Marriott Bonvoy just sent out an email to all members informing them that the Suite Nights Awards benefit has been adjusted for the new year.

What Is A Suite Night Award?

What Is The Current State Of It?

We have long had mixed feelings about Suite Nights Awards. The idea of securing a guaranteed free upgrade to a great suite for a special trip sounds nice. In reality, however, we have yet to experience a situation where Suite Nights have been approved and we have been able to benefit from them. In fact, we still have five nights open this year, although we have already tried to redeem the award several times, but in reality you only get an upgrade if the hotel would otherwise not sell the suite and therefore all of our requests were rejected in the end.

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What Are The Updates?

So when Marriott announced changes, especially with the tantalizing title "Suite Night Awards Are Getting Sweeter", we were looking forward to the fact that the shortcomings known in the community might now be addressed. Unfortunately, we are disappointed with the adjustments, as many things are even worse than before and the "improvements" are minimal.

The updates that Marriott informed about in the last email are as follows:

„Nightly Upgrade Awards will be the new name of Suite Night Awards.“

New in 2024: By changing the name to Nightly Upgrade Awards, Marriott is simply reflecting the current situation that the upgrade is not necessarily a suite upgrade, but a much smaller upgrade. This begs the question of why the award is needed at all, given that Platinum and especially Titanium members should get upgrades to any available better room, including suites.

Current state: The current name is Suite Night Awards. But even today, this is misleading. When you request the actual upgrade, you are currently able to select the exact room type you would accept, but you will find that depending on the hotel, this can be as small as the second room category and definitely not all available suites, in most cases only the entry-level suite or even the largest bedroom.

„Additional Brands to choose from when redeeming your award including The Ritz-Carlton and EDITION.“

New in 2024: Nightly Upgrade Awards will also include The Ritz-Carlton, EDITION, Aloft, Element, and Protea Hotels.

Current state: Currently, you cannot redeem Suite Night Awards at the following brands: The Ritz-Carlton, The Ritz-Carlton Reserve, The Ritz-Carlton Destination Club, EDITION, Protea Hotels, Aloft, Element, Design Hotels™, all-Suite Hotels, Marriott Executive Apartments, Marriott Vacation Club, Marriott Grand Residence Club properties and Vistana properties.

„Nearly 20% More Premium Rooms and Suites“

This is based mainly on the addition of new brands and has nothing to do with better suites than before, as Marriott notes that future upgrade options will include rooms with features like oceanfront views, extra space, balconies and more, all of which represent just minimal upgrades to a standard room.

„Notifications Closer to Check In starting three days to prior to arrival“

New in 2024: To present this as an improvement is not only cheeky but also quite simply a lie, because contrary to what Marriott is saying, it is not the case that in future you can be certain three days in advance whether the upgrade will be approved - no, because that remains at 2 p.m. the day before. The period is merely shortened and it is now even technically impossible to get the upgrade confirmed five days in advance.

Current state: Currently, even though you can request the suite night upgrades months in advance (as soon as you have a valid reservation), you will receive the confirmation up to five days before your arrival. In reality, however, it will be 2 p.m. local time the day before your arrival, as the hotels try to sell the better rooms as long as possible before giving them away as free upgrades.

The Sad Conclusion

Suite Night Awards are a benefit that is supposed to be designed to make loyal customers very happy. Unfortunately, the community has long complained about serious shortcomings, and now Marriott has devalued it even further. Announcing this as something positive is an insult to the frequent traveler target group of loyal customers. We sincerely hope that Marriott will respond to their customers' feedback and fundamentally revise the benefit.

You can find all the details about the planned changes here: What's Changing with Suite Night Awards™ (SNAs)? (External Link)