The Chase Marriott Premier Plus is now accepting applications, in addition Chase Marriott Premier cardholders can now upgrade to the Premier Plus and receive a bonus of 0 to 50,000 Marriott points. Let’s compare the two cards to see what the differences are and whether it makes to upgrade or not.
| Premier | Premier Plus | |
|---|---|---|
| Annual Fee | $85 | $95 |
| Free night certificate on anniversary | Category 1-5 properties (up to 25,000 points) | On any property up to 35,000 points |
| Trip Cancellation Insurance | Yes | No |
| Trip Interruption Insurance | Yes | No |
| 15 Credits Towards elite status | Yes, plus one for every $3,000 in spend | Starting in 2019, no additional ones with spend |
| Elite status | (This card gives Silver status due to the 15 night elite credits) | Silver status, plus gold if you spend $35,000 each account year |
| Points earned at Marriott/SPG properties | 5x | 6x |
| Points earned on all other purchases | 1x | 2x |
In addition to this upgrading will also give you anywhere from 0 bonus points to 50,000 points. There are a few things I’m unclear on:
- How the increase in annual fee works. Are you charged an additional $10 regardless of when the annual fee on your Premier card posted? Or is it prorated based on how long is left in your card member year? One thing I do know is that if you’ve had the card for less than a year you won’t be charged anything additional due to the CARD act preventing this.
- The differences between the free night certificates. The original Premier card offers a free night at any category 1-5 property, under the new joint program a category 5 property costs at least 35,000 points until January 1st, 2019 with the introduction of peak/off peak pricing and even then it drops to minimum of 30,000 points. I had assumed this was an error, but are the free night certificates on this card being devalued?
- What happens with the 15 credits for elite status. I assume if you’ve received this on the Premier card already, then you won’t lose them when you upgrade but the Premier Plus card specifically states that benefit isn’t coming until 2019 so maybe they will retroactively take them away?
It’s a shame that the F.A.Q doesn’t address any of these questions. One thing it does make clear is that your account information will stay the same, but the CVV/security code will change. This means the information on your credit report will also stay the same and upgrading will not affect your 5/24 status. Upgrading should also not affect when you’ll be eligible for the bonus again (this is based on when you last received the sign up bonus and I doubt the upgrade bonus will count).
Most readers will want to know, should I upgrade or should I not upgrade? Personally I’d just wait until we get a bit more clarify on how this upgrading process works. I think for most people upgrading will make sense (especially with the free night certificate difference) but keeping the old card might make sense in some fringe cases and even more so if the free night certificates are identical.
View Comments (91)
I still have the old premier with the 25k annual award certificate. When searching hotels without claiming the certificate, hardly any hotels at 25k. At this point I felt bummed. Interestingly, when I applied the certificate, it adjusted a significant number of hotels to 25k to make it usable and I used it. I will not be tempted by the numerous offers to upgrade to the Bonvoy card as I don't want to be bonvoyed.
Looking for a DP for the below statement that Will mentioned:
"What happens with the 15 credits for elite status. I assume if you’ve received this on the Premier card already, then you won’t lose them when you upgrade but the Premier Plus card specifically states that benefit isn’t coming until 2019 so maybe they will retroactively take them away?"
Can someone please report back and let me know if for some reason the 15 night credit gets removed from your account when you upgrade in 2018? I'm on the fence about the upgrade offer...
15 credits and the old cat 5 cert still in my account 2 weeks after upgrading (already received the new card, not as good looking).
btw. Is it even a thing for CC company to retrospectively apply a negative night credit adjustment to or take away night cert from a hotel account? Never heard of that.
I don't really think it's a thing but at this point in this terrible merger, it seems like Marriott might do anything. Thanks for the response, this is helpful.
Any update on IF upgrading will cause you to not be eligible for the bonus again?
My big issue between the two cards is that the new card DOES NOT provide free trip cancellation insurance. To me this is a big deal having had to use it before. It makes the old card much more valuable in my mind!! So, I am keeping the old card!!
I agree... I have read this entire thread specifically looking for comments on the loss of trip delay and travel insurance with the upgrade. Surprised that there were none until the last few posts. Although a recent post has a link showing the travel delay benefit is still in effect, it is not included in the offer I received. I’m considering the lost value of these benefits... wondering if that is the purpose of the upgrade, to save on the cost for these benefits?
Hi guys, I had the regular Marriott Rewards card and Upgraded to Premier Plus. Last month I had my $85 AF. A couple days ago I was credited $71.83 listed as "annual fee credit." Any ideas what this means?
It sounds like your previous af was prorated back to you with plans to charge you new af associated with Premier Plus
Ahh that actually makes sense. I wonder if they will then prorate the Premier Plus AF or just change the AF date? I was considering canceling this card...now I could use the anniversary night and then cancel without paying the new annual fee...
Same thing happened to me - I had my $85 AF in February, and I was credited with $49.58 as "annual fee credit" after upgrading. Any thoughts here would be great...
OK, So... If I spend $35,000 I get Gold Elite (> August, Platinum elite), next year if I spend $35,000... will I get the Gold Elite (> August) ? Which is actually a huge downgrade?
Do we have an answer to the following: "My anniversary on the my existing Premier card is 2/1. I was issued my anniversary night then and paid the $85 fee. If I upgrade to the Premier Plus today, when will I be charged the new $95 fee and when will my next anniversary night be issued?"
I called Chase and they said all the above will occur again on my original anniversary, 2/1/19. Is this true?
Has anybody got the new card after choosing to upgrade?
Premier Plus - Trip Delay (Interruption) Insurance should be a "Yes"
https://creditcards.chase.com/marriott/cardmember/premier_plus_benefits/travel_benefits
Has anybody had any luck getting their original upgrade offer increased by calling Chase