New Chase Marriott Rewards Premier Visa Offer - 40,000 Points and $100 Statement Credit

Sept. 25, 2013

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4 min read

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Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here – Marriott Rewards Premier Credit Card

Offer expired: October 16, 2013

Chase released a new sign-up bonus on its Marriott Rewards Premier Visa today. The bonus used to be 50,000 points when you spent $1,000 within 3 months, but now the bonus is 40,000 points when you spend $1,000 in 3 months plus a $100 statement credit after your first purchase.

The rest of the terms of the card are the same:

5 points for every $1 spent at over 3,600 Marriott^® locations
2 points for every $1 spent on airline tickets purchased directly with the airline, and at car rental agencies & restaurants
1 point for every $1 spent on purchases anywhere else
Unlimited Point Accumulation
Achieve Elite Status FASTER with Annual Credit and Everyday Purchases
15 Credits toward your next Elite membership level every year after account anniversary
Earn 1 Elite Credit for every $3,000 spent
No foreign transaction fees
SmartChip technology
$85 annual fee waived the first year

So the big question is, which offer is better? An extra 10,000 points or the $100 statement credit?

In general, I know a lot of people are drawn to the bigger numbers in a sign-up bonus, but what it comes down to is how much you value Marriott points. Personally, I don't often see a way to get more than 1 cent per point in value out of Marriott points. For example, let's say you wanted to book a stay at the JW Marriott at LA Live in October.

Rooms are going for $319 per night or 35,000 points - breaking down to a value of 0.91 cents per point.

To take another example, let's say you wanted to use your points towards a beach vacation and wanted to book a room at one of the properties in Maui. The Marriott at Wailea is going for $229 a night or 40,000 points in October - just 0.57 cents per point!

The Ritz-Carlton Kapalua is $299 per night or 50,000 points, about 0.6 cents per point. So in terms of comparing the bonuses, those extra 10,000 points would only be getting you $60 in value instead of the $100 statement credit.

However, there are definitely some times that Marriott points can be worth more than 1 cent apiece, so deciding between the extra points and the statement credit really depends on how you plan to use them.

To take a quick example, the UN is in session this week in New York and the city is absolutely packed with foreign diplomats - hotel prices are through the roof. So let's say you needed to book a last-minute room in Manhattan tonight, a room at the Fairfield Inn & Suites in Chelsea is going for a jaw-dropping $799, but you could also book it for just 35,000 points.

That's a value of 2.3 cents per point - so your extra 10,000 points would be worth $230 instead of just $100. That's an extreme example, but if you were in a pinch and rates were high like this, your points could really help you out.

Or if you were planning to visit a property that is typically expensive all year round, like the Marriott Champs-Elysees in Paris, your points would also be worth over a cent apiece. For example, rooms in October are going for 45,000 points or 579 EUR ($780).

Giving you a value of 1.73 cents per point.

As with all things points-related, the value of your points depends on what you plan to use them for. If you have some super-expensive redemptions in mind, it might be worth it to you to go for the offer with 50,000 points instead of the one with 40,000 points and $100 statement credit, but if you find that your typical Marriott redemptions are yielding less than one cent per point in value, the $100 statement credit offer might be the one to consider.