Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant American Express Card (Formerly Starwood Preferred Guest American Express Luxury Card) Review 2022.4 Update: The new offer is 100k+1FN (up to 85k). It’s decent but not as good as the 150k+1FN offer last year. 2022.2 Update: The current welcome offer is only 75k now. 2021.11 Update: The big offer has expired. The current offer is only 75k+$200. 2021.9 Update:…
Read more
Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express Card (Formerly Starwood Preferred Guest Business Credit Card from American Express) Review 2022.5 Update: The 100k offer is expired. The new offer is only 75k. 2022.4 Update: The new offer is 100k. The 125k+2FN offer appeared last year was way better. 2021.11 Update: The big offer has expired. The current offer is only 75k+$150. 2021.9 Update:…
Read more
The Points Guy recently published a quantitative analysis arguing that the Marriott points, even after the implementation of dynamic awards, retain its purported value of ~0.8 cent/pt. To get that conclusion, they pulled data from 50+ hotels over ~150 days. In fact, the average redemption value after the dynamic award is in place is 0.84 c/pt. They thus concluded that…
Read more
Marriott Bonvoy Boundless™ Credit Card (Formerly Chase Marriott Rewards Premier Plus Credit Card) Review 2022.4 Update: The new offer is 3 FN (up to 50k). Considering Marriott will soon allow you add points to FN redemptions, this welcome offer is suitable for those who want to have a taste of high end hotels. 2022.2 Update2: There’s a new 75k+$300 Marriott…
Read more
2021.10 Update: Capital One improved the transfer ratios to be 1:1 for most partners now! Also note that starting from 10.24 Capital One will lose partner JetBlue. 2021.8 Update: Chase UR points can be transferred to Air Canada (AC) Aeroplan now! The ratio is 1:1. 2021.5 Update: El Al (LY) Matmid is no longer a transfer partner of MR points….
Read more
Marriott Bonvoy Bold™ Credit Card Review 2022.4 Update: The 50k offer is expired. The current offers are 30k. 2022.2 Update: The new offer is 50k. 2021.9 Update: The new offer is 60k, and it’s the best ever offer on this card. However, I need to emphasize this again: don’t apply for this card! Because it makes you ineligible for Chase Marriott…
Read more
Recently we became aware of the opening of Le Méridien in Maldives, marking the 6th Marriott property in this island nation. What sets Le Méridien apart though is that it is a Category 5 hotel. A standard award would cost you 35k Bonvoy points and even the peak-season pricing means 40k points, a true bargain considering how expensive everything is…
Read more
Chase Ritz-Carlton Credit Card Review 2020.1 Update: The Visa Infinite $100 air discount benefit is moved by Visa on 2020.1.1 without notice (Now this benefit is gone for all the US Visa Infinite cards). HT: reader moyi. Today the webpage to use this benefit shows this message: Effective 1/15/20, your Ritz Carlton Visa Infinite card no longer offers the Visa Discount…
Read more
[2019.12 Update] Today Marriott changed its official terms and conditions, and the 10 elite night credit for Marriott Bonvoy Events will officially end on Dec 31, 2019. A strong rumor recently surfaced among the Points & Miles community (1, 2) regarding Marriott’s intent to get rid of the ability to earn 10 Elite Qualifying Nights from your first Marriott Bonvoy Events…
Read more
One of the primary aspects to the credit card rewards game involves the following transferable point currencies: Chase Ultimate Rewards (UR), AmEx Membership Rewards (MR), Citi ThankYou Points (TYP), and Marriott Bonvoy (MB). The best value for these rewards are often found in transferring to airlines. The relationship of each currency to various airlines is summarized in Wings of the…
Read more
Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card (Formerly The Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express) Review 2019.8 Update: This card is still available via product change. 2019.2 Update: AmEx SPG is rebranded as AmEx Marriott Bonvoy for current card holders (it does not accept new applications). Application Link This card is no longer available to apply, but you can get it by…
Read more
After its merge with SPG program, Marriott incorporated a lot of legacy SPG policies, including the No Blackout Dates policy, stating that if a standard room is available for sale by any means, it should be redeemable using points. However, we recently found that Marriott has changed its no Blackout Dates policy without announcement. Here’s the new policy: 3.2.n. The…
Read more
Starting from Aug 26, 2018, AmEx and Chase work together to limit the bonuses on their Marriott & SPG co-branded credit cards. Now AmEx SPG cards can affect the eligibility of Chase Marriott credit cards, and vice versa. Here’s a summary of the limits. Chase Co-branded Credit Cards Chase cards have their own limits: Chase 5/24 rule: Chase Marriott Premier…
Read more
As you may be aware, Marriott and Starwood Hotels merged their IT systems and points on August 18, 2018 (five days ago). This was a huge deal in the points and miles world because Starwood points were being converted into Marriott points, accounts were being merged, there was a travel package bonanza, lots of IT issues, and brand new credit…
Read more
We now have an Instagram account: instagram.com/uscreditcardguide , follow us if you like our trip reports! Changsha is an “under-the-radar” city in central China. You may have never heard of it, but it is actually the powerhouse of China’s domestic TV entertainment industry. In recent years Changsha, like other cities in China, saw a rapid expansion of the tourism industry. China…
Read more
