Is it worth keeping Marriot Rewards card?

[quarius]

I was thinking of just switching cards so i dont get hit with the annual fee but this card has the free anniversary certificate every year. What do you guys think? I rarely use the card but the free night every year upto cat 5 hotels.

[K-in-Boston]

If it has been worth it to you before, it will likely be in the future. The Cat 1-5 should be replaced with an up to 35,000 point room certificate and your earnings for spend will slightly increase in August.

[quarius]

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@K-in-Boston wrote:
If it has been worth it to you before, it will likely be in the future. The Cat 1-5 should be replaced with an up to 35,000 point room certificate and your earnings for spend will slightly increase in August.

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Im coming off my 2 years and would be eligible to reapply for another bonus soon for this card. I also have the SPG card as well with no annual fee. I have until May to decide before new annual fee comes in.

[wasCB14]

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@quarius wrote:

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@K-in-Boston wrote:
If it has been worth it to you before, it will likely be in the future. The Cat 1-5 should be replaced with an up to 35,000 point room certificate and your earnings for spend will slightly increase in August.

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Im coming off my 2 years and would be eligible to reapply for another bonus soon for this card. I also have the SPG card as well with no annual fee. I have until May to decide before new annual fee comes in.

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My understanding is that SPG will get the same up-to-35k renewal night. Is this new 35k cap expected to genuinely improve the quality/location of hotels where the renewal certificate can be used? Or is some catch expected, like major category inflation?

[K-in-Boston]

As of right now, 35,000 points is a Category 7 Marriott or a Cat8 with a PointsSaver redemption. (Or enough for a low-level Ritz-Carlton.) The word from Marriott is that more hotels will cost fewer points than more points going forward in August. They’re still putting the various properties into the new Category 1-8, including Ritz-Carlton. For Marriott card holders, that should be a decent boost, and for SPG that’s additional value.

[Peteyglad]

I a in the same boat. Actually, with all the hotel card changes in the past few months I need to reevaluate mine and my wifes card portfolio to make sure we are getting the best bang for our buck. 

The Marriott card for me will probably stay due to the free night and my high credit limit on it. 

[quarius]

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@Peteyglad wrote:

I a in the same boat. Actually, with all the hotel card changes in the past few months I need to reevaluate mine and my wifes card portfolio to make sure we are getting the best bang for our buck. 

The Marriott card for me will probably stay due to the free night and my high credit limit on it. 

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I dont plan on cancelling it because i have a nice limit on it, I just plan on switching to a Freedom or something like that. Then maybe down the road get The Marriot card again with the nice 90k points spend bonus.

[Peteyglad]

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@quarius wrote:

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@Peteyglad wrote:

I a in the same boat. Actually, with all the hotel card changes in the past few months I need to reevaluate mine and my wifes card portfolio to make sure we are getting the best bang for our buck. 

The Marriott card for me will probably stay due to the free night and my high credit limit on it. 

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I dont plan on cancelling it because i have a nice limit on it, I just plan on switching to a Freedom or something like that. Then maybe down the road get The Marriot card again with the nice 90k points spend bonus.

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I don't believe you can product change it to a freedom.

[simplynoir]

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@Peteyglad wrote:

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@quarius wrote:

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@Peteyglad wrote:

I a in the same boat. Actually, with all the hotel card changes in the past few months I need to reevaluate mine and my wifes card portfolio to make sure we are getting the best bang for our buck. 

The Marriott card for me will probably stay due to the free night and my high credit limit on it. 

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I dont plan on cancelling it because i have a nice limit on it, I just plan on switching to a Freedom or something like that. Then maybe down the road get The Marriot card again with the nice 90k points spend bonus.

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I don't believe you can product change it to a freedom.

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Correct. You can't PC the Marriott card.

[K-in-Boston]

It can't be changed to one of the core products (Slate, F, FU, CS, CSP, CSR), but in thoery it should be possible to PC to either the reduced AF non-Premier Marriott Rewards card (assuming Chase didn't just stop this, no word on that yet) or upgraded to Ritz-Carlton.