

One Free Night Award worth up to 40,000 points
Gift Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status to a family member, friend, or colleague

Again, I have bolded the most valuable benefit. Do not be hoodwinked into choosing Gold Status for someone else as lounge access (ie. free breakfast) starts at the next level up, Platinum. Interestingly, last year, you were allowed to choose another 5 Suite Night Awards at the Titanium level but that has been changed for the 2020 Qualifying Year.

For the detail-oriented, you can view the full terms and conditions of the benefit choices at https://choice-benefit.marriott.com/en-us/marriott-bonvoy/terms

Conclusion

While Marriott has already extended your 2020 status for all of 2021, they have generously provided their Top Tier guests with the ability to earn additional benefits at the Platinum and Titanium level. If you have crossed over these thresholds, be sure to make your benefit choices.

New Aeroplan Offer You’ll Want to Take Advantage Of

By

Jayce

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June 17, 2020

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Air Canada and Aeroplan keep knocking it out of the park during this crisis. They have been forthcoming with information and have come up with new innovative ways to engage their loyalty members.

Back in April, Air Canada/Aeroplan announced their plans on extending status for those that already have status for the 2021 status year and introduced the first phase of their Travel at Home promotion. That was quickly followed up with more details on how you could earn status with Air Canada without even flying as part of their second phase of the Travel at Home promo. They then followed up that news with the unbelievable news of bringing Etihad into the fold for redemptions of Aeroplan miles!!!

WOW – REALLY CHEAP AEROPLAN REDEMPTIONS

UPDATE

It has been confirmed by Air Canada/Aeroplan that this promotion works for multi-city redemptions as long as the itinerary is valid, the destinations are within Canada and the US, and the carrier is Air Canada. This obviously opens up a whole world of opportunities for those wanting to stretch the value of your Aeroplan Miles.

Today, Air Canada and Aeroplan have added even more to the slate of good news articles – you can now book Aeroplan award redemptions for 50% off between today (June 17) and July 1, 2020, for all routes between Canada and the US!

The only thing to keep in mind is that travel must be taken between July 1 and October 15, 2020.

The way the promotion works is that you book the standard fare and you will receive 50% of the Aeroplan Miles back within 3 weeks of travel. While it would be nice if the awards priced at 50% off, it’s understandable that they are doing it this way due to the complexity of changes to a fixed award search engine.

For full details on the terms and conditions, refer to the official promotion webpage.

Don’t Think – Just Book

I used to be one of those people that try to over-evaluate an offer before jumping on it, especially when it comes to mistake fares, but for this promotion, I am encouraging you to book as soon as possible and worry about making it work after. Why, you ask? Well, Air Canada is committed to providing flexible cancellation on award bookings until August 31, 2020.

This means that if you book something for travel towards the end of August and COVID is still a pressing concern, you can cancel your award, receive your Aeroplan miles back into your account, and be refunded the amount you paid for taxes and fees. No harm – no foul.

If You Have Status

For those of you that took advantage of Air Canada’s status promotion, you would have already received your status. This means that this promotion is especially sweet for you because you will now have a YQ waiver for all routes between Canada and the US so the only taxes and fees you will pay are the ones mandated by the government and the airport authorities of the location you are flying from/to.

My Plan

I plan on doing some route research tonight to figure out where we can take a quick vacation. I’m still torn on whether or not the US will be a safe place to visit in the summer but if we feel unsure, there’s always the Maritimes.

Some Interesting Statistics

Air Canada/Aeroplan has also provided me with some interesting statistics on their Travel at Home program that you might get a kick out of.

What I find fascinating about the infographic above is that there have been over 5.5 billion Aeroplan Miles earned or purchased, which suggests that there is pent up demand for travel and specifically award travel. It also suggests that the fear of Air Canada taking over the Aeroplan program is not something that most Canadian are worried about despite WestJet’s attempts to increase that fear.

These numbers also help to reinforce how important a loyalty program is to an airline and how much revenue it can generate even in uncertain times. I would hazard a guess that the Aeroplan program is bringing in more profits for Air Canada than their planes are.

It’s also interesting that only 5,000 people participated in the status upgrade promotion that Air Canada provided as part of their Travel from Home promotion, which helps alleviate any concerns current status members may have with program dilution.

Conclusion

I don’t have enough good things to say about how well Air Canada and the Aeroplan team have handled the COVID situation and I again applaud them for their efforts with this promotion. Take advantage of this promotion as I’m sure with 5.5 billion Aeroplan Miles itching for a new home, demand for these flights may be high.

Marriott Promotion – Cheaper Stays and Easier Access to Status

By

Jayce

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June 15, 2020

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I, like many of you, received an email from Marriott this morning detailing their current push to bring customers back to their hotels. With COVID-19 having a devastating effect on travel, hotels have been hit as hard as airlines with many temporarily closing due to a lack of guests. It’s no wonder that many chains are now trying to entice their guests back.

Points Saving on Bookings

Marriott has put over 5,500 of their properties in “off-peak” for stays until July 31, 2020, if you book between June 15-30, 2020. That means you can save a lot of points if you happen to be taking in a long stay between now and July 31st, like I am.

I am currently scheduled for a 10-night stay in a Category 6 hotel in Vancouver towards the end of this month and was booked in for the Standard rate of 50,000 points/night. As with all Marriott award stays, when you book 4 nights, the 5th night is free so I was on the hook for 400,000 points (50,000 x 8).

After seeing the promotional email, I cancelled my original booking and rebooked for the same dates but now at “off-peak” pricing.

The total for the stay is now 320,000 Marriott points, a savings of 80,000 points, or 20% off.

Watch Out!

This is a bit of a niche situation but if you are:

Staying for 5, 10, 15, 20 or any increment of 5-nights AND
You have a free night certificate from either a credit card benefit or elite night benefit AND
Your hotel’s per night redemption cost is less than the value of your certificate

Exercise caution when you get to check-out. By default, Marriott will attempt to use your free night certificate. If you use that free night certificate, you will replace the free night from your Redeem for 4 Nights and Get the 5th Free benefit.

If you aren’t careful, you will literally throw away a free night for nothing so exercise caution.

Accelerated Status

Status members are the lifeblood of any loyalty program and Marriott is no different. They are desperate to keep their top-tier members so they have devised another promotion to keep their members engaged.

This promotion is targetted at those that already have status with Marriott from the 2019 Qualifying Year (2019 Calendar Year). If you have status, Marriott will be gifting you 50% of your Elite Night Credit (ENCs) to help you make it to the next tier.

Let’s try some examples:

If you stayed 75 nights in 2019, you would be a Titanium Member. Your status would extend to February 28, 2022, due to the COVID situation. This means that you don’t have to stay another night at a Marriott to keep your Titanium status for 2020 – 2021 but to incentivize you to keep staying at Marriotts, they are gifting you 38 ENCs (50% of 75) to entice you to qualify for Titanium or Ambassador status during the 2020 Qualifying Year. This benefits you in that you can earn your threshold benefits (Suite Night Awards and Free Night Certificates) at 50 nights and 75 nights. You also have the added benefit of potentially qualifying for Ambassador status … if you happen to have $20,000 in spend at Marriott hotels.

To me, this really benefits those at the Gold and Silver levels because it makes qualifying for Platinum that much easier and Platinum is the level where you receive lounge access at most hotels. As I have written before, lounge access is a pretty big benefit for those that like to save money on breakfast and snacks while traveling. It’s especially great for families because saving money at breakfast over a long stay can really add up.

For a current Gold member, you would already have 13 nights (from the promotion) towards your Platinum status, which is granted at 50 nights. If you add those 13 nights to the 15 ENCs you receive for getting the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card, that would give you 28 nights, leaving you just 22 shy of Platinum status.

Now … if you were creative and took advantage of the Points Savings on Bookings Promotion, perhaps you could find a Category 1 hotel and book 22 nights for 90 Marriott points (remember the 5th night is free). Boom, you now have Platinum status and a hotel room for the good part of a month.

For those that want to really save your points, it’s not uncommon for rates to fall below the off-peak price. I won’t give away the hotel or dates but here’s one that was found recently.

If you can find that rate, you would only need to spend 72,000 Marriott points for the 28 ENCs to get to Platinum in the example above.

Conclusion

COVID sucks a lot but those that are keeping up to date with promotions from airlines and hotels can really cash in on the need for these programs to attract and retain their top-tier members. As with all promotions, take advantage if it makes sense for you. I have personally saved 80,000 points with this promotion already and it’s likely to come into play when I decide where I am staying for the remainder of 2020.

AMAZING NEWS! Etihad Is Now A Aeroplan Partner!

By

Jayce

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June 3, 2020

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This morning I received an email from an Aeroplan contact that Aeroplan is now partnered with one of the world’s premier airlines, Etihad (EY)!

I was lucky enough to fly Etihad’s First Class Apartments as well as their Business Class cabin during my trip to Australia and the Middle East. Both were an amazing experience with the Apartments being heads and shoulders, the best flight experience I have ever had.

Now, as an Aeroplan member, you have access to these flights as well, and best of all, they can be combined with other Star Alliance flights. This seems to indicate that there is the potential that Etihad (EY) may join Star Alliance at some point but today’s news is strictly affecting Aeroplan.

The Details

Award flights with Etihad are subject to the standard Aeroplan Fixed Mileage Flight Reward Chart. For convenience, I have posted the relevant mileage to the Middle East and North Africa, the location of Etihad’s hub, Abu Dhabi (AUH). If you can’t see the image well, the redemptions are 80K/135K/165K/230K for Economy, Premium Economy, Business, and First Class (prices are for a round-trip).

The other HUGE news in this announcement is that there is NO FUEL SURCHARGE on Etihad flights!!!!

First Class Apartments

Etihad’s world-famous First Class Apartments look to be bookable on Aeroplan, which is absolutely amazing! First Class Apartments are specific to the A380 and not the 777 so if you are looking to book a First Class Apartments, you first need to figure out where the A380 flies.

Etihad currently flies the A380 to 5 destinations from Abu Dhabi (AUH). Those destinations are London (LHR), New York (JFK), Paris (CDG), Seoul (ICN), and Sydney (SYD). For those looking for the most up to date information on where Etihad’s A380 flies, you can check out the iFlyA380 website.

The First Class Apartments feature a communal bar area that is shared with the Business Class cabin but the star of the show is certainly the onboard shower and the Apartment itself.

Availability

Etihad has always been a bit stingy with North American outbound flights and my initial cursory look seems to indicate the same thing so if you want to fly Etihad, I would try starting at another destination that Etihad flies from/to.

In the example above, I was able to find First Class Apartment availability from Abu Dhabi (AUH) to New York (JFK) but it was difficult to find it on the reverse routing.

Conclusion

This is AMAZING news for Aeroplan and great news for members like you and me. Etihad was a very exclusive airline that was difficult to fly on award for Canadians and now it is infinitely easier! The fact that there is no fuel surcharge on Etihad flights makes it unbelievable!

Start playing around with your routing and good luck! I hope all of you can experience showering at 40,000 feet!