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News
Chase and Amex Limit Bonuses on Marriott and SPG Co-Branded Cards
Richard Kerr is a veteran naval officer and founder of the Award Travel 101 Facebook community. He’s one of the foremost experts in points and miles strategy, featured in Forbes, US News, Money Magazine, Kiplinger Personal Finance and presented at #SXSW 2017. Richard has visited over 45 countries, lived in England and Japan, and spends his spare time dissecting loyalty program award charts to maximize the value of points and miles. Richard holds a BBA in International Business and has his wife and two small children in tow for his travels as often as possible.
July 27, 2018 • 10 min read
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Quick summary
New eligibility rules for welcome bonuses on co-branded hotel cards take effect August 26, following the merger of two major hotel loyalty programs.
These rules introduce complex restrictions based on current or past ownership of related products, timing of account closures, and prior receipt of bonuses.
Eligibility now depends on factors such as holding or having recently closed certain products, as well as receiving previous welcome or upgrade offers within specific time frames.
Applicants will be notified of their eligibility during the application process through an automated tool.
What to consider
Some products are no longer available to new applicants, but existing cardholders may retain benefits.
Eligibility for welcome offers is affected by recent ownership, product closures, and bonus history—timing windows range from 30 days to 24 months.
The offer may no longer be available.
What you'll miss from the article
A detailed breakdown of the new eligibility rules and strategic advice for maximizing welcome offers under the revised program.
Generated by AI with support from our editorial team.
Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.
Currently, American Express-issued cards are subject to a rule that says you can only receive the bonus on them once in a lifetime per product. To make it easier to know if you're eligible, the new Amex welcome bonus qualification tool on the issuer's website will tell you whether you've had the product before and whether or not you're eligible for the bonus.
For Chase, you can generally receive a sign-up bonus if it's been at least 24 months since you last received the bonus for that product or a product in that specific card family. But of course, the more restrictive rule for Chase is whether you can even be approved for the card at all based on your 5/24 standing, and whether or not the card itself is subject to 5/24 for approval.
Welcome Offer Restrictions By Card
With those basic issuer rules in mind, here are the new additional welcome offer restrictions on each card in the Marriott/SPG portfolio.
Starwood Preferred Guest Luxury Card
The new rules on the SPG Luxury card state that...
"You are ineligible for the welcome offer if any of the following are true:
Currently have or have had any of the following Cards in the last 30 days
The Ritz-Carlton Rewards Credit Card from JP Morgan
OR have acquired any of the following Cards from Chase in the last 90 days
The Marriott Rewards Premier Plus Credit Card from Chase
The Marriott Rewards Premier Credit Card from Chase
The Marriott Rewards Premier Business Credit Card from Chase
OR have received a welcome or upgrade offer for any of the following Cards from Chase in the last 24 months
The Marriott Rewards Premier Plus Credit Card from Chase
The Marriott Rewards Premier Credit Card from Chase
The Marriott Rewards Premier Business Credit Card from Chase"
Starwood Preferred Guest Card
On the basic personal SPG Amex card, the new rules state...
"You are ineligible for the welcome offer if any of the following are true:
Currently have or have had any of the following Cards in the last 30 days:
The Marriott Rewards® Premier Credit Card from Chase ($85)
The Marriott Rewards® Premier Plus Credit Card from Chase ($95)
Marriott Rewards Credit Card from Chase ($45)
The Ritz-Carlton Rewards® Credit Card from JP Morgan ($450)"
Starwood Preferred Guest Business Card
And on the SPG business card, you'll find the following rules:
"You are ineligible for the welcome offer if any of the following are true:
Currently have or have had any of the following Cards in the last 30 days
The Marriott Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card from Chase* ($99)
The Marriott Rewards Business Credit Card from Chase ($45)
OR have acquired any of the following Cards from Chase in the last 90 days
The Marriott Rewards® Premier Plus Credit Card from Chase ($95)
The Marriott Rewards® Premier Credit Card from Chase ($85)
OR have received a welcome offer for any of the following Cards from Chase in the last 24 months
The Marriott Rewards® Premier Plus Credit Card from Chase ($95)
The Marriott Rewards® Premier Credit Card from Chase ($85)"
Marriott Rewards Premier Plus Card
For the basic personal Marriott card issued by Chase, the new rules note that...
"You are ineligible for the welcome offer if any of the following are true:
Currently have or have had any of the following Cards in the last 30 days
Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express ($95)
OR have acquired any of the following Cards from American Express in the last 90 days
Starwood Preferred Guest® American Express Luxury Card ($450)
Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Credit Card from American Express ($95)
OR have received a welcome offer or upgrade bonus for any of the following Cards from American Express in the last 24 months
Starwood Preferred Guest® American Express Luxury Card ($450)
Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Credit Card from American Express ($95)"
Marriott Rewards Premier Plus Business Card
And finally, the business version of Chase's Marriott card lists these rules...
"You are ineligible for the welcome offer if any of the following are true:
Currently have or have had any of the following Cards in the last 30 days
Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express ($95)
OR have acquired any of the following Cards from American Express in the last 90 days
Starwood Preferred Guest® American Express Luxury Card ($450)
Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Credit Card from American Express ($95)
OR have received a welcome offer or upgrade bonus for any of the following Cards from American Express in the last 24 months
Starwood Preferred Guest® American Express Luxury Card ($450)
Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Credit Card from American Express ($95)"
Marriott has emphasized to The Points Guy that it will be determining new cardholder welcome bonus eligibility and passing that information to Chase and American Express. In other words, the two banks will not be sharing any personal data with each other and have no formal agreement. A Marriott spokesman confirmed to me that there would be an automated tool for Marriott to communicate between Chase and Amex, and customers will be notified during the application process if they're eligible for a welcome offer.
Application Strategy
(Photo by Image Source/Getty Images)
Given all of these new restrictions, compounded with Amex's once-in-a-lifetime bonus and Chase's 5/24 rule, you have to be pretty strategic on your application plan for the combined programs. Here are my recommendations on how to proceed...
Prioritize the new SPG Luxury Card — While we have no confirmed information on the welcome bonus that will be available on this card, it seems likely to have at least a 100,000-point welcome offer, if not higher. Why? Because the old SPG card and its standard 25,000-point bonus (75,000 new Marriott points) was enough to entice most of us, and this should be higher than that since it's an expensive premium card with many more benefits. It's also a new Amex product, meaning everyone should be eligible to get it under Amex's once-per-lifetime rule. If you're a Ritz-Carlton cardholder, you can quickly become eligible by closing that card, then waiting 30 days. Just remember if you get this card when it becomes available, you'll be ineligible for 24 months to receive a Marriott Premier Plus or Marriott Premier Plus Business Card welcome offer.
Bypass 5/24 with the Marriott Rewards Premier Business Card — If you aren't interested in the SPG Luxury card and its $450 annual fee, the Chase business card — which is currently not subject to 5/24 — could be your play. Most readers should be eligible because they've held the Amex SPG Business card for more than 90 days, and I wouldn't be opposed to closing the SPG personal card after it loses 33% of its earning power on non-bonus spend as of August 1. But if you want to maintain your personal SPG card, you should apply for this card before August 26.
Below 5/24? Still skip Marriott — If you're below 5/24 you may be eligible for the Marriott Rewards Premier Plus personal card, but I don't think you should be tempted. Applying for this card would make you ineligible for the SPG Luxury card for 24 months, and there are other Chase cards subject to 5/24 that, in my opinion, should take one of your slots.
It's tough to play out every single situation you might face, but my eye is set on applying for the SPG Luxury card and then sitting tight for six months. I want to see how the welcome offers increase or decrease and get a sense of pricing and award night availability in the new program. I also have a partial seven-night package and two Tier 1-4 Ritz-Carlton nights in my account from a recent Ritz-Carlton Rewards Card application. The value of those after August 18, I can only guestimate. All of that makes me content to sit and watch the new program at first rather than jumping further into the melee.
Questions Still to Be Answered
While many details have now been filled out, there are obviously still a number of questions to be answered on the merger as a whole. For now, here are our remaining questions in relation to these newly announced welcome bonus restrictions and the SPG/Marriott co-branded cards:
How long will the two brands live separately in the credit card space?
When will the welcome bonus offer amounts be announced?
Will Marriott tell Chase and Amex when you close a card?
Is there a new Marriott luxury card planned?
Bottom Line
Quite frankly, some of these new rules are absurd and illogical. It doesn’t really make any sense that a small business owner could open a Marriott business card, and then later if he or she notices the new SPG Luxury card and its higher points offerings and benefits, he or she will still have to wait a full 24 months before being eligible for the welcome offer on that SPG card. Those are two completely different brands, different issuers, different types of card (personal versus business) and different card levels (mid-tier versus high-tier). There’s absolutely no reason getting one should affect your ability to get the other.
The rules themselves are a dense mass and almost impossible to follow, so they're likely to impact not just those who apply for a fair amount of new cards, but also a large number of Average Joes. Whether the new restrictions have enough of an impact on the bottom line of these issuers to require future revisions remains to be seen, but in the meantime, stay ahead of the complexity, do your homework and you can come out another 75,000-125,000 Marriott points ahead.
Comments
By commenting, you agree to our Community Guidelines to help create a positive space for conversation. The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser, our partners, or The Points Guy (“TPG”). They have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any of these parties. All responses are submitted by individual contributors, and neither the bank advertiser, our partners, nor TPG are responsible for ensuring that all posts and/or questions are answered.
