Looks like the Marriott Boundless card bonus has changed to a different and perhaps interesting new variation to some folks:
- Three 50K Free Night Certificates after $3K spend in 3 months
- 50K Bonus Points after $6k spend in 6 months (includes the previous $3k spend)
Depending on where you stay it can be difficult to find 50K nights - but when I checked the Swolphin this summer, there are definitely weeks where there are some deals to be had. (Some nights in any given week might need some points added on top of the certificate - you can add up to 15K points per cert if needed.)
Possible Downsides:
Certificates expire after a year, so you want to have a plan to use them.
| IMHO a pure points bonus is much betterer because they don’t expire - you can stretch your points value by booking 5 nights on points and getting the cheapest night free.* You cannot get a 5th night free with a points/certificates combo booking. |
ETA Later: Want to add a modifier to the statement above with my silly meme: In reality Marriott points CAN expire, I think with 2 years of no activity.
BUT: it is really easy to keep them alive: earn new points over time (spend on credit card), transfer some points in, even if just 1,000 points etc.
*Which reminds me: I wanted to write something up about stacking this tactic. (A Stacktic?)
In a more aggressive points game play, this and many cards would very likely be further down the list of cards to get when considering the Chase 5/24 rule.
But, if you’re going casual in the points game, maybe this helps you score a nice 3 or 4 night stay, I dunno.  |
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If you don’t have a friend or family with a referral link, check out the Liner Referral thread and spreadsheet here.