Upgrading from BOLD to BOUNDLESS...worth it?
 

I have a long-term stay at a Marriott property (>30 nights) that I was planning on putting on my BOLD card (which I specifically got a few months ago for charging my hotel bills on)
given the length of this stay and the total bill (probably >$15k).... I think it might be worth upgrading the card to Boundless to go from 3x to 6x

so, for $10k spend = 30k vs 60k points vs the cost of going from no annual fee to 95$ year?

is this easily done?
is this a good idea?

Rather than upgrading, can you sign up for the Boundless instead? Or maybe even the Bountiful for the extra 50k FNC from the $15k hotel spend.

I guess that is one option - and then just cancel the Bold
although, to be honest - at this point, I seem to be staying at so many M properties that an extra "free" night or 40k points is....well....
...although, hate to leave "points" and free nights on the table

the extra 25 elite nights will help get to LT status......if that means anything

I havent sorted out the "how to do it" yet - although I sense just calling chase and asking them to take my $95
but I am not sure you can get 1 if you already have the other and still qualify for the bonus?

what I like about BOLD is that it is free and gives me 15 elite nights - which means if/when my traveling slows down, I still might rack up enough nights for LT status.....for what that is worth
... not sure I need another $95 per year CC

Just double check that you'll actually earn points for your stay. Generally stays of >30 nights DO NOT earn points

oooooooo.... good point
I guess, short of asking someone reliable - how do I figure this out?
.......that would not be good

You may need to check out and stay one night elsewhere to split the reservation and earn points on the stay

Read the T&Cs https://www.marriott.com/loyalty/terms/default.mi

Redhead
I reviewed the reservation details and there was nothing obvious from that - other than I got an "extended stay rate" (which was not all that much cheaper than previous rates)
I am reviewing the BONVOY T&C now.... and dont see anything obvious, especially since I booked the room myself on the M website, didnt use any promo codes, and gave them my personal BOLD cc

I have heard of such things - but dont know how to confirm...but my sense is that it applies to rooms booked via third-party sites or maybe arranged with insurance companies or corporate contracts?

-m

You may also want to consider upgrading to the 250 cards. If you charge 15,000 to it you get an 85k FNC

What are 250 cards?

Firstly, my mistake I just caught myself, and its a 50k not 85k certificate.

Both AMEX and Chase have Marriott cards (Bountiful and Bevy) now that costs $250 a year. They are really designed for people who have 100+ one night stays a year, it normally wouldn't work out better than the $95 card.

You do not get a free night for that annual fee, but you do get one after $15k spent. Since you are spending that anyway it could be worth it. This is on top of the 6x points you are getting.

In essence the difference between them is $155 extra for the 50k certificate vs 35k. You also get 1,000 bonus points for every stay (which is why you need a bunch of single night stays).

All depends on how you value those items



Edit: Just another thought. Have you considered a different card? Chase Sapphire Reserve for example. You will get 3x points on all hotel stays which you can transfer to multiple hotels/airlines. You will also get $300 travel credit, so card will only cost $250. There are obviously other benefits too.

ah - thats sort of what I thought you meant..... but, lets do a little math here (and try to keep the numbers simple)

assuming 15k spend on 35 nights
(we will ignore promotions, etc since they really dont have an impact on this - and we are just picking which cc to use_

1. BOLD - 3x which is 75k points
annual fee - zero
2. BOUND and others - 6x which is 150k points
ranging from 99-250$
3. UA Credit 2x = 30 miles

and sure an extra 75k is nice - but I have to pay for it

Wait I am confused. $15,000 x 3x is 45,000 points, where are the extra 30k coming from?

There are lots of other options to consider when you have $15,000 spend. This is also a great opportunity to get a new card and get a huge sign up bonus. The Sapphire Reserve I mentioned above (see the edit to my post you might have missed).

An Ink Preferred card that will give you 145,000 points between sign up and the spend, for the $95 annual fee. You can transfer them to United since you seem to like them. Marriott occasionally has transfer bonuses and you could turn that into 200,000 Marriott points. You can transfer to Hyatt if you wanted a different chain. Or you can even take it out as cash $1,450.

When you have big spend, its a great opportunity for new cards.

the 3x is the 'bonus' for using the BOLD vs 6x for BOUND

...I have been using the BOLD for the past few months - and while it is free and the 15 elite nights and free room were nice....well, not that great

I do like UA - my main airline - any maybe it is worth venturing outside the Chase world....but I feel like it is moving from the Apple ecosystem to Android.......

the case seems nice........

Correct, but how does 3 * 15 = 75? How does 6 * 15 = 150?

Is there something I am missing

I wonder if you could split the amount of stays in the same hotel to potentially earn more 1k bonus from the Bevy/Bountiful? Not sure how common it is for someone who'd stay 100+ single nights in a year. Sounds exhausting!

I am sure there are plenty of business people out there who have to constantly switch to a new hotel.

The example I always think about for that sort of thing are people in sports/traveling entertainment. Like the WWE might have a show in NYC Friday, Philly Saturday, Baltimore Sunday and DC Monday. They need to pack up and switch hotels every night. I am sure there are many other industries also

unfortunately (or not) - this is a specific property that I have stayed at ~100 nights last year (and was not as strategic since it was about a week or 2 at a time and unclear if or how much I was going to return in the future).... there are no other reasonable options for other brands/chains/etc......

and with regards to lots of nights in the same place - if I am somewhere for more than 10 days, I ask if I can change rooms to mine it up a little......but that is a different topic

It was a mistake for you to get a no annual fee Marriott card, frankly. People see "hey, no annual fee" and don't realize that Chase is going to give you a thousand in value for that annual fee (and you can downgrade the card later to the no annual fee card). I don't know about you but I'd be OK spending some money to get the equivalent of more money in value.

Go sign up for a Bountiful (you are eligible for the SUB). Spend the 15k on it and collect:

- 85k Marriott point signup bonus
- 50k free night certificate
- 90k in Marriot points from spend (6x15)

Compare and contrast with spending on the Bold (45k). You're spending $250 to get 130,000 points and a FNC for 50k. Easily worth $1000, could be pushing 2k. Last I checked even $1000-250 = more value than I started with. And if this Bold card is only a few months old, you cannot upgrade it. (The CARD Act prohibits raising a credit card's annual fee for a year, even voluntarily.)

In retrospect, I dont disagree - however, at the time, I did not know if I want going to be spending so much time (and money) at Marriotts in 2023
and I felt it was an easy opportunity to push me over a threshold for Ambass status and closer to LT status - the points and bonus where nice also

the Bountiful sounds interesting - and, while I didnt want to double post - I did expand this topic of discussion beyond Chase B-themed cards.....