Bloggers love pontificating about the Maldives, Bora Bora and the other places where you can live a life of extreme luxury on points, and while some of it is a bit overwrought, it’s not actually wrong, especially when you can earn 100,000 points and do it yourself so easily. It’s good to dream.
Even if you hate the Maldives and prefer a chateau in France, or a high rise hotel in New York, there’s quite a lot you can do with 100,000 points, and at the moment, they’re fairly easy to come by, thanks to a lucrative offer from the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card.
Worthwhile credit card offers really come down to timing, much like the best and happiest times in travel. At the moment, the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card brings a free anniversary night, which gives you a “free” hotel night yearly, valid for hotels up to 35,000 Marriott Points per night, Marriott Bonvoy Silver elite status, and a kickstart to reaching a higher Marriott Bonvoy elite status with 15 night credits, all from an annual fee of $95.
And yeah, then there’s the 100,000 point welcome bonus, after spending $5,000 in the first 3 months of your card membership. That’s more than a night in the Maldives worth near $1000, or a few nights elsewhere. I’d probably pick two nights at the St. Regis Langkawi, where 50,000 per night does the trick. Again, for a $95 annual fee card with lots of other benefits – that’s pretty legit.
As to spending, the card isn’t all that wowing for general spend, with 2 Marriott Bonvoy Points per dollar, but is very good for Marriott spend, offering 6 Bonvoy Points per dollar spent, on top of what you earn as a guest for the actual stay.
I generally think you’d struggle not to break even on the annual free night certificate alone, and with the 15 night credits annually and instant silver to start each year, it’s a bargain in my eyes. If the lesser talked about benefit of Marriott Bonvoy Points has been lost on you, it’s highly worth noting that these 100,000 Bonvoy Points can be converted into at least 33,000 airline miles with more than 25 different airlines.
This airline transfer partner list includes hard to reach (but ultra lucrative) airline programs like ANA Mileage Club, Asiana Club, JAL MileageBank and all the other airlines you’d expect. These programs are almost things of legend, thanks to ultra low points needed for high end redemptions. ANA charges 125,000 points for business class around the world, just an example.
If you transfer the points in blocks of 60,000, you get 5,000 more miles for every transfer, so a 120,000 point transfer from Marriott Points to one of the airlines would yield 50,000 airline miles. Of course, there’s also Marriott Bonvoy Moments – like concerts and sporting events, and the old free night at hotels too. It’s a great offer, and at $95 per year with a free night thrown in each year, one that is worth keeping.
This is where bloggers are clueless. 100,000 Marriott points is 3/4 nights in a decent hotel in the US. Worth maybe $500. What percent of your readers are going to sign up for this card and go to the Maldives where 1 night will be covered. You are blogging to please yourself but no one here is getting this card and going to the Maldives with their 100,000 Marriott point bonus. Points are NOT WORTH what they can be redeemed for. Points are worth what they can EASILY be redeemed for. I know you hate my posts but I’m dead on accurate. You are in a different world.
Ok, so you’re stating, just for the record, that a $95 annual fee card with $500 minimum of benefits in the first year, and then at least $100 (the annual free night) every subsequent year is bad value?
Where I’m from, if someone says I’ll hand you $500+ in perks for $95 of your wallet share and some spending, and I’ll then give you a free night every year you keep that $95 card, that’s worth considering. All other card benefits aside, of course.
Even your own logic of “easily redeemed for” gives a $500 valuation to the sign up bonus alone, on a $95 card, forgoing all other benefits. How is that not lucrative?
It’s just not a great offer. One can only have so many cards / apply for so many cards / earn so many bonuses / meet so many minimum spend requirements. Marriott is one of the last options id recommend anyone go for. But it’s not just you , bloggers in general think there are people who can just sign up for a card and go find a hotel where they can get $1000 out of the sign up bonus. My point is very few people can. It’s misleading to make people believe 100,000 Marriott points is a gang buster deal for a credit cars sign up bonus. It’s hard to get good value out of them. Even $500 can be tricky at times. You’re selling the card vs informing your readers.
Would only get one night at Times Sqaure.
Who stays in Times Square?
Ryan it is silly to say that 3/4 nights in a decent US hotel is not worth the $95 AF. Yes you are right that the average “Joe” won’t be going to the Maldives and for a one week stay there you would need a lot more than 100k points. Gilbert you must always remind people about the Chase 5/24 rule. This card is not great for those of us playing the points miles game due to the 5/24 rule.
I don’t understand why people get mad at how he values the points. If you are getting credit cards to pay for hotel nights in the US or even low fare hotels then you don’t know how to work credit card points. The purpose of points is to really maximize your value and make those points stretch. There are amazing values that come from using these points. All the credit card gurus say YOUR MILEAGE MAY VARY!!!! No he is not forcing anyone to get this card. Just don’t get it if you truly can’t see the value. Move on and get over it. It pisses me off that people don’t appreciate the time they take do research and share this information. I am pretty deep in the game but love to get suggestions about new cards or how to use their value. Thanks for what you do 🙂