If you’re a fan of the Marriott hotel chains, I’m going to show you some secrets that many of you may not know about on how you can simply stay at a Marriott for a small fee or even for free!  Here’s how you do it –

Join the Marriott Club – The first thing you’re going to want to do is join the Marriott Rewards Program.  Joining the club is completely free and won’t cost you a penny.  I’m going to tell you why you should join the club –

Every time you book a hotel through your account, you’ll receive 10 points per dollar spent.  You only will need 7,500 points for a free stay.  This means you’ll have to spend $750 for a free night, it sounds like a lot but it really adds up!  It only gets better though.

Now, let’s say you have friends that travel too.  Simply invite your friends to the program as well and use your referral link and you’ll get 1,000 points every time your referral stays at a Marriott.  Let’s say you refer just two relatives and they make 2 stays a piece, that’s 4,000 points right there!  That’s very simple.

Check out Blue from American Express- If you’re not familiar with American Express credit cards, you may want to look into applying for the Blue from American Express credit card.  If you use your card for your purchase, you can potentially save 5% at checkout on your purchase.  So, if you’re hotel room is $100, you’ll pay $95 but you’ll still get the 1,000 Marriott points.  See how they add up so quick.

The Marriott Hotel Card – If you don’t like the idea of the American Express card, you can also check out Marriott’s own credit card.  As of July 2009, if you sign up, you can get 15,000 bonus points, that’s enough for a few free hotel night stays.  When you use the card, you’ll also receive three points for every dollars spent at the hotel.

When you sign up for the club, you’ll automatically be put into the “Silver” club.  The more points you get and the more times you spend at the hotel, the more upgrades you’ll get.  When you get upgraded, you generally get more benefits such as your own reservation line, bonus discounts, and much more.  Check out the membership page for more details.

By now, you have a clear understanding on how you can get HUGE discounts at the hotel.  Here’s what I did to get my discounts and how i stayed at a very cheap rate –

  • I referred my mom and dad, they stayed 2 nights = 2,000 points
  • I referred my brother, he stayed 3 nights = 3,000 points
  • I stayed at a hotel for 2 nights @ $100~ using my Blue from AMEX (save 5%) = $2,000 points
  • Total = $7,000 points.  I need 500 more for a $100 room.  So, I spent around $200ish to get a free hotel room.  This process is so simple, I highly recommend everyone looks into this!