The Marriott Bonvoy™ American Express® Card
comes with a great sign up bonus of 50,000 Marriott Bonvoy points along with
a great everyday earn
rate but it also has a decent offer for holding on to the card beyond
your
first year. Upon your card’s anniversary you’ll receive a free
Marriott Annual Free Night Award for up to 35,000 points at eligible
hotels and resorts worldwide. You get this benefit each and every year
you have the card. This means you could redeem it for hotels that fall
under the Category 1 to 5 levels in the Standard category:
You can even push it to Category 6 if you can find a hotel that is
running an Off Peak PointSavers rate as those are only 35,000 points as
well.
Now more than ever with so many travel restrictions in place, a lot of
Canadians are exploring our own backyard instead of travelling abroad
and if you have your anniversary certificate sitting in your account (it should have been extended to early 2021 by Marriott thanks to the pandemic) or
are expecting one to come soon it can be ideal to use it for a great
staycation! When I compare rates at many of these hotels on the list, their nightly rates have definitely come down compared to this time last year but many are still pricing
out over $200 per night (almost $400 for the example below) so you are coming out ahead with the
certificate based on the $120 annual fee on the card.
For many of the hotels, especially
the Category 4 and 5 hotels, this means saving more money than the $120 annual fee
the card carries when you hit that anniversary date. For example, one night at the Residence Inn Gravenhurst Muskoka Wharf is only 35,000 points on New Year’s Eve no less, which means you can use the certificate for this stay:
That’s a pretty good deal! Spending $120 on the credit card fee to get a
hotel room worth $397! And you’re not even taking into account all the
other benefits on the card like the points earning, silver elite status
and the 15 night elite status credit.
Since many of us are sticking around close to home the good news is that in Canada you have
quite a few locations that you can use the anniversary certificate at, namely 229 hotels out of their 261 hotels in our nation. If you recall our post from 2019 there were 237 hotels you could use your certificate at, this decrease came at the start of this year when Marriott completed their annual shift of hotels in the categories which here in Canada primarily saw a lot of downtown Vancouver hotels move up to Category 6. Still at 229 hotels in Categories 1-5 you do have a lot of locations to choose from and they breakdown into the following categories:
- Category 1 – 8 Hotels
- Category 2 – 43 Hotels
- Category 3 – 93 Hotels
- Category 4 – 46 Hotels
- Category 5 – 39 Hotels
From those 229 hotels these are our top 10 picks to use your certificate at for travels within Canada:
Calgary Airport Marriott In-Terminal Hotel
Category 4
One of the newer Marriott hotels in YYC, the Calgary Airport Marriott
In-Terminal Hotel was their flagship hotel in terms of design
and services when it opened in 2016. Rewards Canada was able to try out the hotel just after it
opened. Check out our review of the hotel here.
With rates easily running over $200 per night not only does the
certificate save you a good chunk of change you are staying at this great hotel!
JW Marriott Edmonton ICE District
Category 5
One of the newest luxury Marriott Hotels in Canada, the JW Marriott Edmonton is in
the thick of the things in YEG being situated in the ICE District and
connected to Rogers Place Arena. Now that the NHL playoffs are complete this hotel that was part of the NHL bubble is available to regular guests. A quick check of rates for December
showed a 2 queen room going for $270.57 including taxes and fees and there was availability for use
of the Free Night Award.
The Algonquin Resort St. Andrews by-the-Sea, Autograph Collection
Category 5
Over 100 years old the Algonquin Resort is one of Canada’s most iconic
seadside hotels! Use the certificate to have a night of elegance or you are like the Rewards Canada family, use it to get in some ghost hunting!
The Hotel Saskatchewan, Autograph Collection
Category 3
Another opulent hotel in Marriott’s Autograph Collection in Canada,
Regina’s The Hotel Saskatchewan makes for that great stay-cation or if
you require to overnight in downtown Regina for business and you need to
cover the hotel room cost yourself you may want to use your certificate
here! A quick check of rates here has stays in the mid to high $100 range or just over $200 for New Year’s Eve.
AC Hotel by Marriott Montreal Downtown
Category 5
Perfectly located in downtown Montreal, this was the first AC Hotel in
Canada and is still new by hotel standards as it only opened in 2018.
Rooms typically run well over $200 per night so it is a great place to
use your Free Night Award at.
Hotel St. Paul, Montreal, a member of Design Hotels
Category 5
A beautiful historic boutique hotel that regularly runs over $200 per
night is an ideal spot for that stay in YUL. Located in the heart of Old Montreal this hotel is considered Canada’s first ever boutique and thanks to Marriott bringing on Design Hotels a few years back you can use your certificate here.
Toronto Marriott City Centre Hotel
Category 5
Located within Rogers Centre this hotel is perfect if you have tickets
to a Blue Jays game! But given that baseball isn’t happening right now in Toronto maybe you can enjoy a view of the empty stadium? Rates here are
typically in the $200 to low $300 range but lately thanks to the pandemic it’s hovers around the $200 mark so it is still a good place to use your certificate.
Ottawa Marriott Hotel
Category 4
Close to all the action in downtown Ottawa and for visiting Parliament
and the Rideau Canal this is a great hotel choice to use your certificate at.
This hotel runs around $200 per night right now so using your
certificate here can generate value for you.
Delta Hotels Prince Edward
Category 5
Prince Edward Island definitely gets the short end of the stick when it comes to coverage in the points and miles world so we though this hotel that gets 4.5 star ratings and higher should be added in here! We want to show some love to PEI and you have a great hotel here that you can utilize your certificate at! This hotel also appears to be around that $200 per night range right now!
Delta Hotels Victoria Ocean Pointe Resort
Category 5
Probably the second most iconic hotel on Victoria Harbour, the Delta
Hotels Victoria Ocean Pointe Resort is only a short water taxi ride from
all the action in Downtown Victoria. And it has some of the highest
ratings/reviews of all Marriott Hotels in Canada so that must tell you
something.
For us here at Rewards Canada we probably won’t be making our way out of Canada until sometime in 2021 and have a certificate that we’ll likely use up for a staycation at the Calgary Airport Marriott or maybe even try out the new Westin Calgary Airport which is only a Category 3 hotel.
What about you? Comment below and let us know what your favourite Marriott Hotels in Canada are to use your certificate at!
Learn more about and/or apply for the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card here.
All images via Marriott Hotels
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