Marriott credit cards

  American Express Credit Cards, Hotel Credit Cards

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Business Version Available

Annual Fee

$95, waived first year on SPG cards.

Typical Signup Offer

Differs per card

Bonus Categories

6x Marriott / SPG Purchases (≈4.2%)

2x Everywhere Else (≈1.4%)

3x with SPG Cards, until August (≈2.1%)

1x with Older Marriott Cards (≈0.7%)

No Foreign Transaction Fee

Both Chase and American Express issue credit cards for the new combined Marriott / SPG program. Each of these cards provides an annual free night certificate, which is the main reason to get the cards (along with their signup bonuses). Having at least one of the cards provides a significant boost (15 elite night credits) towards reaching higher level Marriott status.

Because there are several different cards, you can earn easily collect multiple free night certificates each year, and/or earn multiple signup bonuses. However, new rules from Chase and Amex restrict how many cards you can get, and how quickly you can get them

Jump to

• Marriott / SPG Card Options
• Signup Bonus
• Free Night Certificates
• Other Notable Benefits
• Additional Benefits with the SPG Luxury Card
• Bonus Categories

Marriott / SPG Credit Card Options

As of now, there are six interesting credit cards that should be available by August. Five of them have similar features and are described here. The sixth card is the Ritz Carlton card, described in a separate guide.

Warning!

Almost all the credit cards associated with this program are either about to be launched, or about to be changed.

The new unified program, and some of the new credit card changes, launch in August 2018. Until then, the points you get from these cards can still be used in either the Marriott or SPG program. You can easily link your accounts and transfer between the two programs, at a rate of 3 Marriott points for every SPG point.

	SPG Personal card (Amex). Because it is issued from Amex, it has the advantage of not being affected by the Chase 5/24 rule. The features of the card will change on August 1st. At some point after that, Amex will stop making this card available for new sign-ups, because Chase is supposed to be the provider of the program's non-premium personal credit cards. In addition, the SPG card includes Boingo hot spot access and Amex Offers that you don't get from the Marriott card. $95 annual fee. The current signup bonus is only a $200 statement credit. Until the bonus changes, we would hold off signing up for this card.
	Marriott Premier Plus Card. Shares approximately the same benefits as the SPG card, but is subject to the Chase 5/24 rule. If you are still under the Chase 5/24 limit, we generally recommend signing up for one of the other Chase 5/24 cards instead, unless you really want to maximize the number of Marriott / SPG free night certificates you can earn each year. $95 annual fee. Chase Webpage. Marriott Webpage. Marriot is continuing to support the "Marriott Premier" card, which is no longer available for new sign-ups. Existing cardholders can either keep their card, or can upgrade to the new card, but won't be able to have both versions.
	SPG Luxury Card (Premium version). Starting in August, Amex will issue a new premium version of the SPG card. While this card has a $450 annual fee, it will come with a $300 credit for Marriott / SPG purchases, easily lowering your out-of-pocket expense to $150 ($55 more than the other cards). For that, you'll get a more valuable free night certificate, automatic Gold status, and the opportunity to spend $75,000 per year to earn Platinum status.
	SPG Business Card. The business version of the SPG card has nearly identical features to the personal version. Until August, the card comes with free access to lounges at Sheraton hotels (when available), but this feature will no longer be provided from the revised card. Other than being a business card, the only future difference is a 4x point earning rate on US restaurants, US gas stations, wireless telephone service and shipping, which isn't very valuable compared to what you can earn from other cards. Like the personal version of the card, it comes with Boingo hotspot access and Amex Offers that you don't get from the Marriott business card. $95 annual fee. Amex Webpage. The current signup bonus is only a $200 statement credit. Until the bonus changes, we would hold off signing up for this card.
	Marriott Premier Business Card. The business version of the card will be changed on August 26th to be nearly identical to the personal version of the card. At some point after that, this card is likely to stop accepting new sign-ups, because American Express is supposed to be the issuer of the unified program's business cards. $99 annual fee, waived the first year. Assuming the value proposition looks compelling to you, and you are entitled to get business cards, there isn't much reason to postpone getting this card. It might even be possible to get a signup bonus for this card now, and then get an upgrade offer to the new card, later in the year.

Chase also issues a $45 annual fee version of the Marriott and Marriott Business cards, neither of which are interesting. The personal version provides a free night certificate each year, but one that is only good at Category 1-4 hotels (20,000 points), and only if you use the card for $25,000 in spending. On top of that, it would take up one of your valuable Chase 5/24 slots, something that can be hard to justify, even for the much more attractive Premier Plus version of the card. During 2018, both card could conceivably be interesting for an extra 10 credits towards elite status, but after that, you can only receive these credits from a single card in the portfolio.

Collecting the Signup Bonus

Marriott Points

Our base value for Marriott points is .7 cents per point. You can freely convert Marriott and SPG points, at a ratio of 3 Marriott points to 1 SPG point. So, you can use points you earn from the any of these cards to book award nights at either Marriott and Starwood hotels. How Much are Hotel Points Worth?

• It is worth signing up for these cards, just to collect their signup bonuses. The normal signup bonus for the Marriott card is 100,000 points, with $5,000 initial spend. After factoring in the cost of the annual fee and the opportunity of using the card for $5,000 in spending, the net sign-up value is $525 (11 cents per dollar spent).

The normal signup bonus for the Marriott Business card is 75,000 points, with $3,000 initial spend. This work out to a net value of $370 (12 cents per dollar spent).

The standard signup bonuses on the SPG cards was similar, but has recently been lowered to only a $200 credit. There are rumors that Amex will raise the limits back up again. Until then, we would avoid signing up for these cards. Larger bonuses, in the 100,000 point range, have been available for these cards, and we expect to see them in the future. No one knows what the signup bonus will be on the SPG Luxury card, but it will probably be somewhere around 100,000 points. The Best Credit Card Signup Bonuses.

• You can only earn the signup bonus for the Amex cards once per lifetime. Amex won't let you qualify for a signup bonus, if you've had the same card before. However, targeted offers occasionally bypass this limitation, and allow you to earn the bonus for am Amex card that you've already had.
• The personal version of the Chase Marriott card is affected by the 5/24 rule. You won't be approved if you've gotten 5 or more cards (from all banks combined), in the past 24 months. The business version is NOT subject to the rule. Dealing with the Chase 5/24 Rule.
• You can earn the signup bonus on the Chase cards every 24 months. As long as you can get the card, and you don't currently have it, you are entitled to earn a signup bonus once every 24 months.
• You can possibly earn the signup bonuses from all five of these cards. If you have any kind of side business, even one that hasn't earned any money yet, you are entitled to apply for business cards. If so, you can get the bonus from the Marriott personal card, Marriott business card, SPG personal card, SPG business card, and SPG luxury card. {Link|Business Cards}}.

Free Night Certificates

Each of these cards provides, or will soon provide, an annual free night certificate Marriott Free Night Certificates.

• Each certificate can only be used for hotel nights below a "points cap". For example, the certificate from most of these cards can only be used for a hotel night that would cost 35,000 points or less. That means that you can use it at one of the new Category 5 hotels during the standard season, or at one of the new Category 4 hotels during the peak season (once peak and off-peak peak pricing starts in 2019).

The current Marriott credit cards issue Category 1-5 certificates, not certificates based on a specific points cap. If you have one of these certificates, it will transition to a points-based certificate in August. It is still unclear whether it will be capped at 35,000 points (the points cost of the new Category 5 level) or at 25,000 points (the point cost of the current Category 5 level).

• The SPG Luxury card (and Ritz Carlton card) provide a more valuable certificate than the other cards. Its point cap is 50,000 points, which is good enough for a Category 6 hotel during the standard season, a Category 7 hotel during the non-peak season, and a Category 5 hotel during the peak season.
• You'll receive the certificate a month or two after each year's anniversary date. You don't receive one the first year you have the card (you get the signup bonus instead). The SPG cards won't start issuing certificates till after August 1st, so if your anniversary date is before then, you won't receive the certificate in 2018.
• If you are interested in additional certificates, you can sign up for multiple cards. If you qualify for all five of these cards, you can get up to five certificates every year

Other Notable Benefits (Regular and Business cards)

• Silver elite status. Silver status entitles you to a measly 10% bonus points on stays, and priority late checkout (upon availability).

If you spend at least $35,000 per year ($30,000 in 2018) with the new Marriott card, and the SPG cards, you'll get Gold status. Until August 2018, this entitles you to Marriott Gold status, which normally requires 50 nights, and gets you free breakfast / lounge access with Marriott. After that date, it entitles you to the new unified program's Gold status, which normally only requires 25 nights, and only provides 2pm priority late checkout (upon availability), 25% bonus points per stay, plus a per-brand point bonus, and an enhanced room upgrade (upon availability).

Since Gold status doesn't provide breakfast, lounge access, or much possibility of a significant room upgrade, we wouldn't get any of these cards for their hotel status benefit. And we wouldn't recommend spending $30-35,000 on the SPG card, rather than earning higher rewards by using a different card, to upgrade to Gold status.

• 15 elite night credits. Having any one of these cards entitles you to 15 credit towards qualifying for elite status. For example, you'd only need 10 additional nights to reach Gold status, and 35 nights to reach Platinum status. You can only earn one set of credits per account—it is not possible to combine the credits from multiple cards.

You can also earn 1 elite night credit for every $3,000 you spend on the older Marriott Premier or Business cards. This ability continues into the future, if you have and hold onto these older cards, but it was not something we ever recommended. At only 1x Marriott point per dollar, it wasn't anywhere close to worth it. In 2018, you'll get 15 credits from each of the Marriott cards and 5 credit from each of the older SPG cards, and can combine the credits from whatever cards you have.

• Premium in-room access At participating properties. This benefit is not available with the older Marriott cards, although it will be probably be included in the new business card update.

In addition, the Amex cards provide the following benefits.

• Boingo hotspot access. Free access to over a million Boingo hotspots around the world. Boingo website.
• Access to Amex Offers. Amex continuously provides discount offers to their cardholders. Most of the offers are in the form of "Spend $x, get $y back", but other offers are in the form of "x% off your entire order" or "Earn an extra Membership Reward point on your purchases". To take advantage of the offers, you need to go to the Amex website, find the ones you are interested in, and "add them" to your card. Each offer will then be automatically applied when you use your card to make the corresponding purchase. Amex Offers Website.
• Free ShopRunner membership. As with all Amex cards, you are entitled to a complimentary ShopRunner membership, which provides free two-day and return shipping from around 150 of the largest online retailers. ShopRunner Website
• Exclusive access to entertainment events. Amex sponsors cardmember-only events around the country and also provides early ticket access for some other shows.

Additional Benefits with the SPG Luxury Card

If you decide to spend an extra $355 per year for the premium SPG credit card, you'll get a collection of valuable additional benefits.

• Annual $300 Marriott / SPG credit.. The first $300 you spend every year at Marriott and SPG hotels are taken off your credit card bill. As long as you are spending at least $300 with the program over the course of the year, this brings the out-of-pocket expense of the Luxury card down to $150. The question then becomes whether the other unique benefits are worth the extra $55 per year (compared to the other cards). This credit works on your cardholder year, so you can't use two credits during the first year you have the card.
• Annual 50,000 point hotel certificate, rather than a 35,000 point certificate.
• Gold Elite Status, rather than Silver. Unlike the other cards, you'll get Gold status, without any spending requirement. The new Gold status isn't worth that much, but it is better than nothing, and it certainly isn't worth putting enough spending on the other cards to earn it.
• Platinum Elite Status, if you spend $75,000 per year. Platinum status comes with free breakfast, lounge access, and the possibility of an upgrade to a suite. Assuming you have some way of generating this much spend, don't have a chance to earn status with 35 nights, still spend a bunch of nights at the program's hotels, and highly value these benefits, it might be worthwhile. You'd probably be giving up about $750 - $1,000 in lost rewards (or payment service fees) to qualify, but well-timed status can last for over two years.
• Airport lounge access. Like the other premium cards, a get a Priority Pass membership that provides free access to over a thousand airport lounges and restaurants. With this card, you can bring in up to two travelling companions. Get Free Airport Lounge Access from a Credit Card
• $100 TSA fee credit. Every 4 years, you can receive an automatic reimbursement of your Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee (up to $100).
• 3x points with airlines and US Restaurants. This reward rate is too low to add any value.

Even assuming you don't need the Priority Pass membership or TSA Credit, we think that the minor benefits of Gold status, combined with the more valuable free night certificate, are probably worth the extra $55. For example, we would value 15,000 points at $110. But, it isn't by much, and there is some chance that you won't get full value from the $300 hotel credit. All things considered, it is a bit of a toss-up whether you'd choose to keep this card, versus (or in addition to) one of the other cards.

If you do value the Priority Pass membership and spend a few nights a year at Marriott or SPG, the card is almost certainly worthwhile.

Bonus Categories

• These cards earns more valuable rewards on your Marriott and SPG purchases than almost any other card. 6x points are valued at 4.2 cents per dollar, which is better than any card except the Chase Sapphire Reserve and probably the Citi Premier and Prestige Cards.Best Credit Cards for Travel Spending.
• The SPG business card will earn 4x points in a variety of categories, but you can earn more valuable rewards from other cards. It earns bonus points at US Restaurants, US Gas stations and for wireless telephone and shipping purchases. 4x points is valued at 2.8 cents per dollar. This is probably better than what you can earn from your general-purpose reward card, but not as good as what you could get from cards that offer good bonus rewards for these categories. The Marriott business card's bonus rate of 3x points on restaurants, airfare and car rentals may actually be less valuable than you can earn with your general purpose card.
Best Credit Cards for Restaurant Spending.
Best Credit Cards for Gas Spending.
Credit Cards that Offer Bonus Rewards on Less Common Categories.
• You don't want to use these cards for your everyday spending. You'll earn higher rewards from a good general-purpose reward card. Get a Great General Purpose Reward Card and Use It for All of Your Spending.

Until August, the SPG cards will earn the equivalent of 3x points on everyday spend, which is 50% higher than the new rate. While we still think that you can do better with other cards, for many people, the high value of SPG points made these cards worthwhile for all their non-bonus-category spending. That will be much harder to justify with the new rates.

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