Marriott Credit Cards Will Give You Free Hotel Nights Just for Signing Up
Marriott has just announced new sign-up bonuses for the Bonvoy Boundless and Bonvoy Bold credit cards from Chase. These two high-earning cards are aimed at fans of Marriott’s many brands, and both come with excellent perks: Until March, you can get a 100,000-point sign-up bonus for the Bonvoy Boundless card or a 50,000-point sign-up bonus for the Bonvoy Bold card.
Either of those massive bonuses can score you at least one free night at any Marriott property — and likely more than one free night, depending on when and where you travel.
"The huge bonus is similar to what we saw a few years ago with the Chase Sapphire Reserve, which attracted serious consumer attention,” said Sara Rathner, credit cards and travel expert at NerdWallet.
Bonvoy is one of the world’s largest loyalty programs, and points can be used at more than 7,000 hotels and resorts around the world. Options include the JW Marriott Phu Quoc Emerald Bay Resort & Spa in Vietnam; The St. Regis Bora Bora Resort in French Polynesia; and Palacio del Inka, a Luxury Collection Hotel, in Cuzco, Peru. All of these are among the best hotels in the world, according to the readers of Travel + Leisure. Of course there are thousands of other hotels in the Marriott portfolio to choose from.
Redeeming your points is relatively simple, using Marriott’s online booking portal, and the cost of a room varies based on a predetermined category (on a scale of one to eight) and seasonality. A low-season room in a category one hotel can be had for just 5,000 points; locking in a peak-season suite at a category eight property will run at least 100,000 points.
Beyond the sign-up bonus, the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card is a strong overall option, if you’re a brand loyalist. “[It’s] a great option for those who are frequent travelers [and] prefer staying with Marriott branded hotels,” according to a lengthy review of the card from UpgradedPoints.com. While it does come with a $95 annual fee, the card earns six points per dollar spent at Marriott properties and two points per dollar elsewhere. (In order to get the full 100,000-point bonus, cardholders need to spend $5,000 in the first three months after opening an account.)
"The new signup offers for the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless and Bold cards have a higher spending requirement to earn the sign-up bonus, but they have a heftier payoff for those consumers who are loyal to the Bonvoy hotel brand,” Rathner said.
As for the Marriott Bonvoy Bold Credit Card, “it’s worth getting for the up front bonus,” says points-and-miles expert Gary Leff, “since there’s no annual fee.” While the sign-up bonus is a smaller 50,000 points, you don’t have that $95-a-year charge. It earns three points — rather than six — on every dollar you spend at Marriott, plus two points per dollar on other purchases. (With this card, consumers have to spend $3,000 in the first three months to get the bonus.)
Both cards have an additional feature that’s a benefit to frequent Marriott guests: With either, cardholders “receive 15 Elite Night Credits each calendar year towards the next level of Marriott Bonvoy Elite status,” Marriott says. That’s more than enough to automatically earn Silver status, which gets you “priority late checkout,” a dedicated reservations line, and a 10-percent bonus on all points earned.
