OliverB

Can anyone tell me more about the Annual Free Night Award?

In a recent letter I received, it indicates that "beginning with your first account renewal on or after August 1, 2018, the Basic Card Member will receive on annual Free Night Award from SPG each year of Card Membership. The Free Night Award can be redeemed for a one-night stay inclusive of room rate and applicable taxes, at eligible participating SPG and Marriott Rewards properties." etc. It does not specify any restrictions with regards to categories or tiers.

I'm contemplating whether or not I should keep my card long enough to redeem the free night stay at Las Alcobas in Mexico City next year, if I'm able to do so.

I'd also like to know how the FNA works; is the stay automatically credited to your SPG account (points? voucher?) or is it credited to the card directly, requiring you to first charge the stay, similar to CSR annual travel credit?

If I book a stay at a property 5 months in advance, is there any way that I might be able to take advantage of the FNA post-August and then dump the card shortly afterward, prior to my stay?

Would a cat. 6 property even be eligible or is this some useless cat. 1-3 redemption type of thing that would be of little added value/benefit?

phltraveler

It'll be under Marriott's system. It's a certificate, not points, so you don't get the excess if you redeem it at a hotel that costs less than the maximum amount of the cert. The certificate will be worth up to 35,000 points in the new program. The award chart for the new program is here.

Out of the current categories in 2018, 35,000 corresponds with category 5 of 7.

In 2019 the game changes a bit as peak/offpeak pricing starts in addition to the standard pricing, and an eighth category is introduced at 85,000 points standard/70K offpeak/100K onpeak. The certificate will be good for a standard award at standard/offpeak level for category 5, or all levels for category 4 and below.

HPN-HRL

Your analysis makes sense to me, given your point usage patterns. The Hilton Free Weekend Cert is definitely a good deal in expensive locations as long as the weekend restriction isn't an issue for you - I redeemed one once in Saratoga during racing season when rooms were going for $500. I guess my point is that if you are going to be making any stays in places where Marriott has a 35K hotel that you would be willing to use, the cash price for that hotel will be notably more than $95 - so you come out ahead if you use a Marriott cert (which is not restricted to Sat/Sun). I will be keeping my SPG cards and probably getting a Hilton card as well - all of these have their uses to me.

Need

The hotels with 0.6 cent per dollar are probably the ones hitting the old category cap. With the category removed from hotels, pretty soon the old caps will be gone too from all the hotels. If you take a hotel that does not hit the cap for the night (not even number like 40,000, 60,000, etc..), the value of points HHonor calculated is around 0.45 cent per dollar. Although if you add in "no resort fee for award stay", it could bump it up to over 0.5 cent.

I don't think 7x is bad value. I think it is good, but not amazing to me. To me, amazing would be better than CSR x3 UR points or better than Amex Plat x5 MR points.

pinniped

I don't necessarily intend to keep it as a general-spend card, but I'll keep it solely because of the longevity and the fact that the annual free night more than pays for the annual fee. I'm merely questioning whether I should upgrade it to the $450 version and also make it my Priority Pass card. The $300 credit would be easy for me to claim every year, making it a $150 card.

My understanding is that the air credit definition is super-narrow with this card. Basically bag fees, inflight food/bev, etc. I don't pay those fees. Really, no Flyertalker should pay much in the way of these fees. A basic airline ticket does not count, and from what I understand, neither do paid upgrades and lounge memberships.

As for the $250 resort credit, that one is somewhat easier to obtain, but I actually go years without planning a stay at one of the participating hotels listed. If I had the card, I'd certainly find a way to get to one, but it's just another thing I'd have to think about and not forget to do. Doesn't seem worth it given that there are other cards in the $450 tier that make their rebates much easier to obtain through my normal everyday travels.

If the air credit was a straightforward $250 off of any airline ticket (like the Citi Prestige card is), I could probably live with the resort limitation.

I still value my HH in the .6 range, but I'll also admit it's getting harder and harder as time passes to find those redemptions. I fear the program is phasing out better opportunities - moving towards a model where you're getting a half-cent everywhere. The endgame on HH really appears to be straight-rebate awards at this point.

Agreed that a Hilton free weekend night is worth more than an anyday 35k Marriott night. But *both* are worth well more than their associated annual fees. I've been vocal in the past about the diminishing value over time of a Category 5 Marriott certificate. However, I still always find a $150-ish use for it, so I keep my two cards that generate them for $85 each.

In recent years, I've been using my Marriott Cat 5's when I need to do an airport stay. IME, bad airport hotels are quite awful, and Marriott tends to have good airport hotels. Since airport hotels are often $150-200/nt across the board and I'm always there exactly one night, they make a nice spot for the certificate.

OliverB

Thanks for this concise explanation!

I have a couple of follow-up questions:

If the FNA cert is awarded in 2018, can it be redeemed for already existing reservations (at the 2018 rate) which are booked for upcoming stays in 2019?

Once the certificate is issued, presumably one can drop the AmEx card w/o fear of reprisal and still get awarded the free night?

Does one have to request this certificate or is it automatically issued, and if so, by what means; digital/snail mail?
Will it automatically appear in cardmembers account profiles following the annual renewal date; is it delivered via email?

Is the certificate 'cashed in' at properties or can it be redeemed online or by telephone in advance of stays?

Thanks again!

phltraveler

Certs are good at the time at which they are redeemed. If it falls under the category (current MR system) or points requirement (August 1st, 2018 onwards requirement) at the time of redemption, it doesn't matter whether a hotel increases its category/points redemption after you use the cert.

Certificate gets redeemeed, you're good. However, Chase specifically has a short temper on taking the bonus and running if you don't pay the annual fee at least once (future card applications can be denied for "previous unsatisfactory relationship with bank".

SPG Amex specifically cites:

Since the anniversary will correspond with paying the annual fee, you shouldn't encounter any issue in using the cert afterwards. You've already paid the annual fee regardless.


If Marriott merges everything into the current system (all signs point to yes) it is a digital credit to your account that automatically applies if you pick award stay on the Marriott.com website and the stay is eligible (category/points meet). I've never tried to use a free night cert by phone so I can't speak to how that works. Cancelling a stay with a cert redeposits the cert in your account, assuming it is not past expiration date (generally ~6 months from date of issue, but the stay does not need to be within the validity period of the cert).

yugi

For non-category spend I use Altitude Reserve (for in person with Samsung Pay and in-app transactions with Google Pay) which yields 4.5% cashback. For online purchases I use Citi AT&T Access More for 3x TYPs, if one of those 2 cards doesn't work, then I use Amex BBP for 2x MR. Last 2 cards do charge for foreign transactions, so in this case I have grandfathered Priceline card as a last resort, which doesn't have FTF, and give 2x for effective 3.33% cashback. As for SPG card, I never used it for general spending, because I had better alternatives. I'm going to cancel it. Me and my wife have 2 of those. We will cancel those 2, as well as Amex Platinum, Business Platinum, and will get 2 of Hilton Aspires instead.

sdflyer04

I am considering jumping into BofA with both feet. I would appreciate any input on my new plan.

1. Move $200K of my IRA assets (I would move some from a Fidelity rollover IRA) to Merrill using the best link I can find? It looks like I just missed the $900 cash back offer and that the current offer is $600. An easy $600 for very little effort. Not sure what happens to my taxes on the bonus money?
2. Set up a BofA checking account at the same time as the IRA asset transfer hopefully using the bonus code for an extra $100. I am self-employed so I'm not sure how (or if) I can get two direct deposits. Could I use an ACH from another bank? Can I just send money from my company checking account?
3. Wait 3 months and then I will qualify for the Platinum Honors BofA Preferred Banking Rewards Program.
4. Apply for BofA Premium Rewards Credit Card. I would get a $500 bonus for $3K spend. Plus, I should receive 2.62% cash back (3.5% on travel/dining) plus the other goodies (global entry, $100 airline credit, etc.).
Net result: $1200 in bonuses and a credit card giving me 2.62-3.5% cash back going forward.

dealhunter32

I think BofA will end up banning you pretty quick if you spend much on their credit cards... Amex is more tolerant of MS.

rbAA

Sure, 2 Marriwood points vs the equivilent of 3, but the free night is worth 35k so unless you're spending is higher than $35k per year, it comes out the same. My spend (I'm reired,) on SPG AMEX runs about $20k/yr with another $25k on the AA Barclay card for the EQD bonus towards EXP.

Since, I will be sticking with Marriwood after doing this year's 25 stay PLT requalification on SPG, I appreciate the fact that the 15 elite night credit will make Marriwood the sweet spot for PLT requalification, basically only needing 35 nights net, (34 if you use the free night and get stay credit for it.) Plus, I can ditch the IHG program, as Marriwood has a similar if not better footprint and price points where I need to stay.

sdflyer04

TravelinSperry

FTers report that one can buy gift cards or ecerts at your chosen airline and as long as you buy them in increments of $100 or less you get reimbursed via the airline credit benefit. That makes getting the $250 air credit much easier.

I agree with you on the Resort issue - but once you do get the air credit - I'm sure you can now see why getting the resort makes this card "free" which makes one much more likely to remember to use it.

pinniped

You're making a good case to keep the card. Pay $95, get a 35k award night. Since you actually stay at Marriotts and presumably would use the award night *somewhere*, that's a no-brainer.

But...it's not yet a case for spending a single non-hotel dollar on this card. You've already got the award night even if you spend $0. So why run any general-spend through this card if there's a better option?

pinniped

If you just want the credit card with the 2.6-3.5% cashback, couldn't you simply open a Merrill IRA and roll $100k into it? It looks like that would put you into the Platinum Honors level, right? (Well, maybe throw $110k in there to make sure your avg daily balance never dips below $100k.)

I figure most people with an IRA have some portion in a low-risk asset class that would be equally good at Merrill as Fidelity, Schwab, etrade, etc.

I really have no desire for savings/checking accounts at traditional banks.