Bottom line

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At a Glance

	Marriot Bonvoy Boundless Card
Annual Fee	– $95
Sign up bonus	– Earn 50,000 bonus points after you spend $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Ongoing rewards	– 2x-17x Points
Foreign transaction fee	– None
APR	– 21.49% – 28.49% based on your creditworthiness and other factors. These APRs will vary with the market based on the Prime Rate
Value of points redeemed
Balance transfer fee	– Either $5 or 5% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater.
Additional benefits

Detailed overview

Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card: Basics

Card type: Hotel.

Annual fee: $95.

Sign-up bonus: Limited time offer! Earn 5 Free Night Awards (each night valued up to 50,000 points) after spending $5,000 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening with the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card.

Ongoing rewards:

• 6 points per $1 spent at participating Marriott Bonvoy hotels.

• 3 points per $1 spent spent in combined purchases each year on grocery stores, gas stations and dining (up to $6,000 in combined purchases each year; 2 points per $1 spent thereafter).

• 2 points per $1 spent on all other eligible purchases.


Rewards earned by using the credit card are in addition to points you earn as a member of the Marriott Bonvoy program.

We value Marriott points at 0.8 cent each. This is a baseline value, drawn from real-world data, not a maximized value. In other words, you should aim for award redemptions that offer 0.8 cent or more in value from your Marriott points.

Redemption options:

• At hotels starting at 5,000 points per night for off-peak (lowest-demand) dates, 7,500 for standard dates, and 10,000 for peak dates. If your dates are flexible, you might be able to find PointSavers rates, or discounted award nights, for some properties. You can also combine points with cash to redeem for standard stays starting at $55 plus 1,500 points. When you redeem four nights’ worth of points, you get the fifth night for free.

• For flights or car rentals.

• For travel by transferring points to multiple airline partners, usually at a 3:1 ratio (for every 3 Bonvoy points, you’ll get 1 airline mile).


Foreign transaction fees: None.

Other benefits:

• Free Night Award (valued up to 35,000 points) every year after account anniversary.

• Automatic Silver Elite status and accelerated path to Gold status.

• Earn 1 Elite Night Credit towards Elite Status for every $5,000 you spend.

Benefits and perks

Marriott Bonvoy Boundless welcome offer

New applicants can earn five free night awards (each night valued up to 50,000 points for a total of up to 250,000 points) after spending $5,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening.

Anniversary free night award

Each year, on account renewal, you’ll receive a reward night certificate worth up to 35,000 points a night. You can also top off your certificate with up to 15,000 additional points, making it potentially worth 50,000 points.

TPG’s valuations peg the value of 35,000 Marriott points at $294, nearly three times the $95 annual fee. But it’s possible to get even more value if you’re selective about redeeming your reward night.

15 elite night credits annually

Many Bonvoy credit cards share this benefit. But this perk can be immensely valuable if you’re aiming for a higher tier of status with Marriott Bonvoy.

You can get one set of elite night credits from a Marriott personal card and one more set of elite night credits from a Marriott business card. So, with the Bonvoy Boundless alone, you’d only need to stay 35 nights (instead of 50) to earn Platinum Elite status. But, if you have the Bonvoy Boundless and a Marriott business card like the Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card, you can get 30 elite night credits each year just from credit cards.

Drawbacks and consideration

Annual fee

The perks on the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card make it well worth its annual fee of $95. But if you can’t picture going to Marriott properties often enough to use those benefits, a no-annual-fee general travel card might be your best bet.

Consider the $0-annual-fee Discover it® Miles. It earns 1.5 miles per dollar spent on all purchases. Miles are worth 1 cent apiece when used to cover travel purchases made on the card, including hotel stays. The card also includes a unique (and potentially quite lucrative) bonus offer for newcomers: “UNLIMITED BONUS: Unlimited Mile-for-Mile match for all new cardmembers – only from Discover. Discover gives you an unlimited match of all the Miles you’ve earned at the end of your first year. For example, if you earn 35,000 Miles, you get 70,000 Miles. There’s no signing up, no minimum spending or maximum rewards. Just a Miles-for-Miles match.”

Is this card right for you?

The Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card is in an interesting spot. One of two entry-level consumer credit cards in the Bonvoy program (the no-annual-fee Marriott Bonvoy Bold Credit Card is the other), the Boundless makes sense for many Marriott travelers.

But strict bonus restrictions and fierce competition from other Chase cards mean you should consider which card will suit your needs before applying.