Originally Posted by
s2kdriver80
Currently, I have both legacy Chase Marriott Premier credit cards (personal and business) which I opened last year (August 2017). I have an upgrade offer (Marriott Premier to Marriott Premier Plus) good for 10k Marriott points.
The main reason to have multiple cards (at least for me), is so that I can stack the free nights.
What is the best strategy in going about applying for/upgrading these cards?
1. Wait until September 2018 (any earlier and I probably wouldn't receive the free night benefit from my current personal Premier card), confirm the free night award is received, then upgrade the legacy personal Premier card to the Premier Plus card to receive the 10k Marriott points. The advantage of going this route is that I'll have 10k Marriott points. The disadvantage is that I'll only have 2 Marriott cards (I can't re-apply anew for the legacy personal Premier card as it is no longer available for new applications), and thus, only 2 free nights a year.
2. Instead of accepting the 10k Marriott points offer, I apply for the new Premier Plus card and get no signup bonus (since it hasn't even been a year since I opened up the legacy personal and business Premier cards). The advantage of going this route is that I'll have 3 cards, and thus 3 free nights a year. The disadvantage is that I'll be forgoing the 10k Marriott points.
3. Another option?
Which option would you take and why? Or is there a viable option
#3 ? For
#2 , will the legacy personal Premier card stick around indefinitely for those that already have it? Will there be a "forced" upgrade anytime soon or would that be years down the line? If the old card will go away very soon, then perhaps
#1 is the way to go?
Thanks!
Well, these certificates aren't useful to me as points, because the certificates are capped and the certificates expire, while points don't. So I wouldn't do any of this myself.
But you may have other options if you're willing to forego points: Some (nor sure if all) Amex so-called-for-now Starwood cards will also generate annual free night certificates. In particular, the high-end Starwood card will have an annual cert worth 50k points, whereas the non-high-end new cards will have annual certs worth only 35k points. I don't know whether the difference between 35k and 50k is important enough for you to spend $$$ for an expensive high-end card.
Yes, Amex is a different bank, but you look up the "new SPG cards" thread in the Amex forum, you'll there's a strong rumor there that no one who got a bonus on a Chase Marriott card in the past 2 years will be given a signup bonus on the new high-end Starwood card. So the fact that you applied for both of these Marriott cards in the past year (just as I did, btw) may rules out more bonuses than just on repeats of these specific cards.
Meanwhile, have you looked into the Rtiz card (which is the current high-end card)? You can qualify for that right now if you're under 5/24, and it gives some free nights right off the bat (its signup bonus is free nights, not points). But if so, get it soon, because public application for it may disappear at any time (since it's Amex, not Chase, that has the marketing right for a high-end card in the new program).