Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful™ Credit Card Review (New Card, 125k Offer)

Application Link

Benefits

1. 125k offer: Earn 125,000 Marriott points by spending $4,000 in the first 3 months.
2. We estimate the value of a Marriott point at 0.7 cents/point, so the 125k sign-up bonus is worth about $875.
3. Earn 6x Marriott points at Marriott hotels (including Marriott, Ritz-Carlton and SPG brands). Earn 4x Marriott point on the first $15,000 spent in combined purchases each year on grocery stores and dining. Earn 2x Marriott points on everything else.
4. Earn 1,000 Bonus Points per each stay at a hotel participating in Marriott Bonvoy. Note that bookings from OTA (like priceline/expedia) don’t count.
5. Earn 15 elite nights each calendar year (elite nights are for status, not free nights). You will only receive Elite Night Credits from ONE Marriott co-branded personal credit card even if you have more than one Marriott/SPG/Ritz-Carlton credit cards. You can get 15 more Elite Night Credits if you have a Marriott co-branded business credit card.
6. Complimentary Marriott Gold status.
7. For every calendar year, after $15,000 in spend, you will be credited a free night (FN) with a redemption level up to 50,000 points.
8. No foreign transaction fee.

Disadvantages

1. Annual fee $250, NOT waived for the first year.

Introduction to Marriott Points

• Marriott points are the most flexible transferable points (After the merging with SPG, Marriott obtained all its airline partners).
• You can earn Marriott points with Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless, Chase Marriott Bonvoy Bold, AmEx Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant, AmEx Marriott Bonvoy Business, and the following cards that do not accept new applications but accept product change: Chase Ritz-Carlton, and AmEx Marriott Bonvoy.
• Marriott points are stored in your Marriott account, not in your credit cards, so you won’t lose your points by canceling the credit cards.
• Your Marriott points will expire if you don’t earn or spend any Marriott points in 24 months. As long as you earn make a purchase with the corresponding credit cards or stay in a hotel, or you redeem some points during the time frame, the point expiration date will be postponed accordingly.
• Marriott points can be transferred to a lot of airlines miles (you don’t have to have a Marriott related credit card to make the transfer), and the ratio is 3:1.25 (i.e. 3:1 transfer rate, plus you get 5k bonus miles for every 60k Marriott points you transfer at a time). The good options are: Alaska Airlines (AS) (Non-alliance), Japan Airlines (JL) (Oneworld), United Airlines (UA) (Star Alliance), American Airlines (AA) (Oneworld), All Nippon Airways (ANA, NH) (Star Alliance), Korean Air (KE) (SkyTeam), etc. If you use Marriott points in this way, the value is about 0.7 cents/point.
• Marriott points can also be redeemed for hotel stays obviously. Here’s the redemption chart: Marriott redemption chart. Generally speaking, you can get a better redemption value from lowest categories. If you use Marriott points in this way, the value is about 0.7 cents/point.
• In summary, we estimate that Marriott points are worth about 0.7 cents/point.

Recommended Application Time

1. [5/24 Rule] If you have 5 or more new accounts opened in the past 24 months, Chase will not approve your application on this card, no matter how high your credit score is. The number of new accounts includes all credit card accounts, not only Chase accounts. See this post for details about how to possibly bypass this rule.
2. This product is available to you if (1) you do not have this card now; and (2) have not received a new cardmember bonus for this card in the past 24 months. Note that what matters here is the time you got the sign-up bonus, not the time you open the account or close the account.
3. The bonus is not available if you: (1) you currently have or had any of the following cards within the last 30 days, (2) you applied and were approved for any of the following cards within the last 90 days, or (3) you received a new cardmember bonus or upgrade bonus for any of the following cards within the last 24 months: AmEx Marriott Bonvoy (Formerly AmEx SPG), AmEx Marriott Bonvoy Business (Formerly AmEx SPG Business), AmEx Marriott Bonvoy Bevy, or AmEx Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant (Formerly AmEx SPG Luxury).
4. Don’t apply for more than 2 Chase credit cards within 30 days, it’s highly likely that you will get rejected.
5. We recommend you to apply for this card after you have a credit history for more than a year.

Summary

With $250 annual fee, this card is very weak. It doesn’t even come with a free night every year like other hotel co-branded cards. The only unique feature is 1,000 Marriott points per stay (worth about $7). This card is not worth holding. The only attractive thing will be the welcome offer. I suggest to wait for a better welcome offer.

Related Credit Cards

Recommended Downgrade Options

After Applying

• Call 800-436-7927 to check Chase application status. This is an automated telephone line, and the information has the following meanings: Receive decision in 2 weeks means your application is probably approved; Receive decision in 7-10 days means your application is probably rejected; Receive decision in 30 days simply means your application requires further review and there’s nothing to tell you for now.
• Chase reconsideration backdoor number: 888-270-2127 or 888-609-7805. Call it if you didn’t get approve immediately. Your personal information will be acquired and they will then review it. You seldom answer questions, instead, just enjoy the music and then you get approved or rejected, or further information is needed to be hand in to the branch or faxed.

Historical Offers Chart

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