I just signed up for the Marriott Bonvoy Business Amex card. 5 free 50k certificates and doesn’t count against 5/24.
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I have a couple of TSA renewals coming up in our family. I already did mine with the SW business card and the refund was already posted…wondering if I should get another card or two to cover the remaining renewals. We are currently not working on a SUB. Thinking p2 might be getting a IHG, then in a couple months I may get something, but not sure what. Leaning towards an Aeroplan card as I want to start travelling internationally with my points, and we are not that far from Toronto and would be looking at Air Canada and partners. Both have TSA credits.
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I found a good use for the bi-annual $50 Amex Platinum Saks Fifth Ave credit for my fellow packing cube fanatics:
https://www.saksfifthavenue.com/product/thule-compression-packing-cube-bag-0400017933700.html
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Nice! Just today my wife was saying she finally found that some of her cosmetics are now on the Saks site, but was annoyed at the shipping charge. 
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Yeah, they used to offer free shipping on orders over $50, but they got wise to us frugal credit card types and bumped it up. Looks like it’s $200 now!
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Heads up to Swolphin hopefuls:
Looks like not only is the FIVE 50K Free Night Certificate Sign Up Bonus for the Boundless card back - but when I checked my latest referral link it looks like this time personal referral links are offering the same SUB!
In previous versions of this bonus, personal referrals stayed at 3 certificates, which made using them a far lesser deal.
This current offer is set to run to March 27th - so might be worth thinking about if you have plans to stay at the Swolphin resorts - AND you plan to stay on dates that will be priced 65K points or less. (You can top off the 50K certs with up to 15K in Bonvoy points.)
To be honest, if it were running to the end of May I’d probably have my DW get the card and take the entire 3 month window to earn the bonus. Doing that would get you certificates that would have expiration dates at the end of the summer or 2025, making them good for another entire vacation season.
I’ve added my referral link to the forum’s shared Google Sheet - go add yours and/or check out everyone’s referral links here.
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Marriott Bonvoy Boundless: Does the 3 months start the date you were approved (Feb 1 for DH?) Looking online at his chase account, it looks like the end of the billing cycle is March 15. So, do we have until June 15 to spend the $5000 or May 1? Sorry if this is confusing lol.
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Oh, the card companies don’t make it easy. 
In general with sign up bonuses you have 3 (or whatever number of) months from date of APPROVAL to meet the spend.
The certificates will likely be awarded within a week or two after that cycle closes and their expiration will be based on the date they appear, in my experience.
For future reference: if in a few years you decide to try for another sign up bonus with a credit card that has a 24 month rule about earning them again: That 24 month clock will start on the date you EARNED THE BONUS and not approval date. Many people make the mistake of applying again 24 months after getting the card.
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Here’s a handy dandy chart for any Marriott card churners wondering if they’re eligible for the Marriott Boundless bonus (credit FrequentMiler):
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Will this be on the test? 
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Me the first time I saw it:
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Looking to open a Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard for the bonus miles to use for January flights next year. I can find a 50k welcome bonus with the annual fee waived for the first year…anyone with any other leads/referrals for AA cards?
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We have this card and I have looked for a referral link and can’t find it. I honestly have no idea where it is in the app or online and it makes me think that maybe they don’t have a link?
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Follow up on this: I just noticed that the Amex Marriott Bonvoy Business card, which also has an active sign up bonus of 5 free nights has a different time frame that could make going for it more attractive:
While the Amex biz card has a higher spend requirement of $8K, it also has a 6 month window to earn it. Deadline to apply is 3/20, so one could time it to earn the certs right before Sept 20th, meaning they could be used as far out as September 2025.
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We are considering staying at swolphin in July of 2025. IF I got the Marriot Bonvoy card March 27. Put my spend on by June 27. Would I be able to book in april or may 2025 for the end of July 25 using my certificates? Do the certificates apply at the booking or do they apply on the date of the stay?
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Oops, I meant to reply to JJT. I will fix it.
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We are considering staying at swolphin in July of 2025. IF I got the Marriot Bonvoy card March 27. Put my spend on by June 27. Would I be able to book in april or may 2025 for the end of July 25 using my certificates? Do the certificates apply at the booking or do they apply on the date of the stay?
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No, sadly - the certificates have to be unexpired on the dates of your stay.
BUT - if you notice my last update referring to the Amex Business Marriott - it has a 6 month window to earn the bonus, so that one could make your timeline work.
Want to be sure people realize though: it can be difficult lately to find dates at the Swolphin hotels where the points are in the 50K - 65K range on popular dates. They do seem to be inching the points cost up lately. Maybe they are getting too many 50K cert people coming in!
We used ours in August last year. Also, the Marriott points calendar is especially fussy and will show you different points depending on various factors, including the phase of the moon and the direction you are facing, I think. I went into some detailed frustration about it in my Deluxe it Up thread this year - you may find some clues on gaming the calendar to help squeeze out lower points days.
Looking at my previous post again, it may have been be a little confusing, so going to clarify here:
- Deadline to apply for Amex Biz Marriott is 3/20 (pasting screen cap from their site below.)
- If you time your $8K spend so that you finish it just before the end of the 6 months, you’d hit it some time before August 20, 2024. (That is without playing any “frozen credit report” games.)
- You likely will see the certificates appear after that month’s statement closes - so they’d likely show up at the very end of August, or (more likely) in the beginning of September.
- The expiration date of the certificates will likely be the date that they first appeared in your account.
(And for others reading who didn’t catch previous messages above: Chase also has a Marriott card with the 5 free night certificate bonus right now: the personal Boundless card. That has a smaller spend requirement, but only a 3 month window.)
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One more thing I should have added related the quote below: with Amex, if you already have cards with them they often will NOT pull your credit report, so there is a very good chance that leaving your credit reports frozen would not impede an application from going through and buying you more time.
Other banks, like Chase will almost certainly need to access your credit reports, so more of a likelihood a frozen credit report would cause a denial or “we need more info” email and allow you to unfreeze within 30 days when you want the card to start, then call the bank recon line to get the application moving.
Interesting browser add-in I’ve heard about on a few podcasts lately:
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