Today’s Reader Question is about a feature of the Marriott Bonvoy program that allows members to collect points for multiple rooms on the same reservation.
Readers are encouraged to send us questions, comments, or opinions by email, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. We’ll try to cover them here several times a week.
Usually, travelers only stay in one room at a time and that takes care of all their needs but every now and then one might travel with family, friends or any other combination of additional guests.
If these people don’t collect points it’s possible to collect Bonvoy points under the lead members account who basically “owns” the reservation for all rooms.
Catherine asked us via email how to go about making a reservation:
I’m taking my kids and parents to Disney for a long weekend and will most likely stay at a Marriott Hotel in the Anaheim area. Can I earn points and stay credit for all of these rooms or do they need their own Bonvoy accounts? …
The answer to this is yes and no. Yes, you can earn points for the spend on all these rooms. However, the stay credit will only be given for ONE room.
You can also find this information on the Marriott website for reference:
Yes, you can earn Marriott Bonvoy® Points on the Qualifying Charges for up to three Rooms at the same participating property, if all of the following conditions are met:
- You are occupying one of the Rooms
- Your Marriott Bonvoy® Member Number is on each Room
- You are personally paying for each Room
- Check-In and Check-Out Dates match for all three Rooms
- Pay a Qualifying Rate or apply an Award Redemption
Please Note: Elite Night Credit is earned only for the Room you, the Member, occupied.
Overall, that’s a fair solution as far as I’m concerned. Depending on how useful it would be for the guests to have individual accounts for the purposes of earning their own elite nights, status credit, or promotional points, it might make sense to sign them up individually. You can always send points back to your own account later.
Mind you, elite benefits are only given to ONE Room where the member with elite status is checked in. You can’t transfer your elite benefits to multiple rooms, even under the same reservation.
Here is how you can reserve something like this on the Marriott website:
Simply select the number of rooms desired and guests per room.
Conclusion
Marriott Bonvoy does allow you to earn points when booking multiple rooms under the same reservation with a Bonvoy member who wants to earn points as a lead guest. You can only earn stay credits (elite qualifying) for one room, irrespective of how many you book.
It’s important to pay attention to the reservation process and ensure the number of guests is added, or there might be problems.
Also, the elite benefits of the lead guest will not apply to other rooms, including lounge access, breakfast, and late check-out, so this is something to keep in mind.
