Why We Chose the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless
After completing our Chase Trifecta, we continued to use it as the foundation of our everyday points-earning strategy. The next card we added to our lineup was the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Card from Chase.
Why We Got It
The main reason we applied for this card is because Jen travels frequently for work, and the majority of her hotel stays are at Marriott properties. By using the Bonvoy Boundless card to pay for these work trips (and getting reimbursed later), we’re able to rack up a ton of Marriott Bonvoy points without spending our own money.
One of the biggest perks of this card is that it earns up to 17x points per dollar at hotels that participate in the Marriott Bonvoy® loyalty program. That’s a huge return - especially when getting reimbursed for the stay.
How It Fits into Our Strategy
While Marriott points aren’t as valuable as Chase Ultimate Rewards points, this card is a smart addition to our wallet for one key reason: Marriott is a Chase transfer partner. If we don’t have enough Marriott points for our vacations, we can transfer our Chase points to Marriott to top off what we need for a stay. This is why the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless pairs nicely with our Chase Trifecta setup and gives us more flexibility in how we redeem our points.
The welcome offer at the time we applied was the standard bonus:
3 Free Night Awards, each worth up to 50,000 points per night.
The bonus alone was enough to cover a decent portion of any trip, especially when paired with the 5th Night Free benefits Marriott offers on award stays.
Key Card Benefits (as of this writing):
Up to 17x points per dollar at Marriott Bonvoy hotels
3x points per dollar on the first $6,000 spent per year in combined purchases at grocery stores, gas stations, and restaurants
2x points per dollar on all other purchases
Annual Free Night Award (worth up to 35,000 points)
Automatic Silver Elite Status in the Marriott Bonvoy Program
Note: The card does have a $95 annual fee.
When We Use It
Since Marriott Bonvoy points are currently valued at about 0.7 cents per point (CPP), this card doesn’t offer as strong of a return as our Chase Trifecta (which averages around 2.05 CPP). Because of that, the Bonvoy Boundless card has one very specific purpose in our setup: paying for Marriott stays - especially work-related ones.