Marriott Bonvoy Will End Points Advance Policy

Marriott Bonvoy has offered a feature known as Points Advance, which allows members to book upcoming stays using points without actually having the points in their account, and only “fulfill” the reservation at least 14 days in advance. 

While Points Advance was previously a very attractive element of the program, it has gotten less generous over the years, and Marriott has announced that Points Advance will be fully discontinued as of March 28, 2023.

What Is Marriott Bonvoy’s Points Advance?

Long-time Marriott Bonvoy points collectors will recall the days when Points Advance could be used to lock in the pricing of a future reservation before a devaluation was set to happen. 

For example, if you used Points Advance to make a booking at a property that was pricing at 60,000 Bonvoy points per night, but which would soon be rising to 80,000 Bonvoy points per night, you’d still be able to pay just 60,000 points as long as you cobbled together those points in your account at least 14 days in advance of the stay.

The ability to lock in pre-devaluation pricing was deemed far too generous, given that it resulted in members making lots of speculative bookings whenever one of Marriott’s (frequent) devaluations was announced.

In late 2019, the Points Advance policy was changed to lock in the room, not the rate, when redeeming points without having those points in your account. 

Still, Points Advance had its use cases: for example, if award availability at a certain hotel was very hotly contested, you could strike quickly and lock in a reservation there during a popular period, even if you haven’t accumulated the full amount of points in your account yet (and even if you knew that price would change over time due to ever-encroaching dynamic pricing). 

Points Advance could also be useful if, say, there was a hotel you wanted to book but you were waiting for the points you had earned from an American Express Marriott Bonvoy Card to post to your account on the statement date. You’d be able to lock in the booking, wait for your points to post, and then fulfill the reservation without worrying about the order of operations. 

Points Advance Will Come to an End

It’s therefore somewhat disappointing to hear that Points Advance will be phased out as of March 28, 2023.

Going forward, you’ll need to have enough Bonvoy points sitting in your account to make any booking, and there will…