Just wondering when people who upgrade their regular marriott rewards visa to premier awards visa get their first yearly cat 5 hotel certificate. Are people getting it on the anniversary of their original card (basically keep the same annual billing date) - so that the cat 5 certificate comes well before having the premier card for a year if timed correctly.

I ask because, unfortuantely, I signed up for a new premier card because the person taking the card said an upgrade from a regular card could not be done, and then cancelled my regular card. I found this site only days after this and read up on all the people who were able to upgrade without reapplying and cancelling. Quite annoying. Now if I would have gotten a free cat 5 on my anniversary date (in november) if i had upgraded to the premier instead of doing the apply and cancel, then someone at chase is going to get phone call.

Also, I did get a 2 for 1 golf certificate, despite the fact I already was a reward card holder, but no points. Strange, but I wasn't expecting anything other than the annual cat 5 cert and 15 night towards elite.