bobert24

I know everyone has different criteria, but unless you're a NY/LA/SF/DC-only person, there are more than a few hotels on the category 5 list that I have a hard time believing anyone would refuse to stay in for free:
http://www.marriott.com/rewards/poin...ropertyList.mi

That said, I did dump my Marriott card when the AF came due. Out of the dozen or so hotel cards we've had, this was the least useful, rewards-wise.

blitzen

Yes my Marriott and Ritz points merged without any hiccup

djtsukasa

Thanks for clarifying, so it's really effectively at least 2 free nights, if you use the 70K at a Ritz or something. That's a generous bonus. My RC card's AF comes due soon so maybe I'll apply for the Marriott now.

But yeah, I did feel the 80K power surge on the blogs is a bit unwarranted. $85 bucks for 10K more MR points, no additional free night, and additional $1000 spend. haha.

st.exupery

The 80K card also gets one free night (1-5 category) every year, 12 months from date of certificate issue.

Happy

So does the 70K card which the first year fee is waived.

diseased

Refer a friend was available on DH's Marriott card which gave 10k points plus offered 80k points to the recipient. Might be worth it for those with a spouse or SO? 20k points for $85.

Happy

It is not the hotel standard, it is the travel path of the cardholder - all the previous cat 4 / 5 hotels in our travel path, are now cat 6 / 7.

Nobody would think the LAX hotels are of any high quality, yet they are all Cat 6 and up. You would need to go to El Segundo to find the Cat 5 Residence Inn.

You are not suggesting people go out of their ways so just to be able to use a lousy free night cert?

With HHonors and IHG, their free night certs from the credit cards are without category restriction - ANY hotel ANYWHERE in the world as long as there is availability, your can use the cert. That is why the Marriott cert is so inferior.

wise2u

Not so, I tried to use a IHG cert to stay an extra day at a HIE on Pensacola beach. (my wife had used a cert and 70k points to get the first 3 nights) It wouldn't let me use my cert because hotel had a 3 night stay restriction. I had to call in and explain I was adding a night to my wife's stay and the rep called the hotel and had the manager manually add a night to her res and use my cert...my name was never on the res, but we got the 4 nights.
Certs are more of a pain than points, with too many limitations. I was happy to use up 4 Hyatt, 2 IHG, 1 Marriott and a Hotels.com credit on our last vacation....now I don't have to worry using them before they expire.
You are right when you say they are less valuable, considering the category restrictions and short 6 month use....we wound up using it for an airport Fairfield Inn since our flight arrived at 11pm.

shinypenny01

Landing page for 70k + night waived AF is down. Application link appears to be working. It may not be long for this world for those interested.

flyer4512

Seems like the 70K personal and business card landing pages are now redirecting to a 80K link.

Is there any problem getting a 80K personal and bus Card ?

I thought at one time they wouldn't pay both bonuses in a short time frame

I just was approved for the Business version which I have not had in over 3 years..........very odd approval though, it said more info was needed then the screen changed to approved for $28K

Happy

Your situation is different - the cert can be used, as long as you have a 3 nights booking. That does not mean the cert cannot be used anywhere - individual hotel has minimum stay restriction whether it is on cert or on points, often during peak periods. That is universal for all chains. The only way to get around it is thru manual intervention which requires both the loyalty program and the hotel work together.

You would have same situation using points when there is a minimum stay length restriction imposed for the period you book. The way your wife can use the points is because the total of nights are 3, 1 from cert, 2 from points. You may not be able to book just 2 with points.

In your case, the cert is indeed used as it should be - anywhere when there is availability, but it also is subj to the stay restriction and the hotel is customer-oriented enough to make this work for you.

flyer4512

Does the 70K Business card include the free night the first year ? I can't access the landing page so I don't know all the details.

I'm not even sure if I would get the free cert as I have had Business card in the past but at least 4 years have passed.

Thanks

Mirnada

Does this mean the offer isn't working? Hesitant to blindly apply on an application page without having seen the offer on a landing page first; thoughts on if I should still go for it (since the 70k offer clearly sounds like the better deal) while the application page is still up?

beltway

A serious question: if you're not willing to trust the wiki, then why would you trust a reply to your post?

We archive application page links in the wiki for the very reason that they can remain active even after the landing pages die. If that makes you nervous, fine -- don't apply using those links.

ConcreteVitamin

Does this still work for anyone? It's down for me -- are they canceling this offer? I was just about to apply...