Taking a vacation is becoming harder for many Americans as rising fuel, food, accommodation, and airfare prices put more pressure on travel budgets.
Earlier this year, travelers planning trips said they expected to spend an average of $4,069 on their longest summer trip, 17% more than in 2025. At the same time, 35% of Americans who were said they could not afford a trip, according to Deloitte’s 2026 Summer Travel Survey.
Even camping, once seen as a more affordable way to travel, is becoming harder to justify. As I recently reported for TheStreet, rising fuel, campground, food, and financing costs are forcing some RV owners to cut back on trips.
For travelers trying to stretch their vacation budgets, hotel loyalty programs can offer another way to save. Marriott Bonvoy members collect points for free hotel nights, room upgrades, complimentary breakfast, and other perks. Some even pay annual fees for Marriott-branded credit cards to earn rewards faster.
But Marriott’s growing loyalty business is creating tension with the hotel owners expected to provide those benefits. A group of owners wants a bigger share of the money generated by the program, particularly through its credit card partnerships.
For members, the concern is whether the disagreement could eventually affect the rewards that make Bonvoy worth joining.
Marriott is making more money from Bonvoy, but hotel owners want a bigger share
Marriott reported $1.522 billion in franchise, base management and incentive management fees revenue for the third quarter of 2026, a 14% increase from the same period last year, according to the company’s November 2 earnings release.
Franchise and base management fees reached $1.341 billion, up 13%, while incentive management fees increased 22% to $181 million. Growth was partly driven by higher co-branded credit card fees, higher room revenue and an expanding hotel network.
During the earnings call, CFO Jen Mason said fees from Marriott’s co-branded credit card fees were expected to increase in the high-30% range for the full year.
Some hotel owners believe they should receive a larger share of the revenue generated by these partnerships, reported the Wall Street Journal on June 16.
Hotel owners say Marriott receives substantial income from credit card partnerships
Marriott has not announced plans to eliminate Bonvoy benefits or make points harder to redeem. However, the company has already made changes to its arrangements with hotel owners, including higher reimbursement for some reward stays.
According to hospitality adviser Michael C. Shindler’s June 22 analysis for Hotel Management, a March 20 letter sent to Marriott management was signed by 51 ownership groups who say they collectively own 990 Marriott-branded hotels with approximately 182,000 rooms.
The owners argue that Marriott receives substantial income from its credit card partnerships while individual properties bear many of the costs associated with accommodating members who redeem points. In the letter, they wrote that owners are “absorbing an increasing share of the program’s costs,” as quoted by One Mile at a Time.
“At its core, the discussion is not simply about Marriott or Bonvoy,” wrote Shindler, president of Four Corners Advisors. He said the disagreement raises broader questions about loyalty program economics, reimbursement and how hotel brands and owners share the value generated by these programs.
The owners claim that rising operating costs are reducing hotel profit margins and that reimbursement levels do not adequately reflect the volume of point redemptions, according to Shindler’s account of their letter.
They also claim that more than 60% of Bonvoy points are earned through co-branded credit card spending rather than hotel stays.
Marriott has already lowered loyalty charge-out rates and improved reimbursement for Bonvoy redemption stays on high-demand nights, CEO Anthony Capuano said during the third-quarter earnings call. These adjustments aim to improve hotel-level economics.
He described talks with a group of owners as “transparent, collaborative, and constructive.”
Your free Marriott hotel night still costs the hotel money
For a Bonvoy member, redeeming points for a hotel night can feel like getting a room for free. But the property still has to provide the room, pay its employees, clean it and cover other operating expenses.
Hotel owners say reimbursement for reward stays does not always reflect what they could earn from paying guests. The difference can be particularly important during busy periods, when a hotel could potentially earn much more from a regular booking than from a points redemption.
A 2025 CBRE Hotels Research study by Robert Mandelbaum and Christine Bang, which examined 4,187 U.S. hotels, found that loyalty program fees rose 3.9% in 2024, outpacing room revenue growth (2.7%) and occupied-room growth (1.3%).
The researchers also found that loyalty members accounted for 52.8% of occupied rooms in 2024 across five major hotel groups, including Marriott, Hilton and Hyatt.
These costs help explain why some hotel owners want Marriott to reconsider how loyalty program revenue and expenses are shared.
What Marriott Bonvoy members should watch
Shindler identified higher reimbursement for standard reward nights, greater financial transparency and more owner involvement in loyalty program decisions as possible outcomes of the dispute in his Hotel Management analysis.
For members, the concern is whether further changes to the program’s economics could eventually affect reward availability or hotel perks. Marriott has not announced any cuts to benefits or free-night redemptions.
For now, Bonvoy members should check the benefits included at individual properties before booking, particularly when expecting complimentary breakfast, lounge access or an upgrade. These perks can vary by hotel and membership status.
Members can also confirm perks with the hotel before arrival, check reward-night availability for their exact dates before building a trip around a free night, and review Bonvoy’s terms for any changes.
With approximately 309 million members worldwide, Marriott Bonvoy has become a major part of the company’s business. But its continued growth also depends on keeping hotel owners willing to provide the rewards that attract members. How Marriott balances those interests could shape the program’s future.
Related: Marriott finally fixes major pain point for key travelers
