I’m hoping someone can answer a question for me. I tried to research but couldn’t find the answer. My Marriott Premier Plus card AF will post next month. DH’s Amex Spg AF just hit. Now that they are Bonvoy should we close one? keep them both? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Both cards have a $95 AF and will get you an anniversary gift of a Free Night certificate redeemable for award nights at Marriott properties up to 35k Marriott points/night. Do you think you can find a hotel to redeem those 35k FN certs at in the next year where the room rate is >$95? If so, you’re paying only the $95 AF for a room that might cost $200+, and that’s a good deal.
Currently, 35k/night is good for a stay at up to a Category 5 property. With peak pricing set to take effect later this year, Cat 5 properties will move up to 40k/night during peak times (and stay at 35k standard, and go down to 30k during non-peak). When this happens, that may affect when and where you can use these certs.
The 35k FN cert from the Chase card should deposit promptly on or around the card anniversary and give you enough time to cancel the card for a refund of the AF and still keep the FN cert. If you want a 35k FN cert to keep coming every year, then don’t cancel. Alternatively, if you want to upgrade the Marriott Premier Plus/Bonvoy Boundless to the Ritz-Carlton card, that’s an option too.
However, the 35k FN cert from the Amex card won’t deposit for about 6-8 weeks after your AF posts. Amex gives you 30 days from when the AF posts to cancel your card for a full refund. But if you cancel within those 30 days, you won’t get the 35k FN cert. So really, you need to ask yourself if the $95 AF is worth a 35k FN cert. A few more things to consider: the Amex SPG card has been discontinued, so you can’t sign up for that card anymore. Amex has a 5 Amex credit card limit, so keeping the SPG card fills up one of those slots. Alternatively, if you don’t yet have the SPG Lux/Bonvoy Brilliant, you might be targeted in the next year with an upgrade offer to upgrade your SPG card to the Brilliant, giving you an opportunity to earn more Marriott points without the need to open a new personal card and using a 5/24 slot (but an upgrade to the Lux/Brilliant will make you ineligible for the SUB on that same card product if you wanted to sign up for it separately later on). If you want even more Marriott points and don’t mind using a 5/24 personal slot, and you find yourself targeted for an upgrade offer on the SPG, you could sign up for the SPG Lux/Bonvoy Brilliant on its own first to get the SUB, then immediately accept the upgrade offer on the SPG to upgrade to the Lux/Brilliant for the upgrade bonus. This would mean taking on two $5k MSRs at the same time, but it’s a rare opportunity to double up on Marriott bonuses.
Hope this helps!
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