Marriott Business vs. Marriott Boundless

With five total cards to choose from that earn Marriott Bonvoy points, it can be hard to pick one! The Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card and the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card have similar offers and similar annual fees. Here’s a breakdown of pros and cons and why you might choose one over the other.

Quick Hits

Choose the Marriott Boundless card if:

• You want a path to upgrade to The Ritz-Carlton^™ Credit Card
• You aren’t as concerned about adding to your 5/24 status
• You are under 5/24
• You aren’t ready to open business cards
• You don’t currently have the $95 Bonvoy card from American Express and haven’t gotten another American Express Bonvoy card in the past 24 months

Choose the Marriott Bonvoy Business card if:

• You want to stay under 5/24
• You don’t mind a slightly larger minimum spend requirement
• You don’t currently have any Bonvoy Business cards from Chase and haven’t gotten another Bonvoy personal card from Chase in the past 24 months

Overview of Both Cards

Eligibility Requirements

Marriott cards have some of the most complicated eligibility requirements of any cards. That’s because they are issued by both Chase and American Express.

For a quick history lesson — Chase used to issue all the Marriott credit cards and American Express used to issue all the Starwood Preferred Guest credit cards. In 2016, Marriott and SPG merged and the banks had to come up with some agreement about who issued these different cards. New card products were introduced and eligibility requirements were made more complicated.

Business Card Eligibility

Official terms state

Welcome offer not available to applicants who (i) have or have had the Marriott Bonvoy^® Premier Plus Business Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Rewards^® Premier Plus Business Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Bonvoy Business^® Credit Card from Chase, or the Marriott Rewards^® Business Credit Card from Chase in the last 30 days, (ii) have acquired the Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful^™ Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless^® Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Bonvoy Bold^® Credit Card from Chase, in the last 90 days, or (iii) received a new Card Member bonus offer in the last 24 months on the Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful^™ Credit Card from Chase, Marriott Bonvoy Boundless^® Credit Card from Chase, or the Marriott Bonvoy Bold^® Credit Card from Chase.

Translation: If you have any of the Marriott business cards issued by Chase (or have had them in the past 30 days), you can’t get this welcome offer. These cards are no longer available for new sign ups so if you have one, you’ve had it for a while. If you have gotten a new card member bonus on any of the Marriott cards from Chase in the past 24 months, you can’t get this offer. If you have opened any Marriott card from Chase in the past 90 days, you can’t get this offer.

Boundless Card Eligibility

Official terms state:

The new cardmember bonus is not available to you if (1) you currently have or had any of the following cards within the last 30 days: Marriott Bonvoy^® American Express^® Card, The Starwood Preferred Guest^® Credit Card from American Express; or if (2) you applied and were approved for any of the following cards within the last 90 days or (3) received a new cardmember bonus or upgrade bonus for any of the following cards within the last 24 months: Marriott Bonvoy Business^® American Express^® Card, Starwood Preferred Guest^® Business Credit Card from American Express, Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant^® American Express^® Card, Starwood Preferred Guest^® American Express Luxury Card, Marriott Bonvoy Bevy™ American Express^® Card.

Translation: If you have one of the old Marriott cards issued by American Express (it has a $95 annual fee) — or have had one in the past 30 days you aren’t eligible. If you have gotten a new cardmember OR upgrade bonus in the past 24 months on any of the American Express Marriott cards, you aren’t eligible. You are also not eligible if you have opened a new Marriott card from American Express in the past 90 days.

Notable: if you hold one of the currently available Marriott cards from American Express and it has been more than 24 months since you received a welcome offer or upgrade offer, you are eligible.

Amex Pop Up and Chase 5/24 Eligibility

Beyond these card eligibility terms, you may not be eligible for one or other other cards due to either the Amex Pop Up or Chase 5/24 rule.

For the Business card – Pop-Up

If American Express decides it doesn’t want to give you a bonus, it will give you a pop up window as you are applying that states this — and before you submit your application. This may be because you’ve gotten a bonus on this card in the past 7 years, or for any other number of reasons. The pop-up does not sense (from my knowledge) the additional guidelines related to Chase cards — those you have to check on your own.

For the Boundless card – 5/24

I have a full guide on the Chase 5/24 rule that you can read here. Essentially it means that if you have five or more new cards reporting to your credit report from any issuer in the past 24 months, you will very likely be denied for this card.

Card Benefits Compared

Annual Fees Compared

The annual fees for these cards are very similar within $30 of each other. The Boundless card has a lower annual fee.

It’s easiest to compare the other benefits with a table to show the differences side by side. Overall, I think the Business card has better benefits.

Both cards will give you a Free Night Award each year after your account anniversary or card renewal. These certificates can be used at a hotel up to 35,000 points. They can also be “topped off” with up to 15,000 more points to redeem for a hotel that costs up to 50,000 points. You cannot use them for a hotel that costs 51,000 points or more.

The Business card gives a higher automatic status with Gold status. But the fact is that even Gold status with Marriott isn’t particularly valuable for the average traveler. You are eligible for room upgrades but these aren’t guaranteed. Our experience matches the experience of many travelers that say if you are going to Asia or Europe, this can make a bigger difference as you will be more likely to get more upgrades. With Gold status, we were upgraded in Malaysia to a room with Club Lounge access and in London from a studio suite to a 2 bedroom suite. But in the US, we are rarely upgraded.

Both cards give you 15 Elite Night Credits if you are chasing Marriott status.

The Boundless card will allow you to continue to earn elite night credits towards higher status (1 night per $5000 spent).

The Business card will give you a 7% discount on eligible bookings made directly with Marriott.

Earning Rates

On first glance, the earning rates for these cards appear very different.

Chase advertises the Boundless card as “Earn up to 17X total points per $1 spent at thousands of hotels participating in Marriott Bonvoy® with the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Card.”

American Express says “6x Marriott Bonvoy points on each dollar of eligible purchases at hotels participating in the Marriott Bonvoy® program.”

In fact, these earning rates are the same — Chase is just adding the points that you earn directly with Marriott for hotel stays. In fact you’ll earn a total of 18.5x with the Business card since you’ll get a few more points from having Gold status.

They have some other earning rates that are different but for most people getting into travel points, I don’t recommend either car for your primary card for gas stations or groceries so I’m not going to go into it.

Path to Ritz Card: Boundless Perk

One of the great opportunities that opens to you if you open a Boundless card and hold it for a full year is the option to upgrade to the Ritz card. This card is no longer available to new applicants. The only want to get it is to hold an existing Chase Marriott card for a year and then call to upgrade.

You’ll pay an increased annual fee — it will be $450.

But you’ll add the following perks and more:

• A Free Night award worth up to 85,000 points each year on cardmember anniversary
• $300 annual travel credit to use for airline incidentals like baggage fees, seat upgrades, airport lounge memberships, and more.
• Priority Pass membership for yourself and all authorized users of the card. This membership gives you full Priority Pass access — including all lounges, experiences, and restaurants. Guests are unlimited (though may be limited by the lounge itself) and authorized users are free to add.
• Access to the Chase Sapphire Lounges for yourself and two guests (same for authorized users) — this is a very valuable perk if you live or travel to JFK or LGA which have new Sapphire Lounges.

In addition — if you upgrade to the Ritz card and wait 24 months since you earned the Boundless bonus, you’ll be able to apply for the Business Marriott card.

Pros of the Business Card

Since this card is a business card, it won’t show up on your credit report as an account and therefore won’t add to your 5/24 count.

This can be a huge asset if you have a specific strategy you’re working on like opening cards for a Southwest Companion Pass or focusing on earning Chase Ultimate Rewards® and don’t want to lose a 5/24 slot.

Sometimes, if you’re already an American Express customer, you won’t even see a hard pull on your credit report if you apply for an American Express business card.

With current eligibility requirements, you will be eligible to open the Boundless card once 24 months have passed since you earned a welcome offer on this card.

Are the 50k certificates good?

When these cards offer Free Night certificates there is a lot of potential value! If you earn five of these Free Night Certificates, you have a lot of great options for a 5 night long vacation.

But! Keep in mind that these certificates expires one year after they are issued so you should have a tentative plan for how you will use them before applying.

Need some ideas? Check out my family friendly Marriotts post here. You can top these off with up to 15,000 points per night to get to a hotel that costs up to 65,000 points per night.

Marriott hotels use dynamic pricing so it can vary day to day and season to season. It can even go up and down in price after you book.