Marriott credit cards
$95, waived first year on SPG cards.
Differs per card
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 unified 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). In addition, having at least one of the cards can provide 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
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Marriott / SPG Credit Card Options
There are five different credit cards that have valuable benefits and are available for new signups. In addition, there is a no-annual-fee Marriott card, with minimal benefits; and a couple of recently available cards that are no longer available for new signups.
The four main cards have nearly identical features and benefits: these are the personal and business versions of the Amex SPG and Chase Marriott cards. All four of the cards have a $95 annual fee, waived the first year.
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SPG Personal card (Amex). Because it is issued from Amex, it has the advantage of not being affected by the Chase 5/24 rule. On the other hand, you can only earn the signup bonus once per lifetime. The card includes a few features that you don't get from the Marriott card: Boingo hot spot access and access to Amex offers. The card currently has a 75,000 point signup bonus ($3,000 initial spend). Amex Webpage Alternative Webpage |
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SPG Business Card. The business version is identical features to the personal version, except for a 4x point bonus reward rate on US restaurants, US gas stations, wireless telephone service and shipping. However, you can easily earn more valuable bonus rewards with other cards. Thsi card currently has a 100,000 point signup bonus ($5,000 initial spend). Amex Webpage Alternative Webpage |
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Marriott Premier Plus Card. We generally don't recommend getting this card. It is subject to the Chase 5/24 rule, so if you are already affected by that rule, you can't get it anyway. And, if you are still under the limit, we recommend that you sign up for some other card instead. Because you can't signup for both the personal version of the Amex card and the personal version of the Chase card, getting this card won't help you obtain additional free night certificates each year. The card currently has a 75,000 point signup offer. Chase Webpage. Alternative 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 can't have both versions. |
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Marriott Premier Business Card. The business version of the Marriott card is not subject to the Chase 5/24 rule, and is much more interesting than the personal version. Like the business version of the SPG card, it offers 4x points on restaurants, gas, telecommunications services, and shipping. Chase Webpage Alternative Webpage |
The higher-end card adds a number of enhanced features, but comes with a much higher annual fee. In addition, Marriott continues to support the high-end Ritz Carlton Credit Card, but that card is not available for new signups.
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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. This card currently has a 100,000 point signup bonus ($5,000 initial spend). Amex Webpage Alternative Webpage
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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
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).
- 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}}.
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.
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 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
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).
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).
- 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.
- 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.
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.
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.
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.
- 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.
Best Credit Cards for Gas Spending.
Credit Cards that Offer Bonus Rewards on Less Common Categories.
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.