Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful credit card review: Full details
Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful Card overview
The Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful™ Card is one of several Marriott cards offered by Chase. While it offers a lucrative welcome bonus, the overall benefits fall short of what you might expect from a card with a $250 annual fee. Card rating*: ⭐⭐⭐
* Card rating is based on the opinion of TPG’s editors and is not influenced by the card issuer.
Marriott Bonvoy offers a range of cobranded cards, with annual fees ranging from $0 to $650 annually. The Bountiful card sits in the middle of the range of annual fees on Marriott credit cards, with an annual fee of $250.
The Bonvoy Bountiful is comparable to the Marriott Bonvoy Bevy™ American Express® Card, which also has an annual fee of $250 (see rates and fees).
Cardholders enjoy complimentary Marriott Gold Elite status, higher earning rates for hotel purchases and an annual free night award if a spending threshold is hit. A credit score of at least 670 is required for approval.
Here’s a full review of the Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful card to help you decide if it’s a fit for your wallet.
The information for the Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful pros and cons
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Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful welcome offer
The Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful card currently offers new cardholders 85,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 within the first three months from account opening.
Based on TPG’s September 2024 valuations, Marriott Bonvoy points are worth 0.85 cents each, making the 85,000 points worth $723.
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As a Chase-issued card, make sure you are under the infamous 5/24 rule. Otherwise, you will be automatically declined. Keep in mind that Marriott has their own restrictions as well, so double-check that you’re good to go there before applying.
See also: The ultimate guide to credit card application restrictions
Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful benefits
The Bonvoy Bountiful card offers some perks that could make it worthwhile for some travelers:
- Marriott Gold Elite status: Primary cardholders (authorized users aren’t included) receive automatic Marriott Gold Elite status as long as the account is open. The most valuable benefits of Gold Elite status are upgrades to enhanced rooms (when available) and a 25% points bonus on hotel spending. While many hotel credit cards offer a way to spend your way toward higher status levels, that’s noticeably absent on the Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful card.
- Annual free night award via spending: When you spend at least $15,000 on eligible purchases in a calendar year, you’ll earn a free night certificate that can cover a one-night stay costing up to 50,000 points. Certain hotels have resort fees.
- Elite night credits: When you hold the Bountiful card, you’ll automatically receive 15 elite qualifying night credits per year. This benefit can be stacked with the nights you earn with a Marriott business card, which will put you 60% of the way to Platinum Elite status.
- Bonus points on each stay: Cardholders receive 1,000 bonus points on each eligible stay at hotels and resorts participating in the Marriott Bonvoy program. This equals an extra $8.50 worth of points based on TPG’s September 2024 valuations.
- Travel protections: This card offers trip delay insurance for trips delayed by more than 12 hours due to a covered reason when you pay for at least part of your trip with the Bountiful card (which includes paying the taxes and fees on your flight award redemption). You’ll also enjoy baggage delay insurance, lost luggage reimbursement, secondary car rental loss and damage insurance, roadside dispatch services (pay per use), travel accident insurance and travel emergency assistance services, which can connect you to emergency service providers during a time of need. Note that there may be charges for these services when provided by third parties.
- Shopping protections: Purchases made with the card can get 120 days of purchase protection (up to $500 per claim and up to $50,000 per account) for theft, damage or loss of new items and up to one year of extended warranty coverage on warranties of three years or less on covered purchases worldwide (up to $10,000 per claim and up to $50,000 per account).
- Complimentary DashPass: Cardholders also receive a complimentary one-year DashPass membership for DoorDash when the benefit is activated by Dec. 31, 2024.
All that said, it’s worth mentioning what’s absent in the perks and benefits. In short, the card is missing a variety of things that are frequently found on cards with the same (or even lower) annual fees. This includes:
Earning points on the Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful
The Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful has similar earning rates to other Marriott credit cards, such as the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card and Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card. However, there are some notable differences.
For starters, Bountiful cardholders can earn 6 Marriott Bonvoy points per dollar on purchases at hotels participating in the Marriott Bonvoy program, which competes with most other Marriott cobranded cards.
Cardholders can also earn 4 points per dollar at restaurants worldwide and grocery stores (on the first $15,000 per year in combined purchases, then 2 points per dollar after reaching this limit). All other purchases will earn 2 points per dollar.
As noted previously, TPG’s September 2024 valuations peg Marriott Bonvoy points at 0.85 cents apiece. This translates into a 5.1% return at Marriott properties, a 3.4% return for the first $15,000 spent at restaurants and supermarkets and a 1.7% return for all other purchases.
This is decent for loyal Marriott travelers who want to boost their balances of Bonvoy points, but it’s worth noting that other cards can provide a better option for earning rewards on non-bonus spending categories.
In addition, the Bountiful card is missing bonuses for other popular types of spending (like gas and airfare), so you may want to look elsewhere for purchases that fall outside the above categories.
Related: Best ways to earn Marriott Bonvoy points
Redeeming points on the Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful
When it comes time to use your Marriott points, many options exist. Generally speaking, the best redemption is for free hotel stays. Marriott’s global portfolio has roughly 10,000 properties spanning 30 brands in 141 countries. The range is quite broad, from budget spots like TownePlace Suites to higher-end brands like J.W. Marriott and Luxury Collection.
Some of the most luxurious locations are all-suite — like the St. Regis Maldives — while others offer all-inclusive experiences, like the Al Maha Resort in the desert outside Dubai. Some of Marriott’s top-tier properties can reach 100,000 points (or even more) per night.
That’s a lot of points to use, but when you consider the fact that room rates can reach $1,500 per night, that would provide a redemption value of nearly double our September 2024 valuation of Marriott points.
However, remember that Marriott uses a dynamic pricing scheme rather than a fixed award chart.
It’s worth noting that you can book awards with Marriott up to 60 days in advance, even when you’re short on points. That said, doing so only confirms the room; it doesn’t lock in the price you’ll pay.
Once you have the points you need to confirm the reservation, you’ll pay the award rate in effect at that time. While this could save you points if the price drops, it could lead to disappointment if you put a hotel on hold and then ultimately need to pay 5,000 or even 10,000 extra points per night.
This may not be a huge deal for a shorter stay, but spread it across a weeklong vacation you’ll see a hefty impact on the final price.
Luckily, Marriott still gives you a free night whenever you book a stay with points for five nights (or more). However, this only works when you use points for at least five of the nights. You won’t be eligible if one of those five nights is covered with a free night certificate.
This perk can be stacked, meaning that if you book a ten-night award stay with Marriott, you’ll receive two free nights, for example.
Transferring points with the Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful
You can transfer Marriott Bonvoy points to just under 40 airline partners, and unlike Hilton and Hyatt points, there’s some solid potential when using Marriott points in this way.
Most partners have a 3-to-1 transfer ratio, so 3,000 Marriott points will typically get you 1,000 airline miles. You’ll also get a 5,000-mile bonus for every 60,000 points transferred to select airlines — improving the transfer rate to 2.4:1.
Some notable partner airlines include AeroMexico Club Premier, Air Canada Aeroplan, Air France-KLM Flying Blue, Avianca LifeMiles and Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles.
Related: When does it make sense to transfer Marriott points to airlines?
Which cards compete with the Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful?
If you want even more benefits or perks with another hotel brand, one of these cards may be a better fit:
For additional options, check out our picks for the best hotel cards.
The information for the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Related: Hilton Amex Aspire vs. Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant
Bottom line
With an annual fee of $250, the Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful card falls squarely between luxury hotel cards and entry-level cards. However, the Bountiful card falls short of offering the perks you’d expect from a mid-tier hotel card. There’s no annual free night (you need to spend $15,000 in a year to earn one), and there are no statement credits for hotel stays or other purchases.
I don’t recommend the Bonvoy Bountiful for most unless you’re a diehard Marriott fan looking for a mid-tier card; if not, you’re better off with another hotel card.
Related: Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful vs. Marriott Bonvoy Boundless
For rates and fees of the Amex Bonvoy Bevy, click here.
