MGM x Marriott Bonvoy Partnership: Award Pricing & Hotel Categories
Recently, MGM has ditched their partnership with World of Hyatt and move into Marriott Bonvoy.
Since I recently found out that Marriott still assign categories to their hotels for award pricing, I figure they’d do the same for their MGM partners. It appears that they do the same! But, it’s some of the most dynamic pricing I’ve seen and harder to predict compared to true Marriott properties. Here’s how the award scheme works:
Marriott Categories on MGM Properties
There are only 16 MGM properties that participate in the Marriott Bonvoy partnership, with 11 of them being in Las Vegas.
| Hotel | Category | Min Per Night | Max Per Night |
|---|---|---|---|
| Luxor | 70 | 5,000 | 80,000 |
| Excalibur | 70 | 5,000 | 80,000 |
| New York-New York | 70 | 7,000 | 96,000 |
| MGM Springfield | 71 | 12,000 | 100,000 |
| Beau Rivage | 71 | 13,000 | 100,000 |
| MGM Grand Detroit | 71 | 20,000 | 100,000 |
| MGM National Harbor | 71 | 25,000 | 170,000 |
| Borgata | 72 | 18,000 | 115,000 |
| MGM Grand | 72 | 15,000 | 150,000 |
| Park MGM | 72 | 15,000 | 150,000 |
| Vdara | 72 | 20,000 | 150,000 |
| The Signature at MGM Grand | 72 | 20,000 | 150,000 |
| Mandalay Bay | 72 | 20,000 | 150,000 |
| ARIA | 72 | 21,000 | 150,000 |
| Cosmopolitan | 72 | 20,000 | 180,000 |
| Bellagio | 73 | 21,500 | 150,000 |
The hotels belonging to the MGM portfolio are marked as Category 70 to Category 73, with the Bellagio being the sole Category 73 hotel.
Compared to the original Marriott categories of 1-12, the jump to the number 70 looks intimidating, but fortunately appear to be separated from the original sequence. MGM properties award pricing under Marriott is just a much more dynamic version that tends to be very cheap on weekdays, and can be ludicrously expensive on weekends.
Weekday rates can be comparable to the range of Cat 1-4 of the original Marriott’s pricing, while the weekend rates can be comparable to the range of Cat 4-12!
Here’s the original Marriott category chart for reference:
| Category | Minimum/Night | Maximum/Night |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5,500 | 16,000 |
| 2 | 10,000 | 23,000 |
| 3 | 15,000 | 29,500 |
| 4 | 21,000 | 50,000 |
| 5 | 30,000 | 69,000 |
| 6 | 35,000 | 81,000 |
| 7 | 44,000 | 102,000 |
| 8A | 59,500 | 130,000 |
| 8B | 52,000 | 106,000 |
| 9A | 80,000 | 140,000 |
| 9B | 82,000 | 126,000 |
| 9C (StR/RC Maldives) | 70,000 | 164,000 |
| RC Reserve Zadun (Cat 11) | 131,000 | 212,000 |
| RC Reserve Dorado Beach (Cat 12) | 170,000 | 254,000 |
| Nujuma, RC Reserve (Cat 12) | 163,000 | 299,500 |
To summarize Cat 70-73:
- Cat 70 can range from 5,000-96,000 points/night
- Cat 71 can range from 12,000-100,000 points/night
- Cat 72 can range from 15,000-180,000 points/night
- Cat 73 can range from 21,500-150,000 points/night*
For Cat 73 or Bellagio, it’s possible that it may go higher than 180k per night, especially during weekend rates, but it’s to be determined if that would be seen. Though, it’s interesting to see that the Cosmopolitan takes the crown on the highest possible Marriott pricing within the MGM portfolio so far.
The Cosmopolitan Changes Hotel Category
One interesting change with the MGM partnership is the categorization of The Cosmopolitan, Autograph Collection. Prior to the partnership, it was originally set as a Category 8 hotel. Thus, the minimum night required to book this hotel is 70,000 per night. Now, it turns to a Category 72 hotel.
The upside with the change is that you can now book The Cosmopolitan for as little as 20,000 points for 1 night on certain weekdays! On the flipside, the max could be as high as 180,000 points (!), compared to the previous 130,000 points.
Overall, I found this change to be a net positive for the Cosmopolitan, specifically for weekday stays, but I don’t feel it’s worth redeeming Marriott points for a weekend stay.
Is it worth redeeming Marriott points at MGM properties?
A typical cent per point valuation of MGM tends to float around 0.5-0.6cpp which isn’t really good. There could be some moments with better cpp, but the opportunity cost is too high since Marriott points are the hardest to get back compared to other hotel loyalty programs.
Remember, you can redeem 150k points for a night at the St. Regis or Ritz-Carlton Maldives! Even if you’re not interested in the Maldives, it’s a good example to bring up to illustrate the opportunity cost. Plus, there are many much more Marriott properties abroad where you can redeem less Marriott points for better stays, like HOTEL THE MITSUI Kyoto, a hotel that would require 126k points per night max.
To discourage you further, only Marriott Ambassador Elite members are entitled to waived resort fees on paid and points stays, which reduces the value of redeeming Marriott points at MGM properties as a result. For most people, Ambassador Elite is unrealistic to achieve, and credit card benefits may only get them to Titanium at best, by stacking elite nights with US Marriott personal and business cards.
Conclusion
After the MGM and Marriott partnership has officially launched, award chart still sort of exist due to the categorizations set on MGM hotels, albeit a much more dynamic one compared to the original Marriott’s secret award chart. What we can expect from MGM x Marriott award pricing is that weekday rates tend to be a lot lower than weekend rates.
Redemption value is quite disappointing, however, especially due to resort fees that are imposed on MGM properties. Marriott status unfortunately won’t help waive those fees outside of Ambassador Elite. You’re much better off saving your Marriott points for aspirational properties that can be found worldwide that would bring much better value and experience.