A few days ago I wrote about an attractive upgrade offer from Chase. The offer was for 20,000 Marriott points to upgrade my Chase Marriott Rewards Premier card to the new Marriott Rewards Premier Plus card. The best part of the offer is that I only need to make a single purchase on the card to earn the points. Given the attractive upgrade offer and the expanded benefits on the new card, I decided to upgrade.
After submitting my upgrade request I received a note from Chase that my new card would arrived within a few days. Sure enough, about a week after submitting my upgrade request the card arrived. Overall, I like the new look of the card, but I’m mostly excited about the card’s improved benefits which I’ll briefly discuss.
My Marriott Rewards Premier Plus Welcome Kit
When credit cards arrive they typically come with a “welcome kit” which introduces you to the card. Sometimes these welcome kits come in a box with a gift while others simply arrive in an envelope.
As you can see, the Marriott Rewards Premier Plus card arrived in an unmarked envelope. When I pulled the envelope out of the mailbox I knew what was inside as the right half of the envelope was heavy and I could feel the familiar shape of a credit card inside.
When I opened the envelope I found two pieces of paper. The first was a small leaflet which thanked me for being a customer. While I appreciate the sentiment, I don’t understand how anyone approved this at Chase. The leaflet looks cheap and is extremely generic.
Thank you note aside, the second piece of paper was what I cared about. The second page contained my new credit card and a little information about the card. My account number, credit limit, and cash advance limits were printed on the front of the first page.
Inside of the second page I found my new card (which I think looks great) and a brief overview of the card’s benefits.
The card is the exact same material as the previous Marriott Rewards Premier card, but features an updated design. I really do like the new look of the card, especially when compared to the standard Marriott Rewards Premier card (shown below).
Marriott Rewards Premier Plus Card Benefits
I decided to upgrade to the new Marriott Rewards Premier Plus card because of the card’s improved benefits. The benefits of the new card are as follows:
- 6X Marriott points per $1 spent at all participating Marriott Rewards® and SPG® hotels
- 2X Marriott Points per $1 spent on all other purchases
- One Free Night Certificate with each account anniversary (35,000 point value)
- No Foreign Transaction Fees
- Automatic Marriott Rewards Silver Elite Status
- Marriott Rewards Gold Elite Status after $35,000 of annual spend
- 15 Marriott Elite Nights each year
- $95 annual fee
While the card comes with improved point earning rates, I still receive more value from other cards on all spending categories. For that reason I will rarely use the card for purchases. Instead, I value the 15 elite nights and 1 free night certificate that I receive from the card annually. Those two benefits alone help me justify paying the $95 annual fee.
Keep in mind, these benefits are only slightly better than those offered from the old Marriott Rewards Premier card. That card has an $85 annual fee, but only comes with a free night certificate value of about 25,000 points. Therefore by paying an extra $10 each year you have access to a higher category of free night redemptions.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I’m quite pleased with the new Marriott Rewards Premier Plus card. I think the card looks a lot nicer than the old version, but more importantly I think the improved benefits more than offset the increased $95 annual fee. Each year I get much more than $95 of value from the free night certificate so I have no problems paying the annual fee in perpetuity. Additionally, I love getting 15 elite nights each year which not only count toward that year’s elite status, but also toward Marriott lifetime status.
