Marriott launched its most lucrative Homes & Villas promotional offer on Monday (read more here), and there has been confusion about the terms and conditions changes.
When we wrote a preview (read more here), I noted in the comments that we need to wait until the offer is out to know the exact requirements because I doubted, didn’t say it at the time, that there likely would be some limits in place (why would Marriott give $200 to $300 worth of points for $150 stay?).
You can access Homes & Villas offer here.
READ MORE: Marriott Bonvoy Rate & Bonus Points Offers
We contacted Marriott to determine what was happening with the offer, as the T&Cs were changed.
There was some unusual activity on the site during the early hours of the booking window when the adjustments were made and we apologize for any confusion. The T&Cs have been reverted back to the original terms and conditions.
I would assume that quite a few were booking the lowest-priced Homes & Villas purely to earn the 40,000 points bonus (remember that you must also stay).
We wrote about the offer around 3 AM on Monday when the USD/EUR/GBP currency requirement was in place.
However, readers in comments pointed out that there was no currency requirement in place at first and later that there had been a minimum spend requirement of $500.
We asked Marriott if bookings made during different T&Cs would be honored:
Bookings made during the booking window will be honored, however all Marriott Bonvoy terms and conditions do apply and stays must be completed in order to receive the bonus points.
Conclusion
Marriott tends to have bonus offers monthly for Homes & Villas stays (remember that the base points earnings are halved).
This 40,000 bonus points offer is a nice rebate if you can find reasonably priced accommodation displayed in USD/EUR/GBP.
It seems that someone was caught off guard and had to modify the terms to exclude the cheapest options from this promotion, hence the USD/EUR/GBP display requirement.