Originally Posted by
Troubler
Like some have said the fee is pretty steep, but I do value getting Marriot Bonvoy Gold Status and the free priority pass. I travel a lot for work, mostly stay at Hilton’s but I do have to stay at the odd Marriott so now I get some perks there too. Going to be traveling personally a lot more moving forward too so it’s nice to have status with more than one chain and have choice. Also, the metal card is kind of cool haha.
I wouldn't value Marriott Bonvoy Gold that highly - it's much different (read
devalued) from the old SPMarriott program. In particular, there is no guaranteed late check out of 4 PM nor is there a complimentary lounge/breakfast benefit. All of those benefits have moved to their updated Platinum status (with Titanium being the highest tier). As it stands, I'm currently grandfathered into the Platinum programme thanks to my Gold status with UA (who knows how long that will last). IMHO Hilton is the better of the two statuses since you pretty much can always get free breakfast across the brands at Hilton and have a couple of other perks.
Depending on how often you stay at SPMarriott properties, you may want to look at getting the AE
Marriott Bonvoy card which gives you a free night every year at SPMarriott properties worth 35,000 points or less (with no blackouts). I used my credit last year to stay at the AC by Marriott New York Times Square on NYE (rack rate was $1000 when booking online). They also give you 15 nights stay credit every year meaning that you can effectively get your Platinum after staying 35 nights in a year (instead of the usual 50). You also can get 61,000 SPMarriott points after spending $1,500 in the first three months. The best part is the annual fee is low at $120 with free supplementary cards.
Personally, I have about a dozen credit cards, most of them are travel (including AE Gold, AE Bonvoy, TD ÉrrorPlan, and WS World Elite) and have managed to find value in all of them save the World Elite.
Safe Travels,
James