Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful™ Credit Card review: Mid-tier Marriott perks for regular guests
Perfect pick if you prefer Marriott when traveling.
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Snapshot
4.3
Bottom line
This card’s complimentary Gold Elite status, valuable Free Night Award and new Stay Points make it an excellent middle-ground Marriott rewards card. However, it may not be worth the annual fee for many cardholders due to its limited and more restrictive perks.
Intro offer
85,000 Bonus Points
Rewards rate
2x - 10x
Annual fee
$250
Regular APR
20.99% – 27.99% variable APR
4.3
Cardholder rating
Extra perks
Online tools
Rewards value
Customer service
4.3
Bankrate score
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Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful™ Credit Card overview
The Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful™ Credit Card is a mid-tier offering that fills the gap between the base premium Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card and the luxury-level Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card. It’s similar to its twin, the Marriott Bonvoy Bevy™ American Express® Card, except for their different credit card issuers and welcome offers. It sets itself apart from other Marriott credit cards with its mid-tier Marriott rewards rate, automatic Gold Elite status and Free Night Award value.
The card works well if you stay with the brand’s hotels often enough to graduate from the $95-annual-fee Boundless card but can’t justify forking up $650 every year for the high-end Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant. In fact, the Bonvoy Bountiful and Bevy cards’ exclusive new Marriott Bonvoy® Stay Points make them more rewarding options than the Brilliant card if you usually stay at cost-effective Marriott hotels one night at a time. However, the Bountiful card follows Marriott card tradition by carrying fewer features than many competing hotel rewards cards in the same price range, so you’ll want to compare options if additional perks are important to you.
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Rewards
- 6X points for eligible purchases at Marriott Bonvoy properties (up to 18.5X points through the Bonvoy loyalty program with Gold Elite status)
- 4X points on grocery store and dining purchases (up to $15,000 in combined purchases each year, then 2X points)
- 2X points on all other purchases
Expert Appraisal: Good
See our expert analysis -
Welcome offer
- 85,000 points after $4,000 in purchases within the first three months
Expert Appraisal: Unimpressive
See our expert analysis -
Rates and fees
- $250 annual fee
- No foreign transaction fees
- No intro APR for purchases or balance transfers
- 20.99% – 27.99% variable APR
Expert Appraisal: Typical
See our expert analysis -
Other cardholder perks
- Free Night Award
- Chase Pay Over TimeSM
- Automatic Gold Elite status
- One-year complimentary DashPass
- Chase benefits and travel protections
Expert Appraisal: Unimpressive
See our expert analysis
Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful pros and cons
Pros
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The card’s automatic Gold Elite status boosts your rewards up to 18.5X points on Marriott purchases.
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Its Free Night Award is worth up to 50,000 points, which can more than make up for the annual fee.
Cons
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The Free Night Award requires spending $15,000 in combined purchases each year, which may be challenging for typical spenders. Other Marriott cards award it automatically after your account anniversary.
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It doesn’t offer many perks in exchange for the card’s $250 annual fee.
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Despite the card’s high rewards rates, Marriott Bonvoy points offer a low value on average compared to other travel cards.
Why you might want the Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful
The Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful offers a great rewards structure if you book with Marriott properties frequently when traveling.
Rewards: Boosted rewards on Marriott purchases
The Bonvoy Bountiful earns 6X points on purchases at Marriott Bonvoy hotels, plus 4X points on the first $15,000 you spend between grocery stores and dining each year. Grocery store and dining purchases will earn 2X points beyond that annual cap — the same rate all other non-Marriott purchases earn.
The Bonvoy Bountiful’s 6X points on Marriott purchases may seem like the same rate the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless credit card provides, but your automatic Gold Elite status boosts your Marriott rewards up to 18.5X points. All Bonvoy loyalty program members earn 10X points on Marriott purchases, but Gold Elite status boosts that by 25 percent to an extra 12.5X points. Meanwhile, the Bonvoy Boundless’ automatic Silver Elite status only increases its Marriott purchase rewards rate to 17X points.
You can rack up even more rewards with Marriott Bonvoy Stay Points — a perk exclusive to the new Amex Marriott Bonvoy Bevy and Chase Bonvoy Bountiful cards. Each Marriott stay will earn you 1,000 bonus points, which is worth $7 based on our average value of 0.7 cents per point. You won’t rake in a ton of rewards with this feature, but it could make the Bountiful card a more rewarding option than the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant for low-cost, one-night stays. For example, Marriott hotels’ average daily rate is $203, which would earn almost 4,756 points with the Bonvoy Bountiful card and 4,263 points with the Bonvoy Brilliant.
Bankrate’s take: Although Marriott Bonvoy points aren’t the most valuable rewards on the market, the Bountiful card’s high reward rates help make up for this drawback. Co-branded hotel cards typically offer inflated rewards with high rates and low values, but the Bonvoy Bountiful lives up to its name by offering competitive grocery and dining rewards value, Gold Elite status and new Marriott Bonvoy Stay Points.
Marriott Rewards partners
Your Bonvoy Bountiful can also earn additional rewards if you don’t mind linking your card to select dining, airline and rideshare accounts ahead of time.
- Additional 6X points on dining through Eat Around Town by Marriott Bonvoy
- Additional 6X points on Uber Eats deliveries to your Marriott hotel (additional 2X points on all other Uber Eats orders)
- Additional 3X points on all Uber rides
- Additional 3X points on Emirates Airlines flights through the Your World Rewards program (plus any Emirates Skyward Miles you’d earn)
- Converting United Airlines’ MileagePlus miles to Marriott Bonvoy points at a 1:1 ratio
Annual fee: Sizable, but can be easily offset
The Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful serves a premium rewards card sweet spot: a mid-tier rewards experience for Marriott loyalists who want a step up from the $95-annual-fee premium card but can’t justify an elite-level rewards card’s $500+ annual fee. The Bountiful card’s $250 annual fee is one of the card’s sticking points, but you should be able to offset the cost through perks and the Free Night Award if you’re a frequent Marriott guest, especially if it’s at a higher-end Marriott.
The annual fee may be harder to justify if you don’t think you’ll meet the minimum spend needed to access the Free Night Award. In that case, you’ll have to recoup the annual fee through rewards spending alone. It would take spending $1,931 on Marriott purchases each year to make up for the annual fee without the Free Night Award. You could easily spend this amount on a single 10-day vacation (at $203 per night). However, if you booked individual one-night stays, your bonus Stay Points would speed up the process a little and let you offset the annual fee after about eight average one-night stays.
Occasional travelers relying on the Bountiful card’s 4X-point categories will likely have a harder time recouping the annual fee since it would take spending $8,929 per year ($744 per month) on dining and groceries, which is more than what the average person spends according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
Automatic Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status: You can earn significant perks
Holding the Bonvoy Bountiful card automatically grants you Marriott Gold Elite status, which would normally require staying at Marriott 25 nights in a year. Gold Elite status provides:
- 25 percent points bonus on hotel purchases
- Late 2pm checkout privilege
- Complimentary room upgrades (if available) for enhanced room amenities and locations
- Complimentary, enhanced internet access
- A Welcome Gift of 250 points to 500 points per stay, depending on the Marriott property (most brands offer 500 points while lower-cost property brands provide 250 points)
Although Marriott’s loyalty status doesn’t provide many exclusive privileges until Platinum Elite level, automatically receiving 25 percent more points on hotel purchases is a fantastic benefit. It’s important to note that your Gold Elite status rewards boost only applies to the Marriott Bonvoy program’s base 10X points on hotel purchases instead of the full 16X points you’d get with your card, so you’ll end up earning 18.5X points in total (not 20X points).
This is a step above the Bonvoy Boundless card’s automatic Silver Elite status and a rung below the Bonvoy Brilliant card’s automatic Platinum Elite status. However, Marriott’s Gold Elite status is much harder to attain than the rival Hilton Honors program tier and provides fewer privileges for the investment.
Why you might want a different hotel card
Although the Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful provides great rewards, there are a few drawbacks, including its smaller welcome offer and a lack of cardholder perks when compared to the top travel rewards cards on the market.
Welcome offer: Other rewards cards offer higher bonuses
As a new Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful cardholder, you can earn 85,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 on purchases in your first three months. Marriott Bonvoy points range in value based on the stay you book, but our latest valuation estimates they’re worth 0.7 cents on average. This means your welcome offer could weigh in at $595. Previously, the welcome bonus was 125,000 points for the same spend criteria and time frame, so it had a significant fall in value.
The $4,000 spending requirement can be a little steep if you’re an average spender, but it’s reasonable if you have some large pre-planned purchases within your first few months with the card. However, there are other general-purpose travel cards that offer a better intro bonus value for the same spending requirement, particularly if you use certain travel transfer partners. For example, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card offers 60,000 bonus points after $4,000 in purchases in your first 3 months from account opening. That’s worth $750 when redeemed through Chase Travel.
Redemptions: Most options don’t offer much value
Redeeming for award nights at Marriott hotels is your primary redemption option, but there are several other travel possibilities at your fingertips, including flights, car rentals, cruises and vacation packages. Your points can also cover on-property purchases you make while staying with Marriott, such as room or hotel upgrades, dining, golf rounds and spa experiences. However, you may be better off saving your points for award nights if you want maximum value: you’ll receive a complimentary award night when you redeem for five consecutive nights.
There are a few other non-hotel redemption options, but as these don’t generate award nights, you won’t get as much value from your points:
- Priority Pass Select airport lounge membership
- TSA PreCheck expedited security
- “Marriott Bonvoy Moments” culinary, arts, sports and entertainment experiences
- Gift cards
- Shopping with partner retailers
- Charitable donations
If you fly more frequently than you stay with Marriott, the Bonvoy program’s airline transfer partners may net you the most value from your points. Many of the airlines convert your Bonvoy points at a 3:1 ratio, and Marriott runs some promotions to make some transfer parterns a more appealing option, so be sure to check how much value you’re getting from the transfer partner’s rewards ahead of time.
Bankrate’s take: Marriott also provides a few flexible booking options to stretch or shore up your points. “PointSavers” redemption discounts are a handy way of saving your hard-earned rewards if your reservation dates are flexible. You can also cover the difference with cash, but you’ll miss out on the “5th Night Free” offer if you’re staying for five consecutive nights. Friends and family with a Marriott Bonvoy account can share 1,000 to 100,000 points with you per year, and Marriott allows you to buy up to 100,000 points each year, too.
Cardholder perks: Other travel rewards cards have better benefits
The Bonvoy Bountiful card’s perks match its mid-level Marriott card role. Cardholders might be disappointed by the lack of Marriott perks outside Gold Elite status.
How the Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful compares to other hotel cards
The Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful fills a specific niche in not just the hotel card market but in Marriott’s credit card portfolio as well. Its specialized features and Free Night Award spending requirement make it best for regular Marriott guests who may want to use it as their primary rewards card but don’t travel enough to justify the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant’s high cost.
On the other hand, the Bountiful card’s slim perk roster may push many cardholders toward the lower-cost Marriott Bonvoy Boundless or a non-branded travel card in order to get more bang for their buck. Here’s how the Bountiful compares.
Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful™ credit card
Annual fee
Intro offer
Earn 85,000 Bonus Points after you spend $4,000 in purchases in your first 3 months from your account opening.
Rewards rate
Earn up to 10X points from Marriott for being a Marriott Bonvoy® member. Earn 6X points for every $1 spent at over 7,000 hotels participating in Marriott Bonvoy® with the Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful™ credit card. Earn 4X points for every $1 on the first $15,000 in combined purchases each year on grocery stores and dining. Earn up to 2.5X points from Marriott with Gold Elite Status, a benefit of being a Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful™ Cardmember. Earn 2X points for every $1 you spend on all other purchases.
Recommended Credit Score
A FICO score/credit score is used to represent the creditworthiness of a person and may be one indicator to the credit type you are eligible for. However, credit score alone does not guarantee or imply approval for any financial product.
Annual fee
Intro offer
Earn 95,000 Marriott Bonvoy® bonus points after you use your new Card to make $6,000 in purchases within the first 6 months of Card Membership.
Rewards rate
Earn 6X Marriott Bonvoy® points for each dollar of eligible purchases at hotels participating in Marriott Bonvoy®. 3X Marriott Bonvoy® points at restaurants worldwide and on flights booked directly with airlines. 2X Marriott Bonvoy® points on all other eligible purchases made on the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card.
Recommended Credit Score
A FICO score/credit score is used to represent the creditworthiness of a person and may be one indicator to the credit type you are eligible for. However, credit score alone does not guarantee or imply approval for any financial product.
Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card
Annual fee
Intro offer
Our best points offer! Earn 125,000 Bonus Points after spending $5,000 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening with the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card!
Rewards rate
Earn up to 17X total points per $1 spent at thousands of hotels participating in Marriott Bonvoy® with the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Card. Earn 3X points per $1 on the first $6,000 spent in combined purchases each year on grocery stores, gas stations, and dining. 2X points for every $1 spent on all other purchases.
Recommended Credit Score
A FICO score/credit score is used to represent the creditworthiness of a person and may be one indicator to the credit type you are eligible for. However, credit score alone does not guarantee or imply approval for any financial product.
Best cards to pair with the Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful
Since the Marriott Bonvoy rewards program doesn’t offer any particular advantage from pairing it with a Chase Ultimate Rewards card, you don’t need to stay within Chase’s card portfolio when picking a partner card. Co-branded hotel cards also may not be the best primary rewards card since their perks and rewards scope are often limited to your hotel brand. Instead, finding a card that rewards your biggest expenses other than Marriott stays, groceries and dining might get you the most bang for your buck.
Who is the Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful right for?
The Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful could be the perfect pick for some, but not for all — especially if you don’t want to stick to one hotel brand or don’t travel enough to justify the annual fee.
Bankrate’s Take — Is the Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful worth it?
The Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful is a brand-specific hotel rewards card with specialized perks and a hefty annual fee, so this card is only worth it for regular Marriott guests who can’t justify the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant card’s price tag. The Bountiful card’s 1,000 bonus points on each stay may also make it more rewarding than the Brilliant card if you often book average-to-low-cost rooms for one night during your travels.
However, the only features that offer enough value to make up for the Bountiful card’s $250 annual fee are its Gold Elite status-boosted points on Marriott purchases and Free Night Award. If you’re an average spender, the Bonvoy Bountiful may only be worth it if you use it as your primary credit card and don’t mind your rewards being tied to Marriott. Ultimately, its narrow perk pool and inflated rewards mean that a premium, general-purpose travel card is a more valuable investment.
*The information about the Hotels.com Rewards Visa Credit Card and Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card has been collected independently by Bankrate.com. The card details have not been reviewed or approved by the card issuer.
How we rated this card
We rate credit cards using a proprietary card scoring system that ranks each card’s estimated average rewards rate, estimated annual earnings, welcome bonus value, APR, fees, perks and more against those of other cards in its primary category.
Each card feature is assigned a weighting based on how important it is to people looking for a card in a given category. These features are then scored based on how they rank relative to the features on other cards in the category. Based on these calculations, each card receives an overall rating of 1-5 stars (with 5 being the highest possible score and 1 being the lowest).
We analyzed over 150 of the most popular rewards and cash back cards to determine where each stacked up based on their value, cost, benefits and more. Here are some of the key factors that influenced this card’s overall score and how the score influenced our review:
Frequently Asked Questions
What cardholders think
Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful™ credit card
In May 2024, Bankrate collaborated with third-party SliceMR to survey 6160 cardholders nationwide. Bankrate and Slice MR collected, averaged and presented website analytics and cardholder responses to six questions on a 5-point scale. Responses are based on individual cardholder’s product details, and therefore cannot be verified for accuracy. Users received an incentive for their feedback. User ratings are unedited and have not been reviewed or approved by credit card issuers, nor do these ratings reflect Bankrate’s own reviews of these cards.
Community Reviews
* See the online application for details about terms and conditions for these offers. Every reasonable effort has been made to maintain accurate information. However all credit card information is presented without warranty. After you click on the offer you desire you will be directed to the credit card issuer's web site where you can review the terms and conditions for your selected offer.
Editorial Disclosure: Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, and have not been reviewed or approved by any advertiser. The information, including card rates and fees, is accurate as of the publish date. All products or services are presented without warranty. Check the bank’s website for the most current information.
