Marriott Rewards Premier Credit Card Review

The Marriott Bonvoy Boundless™ card can be a great option for those who are loyal to the hotel brand, especially those who don’t want to pay a high annual fee. Cardholders have the opportunity to earn some decent rewards for hotel stays and other rewards like flights. Plus, you can get a free hotel stay each year you’re a cardholder.

If you’ve been considering getting this card, check our review below to learn about important details and whether it’s the right fit for you.

Benefits and Features

The Marriott Bonvoy Boundless™ card has a $95 annual fee and offers a pretty decent signup bonus of 30,000 points once you spend at least $1,000 in purchases within the first three months of account opening. Think about that as spending just $350 each month for the next three months.

In addition to the bonus, you’ll also earn regular ongoing rewards:

• 6x points for each dollar spent at Marriott Bonvoy hotels
• 2x points for each dollar spent on all other purchases

Other perks include no foreign transaction fees, automatic Silver Elite status and a faster path to Gold status, free wifi at participating Marriott hotels and a free night at participating Marriott hotels each cardholder anniversary (valid for a one-night hotel stay with a redemption level up to 35,000 points).

What You Need to Know About the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless™ Credit Card

While this seems like a simple co-branded credit card, there are some things you’ll want to keep in mind. These perks will help you take advantage of all the value-added bonuses you’ll get which can help to offset the annual fee.

Annual Free Night Award

Although you have to pay a $95 annual fee, the free hotel night you’ll get each cardholder anniversary can more than offset that upfront cost. You can use it at any participating midtier Marriott hotel on rooms that are valued at up to 35,000 points. Of course, it depends on the hotel you book, but that free award night can be worth more than triple the annual fee.

Get More Out of Marriott Stays

This co-branded card is a great idea if you plan on staying at Marriott properties often since you get to earn a lot more points — six points for every dollar you spend at participating Marriott hotels.

The cool thing is that you can also earn an additional 11 points for every dollar you spend at participating Marriott hotels since this card offers complimentary Marriott Bonvoy Silver Elite status. This means you’ll earn 10 base points and an additional 10% bonus as a Silver Elite member.

Speaking of the automatic Silver Elite status, you can get a bunch of perks every time you stay at a participating hotel. This includes priority late checkouts, but perks may vary from hotel to hotel and is based on availability. It might be a great benefit since there could be times you have a later flight and you want to relax in your room until it’s time to head out.

Cardholders can also upgrade to the Bonvoy’s Gold status each year. You’ll need to book at least 25 nights at Marriott hotels or spend $35,000 on qualifying purchases. Considering you’ll earn the equivalent of 15 nights once you cross over your cardholder anniversary, it means that you’ll only need to book 10 nights to receive this perk.

Want to know what you’ll get with Gold status? Perks include complimentary room upgrades at participating Marriott hotels, though that’s based on availability.

No Hotel Credits (Though There’s a Signup Bonus)

Yes, get a big signup bonus of 75,000 points once you spend at least $3,000 in purchases within the first three months of account opening. This amount might not be a lot if you pool your regular purchases on the card, meaning you don’t have to spend more than you need to in order to earn that bonus.

So sure, you’ll get the opportunity to rack up a huge balance, but you won’t be able to get an annual hotel credit to give you extra value, unlike other higher-tiered Marriott co-branded cards.

How to Redeem Your Rewards

Here are a few ways to redeem your points:

• Use points for hotels: You can book rewards nights starting at 5,000 points for the lowest-tier and rooms at off-peak times, 7,500 for standard times and 10,000 for peak times. There are also PointSavers rates which are discounted nights at participating hotels. If you don’t have enough points, you can combine them with cash to redeem for hotel stays — starts at $55 and 1,500 points. Don’t forget: try and take advantage of Marriott’s promotion for the fifth night free. Basically, if you book five nights, you’ll only need four nights worth of points.
• Additional hotel charges: You can also redeem points for incidentals such as trips to the spa, beverages, and food.
• Cruises and travel packages: Your points may not get as far, but you can look at what you can book through the booking portal — book cruises, travel packages and even covering the cost of TSA Precheck.
• Flights: There are a bunch of partner airline programs you can transfer your points to, typically at a 3:1 rate. The Bonvoy program will also offer an extra 5,000 points for every 60,000 transferred (though it may change, so check the fine print for details).

Pros and Cons

Pros

• High signup bonus
• Earn more points for stays at participating Marriott properties
• Receive automatic complimentary Silver Elite status
• Get a free hotel stay for every cardholder anniversary

Cons

• Need to pay $95 annual fee
• You’ll need to spend at least $3,000 to get the signup bonus
• Benefits are better for those who are Marriott loyalists

Is The Marriott Card For You?

The Marriott Bonvoy Boundless™ Card might be a good fit if you’re a regular Marriott customer who is interested in getting some decent perks but isn’t interested in paying a lot for a luxury card. That and you’re also not interested in the other luxury perks (you’re happy with things like free nights and free wifi, for example).

You get the opportunity to get a lot of value that will more than offset the annual fee of this card. If you’re not interested in only sticking with Marriott or want more benefits like free spa trips, then you’ll need to look elsewhere.