Your Friend Works At Marriott? What The Explore Rate Gets You

The Marriott Explore rate is an employee and friends-and-family discount, not a standard corporate rate. It’s the single deepest discount in the Marriott program, 30 to 50%+ at most properties, but it’s tightly scoped: only Marriott employees and their authorized friends and family are eligible, and stays are explicitly for leisure travel (not business).

If you know a Marriott employee (including anyone at a franchised property), this is the best way to use that connection. Here’s how the codes work and how to book.

The Two Explore Rates

Each rate has its own code, entered into the Corporate/Promo/SET# field when searching on Marriott.com:

• Marriott Explore Rate (code: MMP), the employee rate
• Marriott Explore Friends Rate (code: MMF), the friends-and-family rate

The MMP rate is for employees and immediate family: spouses, domestic partners, parents, parents-in-law, siblings, and children. Extended family isn’t covered.

The MMF rate is for authorized friends of a Marriott employee. The discount is smaller than MMP, but it’s still meaningful. To book MMF, you need the employee to complete an Explore Rate Authorization Form (available through Marriott HR or the Marriott Global Source intranet). You can search MMF rates without the form, but you’ll need the printed form at check-in.

Bring a printed copy of the authorization form to the front desk along with your photo ID. Without it, the property will re-rate you to the standard price.

Both rates are scoped to personal travel only. Using Explore on a business trip is not authorized.

How to Book

The mechanic is the same as a standard Marriott corporate code. Go to the Marriott search bar, expand Special Rates, and enter MMP or MMF in the corporate/promo field.

All eligible properties will return a rate, anything not participating will fall back to its standard rate.

What the Discount Actually Looks Like

Each Marriott property sets its own Explore policy, so discount depth varies a lot. Some properties offer 20 to 30% off, others go much deeper, especially in luxury brands where standard rates are already high.

Take the W London as an example. The MMF (friends) rate comes in at 50% off the standard nightly rate, a huge cut at a Category 7 luxury property.

The MMP (employee) rate is typically even better than MMF when it’s available.

At the St. Regis Mexico City, MMP hit 63% off the standard rate, one of the deepest discounts we’ve seen on any Marriott booking.

How to Get the Marriott Authorization Form

You’ll need a Marriott employee to issue the form, or Marriott HR to provide it. The steps:

1. Go to Marriottforms.com
2. Enter your EID and password
3. In the Form/Card Number field, enter the Validation Code to pull up the validation information
4. Make sure the following matches:
   • The Associate Name field matches the form’s (Name of Associate)
   • The Guest Name field matches the form’s (Name of Guest)
   • The Expiration field matches the form’s (Expiration Date)

Summary & Takeaways

Marriott Explore is the deepest discount you can get on a Marriott stay short of a points booking, but it’s gated behind the employee or friends-and-family relationship and is strictly for leisure travel. If you have access, MMP is the better of the two, MMF is still worthwhile. Always bring the authorization form to check-in.

More Hotel Corporate Programs

Most major hotel chains run a corporate program. If you don’t find a match here, try IHG, Hilton, Hyatt, Choice, or browse the full list on our hotel corporate codes hub.