Marriott Bonvoy has the highest number of guest rooms of any hotel portfolio globally—more than 1.5 million rooms across 141 countries. That means the chances you’ve stayed at one of the 30 different Marriott brands is high.

If you’re a frequent or even occasional guest at Marriott properties, there are a myriad of ways that you can earn points as well as elite status.

The AC Hotel by Marriott Colón Valencia markets itself as a “four-star lifestyle hotel in the center of Valencia.” Earlier this year, my wife and I spent five nights at this property during the annual Las Fallas festival in Valencia, Spain.

The AC Hotel by Marriott Colón, Valencia is located in the heart of Valencia’s commercial and financial district. | Photo courtesy of Marriott.com

The festival is a celebration of art, religion and satire that culminates on March 19, when the neighborhoods get together to burn massive, brightly colored papier-mâché structures.

Marriott has announced major changes to its Bonvoy program. There were a couple of good things in today’s announcement, but overall, the changes aren’t positive ones with the announcement that they are eliminating their award chart in March 2022, and award pricing will instead be fully dynamic. 

The short story is that award pricing is likely to go up in most cases.

In years past, hotel or airline elite status was something unattainable for me. It was also something I didn’t particularly desire. For someone who prefers to stay at a cheap hostel rather than a five-star hotel, it just wasn’t a priority.

However, everything changed in 2020 when the thought of staying in a multi-person dorm while traveling made me want to sanitize every door knob I’d touched that day.

In 2020, I earned Marriott Platinum Elite status without much effort, and in 2021, I became Marriott Titanium Elite (to my own surprise).

Anna’s note: Israel is still closed to tourists and only Israeli citizens are allowed to enter. Please check updated travel restrictions before making any plans.

Know the Entry Requirements for Each Country

As travel resumes, it’s paramount to know each country’s requirements, even if you are just transiting through and are there for a short layover. I like IATA’s Travel Regulations Map and Kayak also maintains a comprehensive list of travel restrictions by country. 

United has its own resource where you can check international travel requirements.

Many people, myself included, are finding themselves with a number of top-tier status with different hotel loyalty programs. Given the pandemic, most major hotels groups reduced the requirements for earning status.

In case you didn’t know, I’m a big fan of the Maldives. To me, there’s no better holiday than being on a secluded island in the middle of the ocean with plenty of great diving and privacy.

I know for some of you that may sounds like a nightmare, but if you’re feeling the beckoning of the Maldives then I’ve got some exciting news for you.

Marriott is opening a new property in the Maldives later this year.

I must admit, I’ve been to many countries throughout the world, but I’ve only been to Florida once in my life. So between the latest COVID-related travel restrictions that include testing before you can fly back to the U.S., and my need to escape the cold grey Midwest winter, I’ve decided that now is a good time to explore South Florida’s Gulf Coast. I was attracted by the wide, white sand beaches, mild February temperatures and opportunity to book some  very attractive properties with points.

My last trip was February 2020. My wife and I returned home from an awesome week-long stay at Scrub Island Resort in the British Virgin Islands not knowing that it would be our last trip for a long time. We had tons of trips all over the world planned for 2020 that we would slowly begin cancelling one-by-one: 3 weeks in South Africa, a trip to Chile and Argentina, a few trips to Europe, and tons of domestic trips as well.

Like many of you, we’ve been pretty cooped up for the last year or so.

Right after the Marriott/SPG merger this past weekend, Marriott announced how hotel certificates from travel packages bought before August 18 would convert in the new travel package pricing system, at least for the remainder of 2018.

Travel Package Hotel Certificates bought before August 18	Conversion
Category 1-5 (Good at hotels that cost up to 25k points per night)	Category 1-4 (Good at hotels that cost up to 25k points per night)
Category 6 (30k)	Category 1-4 (25k)
Category 7 (35k)	Category 5 (35k)
Category 8 (40k)	Category 5 (35k)
Category 9 (45k)	Category 6 (50k)
Ritz Tier 1-3 (50k)	Category 6 (50k)
Ritz Tier 4-5 (70k)	Category 7 (50k)

Your hotel certificates must be redeemed at its converted category (in other words, they aren't worth x amount of points to use at whatever property). The points pricing I listed to the right of the converted categories is standard, to represent the more accurate translation.