For the first time, members of the Marriott Rewards frequent guest loyalty program will be able to choose one of two options to earn up to 50,000 bonus Marriott Rewards points in the latest version of the MegaBonus promotion called Choose Your Path — and starting today, Thursday, September 1, 2016 through Thursday, December 15, 2016, you will be able to select the bonus earning option that best reflects the way you travel when you choose a single offer and register for this promotion, which is required by Thursday, September 15, 2016 in order for you to participate.

Choose Your Path of Two Options With Marriott MegaBonus

The two options from which you are to choose for this promotion — which will be in effect from Thursday, September 15, 2016 through Sunday, January 15, 2017 — are as follows:

• Option 1 Earn 10,000 bonus Marriott Rewards points for every ten paid nights at participating hotel and resort properties, up to a maximum of 50,000 bonus points
• Option 2 Earn 5,000 bonus Marriott Rewards points after two paid stays at participating hotel and resort properties, up to a maximum of 5,000 bonus points

Participating Brands

The list of brands which are participating in this promotion include:

• JW Marriott
• EDITION
• Autograph Collection Hotels
• Renaissance Hotels
• AC Hotels by Marriott
• Marriott Hotels & Resorts
• Gaylord Hotels
• Courtyard by Marriott
• SpringHill Suites by Marriott
• Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott
• Residence Inn by Marriott
• TownePlace Suites by Marriott
• Moxy
• Protea Hotels
• Delta Hotels
• Marriott Vacation Club

Stays at The Ritz-Carlton hotel and resort properties — which participates as the exclusive luxury hotel partner to Marriott Rewards — will count towards achievement during this promotion.

Scenarios Not Eligible for Credit

The following scenarios are not eligible for earning credit during this promotion:

• Retroactive stays
• Nights spent while redeeming an award
• Marriott Vacation Club owner-occupied weeks
• Rooms booked through most third party retailers
• Rooms booked through select travel agency bookings
• Members electing to earn airline frequent flier loyalty program miles

Select Terms and Conditions

A stay is defined as consecutive nights spent at the same hotel or resort property — regardless of how many times you check in and check out. Bonus Marriott Rewards points will be awarded to your account within five business days after the qualifying stay has concluded. Only one room per hotel or resort property is counted towards your nights or stay.

All terms and conditions of the Marriott Rewards frequent guest loyalty program apply; and other terms and conditions apply.

Summary

At least with this promotion, you get to choose which option you would like. In the most recent version of the MegaBonus promotion, you were targeted with one of several offers from which you did not have a choice…

…so why would anyone complain about this latest iteration of the MegaBonus promotion? Perhaps Randy Petersen best explained the reason in this article last year: “This version of Marriott’s recurring MegaBonus is offering bonus points only (rather than a free night offer like in the past). It doesn’t hurt to register…but unfortunately, it looks like the ‘stay two times, earn one night free’ (up to Category 4 hotels) offer of the past is gone.”

Then again, 50,000 bonus Marriott Rewards points can get you at least one night in most hotel or resort properties — except for a standard reward at a Hotel Tier 4 property and both standard and PointSavers rewards at a Hotel Tier 5 property — but you are required to stay up to fifty paid nights for that free night instead of two paid nights for that free night at up to a Category 4 hotel property.

You could stay up to eight nights at a Category 1 hotel property which participates in PointSavers rewards; but that might not exactly be appealing to you…

…and those are the reasons why MegaBonus is more of a misnomer — this version will not exactly win the prize for Best MegaBonus Promotion Ever — when compared to its former iterations in the past…

Source: Marriott Rewards.