Credit Card Programs - From my point of view, Marriott credit card is useless.

I wrote a post about the hyatt card. Now I want to talk about marriott card. My conclusion is obviously. If you want to get the maximum value from your spending, Marriott cannot give you that.

Here is the basic information about the card:

You can still get 70000 points signing bonus after the first purchase even you read there is only 50000 points bonus. That is the only reason many people apply for this card.

For every dollar you spend in Marriott, you get 5 points and 2 points for every $1 spent on airline, dining, and rental car purchase. All the remaining you get 1 point for every dollar you spent.

There is no foreign exchange fee and you will get a category 4 hotel certificate once you get approved. First year fee is free and afterwards you will get a category 5 hotel certificate to easily cover the year fee $85. That is the only reason many people keep this card. It is basically free of the annual fee.

I have this card but I seldom use it except in Marriott expense. Even for Marriott expense, if you like shop through Chase ultimate mall to get 3 ultimate points for every dollar you spend, you'd better use Chase Saphire preferred card, which give you two more chase points. Some people said even you use Marriott credit card, you still can get 3 ultimate points. I tried before, most time you fail to get the ultimate points. I just do not like this risk.

I canot see any advantage to use marriott card if you have chase Saphire prefered card or INK bold card. Welcome more opinions. Thanks！

When I see your posts, I can't but laugh and think about this video (not in an offensive way)
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/368678/

It depends on who uses it. If you go to Marriott all year round, you won't need to worry about achieving a certain status (Silver, Gold, Platinum). If someone travels say 30 nights or so, having the Marriott credit card can help them get a little closer to reach Gold status (in this example). Plus they get 1 extra elite night counted for every $3,000 spent. I usually plan my vacations with Marriott stays so this is a plus for me gaining the extra 5 points per dollar at Marriott. For all my other purchases, I use another credit card since it's usually more than the 2% or 1% by using this card.

Like many things here on Flyertalk, it is subjective. I decided to get the card for the sign-up bonus and to start a credit history with Chase. Plus, the annual fee is a wash with the annual free night certificate. The earning value of the card for everyday spending is low on the scale compared to others, but that doesn't mean the card is useless. Even the bonus category spending of 2 pts/dollar isn't that great, but it all depends how each person values their point earning.

From your point of view, which cards DO you like?!

I canot see any advantage to use marriott card if you have chase Saphire prefered card or INK bold card. Welcome more opinions. Thanks！
It completely depends on how much you stay at Mariott.

A benefit you didn't mention is that the Marriott Rewards Premier Visa card drops 15 nights into your Marriott account, making you instantly Silver. But the "sweet" level at Marriott is Gold, and so it depends whether you are aming for the 35 extra nights seriously as to how much you value that. For me, that may make the difference between earning Marriott Gold and not, at least some years (it depends on everyone's promos that year, and whether I thus end up staying at Marriott a lot chasing promos or not).

The card also drops an addiitonal night into your account for every $3k spend. So it has become my go-to- card for 0% forex overseas, and for restaurants, because of that. But again, if you're not after Marriott (higher) status, I can see how that would not interest you.

Meanwhile, I have 2.1 million miles already (and not much opportunity to start burning until spring 2014, because of SWUs I have to use up on paid longhaul flights before then, and that being all the longhaul flights i'll have time to fly during that time), so I'm currently more focused on hotel points than airline miles.

And I don't have UR cards anyway. (My flexible-points card in DIners Club MC, but no one in the US/Canada has been able to apply for one for several years now, if they didn't already have one, so no point in me evluating whether it would work better for you or not, it's not an option for most people right now! But it's a card which allows transfers to quite a few hotel programs, including non-Chase ones, so it works better for me than UR would, but for you UR might work best.)

From your point of view, which cards DO you like?!
My from point of view, you have to wait until he's started separate threads telling us, from his point of view, every single card (one at a time) that he doesn't like.

(And woe unto us, he's still going through the Chase cards. So we have to wait to find out about all the Citi, BofA, Barclays, etc, cards he doesn't like in other threads!)

Only then will he be ready to tell us (one per thread) which cards he does like.

Surprise no one mentioned the Package awards. Best deal around ;)

Buying giftcards is too complicated for reimbursable business spend. My company locations are by Marriotts, if I want 5 points per dollar spent, this is the card. That and 70K sign-on is nice.

I am gathering points for an air + hotel package for next years family vacation.

Marriott points are easily and consistently worth more than 1 cent each, especially if you already accumulate many via stays and can therefore access the high value awards.

It's a competitive card in a variety of situations for anyone willing to think creatively enough.

The silver status is pretty useless. If you stay enough to get gold, that's fine. But, for many of us, this is just another credit card and we're not going to be loyal to Marriott because of it. The certificate is worse than Priority Club: 6 month expiration, higher fee ($85 > $49), and category restrictions. Neither card earns efficiently compared to 2% cash back or Sapphire Preferred. The free night certificate may make this card worth a place in my sockdrawer. But, for me, I'd rather use that credit limit to churn Chase faster.

The silver status is pretty useless.
Nonsense. The Ultimate Reservation Guarantee is a strong disincentive for a hotel to walk a silver guest. It does happen, tho, and there's plenty of stories on the Marriott forum of people collecting the comp ($100-$200 + sometimes 2 free nights) and feeling much better about being walked.

There's also the 20% point bonus and the smaller perks that are occasionally useful (free Internet in Asia, late checkout, etc.)

My from point of view, you have to wait until he's started separate threads telling us, from his point of view, every single card (one at a time) that he doesn't like.

(And woe unto us, he's still going through the Chase cards. So we have to wait to find out about all the Citi, BofA, Barclays, etc, cards he doesn't like in other threads!)

Only then will he be ready to tell us (one per thread) which cards he does like.

The OP also said "I have this card but I seldom use it except in Marriott expense." Is that not a use of the card, and therefore not useless?

My from point of view, you have to wait until he's started separate threads telling us, from his point of view, every single card (one at a time) that he doesn't like.

(And woe unto us, he's still going through the Chase cards. So we have to wait to find out about all the Citi, BofA, Barclays, etc, cards he doesn't like in other threads!)

Only then will he be ready to tell us (one per thread) which cards he does like.

:D:D:D

(Cannot help it!)

But seriously, I appreciate someone's putting in efforts to detail out the WHYs in a very organized fashion. Do remember, this is HIS view point so others should not be offended if your needs different from his.

On another note, most cards Pros and Cons have been discussed ad nausea in many threads that are dedicated to said card - it does not take much for a person to decide which card(s) is/are better fit to them - whether your goal is to accumulate miles or hotel points also make big difference.

I can fully understand your approach on Marriott card because for the same reason I am willing to keep my SPG card after AMEX agreed to give me 50% statement credit to offset the $65 fee - the 5 stays would mean it is much easier for me to keep SPG GLD which while not as valuable as Marriott GLD but the 4pm check out is a benefit that we use A LOT. Add to that the award stays also count for requal is a great benefit they introduced last year. So for me, MR and PC are cards to keep because they are "negative" annual fee cards and 0% forex, as well as the 10% rebate on PC redemption, SPG card also is good to keep for its transfer program and the value in helping to maintain status. I recently cancelled the UR card because I cannot justify the $95 when a good bulk of our spending is hotel stays which would be paid by related hotel cards. (I also love the Marriott LNF guarantee and the fact that it is a qualified stay and earns points.)

maybe he should rename this thread.."Marriott credit card is useless (if not using for Marriott, using for general spending and not caring about bonus points or free hotel stay)"

Please write about credit cards, miles, points or benefits. If you do not think a thread is worthwhile, DO NOT POST, and it will die. Criticizing the original poster is rude.

maybe he should rename this thread.."Marriott credit card is useless (if not using for Marriott, using for general spending and not caring about bonus points or free hotel stay)"

Or how about just the terse title: "My opinion of the Marriott credit card". @:-) It essentially says everything the current title does (including that it's "from my point of view", except leaves off the verdict (which, as you said, if you read the actual first post, is not quite as drastic as "useless" in most cases).

There are many cards that are "useless" after you get the sign up bonus. It just depends on ones travel. I have a bunch of cards I have signed up for and after meeting the bonus requirement they sit here and only get used here and there just to keep some activity on them. Then you can cancel before the annual fee if it does not give you the return on investment you need to keep it open. @:-)