Chase is planning to make negative changes to the Marriott Bonvoy Bold card (no annual fee). The changes will go into effect on 7/10/24. Changes are as follows:
- 5 elite night credits per calendar year (previously 15). Card will come with automatic silver status (previously it came with silver status from the 15 elite nights)
- Earn 2X – grocery stores, rideshare, internet/cable/phone services as well as some food delivery and streaming services (previously 2x on travel purchases)
- More benefits are coming (unclear what these are)
I always found it somewhat strange that the no annual fee card offered so many free elite night credits, I guess too many people were gaming this and they decided to change it. Can’t imagine them adding anything that would make up for this change, but you never know I guess.
Hat tip to Infern0588
Been a marriott for more than 10 years and getting my “platinum for life” status by next year. Their award booking is terrible now and I just got on the Hyatt bandwagon and very happy with Hyatt. I am only a basic member at Hyatt so that tells a lot. 6,5000 HYATT pts for hotels that are better than marriotts 40K pts. I have booked 5 Hyatt stays so far with more planned, and have yet to stay at a marriott this year. Now, I just get the annual 40 nights from 2 marriott cards and use the annual marriott certs. Will cancel the marriott cards when annual fees hit. I dont bother burning my chase ultimate points to transfer to marriott anymore.
Agree. And, it’s best to transfer those Chase Ult pts to “Hyatt” now.
Should never use chase points to transfer to marriott. Between all the cards Chase & Amex have + the crazy offers of 5x 50k certs its easy to rack up a ton of marriott nights.
Hyatt or airlines is the only thing to use UR for.
Marriott is garbage now, was just im China and IHG is blowing them away by a long shot that I’m not even making use of my Titanium Marriott status cause it’s just not worth it
Where are the sources that state that it’s 5 nights/year? I didn’t see anything about it in the reddit link provided.
More “benefits” are coming.
We’ll see what those “benefits” and “enhancements” actually are.
Marriott reward program has been a joke for a long time.
I didn’t think you can be credited for elite nights for both the Bold and Boundless. I thought only elite nights from one personal and one business card could be combined.
You are correct you can’t stack personal card elite nights (minus the one time Marriott screwed up and accidentally awarded some people extra for the year).
To me Boundless is always the better card to have with a 35K free night for only $95. If you really didn’t want to mess with the FNC or an annual fee then Bold could still get you 15 elite nights for no cost – which might have appealed to business travelers who just want the extra elite nights. Wonder what Chase will add as the drop to 5 elite nights makes the card of little value to keep for anyone.
Thank you for confirming.
do the changes apply to existing cards or just ones acquired after the date listed?
You can be certain existing cards will be changed at some point too.
This card has only been for the elite nights, but the 10 fewer nights makes it less likely to hit a level. Now there’s even less reason to pick a Marriott over someplace else.
can anyone help me know how we can game elite nights ?
Get the boundless and the brilliant. Start out the year with 40 elite nights and Platinum status. Only takes “35 nights” to get to Titanium, or if you don’t do that, you can still get to Lifetime Platinum far easier than without the auto status and 40 nights every year.
“Get the boundless and the brilliant. Start out the year with 40 elite nights and Platinum status.”
Are you sure? I don’t think they allow you to combine elite nights from two personal cards. You’d have to get the Brilliant and the Boundless BUSINESS to be able to combine the elite nights.
Because one is chase and the other amex it is allowed. Pay attention to SUB qualifications though.
This is incorrect. The only cards that you can stack elite nights are the Amex business Bonvoy card(15 nights) and the Brilliant card(25 nights) to get to 40. Terms clearly state you can only stack nights from one personal card and one business card. At a hefty price too, $775($650 for Brilliant, $125 for business), or $475 if you use up the monthly restaurant credit on the Brilliant.
This combo does get you:
-Platnium status from the Brilliant
-40 elite nights. Only 10 to go to get a choice reward at 50 nights(which includes 5 suite night upgrades or a few other choices), or 35 to get to titanium(30 if you pick the 5 more elite nights choice rewards at 50)
-One “free” night cert from the business card(up to 35k points)
-$25 monthly restaurant credit from the Brilliant card, helping to cut down on the AF
-One “free” night cert from the Brilliant(starting year TWO) up to 85k
-Other perks from the Brilliant, like precheck/Clear credit, etc.
The poor earning rate makes it a sock drawer card anyway. For a card I would not even remember that I have, constantly bringing in 5 night per year at no cost seems still OK for me.