Marriott Still Assigns Categories To Their Hotels: How To Find Out

Check out the interactive map made by Milesopedia to see 8000+ Marriott hotels worldwide based on their hidden categories!

MGM hotels participating in Marriott partnership also have their own set of categories.

Even after Marriott moved to dynamic pricing model for points redemptions, they still secretly assign categories to their hotels even though they removed their Category award chart. Knowing how to figure out a hotel’s category allow you to plan your points redemptions easier and see what redemptions are possible for Free Night Certificates since Marriott only allows you to top up to 15k Marriott points on your FNC’s.

Brief Rundown of Marriott’s Legacy Award Chart

In the past, Marriott has categorized their hotels by 8 levels (Category 1-8). Now, there’s the introduction of Category 9 on top of Category 8. Both Category 8 & 9 have their nuances as well, which I’ll cover soon.

How to Find Out a Marriott Hotel’s Category

Methods in how to see the hidden categories may change over time, but I’ll try my best to provide up-to-date methods.

All Brands except for Ritz-Carlton & Reserve

Revised with 2025 methods.

1. Go to the rooms listing/calendar view of a hotel
2. Go to the home page of a hotel by clicking on the hotel’s logo which should open a new tab to its homepage (previous step is necessary since going straight to a hotel’s homepage won’t show the category)
3. Right click and View Page Source on the hotel’s homepage
4. Find on Page: “prop_rewards_category_level”
5. Make sure the property name matches with what you’re looking for

The home page of a hotel through Marriott’s site will contain these components in the URL:

• (MARSHA Code of the hotel)
• (Complete full name of the hotel)
• /overview/

Using The Prince Gallery Tokyo’s URL as an example:

https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/tyolc-the-prince-gallery-tokyo-kioicho-a-luxury-collection-hotel/overview/

The MARSHA code for this hotel is TYOLC, then there’s the full name (the-prince-gallery-tokyo-kioicho-a-luxury-collection-hotel), and finally separated with /overview/.

After right clicking on a blank space in the home page, select View Page Source and Find on Page:

prop_rewards_category_level

Below is what it may look like. The hotel The Prince Gallery Tokyo Kioicho, a Luxury Collection Hotel is a Category 8 property. Make sure the MARSHA Code and name of the hotel matches with what you’re looking for.

Ritz-Carlton & Ritz-Carlton Reserve

The catch with Ritz-Carlton and Ritz-Carlton Reserve is that you’ll always be directed to ritzcarlton.com whenever you try to view the hotels’ homepage from either brands. Categories cannot be seen through ritzcarlton.com.

The workaround is to look at a Ritz-Carlton’s rooms listing page. I’ll be using Ritz-Carlton, Astana as an example:

After loading up the page, go to My Trips under your Marriott account and click on any hotel’s homepage by simply clicking on the hotel’s name that’s not a Ritz-Carlton or a Ritz-Carlton Reserve. This should be done under the same tab.

After that, you’ll be directed to the clicked hotel’s homepage. Then right click to see the Page Source and proceed as usual from this point.

Even though you’ll see a Courtyard page, you’ll see the details of the previous Ritz-Carlton/Ritz-Carlton Reserve you searched for.

The MARSHA code and property name matched with what I was looking for, and I was able to find out what the Category Level is: 5.

Marriott’s Secret Category Levels

Below are my findings on what a hotel can charge depending on their set Category. Each Categories have max allowable amount of Marriott points they charge for standard rooms.

As a disclaimer, I might be off on the minimum amount each categories could charge by few thousands of points since they’re trickier to figure out. But, the maximum tend to be easier to figure out since rack rates are shown on the dates around 1 year in advance. Also, just because a hotel can charge the allowable max amount per their set category, that doesn’t mean the hotel will.

PointSaver is not considered on my minimum listing.

Cat 1-8

Hotels with assigned Category 1-8 are similar to the legacy award pricing, but they do come with inflated numbers. However, Cat 8 has the largest points range, so some Cat 8 hotels will be cheaper and easier to redeem FNC’s on. It is indeed possible to redeem 50K FNC’s on certain, but very few, Cat 8 hotels where it wasn’t possible under legacy award chart pricing.

Cat 9

Cat 9 is a “new” category introduced after the legacy award chart is taken away. Ritz-Carlton Reserve properties except for Zadun, Dorado Beach, and Nujuma belong in this category and follow a typical Cat 9 pricing.

St. Regis & Ritz-Carlton Maldives

St. Regis & Ritz-Carlton Maldives fall under unique pricing despite being Category 9 hotels. Maximum charged per night can go up to 198k points.

JW Marriott Masai Mara

JW Marriott Masai Mara used to fall under regular Category 9 pricing, but now deviates from it in 2025. It even costs more than the St. Regis & Ritz-Carlton in Maldives!

Cat 11

While Marriott somehow skips Category 10, there are 2 properties so far attached with Category 11: Ritz-Carlton Reserve Zadun, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve, Nekajui, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve, and St. Regis Red Sea. Both properties may charge between 125k-212k points per night. This category appeared some time in 2024.

Cat 12

Cat 12 was the highest Category found in 2024. There’s only two properties with this Category with Ritz-Carlton Reserve brand attached: a Ritz-Carlton Reserve Dorado Beach, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve and Nujuma, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve.

But, both properties have different pricing with Nujuma being the more expensive of the two.

Cat 17

The most expensive Marriott property bookable on points is North Island, a Luxury Collection Resort, Syechelles with a scary new Category 17 introduced in 2025.

Oddly enough, North Island has been set at Category 8 for the past few years after the legacy award chart went away, but is now labeled as Category 17 in 2025. It’s possible that JW Marriott Masai Mara might be categorized in the future but it could take some time.

There’s no hotel with Cat 13-16 interestingly enough. Though the random category number they put for North Island might be a precursor of more new categories to come.

Free Night Certificates Viability

The current dynamic pricing model can make redeeming Free Night Certificates from Marriott Bonvoy credit cards frustrating because they can only be topped up to 15k extra points, which can lead to falling short of just few thousands of points before you can successfully redeem your FNC.

Knowing a hotel’s Category will let you know the potential use and limitations of your FNC’s depending on their value.

35k

35k FNC can be earned through the Amex Marriott Bonvoy/Business and Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless. Here’s a compilation of hotels (upscale & luxury) where you can redeem these 35k certs.

• 35k FNC can potentially be used up to a Cat 7 property (if lucky) with topups during slower times.
• It will be out of the question using it on Cat 5 during busy times.
• Cat 4 hotel booking is nearly guaranteed with topups, though few dates won’t work.

40k

40k FNC can be earned after selecting it on the second Annual Choice Benefit that’s unlocked after reaching 75 elite nights and renewing Titanium Elite.

• 40k FNC can potentially be used up to a Cat 7 property with topups during slower times.
• It’s still out the question using it on Cat 5 during busy times, just like the 35k FNC.
• Cat 4 hotel booking is a guarantee with topups regardless of seasonality, but with less points topup required than 35k FNC.

50k

50k FNC can be earned after spending $15k on the Marriott Bonvoy Bevy/Bountiful in a single calendar year. Occasionally, they may come from time-limited signup bonuses. 3x or 5x FNC worth 50k is historically a repeated signup bonus for the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless.

I also compiled lists of hotels (upscale & luxury) where you can redeem these 50k certs.

• 50k FNC can potentially be used up to a Cat 7 property with topups during slower times. Less points required for topups compared to 35k &40k FNC
• It’s still out the question using it on Cat 5 during busy times.
• Cat 4 hotel booking is a guarantee (may need small topups). However, it’s pretty disappointing that the 50k FNC still could not guarantee a Cat 5 booking, even with topups, regardless of seasonality.
• Possible to redeem on few Cat 8 hotels (very rare)

85k

85k FNC can be earned through holding the Amex Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant and/or The Ritz-Carlton Card from Chase. I compiled lists of hotels where you can redeem these 85k certs worldwide.

• Cat 6 is a guarantee, but small popups may be needed during busiest times
• Cat 7 hotel booking is nearly a guarantee with topups regardless of seasonality
• Can potentially be used up to Cat 8-9 during slower times, with the exception of St. Regis/Ritz-Carlton Maldives and JW Marriott Masai Mara

Verdict

Overall, the 50k FNC is possibly the most disappointing FNC of the bunch since it only manages to guarantee a Cat 4 booking without worrying about dynamic pricing, which the 35k & 40k FNC’s can already do (with topups).

This alone could make me hesitate in taking advantage of a signup bonus containing 50k FNC’s since they’re the trickiest to utilize out of all the other options. Not to mention that they’re the hardest FNC’s to get and you’d typically have to signup for the worst cards from the Marriott lineup (Bevy/Bountiful).

85k FNC’s could still be worth getting since the cost of acquisition from the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant is quite decent. But, if it comes from the Ritz-Carlton Card, the value is very good. Even though redeeming them on Cat 8’s and 9’s is not guaranteed, there are plenty Cat 7 hotels that would cost more per night compared to the effective annual fees from either cards.

Marriott Stealth Devaluation Trend

Unfortunately, Marriott has done multiple stealth devaluation after the legacy award chart went away. For the past two years, I’ve noticed that Marriott made changes to the pricing at least twice a year; both happening in the first and second half of a calendar year. So, we can expect that trend to follow through.

Although the recent one in 2025 has exploded in terms of Marriott’s top properties compared to before. The rest has been incremental increases just like before, and Marriott’s FNC’s effectiveness are still at a similar level. Though eventually the 15k topups may not be enough in the future and can cause more frustrations in redeeming the certificates.

Still, knowing the hotels’ categories help tracking these devaluations easier. Also, categories may shift on individual hotels outside of system-wide changes, so if you notice sudden increase in points cost relative to others, that may be the reason.

Conclusion

Even though Marriott has moved into a dynamic pricing model, it’s important to still know that they still set Category levels to their hotels. The predictability can help you plan towards your future redemptions. As always, you can periodically check your bookings to see if the points requirement have come down and modify them to save more points.