The Marriott Moments Program Review [2020]

Booking airfare and hotels is the traditional route for many when choosing to cash in on their miles and points. But there’s a whole world of opportunity out there for other experiences like sporting events, concerts, and many other unique experiences.

The Marriott Moments Program is your way to tap into these programs and in this article, I’ll give you a breakdown of what you can expect with the program.

What is the Marriott Moments program?

The Marriott Moments program is a special program that allows you to access to sporting events, culinary experiences, entertainment packages and other types of interesting and unique experiences.

These experiences can be purchased with cash or points, or you can also bid on these experiences auction style with points. I’ll explain how the program works below and what types of experiences you can expect.

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How does the Marriott Moments program work?

The Marriott Moments program works in a few ways.

First, you can head over to the Marriott Moments program portal here.

Once there, you can see different types of experiences listed on the webpage, which include:

• Tourist activities 
• Food experiences
• Sports events
• Entertainment events 
• Romantic attractions
• Rental car earnings with Hertz

Once you see a category that you like, you can click on that or you can visit the main pages for certain categories, which I’ve listed below:

• Sports
• Culinary
• Experiences
• Lifestyle
• Entertainment  

I’ll use the sports page below to illustrate how the program works.

At the top of the page, you’ll be able to filter results using the following criteria:

• Point range
• Location
• Date range
• Auctions versus redeem now
• Sort by

You don’t have to select all of the filters to see the results. All of the filters are pretty self-explanatory but the difference between auctions and redeem now is that you can purchase the experience immediately with redeem now. The auctions events are going to work just like a traditional auction, so you’ll need to place a bid and try to outbid others.

I clicked on the redeem now options and here are some of the events that showed up:

• Watch the LA Clippers this Season from a Custom Luxury Suite at STAPLES Center (50,000 Points)
• SPG Luxury Suite: Madison Square Garden – Knicks – Stadium Seats (50,000 Points)
• See the Professional Bull Riders from a Custom Luxury Suite at STAPLES Center (50,000 Points)
• SPG Luxury Suite: Madison Square Garden – Rangers – Stadium Seats (50,000 Points)
• Score a Slam Dunk with Tickets to Washington Wizards vs. Detroit Pistons + Access to High Five Fan Tunnel (75,000 Points)

So a lot of the luxury suite events are priced at around 50,000 points. If you value Marriott points at .8 cent per point, that’s $400 worth of Marriott points for a luxury suite experience. If you click on the “See Details” for each event, you’ll see the full details for your package.

In this case, the following were offered for the STAPLES center events for the Clippers.

• Tickets to a custom Luxury Suite for the LA Clippers vs. Oklahoma City Thunder at STAPLES Center on March 8, 2019 at 7:30 pm
• Complimentary food and beverages while in the suite
• Access to Hyde Lounge
• A 20% discount to the TEAM LA Store located adjacent to Star Plaza
• Experience is for two people

So getting tickets to a custom luxury suite for two people which includes food and beverages, lounge access, and a 20% discount at the team store for about $400 would be a bargain for some fans (surely depending on the opponent).

I’m not sure exactly which suites are usually booked or in what section but SuiteHop states that individual “shared Clippers suite tickets range from $50 to $350 depending on the event, the type of suite, and the location of the suite.” So these experiences can be pretty lucrative even for a shared suite with the right event.

And for the auction events coming up, here’s what was showing up when I searched:

• Super Bowl LIII Field Level Suite Tickets presented by Visa + a $100 Visa Gift Card + Hotel Stay (Current Bid: 657,500 Points)
• Rock Out with On-Field Access to Watch the Pepsi Super Bowl LIII Halftime Show (Current Bid: 100,000 Points)
• Hit the Slopes during a Master Class with Olympic Snowboarder Shaun White at Mammoth Mountain (Starting Bid: 45,000 Points)

The auction prices can get very high for big events like the Super Bowl and you can often find them for those bucket list type of opportunities like attending a World Series, Coachella, etc.

Bids have to be made in 2,500 point increments and once your bid is confirmed, it is final and cannot be retracted. Also, points are not deducted from your account until the winning bid is determined and you will receive an email if your bid is no longer the highest (and you can increase your bid at that time).

Marriott recommends that you make max bids to make things easier for yourself.

Here’s the example scenario Marriott gives for how a max bid works:

• If the current bid is 50,000 points and your max bid is 100,000, we’ll bid 52,500 for you.
• If no one else bids, you win! You’ll pay 52,500 points.
• Or, if someone else bids 75,000 points, we’ll bid 77,500 for you.
• We’ll continue to bid to keep you in the lead, up to your max bid.
• If someone else bids 102,500, we’ll notify you via email that you’ve been outbid.
• If two people bid the same amount, the first bid placed has priority.
• Your max bid will remain hidden from everyone else.
• All bids are placed in minimum increments of 2,500 points.
• Once you confirm your Max Bid, you may not decrease or remove it.

Marriott Moments FAQ

Final word

Marriott Moments can be a fun way to use your points for special events and experiences. In some cases, it can also offer some nice value as well. I would stick to a valuation for your Marriott points so that you don’t get swept up into a bad deal but many of these events are special experiences where you might be okay with poor value for your points if it’s something you’re really interested in trying out.