Hooray!! 2 New Marriott Credit Cards (At LEAST) Are Coming Soon

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There is good news on the horizon for folks following the Marriott-Starwood merger (thanks to Million Mile Secret Agent IAD Gr8 for the tip!).

American Express has signed a deal with Marriott to begin issuing Marriott credit cards beginning some time in 2018.

This is great for folks who like collecting Marriott points.  New Marriott cards means there are more opportunities to earn sign-up bonuses!

New AMEX Marriott Cards
More Marriott Credit Cards Are on the Way! That Means More Points for Free Nights at Hotels Like the Renaissance Shanghai Putuo

We don’t have all the details of the new credit cards yet.  But here’s what we do know.

AMEX Will Be Issuing Marriott Credit Cards

At some point in 2018, AMEX will be issuing Marriott credit cards, including a small business card, and a “super-premium” card.

Chase will also continue to issue Marriott credit cards.  And AMEX will continue to issue Starwood credit cards (for now).

What Are the Implications?

Right now, nothing is changing.  You will still be able to use your AMEX Starwood or Chase Marriott card to earn and use points as you have been.

Marriott and Starwood will keep operating as different programs.  You can still transfer points from Marriott to Starwood at a 3:1 ratio, and link your accounts to get an instant status match.

At some point, Marriott wants to combine Marriott Rewards, Ritz-Carlton Rewards, and Starwood Preferred Guest into a single program.  We still don’t know what will change when that happens, or when it will be completed.  But it probably won’t happen for a while.

New AMEX Marriott Cards
We Don’t Know What They’ll Look Like, but New AMEX Cards Means More Bonus Opportunities for Everyone

Judging by the wording used in the press release, it looks like AMEX might be issuing a personal Marriott card with a high annual fee, and a small business card.  And Chase will likely continue to issue personal cards with lower (or NO) annual fees.

We don’t know exactly when in 2018 these cards will be available.  But it may be wise to open the current AMEX Starwood and Chase Marriott cards before the change!  Because if these cards disappear, you’ll never have the opportunity to earn the current sign-up bonuses again.

As a reminder, if you’ve opened 5+ cards from any bank (NOT counting Chase business cards and these other business cards) in the past 24 months, it’s unlikely you’ll be approved for the Chase Marriott personal card.

And you can only earn the sign-up bonus on AMEX personal and small business cards once per card per lifetime.  This rule is card specific.  So it’s possible to earn multiple sign-up bonuses by applying for different types of AMEX cards.

Bottom Line

Change is on the way for Marriott credit cards!

Starting in 2018, AMEX will begin issuing both a premium and a small business Marriott credit card.  We might also see refreshed Marriott cards from Chase!

This is great news for folks who love collecting Marriott points.  Because with new cards comes new sign-up bonuses for you to earn!

We don’t have any details on what bonuses or perks the new cards will have, or what changes (if any) will be coming to the old cards.  But we’ll let you know as soon as we find out.

As of now, you can still use your Marriott, Ritz-Carlton, and Starwood credit cards as you normally do.

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