BEST CREDIT CARDSBEST CREDIT CARDSMARRIOTT BONVOY BOLD REVIEW: HOTEL PERKS FOR NO ANNUAL FEE

Marriott Bonvoy Bold Review: Hotel Perks for No Annual Fee

It's a $0-annual-fee card that still earns a large sign-up bonus and elevated rewards for spending at Marriott Bonvoy hotels. You'll get automatic Silver Elite status, too — but no free anniversary night.
Sara Rathner Author Avatar
Mar 21, 2024 4:09 p.m. PDT
Edited by
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This page includes information about the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card, currently unavailable on NerdWallet. The information about the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card has been collected by NerdWallet and has not been provided or reviewed by the card issuer.

2.8

NerdWallet rating
The bottom line:

This card is a catch for those seeking valuable Bonvoy perks — including automatic elite status — for an annual fee of $0.

Pros
  • No annual fee
  • Automatic elite status
Cons
  • No free anniversary night
  • Rewards have limited flexibility
Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card Image
Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card
Annual Fee

$0

Regular APR

21.49%-28.49% Variable APR

Intro APR

N/A

Rec. credit score

Apply Now
on Chase's website
on Chase's website

Annual Fee

$0

Regular APR

21.49%-28.49% Variable APR

Apply Now
on Chase's website
on Chase's website
  • Annual fee

    $0

  • Rewards rate

    1x-14x

  • Bonus offer

    Earn 30,000 Bonus Points after spending $1,000 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening with the Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card.

  • Intro APR

    N/A

  • Ongoing APR

    APR: 21.49%-28.49% Variable APR

    Cash Advance APR: 29.99%, Variable

    Penalty APR: Up to 29.99%

  • Balance transfer fee

    Either $5 or 5% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater.

  • Foreign transaction fee

    $0

More details from Chase
  • Earn 30,000 Bonus Points after you spend $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
  • Pay no annual fee with the Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card from Chase®!
  • Earn up to 14X total points per $1 spent at thousands of hotels participating in Marriott Bonvoy® with the Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Card.
  • 1X point for every $1 spent on all other purchases.
  • Your points don't expire as long as you make purchases on your card every 24 months.
  • No Foreign Transaction Fees.
  • Member FDIC

Compare to Other Cards

ANNUAL FEE
$0
REGULAR APR
21.49%-28.49% Variable APR
INTRO APR
N/A
RECOMMENDED CREDIT SCORE
ANNUAL FEE
$95
REGULAR APR
21.49%-28.49% Variable APR
INTRO APR
N/A
RECOMMENDED CREDIT SCORE
ANNUAL FEE
$125
REGULAR APR
20.99%-29.99% Variable APR
Rates & Fees
INTRO APR
N/A
RECOMMENDED CREDIT SCORE
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Detailed review: Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card

For budget-conscious travelers seeking a hotel card with an annual fee of $0, the Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card is a strong option. It comes with attractive perks, including a sign-up bonus, solid ongoing rewards and automatic elite status. It lacks a free anniversary night — to get such a benefit, you'd have to go with the annual-fee version instead — but the card can still prove valuable, even for those who don't stay at Marriott properties frequently.

Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card: Basics

Card type: Hotel.

Annual fee: $0.

Sign-up bonus: Earn 30,000 Bonus Points after spending $1,000 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening with the Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card.

Ongoing rewards:

  • 3 points per dollar spent at participating Marriott Bonvoy hotels.

  • 2 points per dollar spent on other travel purchases (such as airfare, taxis and trains).

  • 1 point per dollar spent on all other eligible purchases.

Rewards earned by using the credit card are in addition to points you earn as a member of the Marriott Bonvoy program.

NerdWallet values Marriott points at 0.8 cent each. This is a baseline value, drawn from real-world data, not a maximized value. In other words, you should aim for award redemptions that offer 0.8 cent or more in value from your Marriott points.

Redemption options:

  • At Marriott Bonvoy hotels.

  • For flights or car rentals.

  • For travel by transferring points to multiple airline partners, usually at a 3:1 ratio (for every 3 Bonvoy points, you'll get 1 airline mile).

APR: The ongoing APR is 21.49%-28.49% Variable APR.

Foreign transaction fees: None.

Other benefits:

How the Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card fits into the Bonvoy family

There are five cards in the Marriott Bonvoy universe. Among them, only the Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card has a $0 annual fee. As a result, it also offers fewer perks than the others. Most notably: You don't get a free anniversary night every year, and you earn points at lower rates. For more analysis, read NerdWallet's comparison of these cards. Here’s how they stack up.

Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card (from Chase, $0 annual fee)

  • Up to 14 Bonvoy points per $1 spent at over 7,000 participating Marriott Bonvoy hotels.

  • 2 Bonvoy points for every $1 spent on other travel purchases (from airfare to taxis and trains).

  • 1 point for every $1 spent on all other purchases.

  • Receive 15 Elite Night Credits annually, qualifying you for Silver Elite Status. Restrictions apply.

Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card (from Chase, $95 annual fee)

  • Up to 17 Bonvoy points per $1 spent at over 7,000 participating Marriott Bonvoy hotels.

  • 3 points per $1 on the first $6,000 spent in combined purchases each year on grocery stores, gas stations and dining.

  • 2 points for every $1 spent on all other purchases.

  • An additional Free Night Award (valued up to 35,000 points) every year after account anniversary.

  • Automatic Silver Elite Status each account anniversary year. Path to Gold Status when you spend $35,000 on purchases each account year.

  • 15 Elite Night Credits each calendar year. 1 elite night credit toward elite status for every $5,000 you spend.

  • 6X points per $1 spent on participating Marriott Bonvoy hotels.

  • 4X points per $1 spent on up to $15,000 in combined purchases per year at restaurants worldwide and at U.S. supermarkets.

  • 2X points per $1 spent on all other eligible purchases.

  • 1,000 Marriott Bonvoy bonus points with each qualifying stay. Complimentary Gold Elite status.

  • A Free Night Award after making $15,000 in purchases per year for any hotel worth 50,000 points or less.

  • 15 Elite Night Credits each calendar year.

  • Terms apply.

Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful™ Card (from Chase, $250 annual fee)

  • 6 points per $1 spent on participating Marriott Bonvoy hotels.

  • 4 points per $1 spent on up to $15,000 in combined purchases per year at restaurants worldwide and at U.S. supermarkets.

  • 2 points per $1 spent on all other eligible purchases.

  • 1,000 Marriott Bonvoy bonus points with each qualifying stay. Complimentary Gold Elite status.

  • A Free Night Award after making $15,000 in purchases per year for any hotel worth 50,000 points or less.

  • 15 Elite Night Credits each calendar year.

  • 6X points per $1 spent at participating Marriott Bonvoy hotels.

  • 3X points per $1 spent at U.S. restaurants and on flights booked directly with airlines.

  • 2X points per $1 spent on all other eligible purchases.

  • One Free Night Award each year after card renewal for any stay at a redemption level of 85,000 points or less.

  • Automatic Platinum Elite status.

  • $300 statement credit for restaurant purchases (up to $25 per month).

  • Priority Pass Select membership (enrollment required).

  • Application fee credit for TSA PreCheck or Global Entry.

  • 25 Elite Night Credits each calendar year.

  • Terms apply.

Benefits and perks

Flexible, fee-free rewards

Annual fees are like subscriptions you forgot you still had — they sneak on to your credit card statement so rarely that it doesn't really feel like you're spending money. But a wallet full of rewards cards can get expensive. The $0-annual-fee Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card still earns a generous sign-up bonus that you can redeem in a variety of ways. Trade in points for hotel stays, purchases during a hotel stay, travel packages and cruises, and gift cards and merchandise.

The value you get per point will vary depending on which redemption option you choose, and generally points are worth the most when redeemed for hotel stays. Still, it's nice to have options.

Automatic elite status

This card gives you Silver Elite status, which gets you late checkout (based on availability), compensation if the hotel can't honor your reservation, free Wi-Fi, a dedicated elite reservation line and a 10% point bonus on eligible hotel purchases.

Ordinarily, to earn Silver Elite Status, you'd have to spend at least 10 nights a year at Bonvoy properties. But this card automatically gives you 15 nights' worth of credit every year, which not only makes you Silver Elite but also gives you a head start on the 25 nights you need for Gold Elite status.

The 10% bonus that comes with Silver Elite status applies to the base points earned during a stay, not on bonus points earned through your credit card. For example, say you charged a $300 Marriott hotel stay to your card and got 900 bonus points from your card and 3,000 base points from Marriott. The 10% bonus for Silver Elite status would apply to the base points earned, so you'd get an additional 300 bonus points from Marriott. In all, you'd earn 4,200 points from this purchase.

Drawbacks and considerations

Limited bonus categories

Don't want to mess with bonus categories? Instead of the Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card, a flat-rate rewards card could be a better fit.

The Discover it® Miles, which also has an annual fee of $0, could be a good option. It earns 1.5 miles per dollar spent on all purchases. Miles can be redeemed toward a broad range of travel purchases, including stays at any hotel, at 1 cent apiece. There's also a nice bonus offer.

Locked into the Bonvoy system

If you don't stay exclusively at Marriott Bonvoy hotels, you might not get as much value out of the Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card as you would with a general travel card with versatile rewards.

Consider the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, which earns bonus rewards in a variety of popular spending categories, including dining and travel. You can use points to book travel through the Chase Ultimate Rewards® portal, or transfer points to airline and hotel partners (which includes Marriott Bonvoy) at a 1:1 value. It offers this generous sign-up bonus: Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $750 toward travel when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards®. The annual fee is $95.

Alternate Pick: Even More Rewards
Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card
Larger sign-up bonus, earning rate

Earn 6 Bonvoy points per dollar spent at participating Marriott Bonvoy hotels and 2 points per dollar spent on all other purchases. A free night award every year after your account anniversary helps offset the $95 annual fee.

How to decide if it's right for you

With its generous bonus and benefits, the Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card doesn't feel like "Bonvoy-lite." But for some, a more robust version of this card is the better bet, even with an annual fee. However, if you'd like the option to stay at a variety of hotels, opt for a more flexible card from our list of best credit cards to get.

All information about the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card has been collected independently by NerdWallet.

To view rates and fees of the Marriott Bonvoy Bevy™ American Express® Card, see this page.

Information related to the Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful™ Card has been collected by NerdWallet and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of this card.

Methodology

NerdWallet reviews credit cards with an eye toward both the quantitative and qualitative features of a card. Quantitative features are those that boil down to dollars and cents, such as fees, interest rates, rewards (including earning rates and redemption values) and the cash value of benefits and perks. Qualitative factors are those that affect how easy or difficult it is for a typical cardholder to get good value from the card. They include such things as the ease of application, simplicity of the rewards structure, the likelihood of using certain features, and whether a card is well-suited to everyday use or is best reserved for specific purchases. Our star ratings serve as a general gauge of how each card compares with others in its class, but star ratings are intended to be just one consideration when a consumer is choosing a credit card. Learn how NerdWallet rates credit cards.

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