If you’re sitting on a stack of Marriott 50k free night certificates, you might be wondering how to put them to the best use. You might have earned one or more as an annual credit card perk, or maybe you just picked up five from the current elevated offer on the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Card. Either way, putting them to good use is important!

Let’s go over the details for earning and using Marriott 50k free night certificates.

What Is a Marriott 50K Free Night Certificate?

First, what exactly is this certificate? Well, each certificate:

• Is good for one night at a Marriott hotel priced up to 50,000 points
• Can be topped off with up to 15,000 additional points
• Must be used within 12 months of being earned
• Can be combined with other points or certificates for multi-night stays

It’s important to note that the certificates are worth up to 50,000 points each. This is not the same thing as being worth 50,000 points each. They can’t be used to take 50,000 points off of a stay that costs 80,000 points, for example. To use them, you will need to find a property that costs 50,000 points per night or less.

However, since you can top them off with up to 15,000 points each, you can use them for properties that cost up to 65,000 points, if you have additional points. Points can be transferred from Chase to Marriott.

This makes your certificates way more flexible and opens the door to nicer hotels, better locations, and higher-demand travel dates.

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How to earn Marriott 50k Free Night Certificates

Right now, the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Card comes with five free night certificates worth up to 50,000 points each after meeting the minimum spend of $5,000 in the first three months of account opening.

This card offer usually comes around once a year, and when it does, it’s the best time to grab it! We recently opened it and will likely use our certificates in Washington D.C. or near Disneyland.

The card also comes with an annual 35k free night certificate (not 50k) on each account anniversary as part of the card benefits. This certificate can be topped off with up to 15k points, making it worth up to 50,000 points.

We keep most of our hotel cards open long term since many of them have a low annual fee (around $100) and come with free night certificates. It’s like paying $100 for one hotel night, which is a great deal.

Additionally, both the Marriott Bonvoy Bevy™ American Express® Card and the Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful™ Card earn a 50k free night certificate after you spend $15,000 in one calendar year.

How to find and book award nights

Let’s use Washington D.C. as an example, since this is a likely use of our certificates.

First, go to the Marriott website, type in your city, and choose “Use points/award.”

Next, click on the date and select ‘Flexible Dates.’ Then, choose the month you want to travel. This will bring up the award calendars for each property so you can see the lowest dates and/or which properties can be booked with certificates.

I used the map to narrow down the location, then started checking properties. As you can see, this property is an option, but would require the certificates to be topped off for all but one night during the month. However, they’re all under 65k, which means we could top them off and not be restricted by nights that are too expensive.

Next, I filtered by free breakfast (because it’s expensive to feed four kids!), then used the map again to narrow it down since I know we’ll want to stay within walking distance of the National Mall.

This looks like a winner! Many of the nights are under 50k, so we can use the certificates without needing to top off, or depending on our dates, we might have to top off a few of the certificates, but not all of them.

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Ideas for using your Marriott 50k Free Night Certificates

These certificates are great and can be used in a variety of ways. From more budget options to more bougie options, you can decide what works best for you and your situation.

I tried to find a mix of options that don’t require topping off with ones that will require topping off with additional points. Be sure to use the award calendar to search around for the lowest-priced dates.

Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa

This property has a limited number of nights under 65k, but if you can find them, it’s a great use of your certificates!

SpringHill Suites at Anaheim Resort/Convention Center (Disneyland)

Walking distance to Disneyland and has breakfast included.

There’s another property near Disneyland – the Courtyard Anaheim Theme Park entrance – which is a great property with a really cool waterpark. However, it’s very hard (but not impossible!) to find nights under 65k.

Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center

A great property near Disney World with a huge pool and water park.

There are three other properties near Disney World that all come with WDW benefits. These used to be the best way to use your certificates; however, availability has recently become much harder to find. I recommend searching all three to explore your options.

Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort & Spa

You may need to search a bit for award nights under 65k, but there are definitely some to be found.

Courtyard Aruba Resort

Tropical paradise, anyone?

SpringHill Suites New York Midtown Manhattan/Fifth Avenue

There are several options available in NYC, so take some time to search and use filters to determine what works best for you.

JW Marriott Los Cabos Beach Resort & Spa

Family-friendly resort right on the beach.

Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center

Sprawling property with a waterpark and 10 restaurants.

Coronado Island Marriott Resort & Spa

Gorgeous view of San Diego Bay. We love Coronado!

Residence Inn London Kensington

A great London option with easy access to some of the most popular sights.

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Wrapping Up

The elevated offer for the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Card is the easiest way to earn FIVE Marriott 50k Free Night Certificates. Once you have them, there are a lot of great options for putting them to good use.

This list is not at all exhaustive. There are many other great properties where you could put your certificates to good use. However, this list should help you get started planning an amazing family vacation!