Hotel reward programs can be confusing, so it’s hard to know what a large stack of Marriott Bonvoy points is really worth. We've rounded up 13 ways to redeem 50,000 Bonvoy points, ranging from 11-night stays at budget hotels to bucket-list-worthy nights at high-end properties.

The “best use” of any points will depend on your travel goals and preferences, so consider these ideas inspiration for your own redemptions, rather than hard-and-fast rules. If you've got a free night certificate, check out our favorite ways to redeem a 50,000-point free night certificate.

What does 50,000 Marriott points get you?

NerdWallet values Bonvoy points at 0.8 cent apiece, so any booking that nets over 1 cent per point (as these all do) is well worth it. Here are our picks.

1. Five nights at a Category 2 property

The Marriott Bonvoy program offers a valuable perk: Award bookings of five consecutive nights get one night free. That is, the cost of a five-night booking is actually the cost of a four-night booking (when using miles).

Booking five nights with only 50,000 points is tricky, but doable. Here’s how:

Using Marriott’s hotel directory page, click the “Filter” button.

Open the “Bonvoy Marriott Category” section and select only "Category 2."

Why Category 2 hotels? Because standard Category 2 bookings run 12,500 Bonvoy points per night per Marriott’s current award chart. So four nights x 12,500 points = 50,000 points — plus a bonus fifth night.

Next, find a Category 2 hotel that fits your travel needs and enter dates that total 5 nights. Make sure to check the “use points” box.

After selecting a hotel, you’ll see that the free night is automatically applied to your booking.

Category 2 properties may not be the swankiest in the world, but five nights for only 50,000 Bonvoy points is a great deal for anything with a roof and running water.

2. Two nights at a Category 4 property

Looking for something more comfortable? Marriott’s Category 4 properties cost 25,000 per night for standard bookings, so 50,000 points won’t score you a free fifth night. But these hotels are generally more convenient and comfortable than the lower-end Category 2 options.

Finding them is easy. Follow the same instructions as above, selecting “Category 4” in the filter.

If you’re looking for something a little fancier, select the “Brands” section of the filter, then “select all luxury brands.”

The vast majority of the 50 hotels that match the “Luxury” and “Category 4” filters are in Asia, but maybe those great redemptions will inspire your next trip.

3. One night at a Category 6 hotel

Many people get into travel rewards for those “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunities they would never pay for with cash. Sound like you? Then, go all out with a Category 6 booking, which will exhaust your entire 50,000 point budget in one night.

4. 11 nights in Canada at the Four Points by Sheraton Edmonton South

Marriott’s Category 1 properties cost 5,000 points per night for off-peak redemptions. So 50,000 points nets 10 nights, plus two free nights (one for every four consecutively booked days), yielding an almost two-week stay.

However, finding 12 consecutive nights at the off-peak rate might be difficult. As long as you’re seeing nightly rates ranging between 5,000 and 7,500 points, you may be able to find 11 consecutive nights for 50,000 points.

Marriott’s Category 1 properties are generally simple, no-frills accommodations. That’s especially true in North America. But you may also find that a property is conveniently located near an activity you’d like to do. For example, the Four Points by Sheraton Edmonton South in Alberta, Canada, is located right next to the Pure Casino Edmonton.

Eleven off-peak nights in January cost $858 ($78 per night) or 47,500 points. So, this award redemption nets 1.8 cents per point — well above our 0.8 cent valuation

5. 11 nights at the Courtyard Istanbul West, Turkey

Don’t think you can find a deal in a capital city? Well, the Courtyard Istanbul West is in the capital of Turkey and is also a Category 1 hotel.

Eleven nights in January costs $528 ($48 per night) in our search, so at 50,000 points, this award redemption nets you a value of 1.1 cents per point — above our 0.8 cent valuation.

If you’re planning on visiting Turkey sometime soon, this sample booking demonstrates how far Bonvoy points can go with a little creativity.

6. Six nights at the Aloft Bangkok Sukhumvit, Thailand

For the budget-conscious but not quite budget-obsessed, Marriott’s Category 2 properties run 10,000 points per night (off-peak). While still bare-bones, many of these hotels are located in tourist hot spots such as the most-visited city in the world: Bangkok.

For a cash booking, six days in April (the hot season) at the Aloft Bangkok Sukhhumvit came to $414 in our search. So using 50,000 points to book five nights (plus one bonus free night for award bookings) yields a value of 0.8 cents per point, right at our valuation.

7. Five nights at the JW Marriott Zhengzhou, China

Marriott’s search tool includes a nifty filter on “Luxury” properties. Combined with a filter on award categories, this reveals the highest-end properties that can be booked with the fewest points. Three of the five Category 2 luxury hotels are found in Asia, including the JW Marriott in Zhengzhou, China.

Cash rates were $181 per night in our search, so $905 total. Using 50,000 points instead makes them worth 1.8 cents apiece — not bad for nearly a week in luxury.

8. Three nights at the Delta Hotels London Armouries, Ontario, Canada

This may not be the best-value redemption on our list, but it’s certainly the most unique. Located in London, Ontario, in the old armory (or “armoury,” locally), this boutique hotel is as close to staying in a castle as you’re likely to find for 15,000 points a night. Since this is a Category 3 hotel, the standard room rate is 17,500 points, while the off-peak rate is 15,000 points. To get three nights at this property, you’d need to find a combination of standard and off-peak nights.

We were able to find a three-night stay for 47,500 points or $148 per night ($444 for three nights). Since you’d only be booking three nights, this redemption misses out on the fifth-night-free bonus. A payoff of 0.9 cents per point is an acceptable value and higher than our 0.8 cent per point valuation.

9. Two nights at the AC Hotel New York Downtown

New York City hotels are notoriously expensive and can therefore yield particularly fruitful award redemptions. Marriott’s lowest-tiered properties in the city still ring in at 20,000 points per night for off-peak stays, so this redemption will leave 10,000 of the 50,000 points in your account.

Aloft Hotels skew young, stylish and budget-friendly. Despite being toward the bottom tier of Marriott properties in Manhattan, rooms at the AC Hotel New York Downtown in the dead of winter run $195 per night in our search. Booking two reward nights instead gives a decent value of 1.0 cents per point.

10. Two nights at the JW Marriott Houston by the Galleria

Mid-tier properties like these fall into two general categories: low-end brands in expensive cities (like the Aloft above) or higher-end hotels in cheaper cities. Here’s an example of the latter, and another fruitful result of the “luxury” filter.

The JW Marriott Houston by the Galleria has rooms for $300 per night ($600 for two nights), making the 40,000 point redemption of 1.5 cents per point seem pretty compelling.

11. One night at the Ritz-Carlton, Herzliya, Israel

We’re into the real high-roller properties now.

Fifty thousand points can only cover a single off-peak night at Category 7 properties like this Ritz-Carlton on the Israeli coast, but it won’t be one you will soon forget.

Our search showed a $470 nightly rate, resulting in a value of 0.9 cent per point.

12. One night at the Palace Hotel, San Francisco

The unapologetically old-timey Palace Hotel offers high-ceilinged rooms and other Gilded Age touches. The real attraction is the Garden Court, an enormous atrium and dining room that feels like it’s straight out of a movie — a very expensive movie. This is a Category 7 property, so you can only book an off-peak rate for 50,000 points.

We can always count on San Francisco for high hotel prices. A single night at the Palace in March 2022 is currently going for $387 per night. Using 50,000 points would result in a value of 0.8 cent per point, which is roughly in line with the 0.8 cent valuation.

13. One night at the Ritz-Carlton in Vienna

Another high-end property in a high-end city, the Ritz-Carlton in Vienna offers a rooftop bar overlooking the city in Austria.

Rooms here in March 2022 cost $433 per night. Since this is a Category 7 property, you’ll only be able to book the off-peak rates at 50,000 points. If you were to reserve the aforementioned stay with points, a one-night stay would result in a value of 0.9 cents per point.

Decide the best use of Bonvoy points for you

The best use of 50,000 Marriott Bonvoy points depends on dozens of variables, most of them personal. But this list can offer a sense of what’s possible, from 11 days in Turkey to a single luxurious night in San Francisco or Vienna.

In the real world, you probably won’t get as much value as these optimized choices. But since the Marriott Bonvoy Bold™ Credit Card sports a $0 annual fee, almost any redemption at all makes the sign-up bonus worth it.