KEY LINK – Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card – Earn 3 Free Night Awards (each night valued up to 50,000 points) after spending $3,000 in 3 months. $95 annual fee
I’ve often said that one of the best ways to get lots of miles and points is through applying for new credit cards. It’s just too hard to get any appreciable amount of miles by just your regular everyday spending (unless you are spending a LOT). So for most people, regularly applying for new credit cards every couple of months is the best way to get enough miles and points to go somewhere fun. Of course, that also goes right into the other thing that I regularly say, and that is to not apply for a credit card just because some guy on the Internet said that you should.
Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Free Night Offer
The Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card just came out with a brand new offer and it’s pretty compelling. Normally, new welcome offers give a certain amount of miles or points, but this one currently is offering 3 free nights (up to 50,000 points) when you spend $3,000 in the first 3 months of having the card. While I sometimes find free hotel nights to be tricky to use, that’s mostly when you only have 1 or 2 of them. With 3 free nights, you can really turn that into a pretty nice trip.
Keep in mind that with the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card, you’ll also get:
- 6x Bonvoy points for every $1 spent at over 7,000 hotels participating in Marriott Bonvoy®
- 3X points per $1 on the first $6,000 spent in combined purchases each year on grocery stores, gas stations, and dining.
- 2X Bonvoy points on all other purchases.
- Complimentary Marriott Silver elite status with a path to Marriott Gold Elite status if you spend $35,000 on purchases in a calendar year
- Annual free night certificate (up to 35,000 points) each cardmember anniversary
- 15 elite nights towards status each year
- 1 Elite Night Credit toward your Elite status for every $5,000 you spend with no cap
The Bonvoy Boundless card does come with a $95 annual fee which is not waived the first year.
Where to use Marriott free nights
The 50,000 point cap will rule out some of the ultra-luxurious Marriott hotels out there, but that’s okay because I hate “fancy” hotels anyways, with one of the reasons being that they seem to charge you for every last little thing.
(SEE ALSO: How hotels categorize themselves (the difference between upscale and “upper upscale”))
Remember that you can now top off your Marriott free night awards with up to 15,000 points per night, meaning that you can look for hotels and resorts at up to 65,000 points. You do also get the 5th night free with points bookings, but I’m not sure that using a free night would qualify for this. Here’s an example at the Royalton Riviera Cancun all-inclusive
Yes, you do have to pay 14,000 points / night on top of your free night certificates, but you’re also getting a room that is running for $687 / night (plus tax).
We also compiled a list of 6 Marriott hotels you can stay at for free that you can use to help get some travel inspiration
Who’s Eligible for this Marriott Bonvoy Boundless offer
The terms of the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card state that you are not eligible for the welcome offer if you:
- currently have any of the following cards or (2) you received a new cardmember bonus for any of the following cards within the last 24 months: Marriott Bonvoy® Premier credit card, Marriott Rewards® Premier credit card, Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® credit card, Marriott Rewards® Premier Plus credit card, Marriott Bonvoy Bold® credit card.
- currently have or had any of the following cards within the last 30 days: Marriott Bonvoy® American Express® Card, The Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express
- applied and were approved for any of the following cards within the last 90 days or (3) received a new cardmember bonus or upgrade bonus for any of the following cards within the last 24 months: Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card, Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Credit Card from American Express, Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card, Starwood Preferred Guest® American Express Luxury Card, Marriott Bonvoy Bevy™ American Express® Card.
As a Chase card, the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless offer is subject to Chase 5/24 so you are unlikely to be approved if you have applied for 5 or more credit cards within the past 24 months.
Other Marriott Credit Cards
If you’re not sure about paying the $95 annual fee on the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card, Marriott does also have a co-branded credit card with Chase that comes with no annual fee – the Marriott Bonvoy Bold. Here are a few other Marriott cards that you could consider
- Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card – Earn 60,000 Bonus Points plus 1 Free Night Award after you spend $2,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. Free Night valued at 50,000 points. Certain hotels have resort fees. $0 annual fee.
- Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card – Earn 3 Free Night Awards, valued at up to 50K points each for eligible stays after spending $6,000 in 6 months. Free Night valued at 50,000 points. Certain hotels have resort fees. $125 annual fee (see rates and fees)
- Marriott Bonvoy Bevy™ American Express® Card – Earn 155,000 Marriott Bonvoy bonus points after spending $5,000 in 6 months. $250 annual fee (see rates and fees)
- Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card – Earn 185,000 Marriott Bonvoy bonus points after spending $6,000 in 6 months. $650 annual fee (see rates and fees)
Personally, I think that most people will get much more value out of the 3 free nights with the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless, at least during the first year. You can then downgrade to the Bonvoy Bold after the first year if you don’t want to pay the annual fee again.
The Bottom Line
KEY LINK – Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card – Earn 3 Free Night Awards (each night valued up to 50,000 points) after spending $3,000 in 3 months. $95 annual fee
3 free nights (after spending $3,000 in 3 months) is an outstanding offer. With the value of Marriott points at around 0.7 cents per point, the 3 50,000 point nights would be worth up to $1,050. Yes, it comes with a $95 annual fee but you should be able to get significantly more value than that the first year, and each year you also get a free night certificate each year which should help you manage the annual fee.
As always, feel free to email me at dan at pointswithacrew dot com if you have any questions about your specific situation, or this or any other credit card offer.
What do you think of this Marriott Bonvoy Boundless credit card offer? Are you planning on signing up for it?
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The number of hotels I’ve seen lately at the 66,000 point level is severely testing my patience with Bonvoy. Between that and paying the resort fee on reward stays, they have really lost a lot of what had been my loyalty. A 35K point certificate is now mostly unusable for any sort of stay I’d be interested in.