Chase Set to Release New Marriott Business Card?
Earlier this week Doctor of Credit reported that Chase will be releasing a new Marriott business credit card, the Marriott Rewards Premier Plus Business card. This is somewhat surprising news since it has been believed that American Express would be handling new business cards once the merger was completed.
UPDATE: According to reader Miles this looks to be a re-branding of the card since the Program Agreement linked below is actually for the current business card.
Details on the Card
Details on the card are obviously limited at this time. Doctor of Credit had a link to the Program Agreement on their site which gives some information on the card but not much.
What we do know is the card will be launched on August 26th, 2018. The Marriott Rewards Premier Plus Business card will come with the following earning rates:
- 6 Marriott points per dollar spent at Marriott hotels
- 4 Marriott points per dollar spent on restaurants, shipping, gas stations, internet, phone & cable services
- 2 Marriott points per dollar on everything else.
The earning rates are not terrible but nowhere near as valuable as what you can get with the Chase Ink Cash. But the current Marriott Rewards Business card is currently not under Chase’s 5/24 rule while the Ink Cash card is. The speculation is that the new Marriott business card will also not be under Chase’s 5/24 rule.
Should you get the Current Marriott Business Card Now
It is believed that this may only be offered as an upgrade option. That is because American Express was supposed to handle the business cards after the merger. I can’t see them rolling out a new card solely for upgrades but who knows. The other question is will they offer an upgrade to current Marriott business cardholders like they did when they launched the Marriott Premier Plus personal card?
If they do would it make sense to grab the current card now so you have a chance to double dip? The current offer on that card is 75,000 points with a waived annual fee.
When the new Marriott Rewards Premier Plus personal card was launched it came with an increased offer for 100,000 points but the $95 annual fee was not waived. It is possible the new business card could also come with and increased amount. I would say the $95 annual fee is worth around 15,000 points. So the question is would you risk a potential 10,000 more points in the hopes of getting an upgrade offer for more than that. You could come out ahead or you could get a clunker upgrade offer like with the IHG card. That is a call you need to make yourself.
There is also a chance the new card will fall under Chase’s 5/24 rule and you would not be able to get it anyway. I don’t believe that will be the case but no one knows at this point.
Conclusion
This is interesting/surprising/confusing news coming out of Chase. It doesn’t seem to make much sense with the merger news that has previously been released. But nothing with this merger has been well thought out so far. It seems like no one seems to really know what is happening.
There is a potential opportunity to double dip if you get the current Marriott business card now. If you do you may be risking a more lucrative offer from the Marriott Rewards Premier Plus Business card.
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Question about Marriott and the changing way you earn elite nights. If someone has reached lifetime Platinum status, it seems that there no longer is a reason to worry about elite nights, correct? Or am I missing something?
Thanks.
My understanding is that with lifetime status you won’t need to rack up nights but would only get the benefits on eligible stays (booked directly etc)
Marriott allows for fly and stay packages– you get a 1 week stay at a Marriott plus a certain amount of airline miles. The redemptions that allow for 120,00 miles (or 132,000 United miles) are the best deal–I think AK miles are the best deal because they have the overall lowest first class international award costs. You do not have to designate the hotel at which you wish to stay when claiming the redemption. If you don’t designate the specific hotel, Marriott simply holds a certificate in your account. For any certificates that are left undesignated in your account on 8/1/2018, Marriott will convert these undesignated 1 week certificates back into Marriott Rewards points. The catch is that they haven’t said how many points you’ll be receiving for each certificate. You could then convert those points back into airline miles. Since I value AK miles far more than Marriott stays, this is a good deal for me but YMMV. From what Marriott has said so far, it SEEMS as though the fly and stay packages might not be as good a deal after 8/1.
Please explain how that category 5 stay and play works out if the hotel portion is refunded?
What’s more interesting about the merger is what’s not being said, such as the # of airline miles that will be received for fly and stay redemptions. I definitely have my prediction. Accordingly, I unloaded my Starpoints for 7 category 5 fly and stay packages– AK miles for first class international awards are far more valuable to me than a hotel stay which I can afford. Plus, it seem that if you leave the hotel portion of the fly and stay package uncommitted to a certain property through 1 August, the unused hotel portion will be turned back into Marriott Rewards points, allowing for additional transfers to AK Mileage Plan.
This hasn’t been the smoothest transition in any way. They didn’t even have a name for the program during their big press release etc. I think you made a solid play if you value airline miles more (as most do)
Heads up – this rewards PDF is linked to from current Marriott business cards (I have one), and it contains reward amounts for purchases prior to August 26, which means it’s likely just a rebranding of the existing business card, not a new one.
Thanks for the info. Interesting – I will update. Thanks