Amex and Chase issued press releases today to unveil near term plans for converting their SPG and Marriott Rewards cards to the new all-in-one Marriott Bonvoy program. Here’s a summary of the changes, organized by the currently existing credit card names (scroll to the bottom for my impressions):
Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express
- New Name: Marriott Bonvoy™ American Express® Card (as of Feb 13 2019)
- Last Day to Apply: February 12, 2019 (Amex will no longer accept new applications for this card beginning February 13th)
- New Retention Bonus Starting Feb 24 2019: For those who opened their accounts before Jan 23 2019 –> Earn up to 100K bonus points. Earn 25K bonus points for each $25K of spend through the end of 2019. “Eligible Card Members will receive more information about this offer, including the relevant terms and how to register their Card soon.”
- New card design:
- Current card info:
Card Offer and Details
Starwood Preferred Guest Business Credit Card from American Express
- New Name: Marriott Bonvoy Business™ American Express® Card (as of Feb 13 2019)
- New Welcome Bonus: For those who apply Feb 13 through April 24 2019, earn 100K points after $5K spend in 3 months.
- New Perks: Earn an additional 35K free night award with $60,000 or more spend per year
- New Annual Fee: $125 starting March 28 2019 (was $95)
- Card Members who apply before 3/28/19 will receive the first year free, then pay an annual fee of $95 at the following Card anniversary date, and then pay the new annual fee of $125 at their next Card anniversary date and on all Card anniversary dates thereafter.
- For current Card Members, the fee increase will take effect on the Card Member’s next Card anniversary date on or after 3/28/2019
- New card design:
- Current card info:
Card Offer and Details
Starwood Preferred Guest Luxury Card from American Express
- New Name: Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card (as of Feb 13 2019)
- New Welcome Bonus: For those who apply Feb 13 through April 24 2019, earn 100K points after $5K spend in 3 months.
- New Perks: Starting March 28 2019, $100 in property credit per stay when cardholders use their Card and a special rate code to book stays of two or more nights at The Ritz-Carlton® or St. Regis® properties
- New card design:
- Current card info:
Card Offer and Details
Chase Marriott Rewards Premier Plus
- New Name: Marriott Bonvoy Boundless™ Credit Card (as of Feb 28 2019)
- New Welcome Bonus: Starting Feb 28 for a limited time, earn 100K points after $5K spend in 3 months.
- New Perks: Contactless (the Amex cards already have this feature)
- New card design:
- Current card info:
Card Offer and Details
Chase Marriott Rewards Premier Business Plus
- New Name: Marriott Bonvoy Premier Plus Business (as of Feb 28 2019)
- Last Day to Apply: February 12, 2019 (Chase will no longer accept new applications for this card beginning February 13th)
- New Perks: Earn an additional 35K free night award with $60,000 or more spend per year
- Same Annual Fee: $99 (pointing this out because the Amex business card will increase its fee to $125)
- New card design:
- Current card info:
Card Offer and Details
Chase Ritz Carlton Rewards Visa Infinite
- New Name: The Ritz-Carlton Card
- New Perks: Starting April 2019, $100 in property credit per stay when cardholders use their Card and a special rate code to book stays of two or more nights at The Ritz-Carlton® or St. Regis® properties.
- New card design:
- Current card info:
Card Offer and Details
Chase Marriott Rewards Premier
- New Name: Not yet announced
- New card design:
- Current card info:
Card Offer and Details
New No-Fee Marriott consumer card from Chase coming this summer
- No additional details have been released yet
My first impressions
- Bonvoy is still a stupid name
- I’m not excited about the alliteration that will make it hard to remember which card is which. Which is a higher end card? Bonvoy Brilliant? Bonvoy Boundless? I would have guessed that boundless trumps brilliant, but I’d be wrong. In my opinion, Amex should have stuck with the Luxury Card name for their $450 card.
- I love the card art on the Bonvoy Amex (AKA old SPG consumer card)! I predict that this will be the card to have since you won’t be able to get it starting Feb 13 2019. For $95 per year, it’s worth keeping for the annual 35K free night… and the card art.
- It’s also interesting that Amex is encouraging spending on the old SPG card by offering 25K bonus points per $25K spend, up to 100K. If you spend exactly a multiple of $25K, the card effectively has it’s old earning power of 1 SPG point = 3 Marriott.
- Both the Amex and Chase business cards are gaining the ability to earn a second 35K free night with $60K spend. For those who spend a lot at gas stations to earn 4X rewards, this should come as good news.
- I’m bummed that the Ritz and Lux.. er, Brilliant cards didn’t add big spend bonuses like free nights or extra points. Only those cards offer Platinum status with $75K spend, so it would be nice for Marriott to offer more than just elite status for that high spend.