Have you renewed your Elite status with Marriott? You have until Feb. 1 to choose your annual gift

I have never stayed so many nights in hotels in the chain. Marriott as this year, at least judging from my dashboard summarizing the 2024 activity.

I came close to 100, stopping at 91 nights stay for a total of just over $7,000 spent on hotels, An average of just over 76$ per night, And here one might think, "Hey bum, what hovels did you end up sleeping in?"

The nice thing is that this year, as I showed in the so many reviews of Hotel Marriott, I have stayed in many luxury hotels such as the W Sydeny, the St Regis in Beijing or the JW in Hanoi And many others. In reality, however, I slept just over half of these nights, because many are the result of the promotion double nights qualifyingi of the beginning of the year and in many cases as at the Toronto Sheraton I slept using stitches.

I then renewed my Titanium Elite status and earned, again this year, the opportunity to choose my two gifts.

Annual Choice Benfeti, what are they

I have already explained in detail what Annual Choice Benefits are and how they work, in short are two gifts that the Bonvoy program grants when crossing the finish line Of the 50 and 75 nights stayed.

Compared with previous years, little or nothing has changed. Let's say that the big news was the entry into force of the new mode of disbursement of Nightly Upgrade Awards. announced at the end of 2023.

Annual Choice Benefit, my choices

I again this year as a prize for the 50th night stayed. I chose precisely the 5 certificates valid for as many upgrades during 2025.

Same choice also for the prize that is triggered upon reaching the 75th night. Again this year I preferred to take a free night to 5 other NUAs. The reason is simple, 5 I can consume during the year, 10 is much more complicated and after I wasted no less than 5 credits in 2023, I prefer the certainty of a free night to 5 possible upgrades.

The novelty in the lines of the regulation

Use of the Nightly Upgrade award is based on the availability of the requested suite or premium room. Availability verification begins as early as five (5) days prior to arrival (as of December 2024, for all brands except EDITION, Ritz-Carlton and St. Regis where fulfillment will begin three (3) days prior to arrival) . Availability is checked each day prior to arrival until approximately 2 p.m. local time of the Participating Property one (1) day prior to arrival.

In practice, this means that you can expect to receive confirmation of NUA acceptance from 5 days before arrival. A small improvement over the current 3 days, although it is worth noting that the three most prestigious insignias in the Marriott portfolio (Edition, Ritz-Carlton and St.Regis) remain at 3 days' notice.

It is good to remember, however. Marriott is not the top player when it comes to benefits for loyal guests, clients who want suites with "award night in suite" are often disappointed since:

• Just because a room is available for reservation does not mean that Marriott makes it available for upgrade through this program.
• In fact, only rooms that a hotel does not plan to sell, including through buy-up at check-in, are assigned.

Upgrades confirmed in IHG are triggered from 14 days after check-in. Hyatt, in contrast, offers it at the time of booking. Certainly this year's is a small improvement, but there is still a long way to go.

In conclusion

It is good to remember to make the selection otherwise Bonvoy will automatically choose for the user and in these cases the choice falls on the allocation of 10 NUA, there is time until February 1 and my advice is to choose by weighing well all the variables and habits.

• Bonvoy