Originally Posted by
sdsearch
No, holding it past the 24th month after earning the signup bonus is what invalidates it. You're simply not eligible for another card until both (1) it's 24 months since you earned a Marriott/Starwood signup bonus, and (2) that card is now closed.
But 24 months after earning the signup bonus is 25 or 26 months at least after opening the card, which means that you can earn two annual free night certificates (one after 12 months, one after 24 months) before it matters whether you still hold the card or not. I see no advantage to getting rid of the card earlier than that. (Once the free night cert is showing in your Marriott account, you can close the card and cert stays there.)
Err, isn't that what I said? Effectively, holding the Marriott Business CC invalidates you from future Marriott bonuses for the next 24 months. Certificates aside, I still don't see how you've interpreted my "I was thinking of applying for IBP" statement as "I want to apply for the Marriott Business" -- as you yourself even outlined above, Marriott Gold Status isn't worth much, and from that I gathered it would be more effective to acquire 80k URs from the IBP.
Or to return to my original query, perhaps my question should be: do I pick up the UA card since I can hit the spend organically, absolutely above board, or do I go for the IBP for the 80k URs and deferring acquiring the UA card given my relatively short AAoC?