Booking Marriott Awards When You're Short On Points

Earlier in the week I wrote about booking Marriott PointsSavers.  I was roughly 15,000 points short needed for the redemption.  Marriott will let you book the reservation without sufficient points which is an amazing part of their program.  During the booking process you can either purchase additional points (bad deal) or earn the points through another source (good deal).  I knew I had points coming from the Chase Marriott Visa and that my statement would be closing in a week or so.

I made the booking as normal.  You can see the on-screen messaging around not having sufficient points in the screenshot below.

Everything about the reservation processed normally.  I received an email confirmation and was able to see the reservation in my account.  A week later, the points posted to my Marriott Rewards account and I was able to order the "e-certificates" for the free nights.

Kudos to Marriott for offering this feature.  I'm not aware of any other major hotel loyalty program that allows members to do this.  Locking in a hotel award is a key part of trip planning - especially since you can typically cancel fee free.  Being able to do so without sufficient points is even better!