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Marriott’s new cardmember welcome bonus rules explained

If you’re looking for a new cardmember welcome bonus on a Marriott credit card, you may have noticed that every new Marriott card comes with a long list of cases where you may not be eligible for the bonus. In this post, I’ve tried to make the rules behind the Chase and Amex new cardmember welcome bonuses on Marriott cards understandable.

If you’re thinking about applying for a new Marriott credit card, this post can serve as a quick reference to help you determine whether you are eligible for a new cardmember bonus.

Rules for Chase-issued Marriott credit card welcome bonuses

Generally Chase doesn’t want you to earn a welcome bonus on any Marriott card more than once every 24 months and the bank doesn’t want to give you a new cardmember bonus if you also hold a similar Amex-branded Marriott card. Here are the welcome bonus eligibility rules for the current Marriott cards.

Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit CardMarriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit CardMarriott Bonvoy Bountiful™ Credit Card
Cards you’re considering for welcome bonus:Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card card artMarriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card card artMarriott Bonvoy Bountiful™ Credit Card card art
You may not receive a new cardmember welcome bonus for the card in the column if you…
Currently have these cards.
or
Have received a new cardmember welcome bonus within 24 months.
Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card (this card)

Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® credit card

Any variant of the Premier or Premier Plus cards (all discontinued)
Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card (this card)

Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card

Any variant of the Premier or Premier Plus cards (all discontinued)
Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful™ Credit Card (this card)
Currently have these cards.
or
Have had these cards in the past 30 days.
Marriott Bonvoy® American Express® Card

The Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express
Marriott Bonvoy® American Express® Card

The Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express
Any Amex Marriott Bonvoy® or Starwood Preferred Guest® credit card. (Current or discontinued.)
Applied and were approved within the last 90 days
or
Received a new cardmember bonus or upgrade bonus within the past 24 months
Any current Amex Marriott card

Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Credit Card from American Express

Starwood Preferred Guest® American Express Luxury Card
Any current Amex Marriott card

Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Credit Card from American Express

Starwood Preferred Guest® American Express Luxury Card
Any Amex Marriott Bonvoy® or Starwood Preferred Guest® credit card. (Current or discontinued.)
New cardmember bonus rules on Chase-issued Marriott credit cards

Rules for Amex-issued Marriott credit card welcome bonuses

Here are the rules for the American Express-issued Marriott card welcome bonuses. Generally, you cannot receive a welcome bonus on a card that you’ve held before. Amex also won’t give you a bonus if you’ve gotten any Marriott Chase card within the past 90 days or received a new cardmember bonus from Chase within the past 24 months.

Amex also states that you may not be eligible for a bonus due to “other factors.” Fortunately, Amex will tell you during the application process if you’re ineligible for a bonus.

Marriott Bonvoy Bevy™ American Express® CardMarriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® CardMarriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card
Cards you’re considering for welcome bonus:Marriott Bonvoy Bevy™ American Express® Card card artMarriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card card artMarriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card card art
You may not receive a new cardmember welcome bonus for the card in the column if you…
Have ever had these cards or previous versions of these cards.Marriott Bonvoy Bevy™ American Express® Card (this card)

Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card
Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card (this card)

Starwood Preferred Guest® American Express Luxury Card
Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card (this card)

Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Credit Card from American Express
Currently have these cards.
or
Have had these cards in the past 30 days.
Any Ritz-Carlton card.

Any current or discontinued Chase Marriott card. (Includes both personal and business.)
Any Ritz-Carlton card.Any Chase Marriott business card.
Have acquired any of these cards in the past 90 days.Any current Chase Marriott card.Any current Chase Marriott card.Any current Chase Marriott card.
Have received a new cardmember bonus or upgrade offer in the last 24 months.Any current Chase Marriott card.Any current Chase Marriott card.Any current Chase Marriott card.
New cardmember bonus rules on Chase-issued Marriott credit cards

List of all current and previous Marriott-related cards

This list includes all of the Marriott, Starwood, and Ritz Carlton-branded credit cards that we know about or that are mentioned in the welcome bonus terms and conditions of the current Marriott cards. Rather than listing out each card in the tables above, we sometimes refer to “discontinued cards” or cards with certain branding. This table can help you decipher the application rules.

Personal CardsBusiness Cards
Current Amex Marriott cardsMarriott Bonvoy Bevy™ American Express® Card
Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card
Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card
Current Chase Marriott cardsMarriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card
Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card
Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful™ Credit Card
Discontinued J.P. Morgan Ritz-Carlton cardsThe Ritz-Carlton® Credit Card from J.P. Morgan
J.P. Morgan Ritz-Carlton Rewards® Credit Card
Discontinued Amex Marriott cardsMarriott Bonvoy® American Express® Card
Discontinued Chase Marriott cardsBonvoy-branded cards:
Marriott Bonvoy® Credit Card
Marriott Bonvoy® Premier credit card

Pre-Bonvoy cards:
Marriott Rewards® Credit Card from Chase
Marriott Rewards® Premier Credit Card
Marriott Rewards® Premier Plus Credit Card
Bonvoy-branded cards:
Marriott Bonvoy Business® Credit Card
Marriott Bonvoy® Premier Plus Business Credit Card

Pre-Bonvoy cards:
Marriott Rewards Business® Credit Card from Chase
Marriott Rewards® Premier Plus Business Credit Card from Chase
Discontinued Amex Starwood Preferred Guest® cardsThe Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express
Starwood Preferred Guest® American Express Luxury Card
Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Credit Card from American Express
List of all known current and discontinued Marriott, Starwood Preferred Guest® and Ritz Carlton® credit cards.

About the author

  • Aaron Hurd

    Aaron Hurd is a credit card, travel rewards, and loyalty program expert. Over the past 15 years, he has authored over a thousand expert contributions published by leading outlets including WSJ, TIME, Newsweek, Forbes, NerdWallet, The Points Guy, Bankrate, CNET, and many others. He has also served in consulting roles for many of these same outlets, designing content strategy, hiring teams of teams of editors and contributors, developing thought-leadership pieces, and ghost-editing for senior editors. Aaron is well-known in the miles and points community and regularly presents about travel rewards at conferences like the Chicago Seminars and Minnebar. Aaron has enjoyed the game of optimizing credit card rewards since getting his first credit card shortly after he turned 18. He started learning about credit cards and travel rewards from the (now defunct) FatWallet Finance forums and FlyerTalk. He holds more than 40 open credit cards and has first-hand experience with almost every major credit card product.

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