Readers will likely want to know what to do after it was announced that Chase & American Express would be teaming up to restrict sign up bonuses on SPG/Marriott cards. I’d recommend reading that post first as it outlines what the new rules are for each individual card. The best option is going to vary greatly from person to person depending on what situation you’re in, what cards you’ve had before, what bonuses you’ve received etc. It’s also important to remember the new rules don’t go into place until August 26th. I assume that’s also when the SPG Luxury card will be launched. Keep in mind we are reasonably certain that the SPG Luxury card will be offering a sign up bonus of 125,000 points and the other SPG cards will offer 75,000 points.
Let me try to provide some recommendations and insight.
Contents
Chase Cards
Ritz-Carlton
Update: Too slow, bonus now dead.
Officially this isn’t accepting new applications, but there is still a working application link. If you sign up for this card keep in mind you’ll be ineligible for the SPG Luxury card while you hold the Ritz card and for 30 days after cancelling. Given you won’t really have a chance to get this card or the sign up bonus on this card again my suggestion is to sign up if you think the two free nights + card benefits justify the large annual fee. The SPG Luxury card should be available for some time and it’s only possible to get the bonus once on American Express cards so prioritizing it over the Ritz-Carlton doesn’t make sense. My recommendation:
- Get this card now if you think the benefits and bonus outweigh the annual fee, you won’t get another chance
Marriott Premier Plus
Most readers won’t be eligible for this card anyway due to the Chase 5/24 rule. If you are eligible I’d prioritize other cards first (e.g double dip CSR/CSP, Freedom and maybe even Southwest/United ahead). If you do decide to go for it keep in mind getting it will exclude you from getting the SPG luxury, SPG personal & SPG business bonuses for 24 months. My recommendations:
- You’re either not eligible, or you should focus on other Chase cards
Marriott Business Premier
Unlike the personal variation above this isn’t subjected to the Chase 5/24 rule. If you do get this card you’ll also be excluded from getting SPG luxury, SPG personal & SPG business bonuses for 24 months (starting on August 26th). I suspect most readers will have already received the bonuses on the SPG personal & business cards and if not they could always apply before August 26th as the bonus is staying the same. Again this is really only locking you out from getting the SPG luxury card. Unfortunately the bonus on this card is only at 75,000 points. My recommendation:
- If you won’t be eligible for the SPG luxury card on August 26th anyway (e.g fail one of the other restrictions), get this bonus. This mostly holds true if you won’t be able to get the bonus on the Marriott business premier after August 26th as well, otherwise I’d wait for a bigger bonus to come along.
- If you don’t want the SPG luxury card and you won’t be eligible for the Marriott busienss premier after August 26th, get the card now.
American Express Cards
SPG Luxury
Getting this card will make you ineligible for the Marriott Premier Plus personal & business cards. It’s not possible to sign up for this card currently, so you don’t really have any decision to make around this card specifically but other cards you may or may not get will affect your eligibility. I’m personally not worrying about this card/bonus too much as I don’t think it has long term value (e.g I would cancel after the first year) and you can only get each card once per lifetime so I will prioritize other cards. My recommendation:
- Not a keeper card, so prioritize other short term opportunities over this card
SPG Personal
While you hold this card and for 30 days after you cancel this card you will be ineligible for the Marriott Premier Plus personal & Marriott Premier business cards. If you haven’t gotten this card previously I’d probably actually wait for a better bonus as it’s only 25,000 points and will be 75,000 Marriott points after August 26th (both bonuses are the same due to the 1:3 transfer rate). It’s been as high as 35,000 SPG (105,000 Marriott points) in the past. This doesn’t really mess with your eligibility too much on other cards anyway. My recommendation:
- Wait for a bigger bonus
SPG Business
Getting this card/bonus will make you ineligible for a bonus on the Marriott Rewards Premier Plus personal & Marriott Premier business cards for 24 months. I imagine most people will already have gotten the bonus on this card. If not it might make sense to just take the 25,000 point bonus now (especially if combined with the Marriott business bonus).
- Possibly apply now?
Other Tactics
It will be interesting to see how Marriott shares information between the card issuers. For example will it just do a check when a card application is made? If so, is that real time? If not then it might be possible to do a double/triple dip on the same day. I assume what will actually happen is that the card issuers will do a bonus eligibility check before the bonus posts and that’s why the restriction of acquiring the cards within the last 90 days is present (that way you can’t get around it by not having received the bonus on one of the cards). We won’t know for sure until people try it of course. Share any other tactics you might have in the comments.
Final Thoughts
I’m sure readers are going to have questions about their individual circumstances. I’m going to go out on a limb and say it’s unlikely I’m going to be able to give individualized advice, so please help each other and most importantly do your own research! You shouldn’t be blindly following what I or anybody else says in any case. I’m also almost certain this post has a few inaccuracies as I’m running on very low sleep, so feel free to point out any errors in the comments below. As always be kind and help each other out.
