Marriott offers Choice Benefits benefits for Platinum Elite members after hitting 50 nights in a calendar year and for Titanium Elite members after reaching 75 nights. One of the options for both each milestone is 5 Suite Night Awards.

Suite Night Awards allow you to confirm a suite upgrade in advance, however upgrades only clear 5 days prior to arrival, unlike some hotel chains which allow you to confirm at time of booking. Generally, if the hotel is still selling the suite 5 days prior, your upgrade should clear.

Per Marriott:

Suite Night Awards are one of the choices Marriott Bonvoy members can select when achieving 50 Qualifying Nights annually and again when achieving 75 Qualifying Nights annually. A Suite Night Award is a one-night confirmable upgrade to a standard suite or select premium room, depending on the hotel’s availability of those rooms.

On the suite upgrade page for the reservation, you’ll be given a list of all the available options for the suite upgrade request. Depending on the property you may see multiple types of suites including one bedroom and junior suites, or even upgraded view rooms.

Generally speaking, I would only recommend applying a suite upgrade for the nicest suite/suites, as using them on better views won’t yield the most value, however you can look at the room details for each option and then decide.

Once you’ve chosen the suites you’d like to be upgraded to, you’ll see that your suite night award request will be pending, as it won’t clear till 5 days prior at the earliest. If you’re able to be upgraded, you’ll receive an email confirmation with the news, or you can manually check the reservation online or in the app to see your new room type.

If the upgrade doesn’t clear, there is still a chance that you could be upgraded upon arrival to a better room or suite, however this wouldn’t result in you using the suite upgrade as it’s not cleared in advance.

Not all hotels participate in Suite Night Awards. Suite Night Awards are not redeemable at the following brands: The Ritz-Carlton, The Ritz-Carlton Reserve, The Ritz-Carlton Destination Club, EDITION, Protea Hotels, Aloft, Element, Design Hotels, all-Suite Hotels, Marriott Executive Apartments, ExecuStay, Marriott Vacation Club, Marriott Grand Residence Club properties and Vistana properties.

Have you used Marriott Suite Night awards before? Feel free to share some your best upgrades you’ve received in the comments below.