Chase Marriott Bonvoy Bold Card

My first Chase card was the Marriott Bonvoy Bold Card.  I got this card shortly after it was announced; I was excited at the prospect of a no annual fee travel card that also had no foreign transaction fees.  This is the card that I product changed from in order to get my Ritz-Carlton Card.

I provide the information here just to give readers a vague idea if the rewards offered by the card might make sense for them to consider the card.  All information should be confirmed with the card company before applying.

Welcome offer

The Bonvoy Bold Card currently has a welcome offer of 30 000 bonus points after spending $1 000 in 3 months.  When I got the card, the welcome offer was 50 000 bonus points with the same spend requirement.  30 000 Marriott points is worth around $240 and can likely get 1 or 2 free nights at a lower-level Marriott hotel. 

Earnings

The Bonvoy Bold card has a three-tiered earning structure like the Ritz-Carlton Card and earns Marriott Bonvoy award points.  Marriott Bonvoy points are worth around 0.8 ¢/point on average, but Marriott has recently transitioned to dynamic pricing, so this redemption rate average may decrease in the medium term.  The card earns 3 points/$ on Marriott hotel stays (2.4%); 2 points/$ on travel in general (1.6%), as well as 1 point/$ (0.8%) on everything else.  These earning rates are not amazing, but they are workable for a no annual fee card.  The best use of the card is, of course, on Marriott stays.  Marriott points can also be transferred to >40 airline partners, which is quite impressive.  The points transfer, in most cases, at a rate of 3 Marriott points to 1 airline mile.  Marriott also gives a 5 000-mile bonus if 60 000 Marriott points are transferred (for a rate of 2.4:1), which can make sense in certain scenarios.  The potential flexibility of Marriott points is one of the reasons I actively collect Marriott Points.  Ironically, with Marriott having recently removed their award chart and switching to dynamic pricing, transferring points to miles may become a more attractive option in some scenarios.

Benefits

The main reason for getting this card over the Boundless card is to avoid having to pay an annual fee. 

Like all Marriott credit cards, the card provides 15 elite night credits, which count towards earning both yearly and lifetime status.  Holding the Bonvoy Bold Card guarantees you Marriott Silver status, which doesn’t have a lot of benefits, but that’s to be expected with entry-level status.  With Silver status, you’d actually earn a total of 14 points/$ on the Marriott room rate between the card and the Silver status bonus.

The card comes with some additional travel perks, such as primary rental car insurance coverages and trip/purchase protection.  I actually used to use this card in place of the Amex Green Card for rental cars because of the better rental car insurance.

Examples of using the card

Spend per month

These examples exclude any credits that come with the card.  For example, the Airfare budget excludes the $300 airfare credit offered by The Ritz-Carlton card to help offset the annual fee.

	Example A		Example B		Example C		Example D
Groceries (1x)	$300	300	$200	200	$600	600	$400	400
Gas (1x)	$0	0	$100	100	$200	200	$100	100
Airfare (2x)	$700	1 400	$200	400	$0	0	$400	800
Hotels (3x or 2x)	$1 000	3 000	$200	600	$0	0	$300	900
Gen Travel (2x)	$400	800	$0	0	$300	600	$100	200
Dining (1x)	$600	600	$300	300	$300	300	$0	0
General (1x)	$1 000	1 000	$500	500	$500	500	$400	400
Total	$4 000	7 100	$1 500	2 100	$1 700	2 200	$1 700	2 800
Average points/$		1.78		1.4		1.29		1.65

The Bonvoy Bold’s travel bonus category is relatively broad, and the best points values come from spending at Marriott Hotels, which is to be expected from a co-branded Marriott credit card.  As a result, the average points earned is broad, compared to a simpler and more general card like the ((Chase Sapphire Preferred)), but since the range is only 1 – 3, the average points range is relatively small.  The range is 1.29 – 1.78 points/$, which is worth 1.0 – 1.4 ¢/$, given the average valuation of 0.8 ¢/point for Marriott Bonvoy points.

Specific examples

Card	World Traveller ($750)  (% return)	Marriott Hotel night ($230/night)	Points values (WT/Hotel)
No rewards card	2 728 (4.9%)	2 000 MP (7.3%)	$37.10 / $16.00
General 1% cashback card	2 728 + $7.50 (5.9%)	2 000 MP + $2.30 (8.3%)	$44.60 / $18.30
Chase Sapphire Preferred	2 728 Avios + 1 500 UR (7.9%)	2 000 MP + 460 UR (9.3%)	$59.60 / $22.90
Bonvoy Bold Card	2 728 Avios + 1 500 MP (6.5%)	2 890 MP (10.1%)	$49.10 / $23.12
UK Marriott Amex card	2 728 Avios + 1 112 MP (6.1%)	3 220 MP (11.2%)	$46.18 / $25.76

These examples include the fact that the Bonvoy Bold Card gives free Marriott Silver Status, like the UK Marriott Amex card as well.

Is this credit card right for you?

This card is best for people that value the Marriott perks but don’t want to pay an annual fee.  This card isn’t the most exciting card, but it’s definitely a good entry-level card into the Marriott eco-system and rewards cards in general.  If you don’t stay at Marriott hotels, it’s unlikely you will get substantial value out of the card’s (short) benefit list.  It’s a great option though to downgrade to from the Boundless or Ritz-Carlton Card if you want to avoid paying an annual fee without closing the card account.