I have both the Marriott Rewards® Premier Credit Card and the Starwood Preferred Guest American Express.
We are being told that there’s new Marriott/Starwood cobranded credit cards in the pipeline later in the year, and they will be issued by both Chase and American Express (including new premium products); that’s exciting news that we’re all anxiously waiting to hear more details about.
Why I Have Both
With the Starwood/Marriott merger underway, both cobranded credit cards still remain as is and are worth keeping for their own separate reasons.
For instance, the Marriott Rewards® Premier Credit Card has been a staple hotel credit card in my wallet for years, and I find it worth it to pay the annual fee just for the annual free night certificate. The card recently got even more valuable with its new introduction of Chase Visa Offers, too (unfortunately, these are going away 3/31/18).
As for the Starwood Card, I consider Starpoints to be one of the most valuable points programs out there. I love them because of their flexibility and ability to redeem for hotel nights without blackout dates, and their transferability into airline miles with a nice bonus. 20,000 Starpoints = 25,000 airline miles.
There are only a few ways to earn Starpoints – staying at any of the SPG properties, with an SPG AmEx card, or by transferring Marriott points at a 3:1 ratio.
Why It’s Better to Use Other Cards at Marriott Properties
I recently visited several Marriott properties and made sure to pay my final bill using my SPG AmEx, because believe it or not, you actually can earn more Marriott points that way than by using Marriott’s own credit card.
Lobby at JW Marriott Phu Quoc
As you know, cardmembers can now earn points across the board at Starwood, Marriott, and Ritz Carlton properties:
- Marriott Rewards Premier Credit Card earns 5 Marriott Rewards points for each dollar spent using the Card on qualifying purchases made at participating SPG properties globally.
- The Ritz-Carlton Rewards Credit Card earns 5 Ritz-Carlton Rewards points for each dollar spent using the Card on qualifying purchases made at participating SPG properties globally.
- Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express earns 2 Starpoints per dollar using the Card directly at hotels participating in Marriott Rewards globally.
- Marriott Rewards Premier Plus Credit Card earns 6Â Marriott Rewards points for each dollar spent using the Card on qualifying purchases made at participating SPG properties globally.
Since 1 Starpoint equals 3 Marriott points, earning 2 Starpoints per dollar spent actually works out to earning 6 Marriott points per dollar spent at Marriott properties. Of course, these points are in addition to the points you’d be earning based on your elite level.
Using the SPG AmEx nets you an extra Marriott point per dollar after converting your Starpoints to Marriott points.
Other Considerations
Of course not all points are created equally, and there are some other cards that allow you to earn even more points than either of the two.
For instance, the Chase Sapphire Reserve earns 3 points per dollar on travel purchases. Some might argue that the 3x you’d earn with the Chase Sapphire Reserve is better than 2x you’d earn in Starpoints since 3 is greater than 2, but I disagree.
I value Starpoints at 2.2 cents each, and Ultimate Rewards points at around 1.9 cents each. Starpoints are also much harder to come by than Ultimate Rewards points, especially since there isn’t even a way to earn them with online purchases through shopping portals. Given those circumstances, I prefer earning 2x Starpoints.
Then there’s also the Citi Prestige that earns 3x per dollar spent on travel purchases. I value Citi ThankYou Points lower then Ultimate Rewards points, but there’s one specific instance where paying for my Marriott stay using the Citi Prestige makes sense- and it’s not only because of the generous travel protection benefits that the card offers.
Citi Prestige offers a 4th night free hotel benefit, but in order for the 4th night free rebate to post, the terms state that the reservation must be made through Citi and paid for with the Citi Prestige. Of course, the cash savings on the 4th night free is a much better deal than earning Starpoints in place of ThankYou Points.
Category Spend
Aside from just hotel spend, the SPG AmEx out-earns the Marriott Premier Credit Card in every other category, too.
The Marriott Rewards Premier earns 2x Marriott points on airfare, car rentals, and dining, but even at 1x for all purchases, the SPG AmEx cards effectively earn 3x Marriott points on literally every dollar you spend, knocking the Marriott Premier Credit Card’s 2x category spend out of the water.
In terms of annual fees, they’re pretty similar as well. The Marriott Premier Credit Card is $85, and the Starwood American Express is $95. I also got pretty lucky with a generous retention bonus last year.
One Thing The Marriott Credit Card is Good For
Unlike the SPG AmEx cards, the Marriott Premier Credit Card does offer is the ability to earn Marriott Rewards elite status just by spending.
For those who spend and travel a lot, you can secure elite status faster this way. You’ll get 1 elite credit for every $3,000 you spend, which is beneficial if you need to bump from Gold to Platinum, or if you’re such a big spender that you obtain status entirely this way ;).
The SPG AmEx does not offer a way to obtain elite status by spending. Instead, you’ll receive 5 nights and 2 stays each year towards elite status just by being a card member.
Also keep in mind that your status benefits between both programs are reciprocal, so if you earn status one way in one program, you automatically will have it in the other.
Bottom Line
It’s interesting to outline that one can earn more Marriott points by paying with other cards. Other than the annual $85 fee, I really don’t put much spend on my Marriott Premier Credit Card because I feel it’s worth it to keep the card solely for the free night each year.
What are your thoughts? What credit cards do you use for Marriott or any hotel stays?
Hi Angelina,
Thank you for this gem, it’s so simple yet so effective!
I’ll be sure to use my spg cards on Marriott stays as well!
Speaking of getting Marriott status by spend, if the Marriott premier gets you 15 stay credits per year, you would need an additional 60 stays to get to platinum, which can be gotten by spending $180,000 a year correct? ($180,00/$3,000 = 60)
Would these 75 stays (15 through cc and 60 through cc spend) count towards lifetime status as well? Just wanted to be sure before I went crazy on my chase Marriott ;)
Thank you once again
Yes, the nights earned from the credit card and the credit card spending absolutely count towards lifetime status, as do the points earned (which is why I would always put my Marriott stays on my Marriott card, rather than my SPG card, as the author suggests). However, be mindful that the current lifetime status requirements might change once the merger is completed, so unless you are very close to achieving Marriott lifetime status now, I would probably recommend waiting until we have more clarity on the merged program before you go crazy and spend $180,000+ on the card.
marriott card is worthless! SPG is better
You get SPG/Marriott Gold if you spend $30,000 a year on SPG card.
Oh interesting. You can also get SPG gold for free with Amex platinum cards and that’s a much better value imho
The only two good values of the Chase Marriott card are 1) 15 nights towards elite status and 2) one free night per year – excellent when rates are near $200. I don’t spend on this card but only use my SPG card at Marriott.
Exactly my strategy! The annual free night is definitely worth the $85 annual fee.
I have all three–Marriott, Ritz Carlton and SPG.
As you said, all points are not created equal. SPG earns the equivalent of 6 Marriott points per dollar at Marriott properties. Ritz Carlton earns 5.5 Marriott points. Marriott credit card earns 5 Marriott points. However, until the program changes, each point earned with the Marriott and Ritz Carlton credit cards counts towards Marriott lifetime status. SPG points do not. For me, I’ll take 5.5 Marriott points per dollar that count towards Marriott lifetime over 6 Marriott points per dollar that don’t.
@Ally–definitely yes.
Valid points, but if anyone is considering spending many tens of thousands of dollars in order to accrue lifetime points on the credit card, you should definitely do it on the Marriott card and ALSO get the lifetime night credits. I’d much rather earn 5 points or 1 point per dollar spent on my Marriott card AND earn lifetime night credits than earn 5.5 points or 1.1 points per dollar on my Ritz and NOT earn elite night credits… you can’t achieve lifetime status on points alone, you need the nights as well. The Ritz card is certainly an awesome card for other reasons though.
I also have all 3 and use SPG to pay for stays but this has me thinking
The annual free night that the Marriott visa offers has become much less valuable as Marriott has recently greatly inflated the ratings of their hotels. I just had a free night certificate expire worthless because I could not find a Marriott hotel rated five stars or less in my area, even thought I live in the mountains of western NC and there are plenty of Marriott properties nearby. Even the nearby Fairfield Inns are now rated at six stars!
Thank you for this/your article/posting. Any update(s) with regard to the newly named Marriott Bonvoy credit cards?
Hi Rex, I have a post coming out this week