Marriott Rewards Is Increasing The Number Of Points You Can Earn For Free

Marriott Rewards really wants to interact with you via Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.  They’ve had a program previously that allowed you to earn points for social media interaction.  But the amount of points you could earn was significantly limited.  That made it easy for me to ignore.

The folks at Marriott reached out to let me know that there were some changes to the #MRPoints program.  For starters, they renamed the program #RewardsPoints.

The previous annual limit on points earning was 2,500 points.  That’s been drastically increased to 45,000 points per year.  Under the previous points limits, I pretty much ignored this program.  2,500 points doesn’t go very far.  And I can’t say I loved the idea of linking my social media accounts to my Marriott Rewards account.  45,000 points is enough for a pretty decent hotel stay, so color me intrigued.

If you haven’t previously linked your accounts, Marriott will give you 250 points each to link your Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts to your Marriott Rewards account.  You can earn an additional 125 points each for following Marriott Rewards on Instagram and Twitter.

They’re running a few programs each month that allow you to earn more points, up to that maximum of 45,000 per year.

Marriott also detailed some new experiences they’ve rolled out.  You’ve heard me discuss SPG Moments, whether it was a tennis lesson with Andre Agassi at the US Open for my wife or tickets to a Billy Joel concert in a suite.  Well, Marriott seems to be rolling out a number of new experiences:

The first collection in the ongoing global master class series features hands-on learning experiences with basketball great Dwyane Wade, Hall of Fame golfer Annika Sörenstam, Tennis great Maria Sharapova, celebrated chef Eric Ripert and legendary surfer Laird Hamilton.  More master classes will be announced in the coming weeks.

The Final Two Pennies

As a lifetime SPG Platinum member, I still think of Marriott Rewards points in terms of how many SPG points their worth.  In this case, 45,000 Marriott Rewards points is 15,000 Starpoints.  That’s approximately enough points for a free night at the fabulous Equinox, a Luxury Collection Resort in Vermont, or a handful of nights at a lesser property.

That’s probably enough to motivate me to play along. It will depend on the effort.  The key point here is for folks who don’t generate a lot of points from travel or credit card spend.  The opportunities to earn points without a financial commitment have waned over the years.  Earning cheap/free travel may take a bit of elbow grease through promotions like this.

I’ll keep an eye on these promotions.  I’ll report back if they seem easy to achieve.  Let me know what your experience is with the program.

Happy hunting!

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