Frequent Miler's latest team challenge, Million Mile Madness, is almost done! The last two weeks Greg, Nick, and Stephen competed to earn 1 Million SAS miles by flying 15 airlines. But who completed the challenge with the most Speed, Affordability, and Style?
In addition to the 100,000 signup bonus for the new Marriott Rewards Premier Plus credit card, Chase is offering targeted upgrade offers for existing cardholders of the Marriott Rewards Premier credit card.
The Offer
- Upgrade your credit card from Marriott Rewards Premier to Marriott Rewards Premier Plus and get 0-50,000 bonus points after your first purchase by December 31, 2018.
- Direct link to find out your upgrade offer
Quick Thoughts
When entering my details, Chase offered me 20,000 Marriott Rewards points to upgrade. Doctor of Credit is reporting that upgrade offers are ranging from 0 to 50,000 points, so you’ll need to check your own offer if you have the Marriott Rewards Premier credit card.
Is it worth upgrading though? That’ll depend on several factors along with your priorities.
If you get an offer that’s less than 50,000 points, it’s probably not worth it. Chase will hopefully offer higher upgrade offer in the future, although that’s obviously not guaranteed.
The bonus points on offer for the upgrade aren’t the only factor though. The annual fee on the Premier Plus credit card is $10 higher than than the Premier. The Premier Plus does earn 6x on Marriott and SPG stays though versus 5x on the Premier which could be worthwhile if you have a lot of paid stays. If you have one of the SPG credit cards though, you can use that to earn 2 Starpoints per dollar which converts to 6 Marriott Rewards points.
For people looking to earn status with Marriott, it might be best to wait until your 15 Elite night credits from the Premier card post to your account before upgrading. Those nights post to your account around your card anniversary time, rather than based on the calendar year.
If your card anniversary date is coming up, there is something else to consider. The Premier card offers a free night certificate at category 1-5 hotels, whereas the Premier Plus offers a free night certificate good for properties up to 35,000 points which – this year only – equates to categories 1-7. What we don’t know yet is whether you’ll receive the free night certificate on the Premier Plus card if you upgrade before your anniversary date in 2018, or if you’d have to wait until 2019 for it to be awarded for the first time.
Given the confusing way Chase dealt with the IHG credit card free night certificate, you might want to hold off on upgrading until there’s some clarification to ensure you don’t miss out on a free night certificate this year. If they confirm that upgrades to the Premier Plus will earn the free night certificate at account renewal this year, it might be best to upgrade before renewing so that you can redeem it at a wider and better selection of hotels this year.
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[…] in May 2018, Chase sent out upgrade offers to encourage Marriott Rewards Premier cardholders to upgrade to the new Premier Plus […]
Also what is unknown are the full benefits beyond the points. Such as what is the comprehensive auto insurance coverage and how does it differ from the current premier offer? Details details…
We do know the full list of benefits on this card – it has been on the market for more than 7 months now, so the benefits are well-established. I’m happy to answer whatever questions you have about it.
In terms of auto coverage, neither card offers primary CDW. The Premier Plus offers secondary CDW, so I wouldn’t suggest using it to rent a car (as any claim would go through your personal car insurance first). The old Premier card did not offer primary CDW, either.
For booking rental cars, you want to use a card with primary CDW like the CSR, CSP, Ritz-Carlton, or Mileage Plus Explorer or Club cards so that the card covers primary Collision Damage Waiver. The Citi Prestige covers primary CDW for rentals outside of the US, but it’s secondary in the US. It’s always smart to check your card’s guide to benefits ahead of time.
Nobody brings up the cancellation insurance on the old car that the new one does not have?
Trip cancellation insurance is exactly why I am keeping the old card. I have had to use it on three occasions and that has paid for the annual fee many time over. It’s the reason I buy all air tickets on this card.
This is for those who are receiving and considering an upgrade offer.
https://credit-cards.marriott.com/en-us/marriott-rewards-us clears up the question of when you get your ‘free night’ (up to 3500 points). Here is the quote from that page for the Premier Plus Card: “Coming in 2019: Receive 15 Elite Night Credits each calendar year. Restrictions apply.”
The Free Night good up to 35,000 points will not happen until 2019, and this current Premier Plus Card offer ends 12/31/2019. The Marriott Rewards rep was very knowledgable and confirmed that it would happen at the anniversary and not before. Furthermore, the promotional period ends 12/31/18 and the 50k bonus points are only awarded when a transaction clears during the promotional period. So you would have to receive the card prior to 12/31, make a transaction, and have it clear by 12/31 or else you do NOT get the 50k bonus points.
If you do not upgrade by mid December I don’t think you will physically receive your new card to make a transaction by the end of December. Since the account number doesn’t change and only the 3 digit code and expiry change, you could call Chase and see if using your current card prior to 12/31 (and after both accepting the promotion but before you receive the new card) qualifies as an expenditure during the promotional period. But I would err on the side of caution and trust that Chase and Marriott will try their best to screw everyone they can out of free points. There are no free lunches and these brands count on you not using your benefits to their fullest– much like a gym membership.
When you receive the 35K free night depends on your anniversary date. This post was written in May. If your anniversary date had been in September 2018 and you upgraded in May 2018, you would have received a 35K night in September 2018. If you were to apply new for the card this year, you’re correct that you would not receive the 35K night until anniversary in 2019 — it’s an anniversary benefit, it just depends on when your anniversary happens (whether an existing account or new one).
As for receiving the 50K bonus points, Chase is usually pretty good about that. As long as you make a charge by December 31st, I’d expect to get the 50K points. I personally wouldn’t wait until the last day just in case the merchant doesn’t run the charge until the next day or something, but I don’t think it’ll matter whether or not the charge has gone from pending to posted before December 31st.
As for receiving the card, you should neither need to wait to receive the new physical card nor need to call Chase. When you do a Chase product change, the change takes effect immediately. On the phone, I believe they tell you it may take 24-48 hours for your old card to earn under the new card’s terms, but earlier this year I product changed a card and made a charge minutes after hanging up the phone to test how it would post and and my charge earned under the new card’s structure even though I was using the old physical card. I am as certain as I can be that Chase’s system will recognize your charge as being on the Premier Plus whether or not you’ve received the new physical card.
Nick, thanks for this information and sorry for commenting on such an old post. But I just want to confirm that if I do the upgrade for my card (that has an Anniversary in Feb 2019) I will still get the free night cert in Feb 2019 and they won’t make me wait a year because they reset my anniversary date. Would be a HUGE bummer to upgrade a month before and miss out on a whole year of getting the free night cert. Thanks!
I ended up upgrading to the Premier Plus card towards the end of the year as I was able to get 50k bonus points. I don’t think my anniversary date is until May, so it’ll be a while before I know for sure.
Just as an alternative data point, I upgraded my Hyatt card to the World of Hyatt card last July. My anniversary date had been February and so I think that’s when the annual fee was always charged. After upgrading, the annual fee was charged in October/November, so I sent a secure message to Chase to check the status on the free night. They advised that although the month the annual fee was charged had changed, the anniversary date of my card remained the same. That meant the anniversary free night will be awarded in February (well, within 10 weeks of the anniversary date anyway).
I therefore suspect the same thing will happen with the Premier Plus free night. If you upgraded, you should retain the February anniversary date for the free night. It’d be worth sending a secure message to Chase though to verify that – that way you have it in writing if there are any issues in the future.
If you’re still considering an upgrade, check the link again. My offer also suddenly jumped from 20k to 50k. I’m in.
Has anyone figured out if the anniversary date changes once you upgrade? Our offer (wife and mine both) went from 20k to 50k each, and I want those points! :). But with our Anniversary date in March, I don’t want to have to wait an extra 6 mos for the free anniversary night cert…
Not worth it after viewing the new points chart! https://points-redemption.marriott.com/category-change Marriott is eliminating all 25,000 point stays (old cat 5 which effective Aug 18 requires 35,000 points). With my recently received cat 1-5 free anniversary night, I will be able to stay in NYC at an Autograph hotel and enjoy club access or free breakfast – an almost impossible find in this category BEFORE these new upcoming changes! Suddenly the cat 1-5 has decent value and the same (up to 35k) points as the upgraded offer. Since I only average about 25 hotel nights a year, I count on the $3,000 spend elite night rewards to maintain gold status which in turn is worth to me personally (at least $1,000 a year (food, beverage, 4 p.m. checkout, and room upgrades).
Marriott isn’t eliminating 25K point stays. They’re just restructuring the categories. The one called Category 4 in the new program is 25K for a standard room. Old Category 5 = New Category 4.
In the current program, there are 14 levels (Marriott Cat 1-9 and Ritz Tier 1-5). In the new program, there are 8 levels. It’s more useful to think of them in terms of points than in category number since 14 categories don’t map perfectly to 8.
Any old Cat 1-5 nights will get a value “up to 25K points” — which is essentially the same as what they are now (old Cat 5 costs 25K points). So the Cat 1-5 anniversary free night you just received will not be valid at new Category 5 – it’ll only work at properties up to 25K.
If you upgrade, you will get an annual certificate for properies up to 35K points. That’s obviously an improvement in some cases where you’ll be able to use it for better properties. On the other hand, when peak pricing comes into effect, you’ll only be able to use it at Category 4 properties during peak periods (since Cat 5 properties will cost more than 35K at peak times), so it’s not a huge improvement. Furthermore, upgrading will preclude you from being eligible for the SPG Lux card for 24 months, so I would agree that upgrading is probably not worth it right now.
What about NO trip cancellation/trip interruption insurance with the Plus Card. Should i even be concerned with that?
If you don’t pay for your travel on the card, that’s not something you’d need to worry about. If you do put flights on the card, that’s definitely something to bear in mind.
Stephen
Now that new rules our out, will upgrade be there after August 26th. I planned on upgrading for 20,000 points this fall. Upgrade offer is good until Dec 31. Think they will do away with it?
Seeing as the upgrade is good until Dec 31, you should be fine waiting another few months.
i got 20k offer. i’m over 5/24 rule, and Chase Rep also confirmed that i’m eligible for new card’s 100k offer (because my new card bonus was 2+ years ago).
so, should i
1) upgrade for 20k,
or
2) close this card and apply for new card for 100k rewards?
what are pros and cons ?
If you’re over 5/24, you wouldn’t be able to get the new card for 100k points. Although you’re eligible for the bonus in that you haven’t received it in the last 2 years, they wouldn’t accept you because of 5/24.
my bad. What I meant, was that i am OUTside 5/24 rule.. had less than 5 new cards in last 24 months.
I guess it depends on if there are any 5/24 Chase cards you don’t already have that could be more rewarding, especially Ultimate Rewards-earning cards. If I was under 5/24, the Marriott card probably wouldn’t be my first choice – the Ink Preferred or Freedom Unlimited would be next – but the Marriott card could be good if you can maximize the 100k points.
I apologize in advance. What is the 5/24 everyone is talking about ?
No need to apologize. It refers to Chase’s policy of not approving you for several of their credit cards if you’ve opened 5+ credit cards with any banks (not just Chase) in the previous 24 months.
There’s more about the 5/24 rule and how to calculate your 5/24 status here: https://frequentmiler.com/2018/03/12/3-easy-ways-count-5-24-status/
My offer was for $10,000. Booooo!!!!! Can I call Chase and negotiate (charm) my way to a higher offer?
Has anyone had any success asking Chase to reconsider their lower offer and match one of the higher offers?
I got the 50k offer and it worked out perfect because I got my 15 elite nights and category 1-5 certificate last week. I have the Ritz Carlton card which makes me a Chase VIP member, and probably the reason for the 50k offer.
I received an offer of 30k points to do the upgrade (5/9/2018).
I got 20k and took it. I’ve already used my free night this year back in March and paid the AF in February. I’m over 5/24 so the if you value the 20k points conservatively at $140 (and I can get more out of them I’m sure), I get 14 years worth of the annual fee increase.
I was only offered 10,000 points. Not doing it. I have had the Marriott Premier Card for over 8 years. I am also outside the 5/24 right now. Couldn’t I cancel my card, wait a month or so and then re-apply for the Premier Plus and get the 100,000 points? Is there anything keeping this from working? It just says you can’t have both cards at the same time right?
Yes, as long as you’re under 5/24 that should work.
What is 5/24? I just spoke to Chase and I have the premier card. She said to upgrade I would lose my 15 night credits that I would get in Sept. on my anniversary. So I am hesitant about upgrading. She said after my anniversary there is a 30 day window to upgrade and get back the fee that they charged for the premier card, then upgrade to plus. Any thoughts?
5/24 is where Chase won’t approve your application if you’ve opened 5 or more cards in the past 24 months, with any bank.
Yes, I would wait until after you get the 15 nights credit (if you care about elite status) before deciding whether or not to upgrade. The only downside is that the free night certificate you get this year will be the lower value one.
Wife and I both accepted offers. 10k & 20k. Trying to bulk up on MR points before Aug 1. The math here is $20 for 30,000 or $.00067/point. Our annual fees and certs already posted over a month ago. We are both well over 5/24, but my wife will be under 5/24 late this year. Although Marriott and most hotel chains allow combining points at time of redemption, I’m hoping SPG still allows the direct pooling of points into a single account. That rare feature makes online redemptions easier. Goal is for an Aug 1 booking in SPG-7 for a luxury stay.
My wife and I were both offered 20,000 points. I’m upgrading mine…holding off on hers.