Bottom Line

This is a decent card considering it has no annual fee, especially if you aren’t chasing status with Marriott. Earning a free night (up to 50k points) and 60k points as a welcome bonus is nice, especially considering the spend is so low ($2k in three months). But Marriott’s points redemptions are much lower than other hotel chains, so keep that in mind when looking at the sign-up bonus. As long as you aren’t a Marriott loyalist and are just looking to build up some hotel points, this is a good card to get.

Why You Might Want This Card

It doesn’t have an annual fee and offers a really good welcome bonus of 60,000 points and a free night (up to 50k points) after spending $2,000 in the first three months of owning the card. So you essentially get 110k points as a sign-up bonus and don’t have to be saddled with an annual fee. If you're loyal to Marriott hotels, though, and you stay there multiple times per year, be aware that you won’t be eligible for a sign-up bonus on certain other Marriott cards for 24 months after receiving this bonus. So be sure to read about where this particular card fits in the Marriott Bonvoy ecosystem of cards section below.

The other benefits of this card are minor, which is to be expected when you aren’t paying an annual fee. You receive 2x points on groceries, streaming, internet, cable, rideshare, and food delivery services -- and 1x points on everything else. If you book at a Marriott, you can receive up to 14x points, along with 1,000 bonus points per stay. You also receive complimentary Silver Elite status with the Marriott Bonvoy Bold card, along with 5 Elite night credits if you’re trying for status (though if this describes you, you’d be better served looking into one of their other cards to help towards that).

Exceptions To The Rule

Here are some exceptions where the card might not be good for you:

• Check the list of Marriott co-branded cards that won’t allow you to get a sign-up bonus if you’ve gotten certain cards within the last 2 years - there are quite a few that prohibit you
• You stay at Marriotts more than once or twice per year and would get more value out of one of their higher offer cards
• You know that reward night redemption is poor compared to other hotel chains (like Hyatt and IHG)

About Marriott Bonvoy

Bonvoy holds a unique place in this hobby. That’s because the points are a solid value for hotel reservations at the world's largest hotel chain AND Bonvoy points transfer to other point systems. In fact, Bonvoy has more transfer partners than Amex, Citi and Chase combined!!

This creates a unique situation, similar to Chase Ultimate Rewards points. There are nearly no flight or hotel situations that Bonvoy can’t solve. For this reason, we tend to use other hotel points (Hilton in particular) and save our Bonvoy points for unique situations, especially if you want to travel to any exotic locations.

The challenge is the value isn't great on transfers. We'll generally only use transfers for a points top off to buy a flight. Otherwise, we'll use our Bonvoy points for hotel rooms, especially in those hard to book places since Marriott has the most hotels globally.

Where Marriott Bonvoy Bold Fits In This Point Ecosystem

There are 5 co-branded personal Marriott credit cards to choose from: 3 from Chase (including this one) and 2 from American Express, along with a Business card (from AMEX). The Marriott Bonvoy Bold card is the only one that does not come with an annual fee, and thus offers the least benefits. If you stay at Marriott more often, you’re going to want to look at one of two other cards.

We don’t recommend either the Marriott Bonvoy Bevy (AMEX) or Bountiful (Chase), as they are pretty much the same, with little benefits for the $250 annual fee. Each offers an 85k point sign-up bonus, and both offer a free night (up to 50k points) every year, but you have to spend $15k on the card to earn it. Status would be the main reason to get either card, as they offer complimentary Gold Elite Status and 15 Elite night credits each calendar year, but honestly if status is what you’re after, just get the Brilliant card that comes with Platinum Elite Status. Though it has a hefty $650 fee, you can earn a 95k point sign-up bonus after $6k in purchases over 6 months, and one free night per year (up to 85k points). There are also a variety of statement credits that really cut into that high annual fee.

But if the Brilliant is too rich for your blood, or you don’t care about status as much, the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card seems to be a better offer. It gives you a 100k point sign-up bonus after spending $3k in the first 3 months and $150 statement credit after your first purchase. The Boundless only has a $95 annual fee, but it offers one free night each year (up to 35k points), complimentary Silver Elite Status, 15 Elite night credits, and 1 credit toward elite status for every $5k spent (with no limits).

Personal Experience

This is the one Marriot card we targeted when getting into the points hobby. We basically get a free sign-up bonus with a modest spend -- and no annual fee. The lower-level Marriott perks this card gave us were just gravy since we didn't pay anything to get them.