Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless review

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The Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card has a nice welcome bonus — and depending on how you use your points, you could get hundreds of dollars in free Marriott hotel stays in the U.S., Europe or many other popular destinations, including at luxury resorts or family-friendly hotels.

If you like staying at Marriott hotels, this is an excellent card. In addition, the card is now offering an increased earning rate on grocery store purchases, offering a chance for cardholders to maximize their spending throughout this unusual time we’re all experiencing during the pandemic.

We’ll outline how to best use your Marriott points and show you the benefits that make the card worth keeping year after year.

You can apply for the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card here.

Who is the Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card for?

The Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card is a great choice for anyone who regularly stays at Marriott hotels. Not only can you earn a valuable welcome bonus, but the card’s ongoing benefits and perks also far outweigh the annual fee.

Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card bonus

The Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card comes with three free nights (each night valued up to 50,000 points) after spending $3,000 on purchases in your first three months from account opening. There’s a $95 annual fee, which is not waived for the first year.

Benefits and perks of the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card

Free night at select Marriott hotels every cardmember anniversary

This single perk can knock out the cost of the annual fee for the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless and then some. Each year on your card anniversary, you’ll receive a free-night certificate valid at participating Marriott hotels that cost up to 35,000 points per night.

You could use your free night at a pricey Category 5 hotel like the Courtyard New York Manhattan/Fifth Avenue, where a paid room can cost more than $500.

Even if you redeem your anniversary night at a lower-category hotel on the Marriott award chart, it’s not difficult to get a value of more than the $95 annual fee. If you’ll have at least one Marriott stay a year, it’s worth considering the card just for this benefit.

Automatic Marriott Silver elite status (and spend your way to gold)

With the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless, you’ll receive automatic Silver Marriott Bonvoy elite status. That’s their lowest tier of status, and normally requires 10 nights per calendar year. It gets you perks like:

• 10% points bonus on paid stays
• Priority late checkout (based on availability)

Also, if you spend $35,000 or more on purchases in an account anniversary year, you’ll earn Marriott Gold elite status, valid through December 31 of the following year.

Normally, you’d have to spend 25 nights at Marriott in a calendar year to earn Gold elite status. It comes with:

• 25% points bonus on paid stays
• Upgrades to a better room when available
• 2:00 p.m. late checkout (based on availability)

15 elite night credits per year

For folks who are looking for a boost to their next status level, the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card gives you 15 elite night credits each year. That’s handy if you’re short a few nights to reach the next tier (for example, if you’re Gold and want to achieve Platinum status).

This can help you unlock more valuable perks, like later checkout and better upgrades.

Rental car insurance

When you rent a car, pay for the entire rental with your Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card, and decline the rental company’s collision damage waiver (CDW), you’ll get secondary rental insurance coverage for damage due to theft or collision within the U.S. If you’re renting outside the U.S. or if you don’t have your own automobile insurance, you’ll get primary coverage.

Trip-delay reimbursement

The Marriott Bonvoy Boundless can make travel delays a little more bearable. If your flight (or other common carrier) is delayed more than 12 hours or overnight, you and your family can be reimbursed up to $500 per ticket for expenses like meals and hotels.

Lost-luggage reimbursement

With Marriott Bonvoy Boundless, you and your family are covered up to $3,000 per person if the carrier damages or loses your luggage.

Purchase protection

The Marriott Bonvoy Boundless offers purchase protection on eligible items. If your new purchase is damaged or stolen within 120 days of buying it, you can be reimbursed up to $500 per claim and $50,000 per account.

Extended warranty

With extended warranty, the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card will extend the time period of a U.S. manufacturer’s warranty by an additional year on eligible warranties of three years or less, so you won’t have to pay for a costly extended warranty yourself on big purchases.

No foreign transaction fees

Nobody likes paying foreign transaction fees. They can add significantly to your overseas travel expenses. But you won’t have to worry when you use your Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card abroad.

Travel and emergency assistance services

If you’re traveling and need help with a medical or legal referral, tracking down lost luggage, translation services and more, you can call the Benefits Administrator for help 24 hours a day. Any costs incurred are your responsibility.

COVID-19 benefit enhancements

The card also comes with some added perks due to the coronavirus slowing your travels.

It’s worth noting that Marriott has suspended points expiration through February 2021. Also, If you’ve got a free night award that would normally expire this year, Marriott has pushed all expiration to January 31, 2021. And Suite Night Awards you may have earned from Platinum or Titanium Marriott elite status set to expire on December 31, 2020, will now be extended to December 31, 2021.

Is the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card worth it?

Absolutely! On top of the welcome bonus, you can get much more value from the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card by making the most of the free-night award at participating Marriott hotels (up to 35,000 points per night), which can more than offset the $95 annual fee.

How to earn points with the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card

With the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card, you’ll earn:

• 6 Marriott points per dollar spent at participating Marriott hotels
• 2 Marriott points per dollar spent on all other purchases
• 3 Marriott points per dollar on the first $6,000 spent in combined purchases each year on gas stations, grocery stores and dining
• Earn one Elite Night Credit towards elite status for every $5,000 you spend.

The most straightforward way to use Marriott points is for award nights at Marriott Bonvoy hotels, which include:

• AC Hotels by Marriott
• Aloft
• Autograph Collection Hotels
• Courtyard by Marriott
• Delta
• Design
• EDITION
• Element
• Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott
• Four Points by Sheraton
• Gaylord Hotels
• JW Marriott
• Le Meridien
• Marriott Executive Apartments
• Marriott Hotels
• Marriott Vacation Club
• Moxy Hotels
• Protea Hotels
• Renaissance Hotels
• Residence Inn by Marriott
• Ritz-Carlton
• Sheraton
• Springhill Suites by Marriott
• St. Regis
• The Luxury Collection
• TownePlace Suites by Marriott
• Tribute
• Westin
• W

It’s easy to search for award nights online by entering your destination, travel dates and number of guests. Be sure to click “Use Points” to see available award nights and points rates for your stay.

Some folks, like MMS writer Jason, prefer transferring Marriott points to airline partners for award flights. You can transfer Marriott points to most of their airline partners at a 3:1 ratio, and when you transfer 60,000 Marriott points, you’ll get a bonus 15,000 Marriott points added to your transfer. So you’ll get 20,000 miles for airlines with a 3:1 transfer ratio, plus an additional 5,000 bonus miles (from the 15,000 Marriott point bonus at the 3:1 transfer ratio).

Marriott also has the most airline transfer partners of any program. You can transfer Marriott points to 40+ airline partners, including American Airlines, Delta, United Airlines, and Southwest. You’ll get one airline mile for every three Marriott points you transfer (though there are a few exceptions where you’ll get less). If you transfer 3,000 Marriott points, you’ll receive 1,000 miles.

You must transfer at least 3,000 Marriott points at a time, and no more than 240,000 Marriott points at a time. Plus, when you transfer 60,000 Marriott points, you’ll get a bonus 5,000 miles.   So instead of just receiving 20,000 miles for airlines with a 3:1 transfer ratio, you’ll receive 25,000 miles.

Cards similar to the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card

If you’re looking to earn more Marriott points, remember Marriott is a Chase transfer partner, so you can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Marriott at a 1:1 ratio. This is a useful option if you need to top off your account to book another award night.

Pairing the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card with a Chase Ultimate Rewards points-earning card can be a fantastic strategy.

You could earn lots of flexible Chase Ultimate Rewards points with cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, Chase Sapphire Reserve® or Ink Business Preferred Credit Card. Then you could transfer points to Marriott and other travel partners when you’re ready to book an award.

Here are the Chase Ultimate Rewards points credit cards that allow you to transfer to travel partners:

Bottom line

With the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card, you’ll earn three free nights (each night valued up to 50,000 points) after spending $3,000 on purchases in your first three months from account opening. You can easily use the welcome bonus to get hundreds of dollars in travel at terrific hotels — even pricey resorts — or stretch your points for more nights at lower-category brands. It’s up to you.

If Marriott hotels make a frequent appearance in your travels, this card is a no-brainer. You’ll get a free-night certificate after each account anniversary to use at participating Marriott hotels costing 35,000 Marriott points or less. That can easily cover the card’s annual fee. Plus, the card comes with excellent travel and shopping benefits, like lost-luggage, trip-delay and purchase protections.

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