This Hotel Loyalty Program Now Lets You Bid on Once-in-a-lifetime Experiences — Like a Ride in the Batmobile

Long gone are the days when the only thing you could get with your hotel loyalty points were free stays. With Marriott Bonvoy Moments, members of the rewards program can spend points on exclusive luxury experiences, from behind-the-scenes access at sporting events and concerts to dinners at some of the most coveted restaurants in the world.

Today, Marriott Bonvoy is launching a new series of experiences across two thematic categories: "Throwbacks" and "Tailor Made." Under the former, members can bid on nostalgic experiences such as a "Puppy Pampering Day" with actress Jennifer Coolidge or taking a spin in actor Steve McQueen's 1956 Jaguar or a 1966 Batmobile replica. As for the Tailor Made experiences, they can bid on a bespoke look by Jonathan Simkhai or custom wedding bands by The Clear Cut, among other personalized offerings.

With travel coming back in full force, Marriott has seen dramatically increased demand for Marriott Bonvoy Moments. "Recently, we broke our record in terms of number of points redeemed for a Moment, when one member redeemed more than 3 million points for the chance to spend the night on the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team Yacht at the Monaco Grand Prix earlier this year," David Flueck, senior vice president of Marriott Bonvoy, told Travel + Leisure. "With our members ready to get back out there and experience the world again, we're excited to be launching these new categories today to give them even more opportunity to do so."

To come up with the two new categories, Marriott turned to both widespread trends and Marriott-specific ones. "Tailor Made" was drawn from the general public's pandemic-inspired obsession with nostalgia. "It's without question that the last two years have had their shares of ups and downs, imparting a fair amount of fear and uncertainty upon the population. Nostalgia, arguably, stirs up feelings that are quite the opposite — feelings that are soothing and familiar, offering comfort and stability," Flueck said.

As for the "Tailor Made" Category, Marriott found interest for experiences of this nature within its own data. "We noticed that similar experiences, such as the chance to have a one-of-a-kind hat designed for the Kentucky Derby by the event's featured milliner, or getting a custom wedding gown designed by top bridal designer Justin Alexander, or having a custom art piece created by renowned artist Peter Tunney, were among some of the most-redeemed Moments in terms of points value in 2021 and early 2022," Flueck said. "We always pay close attention to our members' behavior so we can give them more of what they want, so it made sense to us to grow our offering in this area with this new category."

Interested in bidding on the Throwbacks and Tailor Made experiences yourself? Head to moments.marriottbonvoy.com to see the full lineup of offerings, which have starting bids ranging from 30,000 Marriott Bonvoy points to 75,000 points. Don't forget to check back throughout the year — more experiences are due to be added.